The craftscotland Board members are: Phillipa Aitken, David Bonnar, Louise Butler, Joanne B Kaar, Gordon Lee, Professor Ian Pirie, Stephen Richard, Mary Smith and Marcus Wilson.
Phillipa Aitken
Phillipa Aitken has a degree in Multimedia Technology, and has worked as a Visual Arts Officer whilst pursuing a keen interest in contemporary craft throughout. She worked as principal researcher/facilitator in the area of digital technology and craft at CRiAD, Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. "Towards Applying Computer Technology In Craft, Scotland" (TACTiCS) - a two year project (also undertaken at Gray's) investigated the benefits of new technologies to Small to Medium Craft Enterprises in Scotland. She is now Arts + Media Development Manager for East Ayrshire Council.
David Bonnar
David Bonnar has worked in the Arts sector for 30 years, managing a variety of companies and projects. Between 1975 and 1994 he worked in theatre, latterly spending 10 years as General Manager of Perth Theatre. He was Lottery Director for the Scottish Arts Council from 1994 to 1999, setting up and supervising the procedures for the distribution of Lottery funding to the arts sector in Scotland (£120m, over 1000 projects). In 2000, he established his own business, mixing Arts advisory work with the operation of a successful craft outlet. In 2002 he set up his own gallery space (Artisanat) in Perth. He has been a corporate member of AAS and Creative Perthshire. Advisory work has been undertaken for the Arts Council of Wales and the Scottish Arts Council. In 2004, David was Project Manager for the ‘Clay in Bloom’ Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, for the Scottish Potters Association. He served as a Board Member for Foxtrot Theatre Company between 2001 & 2006. David received the OBE in 2000 for services to the Scottish Arts Council.
Louise Butler
Louise held posts as a costume and textiles curator in UK and US museums, before moving to the Scottish Borders in 1990 where she set up Exfactor, a project management company working with arts / business development initiatives. Louise has maintained her work as an independent curator, specialising in contemporary crafts, but with a particular interest in Scotland's indigenous skills. She wrote Scottish Arts Council's advocacy document for traditional crafts, 'Glorious Obsession' and curated 'Celebrating Scotland's Crafts' for National Museums of Scotland, which toured throughout Scotland and the USA, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 2003. She is also a Director of Applied Arts Scotland.
Joanne B Kaar
Joanne has worked as a self employed fibre artist for more than 10 year since obtaining an MA at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her studio on Dunnet Head overlooks the Pentland Firth and Dunnet Bay. She recently spent five exciting months in Tiawan as Artist in residence at the Chaoyang University and as consultant to the Su-Ho Paper Museum Taipei, culminating in exhibitions at the Su-Ho and Tower 101 (the tallest building the world). This residency was part funded by the Scottish Arts Council. She is the author of the book ‘Papermaking and Bookbinding Coastal Inspirations’ which was published by GMC in 2003.
Gordon Lee
A Director of conkerhouse (formerly called Parallel56), Gordon has overall responsibility for the delivery of the objectives of craftscotland and will ensure that all project deliverables are met. This includes financial management and reporting on project progress to the craftscotland Board.
Professor Ian Pirie
Ian graduated from Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen having studied Ceramics and Sculpture. He is a Fellow of both the UK Crafts Potters Association and Scottish Potters Association and has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, with work being held in numerous public and private collections. He has been closely involved with developments in eLearning environments and web-based technologies for a considerable period of time. During the past decade he has led and worked closely on the developments at The Robert Gordon University including StudioSPACE, iNET and Gray’sNET and at The Glasgow School of Art on the developments of their VLE /MLE. A full time educator since 1980, Ian has recently moved from his position as Dean of Faculty at the Robert Gordon University to become Assistant Principal at Edinburgh College of Art.
Stephen Richard, Chair, craftscotland
Born and educated in Kansas (the midwest of the United States), Stephen Richard moved to Scotland in 1965. He has had various jobs in information, libraries, industry and academia until the art and craft of stained glass took over his life. A background in education, staff relations and management led to a desire to train others and try to achieve opportunities for other artists too. His work is installed in Glasgow University, Standard Life, Diageo and Hampden Park, the Scottish national football stadium.
Mary Smith
Mary ran a knitwear business in the 1970s on Shetland. In the 1980s she moved to Edinburgh where she managed a shop, and was Exhibitions Officer at the Scottish Craft Centre. For the past 12 years she has worked as Visual Arts Co-ordinator for Shetland Arts Trust, and is in charge of Bonhoga Gallery. Mary is a Director of Applied Arts Scotland.
Marcus Wilson
Marcus works for HI-Arts as Audience Development Coordinator for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. His background is in arts marketing and events management, working with venues and festivals in Yorkshire and London. He first moved to Scotland in 2000 to work on a Visual Arts Marketing Project, which took him to all of the key arts centres across northern Scotland, developing marketing strategies with each. Since 2002, Marcus has worked more broadly on audience development, project managing the development of thebooth online ticketing service amongst other projects. He was involved in the original pilot project for craftscotland. Marcus lives and works in Edinburgh and the Highlands.
Find out more about the curatorial panel behind craftfocus (our online exhibition).
