The Powerhouse Museum launches International Lace Award

3 December 2009: The Powerhouse Museum today announces the launch of the Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award, set to redefine traditional expressions of lace and its design applications.

Professional and amateur artists, designers and practitioners around the world are invited to submit an Expression of Interest for the award, which will see 30 finalists exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum and an overall winner awarded AU$20,000 in prize money.

The Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award seeks to encourage contemporary design and challenge conventional notions of lace and its application in the areas of fashion, the built environment and digital multimedia.

The Award defines lace as an openwork structure whose pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas.

“At a time when innovation in textiles and materials is at the forefront of international design trends, we encourage the design of openwork structures in materials limited only by the artist’s imagination. We expect this brief will lead to experimentation in a wide range of materials and techniques and that we will gather work ranging from large spatial pieces to exquisite, delicate designs.” says Lindie Ward, Curator, Design and Society, at the Powerhouse Museum.

Expressions of Interest must be received by 29 March 2010 and from these approximately 30 works will be selected for consideration for exhibition in July 2011. The selected entrants will have time to develop their proposed work from May until November 2010.

 Prize money winners will be announced at the opening of the exhibition in July 2011. In addition to the overall winner receiving AU$20,000, five winners will receive AU$4,000 each across the following categories: 

• Traditional techniques: Category includes needle and bobbin lace, crochet, knitting, knotting, netting and mixed laces.
• Fashion: Category includes garment, jewellery or accessory.
• Built environment: Category includes interior design, product design or architecture.
• Digital multi media: Category includes computer generated virtual lace design.
• Tertiary students in Australia and New Zealand: Category includes all lace techniques.

Entries will be judged by a panel of international and Australian experts of traditional and contemporary disciplines of lace, fashion, design and architecture, including lace practitioner and historian Rosemary Shepherd and fashion designer Akira Isogawa.

Each entry submission will be judged with reference to visual impact, originality and creativity, skill in execution and innovation in design, materials and/or technique. The work must be original and reflect the artist’s identity and cultural origins.

The Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award is presented by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia, part of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Australia’s leading cultural institution dedicated to celebrating human ingenuity. Contemporary design is a key element of the collection.

The Powerhouse Museum is home to an extraordinary and well documented collection of approximately 3,000 items of lace dating from the sixteenth century to the present and visitors to the Museum’s Lace Study Centre are able to view over three hundred handmade examples of lace on display.

Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award entry details:

29 March 2010  Closing date for Expressions of Interest strictly by 5.00pm AEST.
12 May 2010 Successful finalists announced.
25 November 2010 Finalists’ completed works delivered to the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
July/August 2011 Exhibition launch as part of the Powerhouse Museum’s international design festival Sydney Design 2011.

For more information or to enter visit www.powerhousemuseum.com/lace

Tags: International Lace Award, Rosemary Shepherd, The Powerhouse Museum