Scissors Paper Stone is reviewed on behalf of craftscotland by Caroline Ednie.

Scissors Paper Stone, is not, as the title might suggest, an exploration of playground games of chance.  Instead, it’s a look at contemporary Edinburgh crafts, or more specifically a series of commissioned works on the theme of the capital by makers who either live, work or have trained there. 
 
The idea for the exhibition was originally the brainchild of Beverley Casebow, former Curator of Applied Art at the Museum of Edinburgh, and evolved into its current form following a call for entries and subsequent selection process.  The ten commissions on show range from the personal to the political and embrace both literal and ephemeral notions of the city.  The result is a unique composite portrait of a city and a showcase for what is obviously and gratifyingly a thriving local craft scene.

Recent Dewar Arts Award winner Malcolm Cruickshank has perhaps taken the most overtly personal odyssey through the city of his birth and home for the past 25 years.  Trawling through hundreds of family photos Cruickshank has selected the most prescient images and sewn versions of these into a patchwork quilt to form “a study of a life in progression”, which succeeds in being both entertaining and elegiac at the same time.

The idea of progression is also explored in one of the intriguing collaborations that feature in the exhibition.  Anna King and Edinburgh Makar Valerie Gillies have created an installation based on their journeys up and down the Royal Mile.  By gathering materials associated with the sites and seasons, the duo has teased out a narrative picture in words and textures, incorporating a coiled rope framed by a series of ‘walking stick’ route markers - the Old Town re-imagined as a personalised labyrinth.   

Another of the exhibition’s intriguing collaborations, this time featuring Deirdre Nelson and Juliette MacDonald, offers perhaps the most political, as well as historical, snapshot of the city.  Taking the tea dances of the 18th Century as a symbol of the new spirit of social freedom for women, Nelson and MacDonald have presented a distillation of this idea by means of a contemporary tableau featuring teacups incorporating digitally printed embroidery motifs.  Deirdre Nelson’s consummate embroidery creations are sadly not as much to the fore as might have been hoped, but nevertheless the scene is a comely contribution to the show. 

Elsewhere, the cityscape of Edinburgh is much in evidence, as in Helen Beard’s illustrated pots; Katie Pica’s skyline inspired silver mask; and Rachel Hazell’s BookCity piece which juxtaposes architecture and the written word to create a view of the city as a literary and publishing hub.  Jessica Townsend peers beyond the twitching curtains of the city’s façades by drawing on her tenement dwelling years to create a series of five suspended glass boxes containing cast glass living spaces, revealing the intriguing interior life of the city’s residents.  Punctuating this re-imagined cityscape like fantastical landmarks are Felicity Faichney’s elaborate millinery structures, inspired by Candlemaker Row, The Cowgate, Fleshmarket Close and Cockburn Street. 

Finally, Edinburgh in microcosm is deftly described in the work of Lorna Fraser, who has used the life cycle of the allotments which she overlooks from her Edinburgh home as inspiration for her ‘Cross Pollination’ clay pieces.  And Katharina Vones, a recent graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, has produced a collection of delicate jewellery pieces informed by the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Garden.  These metallic vignettes, displayed under lab style plastic domes, not only charm but also bite in terms of their allusion to the environmental challenges that face us all today. 

‘Scissors Paper Stone’ may have little to do with hand gesture games or indeed scissors, paper or stones in any literal sense, shape or form, but it does have everything to do with supporting and highlighting innovative contemporary craft in the city.  And on the evidence of the work on show in this exhibition, the capital and its craft exponents are enjoying a sweet symbiosis. 

Scissors Paper Stone is on from 13 October 2007 to 19 January 2008 at the City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DE tel: 0131 529 3993.  Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm.  Admission free.