Maker Member Show 2025
The best work by our Maker Members. Celebrating 70 years of making.
Blandine Anderson
In 2025 our 70th Maker Member annual show is celebrating our Membership, showing selected work from Maker Members, and through 'behind the scenes' stories of our making community.
Our Membership is drawn from across the Southwest of England: Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and parts of Hampshire. MAKE Southwest has nearly 300 Maker Members which represent the craft disciplines of textiles, ceramics, print, woodwork, willow-weaving, jewellery, silversmithing, mixed media, leather, metal, mosaic, sculpture, glass, bookbinding, and furniture, at varying stages in their careers from student and graduate to established, full Maker Members. Submission to the Maker Member show is always open to all our Full Maker Members, presenting an opportunity to innovate within their practice, and to showcase the very best of their work made in the last 2 years.
This year, in celebration of our Membership, we have selected at least one piece from every submission. We are also including 'behind the scenes ' stories of our making community as part of this show. We have selected 12 Maker Members; people who have been instrumental in the workings of the organisation, people who are changemakers in their medium, people who are thinking about the future of making, people who we feel represent the past, present and future of our organisation. We have been visiting and photographing these makers in their studios, at work on their pieces for the Maker Member Show (aka the Summer Show). Find out more about these 12 makers and insights into their working practices, their inspirations and memories of MAKE Southwest over the years.
28 June – 1 November 2025
Jubilee Gallery
Events
Friday 27 June, 6pm - 8pm: Opening Party
Wednesday 23 July, 10.30am - 4.30pm: Make a Human Head in Clay workshop with Sara Evans
Friday 25 July, 10.30am - 4.30pm: Copper Bowl Sinking workshop with Charlotte Duckworth
Saturday 26 July, 10.30am - 4.30pm: Create Cloudscapes with Reduction Lino Printmaking workshop with Steve Manning
Saturday 2 August, 10.30am - 4.30pm: Blind Embossing, Papercut & Stitch workshop with Sue Potter
Saturday 16 August, 11am - 12pm: Book Signing with Blandine Anderson
Saturday 16 August, 2pm - 3.30pm: ‘Both Sides’ An Illustrated Talk and Book Signing with Blandine Anderson
Friday 29 August, 10.30am - 4pm: Miniature Felted Dog workshop with Kate Toms
Learn about our history
The show will focus on the history, present and future of our organisation.
We will display some of our extensive archive from when we were known as the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, which includes historic photos, archive catalogues and historic pieces from our 70 Years of Making, which will be shown in the Riverside Gallery from 14 July 2025.
An early Devon Guild of Craftsmen Summer Show
Vote for your favourite maker!
Every year we give you, our visitors, the chance to vote for your favourite maker or piece in the exhibition. Use this form to submit your vote.
The maker with the most votes will receive our People’s Choice Award.
Voting closes 1 November 2025, 5pm.
About the exhibitors
Behind the scenes
Over the past few months, we’ve been working closely with a specially selected group of 12 Maker Members — individuals whose contributions have helped shape MAKE Southwest into what it is today. These are makers who not only excel in their chosen disciplines but are also pushing boundaries, challenging conventions, and exploring new directions in craft and making. Some have been with us since our earliest days, others represent the vibrant energy of the present, and a few are already carving out bold paths toward the future of our creative community.
As part of our preparations for the upcoming Maker Member Show (also known as the Summer Show in years gone by), we’ve had the privilege of visiting each of these makers in their studios, conducting interviews and capturing photographs of them immersed in their creative environments, offering a glimpse into the hands-on processes behind their work.
Through this project, we invite you to discover more about each of these 12 makers — their artistic journeys, the sources of their inspiration, and their personal reflections on MAKE Southwest over the years. It’s a celebration not just of their craft, but of the spirit and evolution of our organisation itself.
Alice Wood
Leather
Alice Wood makes bags and small items from leather and repurposed materials from her studio at Flameworks in Plymouth. She has been a Maker Member of MAKE Southwest since 2018 and a maker all her life.
Blandine Anderson
Ceramics
Based on a remote smallholding in North Devon, Blandine Anderson is known for pushing creative boundaries. Her one-off sculptural works are highly collectable, inspired by nature and driven by an exploration of composition and proportion.
Ed Wild
Wood
Ed’s interest in furniture design and quality craftsmanship developed at an early age whilst watching his grandfather in his furniture workshop. He made his first substantial pieces in his early teens and later inherited his grandfathers’ tools which he now uses daily.
Hilary Burns
Baskets
Hilary Burns is a weaver who originally trained in textiles as a fabric weaver before starting basket making, some thirty-five years ago.
She was awarded an MBE in in 2021 for services to basketry and heritage crafts.
Ian Hankey
Glass
Ian Hankey is founder of the Upcycled Glass Company, a CIC using and encouraging the practice of refining and upcycling the mountains of building waste glass, currently a huge global problem, as the main ingredient for glass studios.
Isabella Whitworth
Textiles
Isabella Whitworth is a maker, historical researcher, and author who works primarily with natural and synthetic dyes on fabric. Recently retired from teaching at West Dean College and other venues, she is based in Hatherleigh, mid Devon.
Jess Cutler
Textiles
Jessica Cutler is a hand weaver based in the heart of Devon. She graduated from Manchester School of Art in 2017 with a first-class degree in textile design. In contrast to fast fashion, Jessica aims to create items built to last, which can return to the earth at the end of their life.
Lesley Forrest
Jewellery
Lesley Forrest is a designer-maker known for her jewellery created from unexpected materials. She graduated as a mature student from Plymouth College of Art in 2014 with a BA in Applied Art and Fashion.
Lisa Wisdom
Metal
The daughter of a potter and hand-weaver, Lisa Wisdom grew up immersed in Cornwall's thriving craft community in the 1980's. Fascinated by making and creating, she was introduced to the medium of metal aged eleven, immediately finding an affinity and love for metalworking.
Malcolm Law
Ceramics
Malcolm Law hand builds original, highly detailed ceramic sculptures in his studio, which overlooks Lyme Bay in Torquay, Devon.
Molly Lemon
Printmaking
Molly Lemon is a printmaker specialising in wood engraving. She grew up on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon and now lives in South Gloucestershire with her husband and rescue dog Winnie.
Rosie Sanders
Printmaking
Rosie Sanders is recognised as one of the most prominent botanical artists of her generation. She is largely self-taught, with her artistic talent and style developing through years of dedicated practice and exploration.
Thumbnail image: ring by Corrinne Eira Evans, photo credit Paul Mounsey
Plan your visit
Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm.
Time and Tide: all about estuaries
Riverside Gallery, 26 April - 5 July 2025
Maker Showcase - Sarah Vigars: Puppetry
Maker Showcase Corner, 11 June - 9 August 2025