Phoebe Cummings

Phoebe Cummings works predominantly using unfired clay to make poetic and performative sculptures and installations that emphasize material, fragility, time, creation, and decay. Working across fine art, design, and ceramics, Cummings works without a permanent studio and her impressive interventions are constructed directly on site as temporary installations, allowing an instinctive development of tensions between object and location.

Phoebe's spectacular installation 'Triumph of The Immaterial' was selected from a shortlist of 12 finalists to receive the prestigious £10,000 Craft Prize. The judging panel decided unanimously that Phoebe's work captured the essence of the prize which celebrates skill, concept, innovation and exceptional craft makers working in the UK.

Phoebe Cummings said: "I am overwhelmed to have been chosen from such a strong and diverse shortlist. The Woman’s Hour Craft Prize has done a huge amount to raise public awareness and discussion around contemporary craft and the breadth of practice it encompasses. Making work that is ephemeral and performative isn't always the most straightforward path to take, so the recognition and support of the prize will have a big impact in enabling me to continue pushing my work forward. I plan to use the money to make a usable work space at home - no doubt my family will be overjoyed that they can finally reclaim the kitchen table."

Following its display at the V&A until 5 February 2018, the Woman’s Hour Craft Prize exhibition will begin a UK-wide tour from March 2018 initially displaying at The Forum, Norwich (12 March – 12 April 2018), Mottisfont National Trust, Hampshire (28 April – 1 July 2018) and Bristol Museums (14 July – 11 Nov 2018). Further locations will be announced via V&A https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/womans-hour-craft-prize