Tag Archives: Arts and Crafts

Beauty for All: The Arts & Crafts Movement in Europe and North America

October 3 – January 9, 2016

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown 630 Yates Street

Curated by Holly Cecil

To view the exhibition catalogue, click here.

An exhibition and film project at UVic’s Legacy Art Gallery features work by some of the best-known designers of the time: William Morris, C.R. Ashbee, the Roycroft Workshops, Tiffany Studios, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Burne-Jones, and Liberty and Co., all from the nationally recognized permanent collection at the University of Victoria.The exhibition demonstrates founder William Morris’s belief in a return to simplicity, and that beautiful, well- made objects in the home could promote a better life for both the user and the maker:”If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.“- William Morris, 1880.

To check out the Arts and Crafts Movement Film Project, click here

Magna Mater: Katharine Maltwood and the Arts & Crafts Movement

October 8, 2015 – January 9, 2016

Small Gallery

Legacy Art Gallery Downtown 630 Yates Street

Curated by Caroline Riedel

To view the exhibition catalogue, click here.

In 1911, Katharine Maltwood presented her first critically acclaimed sculpture, commissioned for the Roycroft Institute, one of the most important communal craft workshops of the North American Arts and Crafts Movement. Entitled Magna Mater, this piece was installed on the grounds of their headquarters in East Aurora, New York and was intended as a visual embodiment of the ideals held by some of the major proponents of the American Arts and Crafts Movement.

This exhibition investigates the role of the prevailing Arts and Crafts Movement in late 19th century Britain in Maltwood’s art, her research and” discovery” of the Glastonbury Zodiac, her art collecting interests, and subsequently how her bequest defined the collecting priorities of the University of Victoria for the next decade. Indirectly her life’s work helped to build one of the finest Arts and Crafts collections in the country and visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about this highly regarded sculptor’s work.

To check out the Arts and Crafts Movement Film Project, click here

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Victoria, B.C.

Rookwood Ceramic Bowl, Rookwood Pottery, c. 1890

Online Catalogue

The online catalogue for the Arts and Crafts Movement is available here. It features information about Rookwood pottery, Tiffany Glass Company and the Roycroft Institute, as well as an architectural tour of Victoria.

More About the Exhibition

In England and then America in the late 19th century, a middle class revolution occurred against Victorian values, industrialization and the mass production of low-quality products. Originally a British movement whose roots can be traced back to the early 1800’s, the social and moral preachings of people such as John Ruskin and William Morris in the late 1800’s influenced the burgeoning what would be known as the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The Maltwood Arts and Crafts Collection

972.13.1a/b Two Candlesticks F.W. Vienna Austria

September 5 – October 6, 1978

University Centre

Curated by Professor Martin Segger

View the online catalogue:

The Maltwood Arts and Crafts Collection – Catalogue

The Arts-and-Crafts Movement began in the middle the nineteenth century as an attempt to get away from the practice of borrowing forms from historic styles and to base design instead on intrinsic properties of materials and structure.

The Arts & Crafts principle of natural expression of material and structure can be seen in architecture, in its emphasis on exposed structure (half-timber work in the walls), and evidences of hand craftsmanship (adaze marks on the exposed beams). It is likewise evident in a new interest in old, vernacular furniture with its preference for sturdy construction and rough-grained materials like oak; it appears in the emphasis on the fabric of textiles; the special qualities of matte glazes in ceramics; and the patina of jewelry and metalwork.

Perhaps the best-known offshoot of this international style is Art Nouveau; its sensuous curves and flat patterns derive directly from certain Arts & Crafts principles which continue to influence all architecture and design of today.