The Cutting Edge: Scotland’s Contemporary Crafts, a major new touring exhibition of the best of contemporary Scottish craft, has opened at the National Museum of Scotland.

The title of the exhibition, which shows work by thirty makers, refers not only to the fact that Scotland is a leader in craft practice but also to the wide range of tools used in craftwork, ranging from traditional cutting edged tools such as glass cutters and chisels to new technologies such as laser welding and fibre optics.

The exhibition includes silver by Adrian Hope, Michael Lloyd and Malcolm Appleby, jewellery by Peter Chang, Dorothy Hogg and Jack Cunningham, glass by Keiko Mukaide and Ray Flavell and textiles by Jilli Blackwood and Laura Murray as well as ceramics, willow weaving, automata, furniture and metalwork.

Glass artist Mai Ørsted has developed new work for the show concerned with the reflection and refraction of light and shadow casting using blown, cast and cut crystal.

A “Landscape Bookmark Sculpture” using copper sheet, acrylic and a lightbox has been created by Rachel Hazell.  She challenged herself to work in a new medium and scale for this sculpture and uses bookbinding techniques, more often associated with the medium of paper and leather, on a much less pliable material – sheet metal.

The exhibition was developed by the National Museums Scotland, in partnership with Aberdeen City Council, East Ayrshire Council and Glasgow City Council and is funded by the Scottish Arts Council.  It is accompanied by a publication with photographs by Shannon Tofts and supported by an events programme.

The exhibition is on at the National Museum of Scotland, Special Exhibitions Gallery, Level 3, Chambers Street, Edinburgh from 26 January until 29 April 2007.  Opening hours daily 10am to 5pm.  Admission free.

It then visits the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock from 26 May to 30 June 2007, the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow from 20 September to 25 NOvember 2007 and Aberdeen Art Gallery from 9 February to 12 April 2008. 

Exhibition curator Catriona Baird explains more about the exhibition.