Old School: a contemporary celebration of women, craft, and tradition

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, Craft Victoria presents Old School – a contemporary exhibition that features new and recent works of six women artists working across craft and design.

Running from March 15 to May 3, the exhibition responds to the heritage and legacies of craft practice, with each artist drawing inspiration from personal heritage and cultural identity in their practice.

Each artist’s engagement with history and approach to their chosen medium is unique, offering valuable insights into their individual journeys as skilled makers and storytellers.

Among the artists featured are Lucia Dohrmann, Marta Figueiredo, Inari Kiuru, Camille Laddawan, Aunty Glenda Nicholls (Wadi Wadi, Yorta Yorta, Ngarrindgeri), and Danielle Thiris.

Lucia Dohrmann, an Adelaide-based artist, unravels the canvas – both literally and metaphorically – in her series 48 Overlapping Circles. 

By deconstructing and reconstructing painter’s canvas, she draws on her Italian heritage and traditional domestic crafts, paying homage to generations of migrant women makers.

Architect and multidisciplinary artist Marta Figueiredo, based in Naarm/Melbourne, blends ancient Portuguese textile traditions with contemporary design. 

Her evocative room divider, I go to the depth of the ocean within the body of a woman, reflects on women’s health and visibility.

Finnish-born artist Inari Kiuru transforms discarded materials into poetic reflections on nature and urban landscapes. 

Her series Midsummer, Midwinter includes a wall-hanging mimicking birch bark, a contemporary take on Finnish straw ornaments, and a delicate series of enamel necklaces evoking childhood memories.

Working with beading and coded language, Camille Laddawan (Wurundjeri Country) explores communication and motherhood. 

K-h! translates a baby’s pre-linguistic sounds into intricate beadwork, while Mali, an ornamental bag, connects her to her Thai heritage, incorporating traditional beading and mulberry paper techniques.

Wadi Wadi, Yorta Yorta, and Ngarrindjeri artist Aunty Glenda Nicholls is a master weaver whose sculptural works embody ancestral knowledge. 

Her piece Willy Willy captures the movement of a whirlwind sweeping through the landscape, collecting feather flowers in its path – an ode to Country, culture, and continuity.

Melbourne-based ceramicist Danielle Thiris draws on her Cypriot and Greek heritage to create conjoined vessels that merge ancient and modern forms. 

Using South Australian terracotta and materials like oyster shells and river ash, her series Holding millions of years in my palm grounds history and place within her experimental glazes and sculptural compositions.

A notable addition to the exhibition is a first-ever curated Reading Room, drawn from Craft’s Library Archive which consists of more than 1400 craft and design books from the late 1920s to early 2000s.

The contents of these books provided the initial inspiration for Old School, as a valuable and often overlooked (analogue) resource of information and inspiration for contemporary makers. •