WIP

Here is a copy of the original document setting out the idea of the exhibition, some background to decorative arts (Omega Workshop) and a list of those expressing an interest so far.
Of course there is a breadth of time before the actual exhibition date so there is going to be some movement of those who express an interest and those who finally participate.


Decorative Arts Exhibition Frome
Objective: To hold an exhibition of work by various artists and craftsfolk from the Frome area which will reflect the application of design to household (and office) interiors. This would be the first of its kind with further annual exhibitions to promote new work and artists, as well as special features.
Artists will not be restricted in their style, nor choice of object and medium.
The concept of Decorative Arts is to take art, crafts and household items and bring them all together to create added value.


The items could be as wide ranging as:
Wallpaper, Carpeting, Fabrics and soft furnishings, Curtains, Pillows
Tables, Chairs, Magazine racks, Chests, Storage units, Chalkboards
Key holders, Doors, Fireplaces, Laptops, Garage doors, Lamps
Umbrella stands, Crockery, Tableware, Toys etc etc.


A new category would be video projection and electronic media as a new form of decorative art.


Publication and marketing of a book of each exhibiting artist and their work at Blurb.com


Background: The average person who under normal circumstances would take great pleasure from purchasing art or crafts is now coming under pressure to question where the household budget is going to be spent. This may not be the best time to ask people to INVEST in art, but if they can be persuaded that their hard earned cash can go into making their home arty, crafty, more enjoyable and practical then they may be able to make an easier justification. In short decorative arts must aim to make the item enjoyable and pleasurable to have in the home.


Target Audience:
1. AB socio economic, 45-65, professional, qualified, knowledgeable, town and country.
2. AB socio economic, 35-44, professional, qualified, adventurous, town.
3. Professional architect/ interior designer, design/art/crafts media.


Structure: Like all good events the exhibition of items is only an integral part of what makes the event a success. The event could take place over one week + two weekends.


Community: A lecture on decorative arts and the Omega Workshop; a discussion about what people expect from arts and crafts in the home; a handout to be made available to artists which gives them further contacts and inspiration for creating their own decorative arts; a demonstration of how to prepare furniture for art application, the launch of a new decorative arts centred resource website; a workshop on how to produce decorative arts with some hands-on experience for both adults and children.
Public questionnaire about the arts and decorative art with prize for participation.


Venue: Somewhere with an evocative atmosphere and with a reputation for holding similar events with a mailing list of its own.
+ Launch evening + closing party (and auction?)


Media: Good forward media coverage in local, national, specialist, broadcast and electronic media.
A leaflet to be available to the public.


Support: Sam West


Interest so far (17-11-10):
Kate Cochrane
Roger Roving
Annette Burkett #
Ingrid Gammage
Stina Harris
Gladys Paulus #
Kate Raffray
Ellen Tovey
Helga Watkins Baker +4
Sarah Simpson
Bha Phardy
Caroline Walsh Waring #
Anny Colgan
Barbara Huxley
Barbara Clark
Lyn Truscot
Mel Day
Adam Harvey & Emma Wells
Claudia Phipps #
Helen Langford #
Emma Wells & Adam Harvey
Mel Sewell #


Jason at Frome Times




# confirmed.










Copyright Mel Sewell 10-11-10






Addendum


About Omega Workshop


The Omega Workshops was a design enterprise founded by members of the Bloomsbury group and established in 1913. It was located at 33 Fitzroy Square in London.
Beginnings
In forming the company, critic Roger Fry aimed to remove what he considered to be the false divisions between the decorative and fine arts, and give his artist friends an additional income opportunity designing furniture, textiles and other household accessories. Fry was keen to encourage a Post-Impressionist influence in designs produced for Omega. However, Cubist and Fauvist influences are also apparent, particularly in many of the textile designs.
To ensure items were only bought for the quality of the work, and not the reputation of the artist, Fry insisted works be shown anonymously, marked only with the letter omega. The products were in general expensive, and aimed at an exclusive market.
Designers and Manufacturers
In addition to offering a wide range of individual products, such as painted furniture, painted murals, mosaics, stained glass, and textiles, Omega Workshops Ltd offered interior design themes for various living spaces. A commission was taken to decorate a room for the 1913 Ideal Home Exhibition, and an illustrated catalogue, including text written by Fry, was published in autumn 1914.
Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant produced designs for Omega, and Wyndham Lewis was initially part of the operation. Lewis however split off at an early stage, taking with him several other participants to start the rival decorative workshop Rebel Art Centre after accusing Fry of misappropriating a commission to decorate a room at the Ideal Home Exhibition in the autumn of 1913. In October 1913, Wyndham Lewis, Frederick Etchells, Edward Wadsworth and Cuthbert Hamilton announced their resignation from Omega in a letter, known as the 'Round Robin', to its shareholders and patrons. This letter contained accusations particularly against Fry, criticising the workshops products and ideology. This split not only led to the formation of the Rebel Art Centre, but also the Vorticist movement.
Most manufacturing for Omega was outsourced to professional craftsmen, such as J. Kallenborn & Sons of Stanhope Street, London for marquetry furniture; Dryad Ltd of Leicester for tall cane seat chairs and a company in France was used to manufacture early printed linens.
In the autumn of 1913 Fry, who also created the designs for Omegas tall cane seat chairs, started designing and making pottery. After he considered book design and publishing in July 1915, the Superintendent of printing at Central School of Arts and Crafts collaborated with Omega in designing four books that were later outsourced for printing.
The range of products continued to increase throughout Omega Workshops six year existence, and in April 1915 Vanessa Bell began using Omega fabrics in dress design, from which dressmaking became a successful part of the business.
In January 1918, Omega were commissioned to design sets and costumes in the Israel Zangwill play ‘Too Much Money’.
Closure and Legacy
Omega closed in 1919, and was officially liquidated on 24 July 1920. Media coverage of the workshop had always been mediocre, and it had relied heavily on the patronage of wealthy London society within artistic and literary circles. A series of poor financial decisions and internal conflicts all contributed to its decline. At the time of its closure, Fry was the only remaining original member working regularly at the workshop. Despite this, Omega became influential in interior design in the 1920s.
Edward Wolfe worked at the Omega Workshops, handpainting candle-shades, trays and decorating furniture. Wolfe, who died in 1982, was one of the last of the Bloomsbury painters.
A revival of interest in Omega designs in the 1980s led to a reassessment of the place of the Bloomsbury group in visual arts.
In July 1913 Omega Workshops Ltd opened to the public at 33 Fitzroy Square in the heart of London's Bloomsbury. The workshops incorporated public showrooms as well as studios, and were staffed by a business manager, caretaker and a group of artist assistants. Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry were named as Directors.


Roger Fry founded and was the driving force behind the Omega Workshops. Unlike his most obvious predecessors William Morris and the designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Fry was not concerned with social reform or protesting against contemporary machine manufacture, but wanted to remove what he saw as the false division between the fine and decorative arts. He was keen to see some of the key ideas of Post-Impressionism, such as bright colours and bold, simplified forms, applied to design, as in these candle shades designed by Wyndham Lewis.


Fry also wanted to help his artist friends by providing them with the chance to make a living designing and decorating furniture, textiles and other household accessories, alongside their artistic careers.


Fry felt that objects and furniture should be bought for their aesthetic qualities rather than the reputation of the artist, so he insisted that all work was produced anonymously. Designs were unsigned and marked only with the symbol Ω, the Greek letter 'Omega'. 'Omega' is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, and in the late nineteenth century it was used to mean the 'last word' on a subject.