See The Tool Appreciation Society, a major new exhibition from artist Linda Brothwell for Hull City of Culture 2017, at the Central Library 27 September 2017 - 10 February 2018.

We are thrilled to have supported this new exhibition by Linda Brothwell, produced by Thirteen Ways, alongside Hull Culture and Leisure Library Services, Arts Council England, the BBC and the Cheongju Craft Biennale.

The Tool Appreciation Society is dedicated to makers and their tools – the tools which serve their craft, their master, their tradition and their community. This exhibition from artist Linda Brothwell for Hull Culture and Leisure Library Services explores the significance of craft skills and tools, illustrating their value to our social, cultural and economic development.

Inspired by the heritage and workers of Hull and the wider world, The Tool Appreciation Society exhibition presents tools made by Brothwell, as she pays tribute to skilled crafts people – from Hull and South Korea to Sheffield, Liverpool and Lisbon. Alongside her tools are the historic tools and stories of the crafts people of Hull.

‘I have spent my artistic career under the influence of tools. Tools connect us to our familial, regional and national heritages, helping us to locate ourselves, emotionally and physically. I began by asking myself if I was the last generation able to identify the uses of tools? If tools are just relics of the past for future generations? And, if we can’t use a tool how can we create a world? So, I invite you to view these tools - reading them through the history and contemporary reality of production, through the conversations and skills exchanges I have had with crafts people from Hull and around the world. Join me as I pay tribute to these crafts people, fashioning exquisite new tools for each of them.” Linda Brothwell, 2017. 

Linda is also showing tools she has crafted as part of this project in the UK Pavilion exhibition, Form + Motion, at the Cheongju Craft Biennale, inspired by Korean crafts people and their tools.

The Tool Appreciation Society runs from the 27 September 2017 to 10 February 2018 at the Central Library, Hull. Admission is free. Find out more here.