"Crafts are contemporary," Tim Carter told me. "Anything you make now is, by definition, contemporary."
And he is right, very literally so. But among the very general public the word 'craft' is most commonly accompanied with the words 'fair' or more recently 'fayre', sometimes 'Christmas fayre', and often the name of the village or small town that fair/fayre is being held in.
As a result there exists around the word this ill-fitting perception of hobbyism and horrifying-dolls-made-from-sticks that you just don't get from terms like fine art or artist blacksmithing - and it's a perception that doesn't in any way sit with the precise and thoughtful and exquisitely-wrought work you experience at the HCA Contemporary Craft Show currently open near Maylord's Orchards in Hereford city centre.
Which is why I asked the question.
Tim's life outside the gallery is stain-glass windows. In order to restore them, cuts and lines in the glass must be painstakingly exact - the detail and the discipline is ultimately what will ensure these great, old, colourful pieces continue to shine like they're supposed to.
When you walk in to the Gomond Street pop-up the first thing you see is a huge, floor-to-ceiling monochrome print with a hundred small, angled lines moving out from the centre.
Tim's taken those techniques - from a centuries-old craft - and, along with his mirrored installation, turned them in to a pair of pair of pieces that feel as contemporary as it gets.
Check out some of the work on show in the gallery below, and scroll down to hear from the artists and makers themselves.
Kath Ayres:
"This project serves the purpose of exploring themes of absence and memory within contemporary art practices and processes. It aims to critically underpin the sites of containment in relation to memory, through the applied metaphor of space as self."
Jack Clarke:
"Having used my cutlery to eat with, people were asked to judge the value of these objects pre and post the explanation of this concept to observe changes in their reactions to the works perceived value."
Tim Carter:
"I'm a maker with a background in engineering. My practice is rooted in connecting with landscape and the environment around us.
"I take a rational approach to solving problems and finding solutions. My work in the show is about exploring landscape as a dynamic experience."
Gilly Mound:
"I had worked as an artist for several years producing colourful contemporary compositions based on still life, landscapes and seascapes. After a period spent caring for my mother, I found it difficult to reconnect with my practice until a friend told me about the MA in Contemporary Crafts.
"I have produced a triptych of textile and mixed media wall hangings, the concept of which is a personal and metaphorical response to attachment and loss."
Kim Barnett
"The basis of the MA study was the iconic fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" and it's interpretation, through academic analysis the dark origins of the tale became apparent and through material testing and sampling created a series of assemblage objects encoded with the layers of meaning."
Josephine Harvey
"The materials culture and familiarity of a small and fragile trea bowl and saucer evoke inseparable thoughts and feelings inherent within the vessels heritage, securing memory.
"The deconstruction and reconstruction of the thrown cup act as a symbol of self-realisation and resilience of the human spirit."
Ann Connell:
"The work addresses philosophy and neuroscience to explain how experiential and contextual learning inform practice.
"Interrogating touch and presence through familiar methodologies and by creating conditions to encourage the occurrence of the unexpected outcome, this investigation seeks to reveal elements fundamental to the artist; the essence of the artist."
The MA showcase is running until December 16, at 3 Gomond Street. Pop on down, and follow the course's Instagram account here for more on the artists involved.