Friday, 25 March 2016

A Grand Day Out - Craft in the Bay

Well, we have found a peach of a gallery for anyone into contemporary craft. Craft in the Bay is a bespoke building in the bay area of Cardiff.  It is a grand location with lots of easy parking nearby and a wonderful range of Welsh crafted items for sale.

We did an overnight so that Becca could specifically see 'Animal Tales' - a collection of animal inspired crafted pieces, sculptures and prints. Artists featured included Jeff Soan's articulated wooden animal sculpture, I fell in love with the gorgeous flowing octopus, Susan O'Byrne's terrific sculpted animals - always a pure delight to see and the haunting work of Holy Smoke aka Helen Thompson who's textile figures were as evocative of smoke as the name sounds. Catrin Howell was also showing some stunning animal heads in ceramic and I fell in love with the delicate birds of Suzanne Breakwell.  There were so many other artists to see it was an exhibition we all really enjoyed.

Also on show, as a members showcase exhibition so only small, was the work of textile/mixed media artist Sasha Kingston who works with thread, paper and found objects to make beautiful wall mounted work of eye catching subtlety - had not seen her before but really enjoyed it.  Her current show is based on place, journeys and maps.  Well worth a look.

And as always we tried the cafe!  Its called The Pure Kitchen and has great views around the Cardiff Bay development including the stunning frontage of Cardiff's Millennium Centre. Great coffee with either traditional cow milk, coconut or almond milk and a lovely lunch, a bit challenging at first but great when you get into it.  Becca had a 'paleo fuel salad' which she really enjoyed, I wasn't as brave and settled for a panini I recognised but great fun and really good value.

If you are in the area I wouldn't hesitate to visit, if only for the amazing building never mind its wonderful exhibitions and craft items.  Had a great day - highly recommended.

Sasha Kingston

Suzanne Breakwell


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