Established in 2020 with the Crafts Council, the Brookfield Properties Craft Award annually honours a maker who has pushed the boundaries and achieved excellence in the contemporary craft sphere.
Selected from an artist taking part in Collect art fair, this award has forged the path to champion outstanding contemporary craft and the annual accolade is presented to a maker, who has demonstrated vision, talent, achievement and contributed to craft practice in the UK.
In its fourth edition, internationally renowned maker Alice Kettle, represented by Candida Stevens Gallery, became the 2023 recipient of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award. Selected for her bold, introspective free-stitched technique Kettle blends traditional and experimental methods to produce her skilled textile works. Kettle accepted the award during a private ceremony at Collect art fair at Somerset House on Wednesday 1 March.
As part of the prize, three new handcrafted pieces by Kettle will be acquired by Brookfield Properties and gifted to the Crafts Council Collection. They will join over 1,700 objects acquired from the 1970s onwards including a mix media piece from 1988 by Kettle, entitled Stretching Figure.
Kettle will also stage a solo exhibition featuring further works across two of Brookfield Properties’ locations. Located in the heart of the City of London, Kettle’s exhibition will be open to the public in the summer months of 2023.
The exhibition will join a host of Kettle’s past exhibitions, with her work being displayed internationally across several significant collections including the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, the Museo Internationale delle Arti Applicate Oggi in Turin, Italy, Southampton City Art Gallery, Hove Museum and Art Gallery and Hanshan Art Museum, Suzhou China among others.