Touchstones Rochdale produced Cut Stitch Adorn by Tanvi Kant and Disparate Nature by Taslim Martin from 17 Juily - 3 October 2010; in July 2011 Earth - Atmosphere by Halima Cassell and Seiko Kinoshita transferred there from Bilston Craft Gallery.
Touchstones Rochdale is the main base for Link4Life’s Arts & Heritage Service and includes the borough’s museum, four art gallery spaces, local studies centre, education service, visitor information centre, shop and café.
Touchstones Rochdale has a history of exhibiting work by Black and Asian artists and in the past has shown work by Magdalene Odundo, Chris Ofili and Lorna Simpson. More recently emerging artists such as Zarah Hussain, Nafisa Mallu and Alpa Mistry have exhibited. Through the shape of things we have been privileged to work with Tanvi Kant and Taslim Martin on their solo shows and with Halima Cassell and Seiko Kinoshita in re-presenting their work for the programme originally shown at Bilston Craft Gallery.
Yvonne Hardman is the Art Gallery Officer at Touchstones Rochdale, where she has been based since 2004. With responsibility for both exhibitions and collections, Yvonne has a particular curatorial interest in contemporary craft and in making work accessible to the widest possible audiences.
Yvonne has worked in museums and galleries in the North West since 2000, after gaining an MA in Museum Studies, including GrundyArtGallery, Blackpool and AtkinsonArtGallery, Southport. From 2003 to 2009, Yvonne served on the board of directors at Manchester Craft & Design Centre. Since 2010 she has been an artistic assessor for Arts Council England.
'Being part of a major national programme and working alongside the artists and curators involved has been an important milestone in my own career and in the development of our organisation and most critically, our audiences.' Yvonne Hardman, curator
Artists' statements
'Through playful construction in textiles and simple hand-worked techniques in embellishment, the jewellery collections and suspended installation from the remnants of garments made for the shape of things exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale referenced textile crafts specific to my research trips to North Gujarat and Rajasthan in India. Through workshops and demonstrations for the local community, I had opportunities to share and discuss memories of the experiences of my Gujarati-Indian family background, as well as being British born and the tensions between my identity through Gujarati-Indian clothing and adornment and my upbringing in Britain.' Tanvi Kant
'Touchstones’ very large light gallery was given over to a new body of work. Craft skills were to the fore in this exhibition, as was experimenting and playing with materials and process. The show included figurative sculpture rendered in different materials and four large-scale clay works drawn directly on the gallery wall and a full size buck for sculptural bench. The Helix was a collaborative work where the visitors to the exhibition were invited to contribute by creating their own symbols, patterns, marks or designs to be incorporated into the work throughout the period of the show.' Taslim Martin
'Excellent video - to watch it gives me a better appreciation of the work - really colourful and inspiring. Inspired to try something different with off cuts of material! I came back with a seat to fully appreciate the work involved in each piece' member of the public
Catalogues
The catalogues below have essays by Yvonne Hardman, Dr. Jessica Hemmings and Alison Britton
