Finalists revealed for the 2022 Brookfield Properties Craft Award

26 January 2022

Cecilia Charlton, one of the five finalists, works with textiles, and often makes pieces based on elements of her own life

Five makers have been shortlisted for the 2022 Brookfield Properties Craft Award – in partnership with the Crafts Council. Anthony Amoako-Attah, Dawn Bendick, Cecilia Charlton, Christian Ovonlen and Irina Razumovskaya are all in with a chance of scooping the career-boosting £60,000 worth prize that will not only support their work but also their gallery.

The finalists, selected from the 350 artists showing at this year’s Collect art fair in February, push the boundaries of their materials – including glass, ceramics and textiles – while exploring some of the pressing issues of our times, from migration to mental health. Together these emerging and mid-career artists exemplify the diversity and quality of makers working in Britain today and are a ‘true reflection of the breadth of UK craft,’ says Brookfield Properties’ Vice President Caitlin Warfield.

We’re looking for something that inspires the community within our buildings as well as people on the streets of London
Saff Williams, Brookfield Properties Curator and Marketing Manager

The winner will be chosen by Brookfield Properties and the Crafts Council and revealed on 24 February 2022 at a VIP ceremony at Somerset House during Collect 2022.

As part of the award, Brookfield Properties will acquire the winning artist’s work for the Crafts Council Collection, which currently holds over 1,700 contemporary objects. The maker will also be the subject of a solo exhibition at two Brookfield Properties spaces in central London this summer. ‘We hope to build excitement around who they are and what compels them to create their work,’ says Brookfield Properties Curator and Marketing Manager, Saff Williams.

Anthony Amoako-Attah creates glass pieces that evoke woven textiles

Anthony Amoako-Attah – profiled in the January/February issue of Crafts – uses techniques such as screen printing and kiln forming to create glass pieces that evoke woven textiles. Based in Sunderland but originally from Ghana, the artist explores migration, dislocation, and personal identity, incorporating traditional kente designs and adinkra symbols from his native country.

American-born, Kent-based artist Dawn Bendick also works with glass, but uses a combination of mould making and cast dichroic glass, which changes colour depending on lighting conditions. She takes a collaborative approach to her work, sometimes teaming up with other glassmaking experts.

Fellow US artist Cecilia Charlton, who is now based in London, often makes autobiographical pieces exploring issues that have affected her throughout her life, through abstract, multicoloured textiles.

American artist Dawn Bendick works with glass, using a combination of techniques to create totemic sculptures
Irina Razumovskaya is the only shortlisted artist to be working with clay

Christian Ovonlen, who is a member of the London-based collective Intoart, has a longstanding interest in figuration and colour. He will create a series of hand-dyed silks for Collect 2022, using gestural strokes and bold hues to reference the Ballets Russes and other theatre productions from the 19th and 20th Century.

Irina Razumovskaya, meanwhile, is the only shortlisted artist to be working with clay. The Russian-Israeli maker’s architectural sculptures, which she makes in her London studio, have heavily textured glazes that evoke decay and the passing of time – a critique on how commonplace the vandalism of heritage and nature has become.

In his work, Christian Ovonlen often combines gestural strokes with bold hues

'In our winner, we’re looking for something that inspires the community within our buildings as well as people on the streets of London,’ says Williams. ‘We want visitors to be enticed by the works and enjoy them on a surface level, but we also want them to be able to peel back the layers to get something as conceptual and as deep as they want to go.’

Brookfield Properties, one of the world's largest real estate managers, has a long-term mission to support makers and culture more broadly, seeing it as a vital way to enrich people’s everyday lives in cities across the world. For its buildings in London, for example, it acquires and commissions work by a broad range of creatives, including textile artist Margo Selby and mixed media artist Agostino Lacurci. It has also invested in music, theatre and dance.

‘Arts and culture are embedded in Brookfield Properties,’ said Warfield. ‘We want to celebrate contemporary makers in the UK and boost the country’s national crafts heritage.’

The Brookfield Properties Craft Award began in 2020. Its inaugural winner was mixed media artist Matt Smith, and in 2021, the top prize went to textile artist Anna Ray. Both makers had a selection of work go on show at Brookfield Properties’ sites, and their works were acquired for the Crafts Council, to become part of the national collection.

Since this story was published, Christian Ovonlen was named as the winner of the Brookfield Properties Craft Award

Finalists revealed for the 2022 Brookfield Properties Craft Award

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Anna Ray wins the 2021 Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award

Matt Smith’s tapestries and ceramics challenge history