There are 58 accredited professional members and associate members of Craft ACT taking part in this exhibition at Craft ACT and, as there are more than 80 works, it is impossible to mention them all.

Suffice to say it is, indeed, an impressive roll call of artists who live and work in the Canberra region. If you want to know who the artists to watch are as well as what is happening in contemporary object-based practice, then this is the exhibition to visit.

A show of such diversity can be overwhelming but curator Julia Greenstreet has sensitively arranged the works throughout the entire gallery so it feels like it is a steadily paced walk with small breaths. A partition breaks up the sight lines and provides a welcome visual pause. Lucy Irvine's large, confident and bold sculptural work Reside, 2017, dominates the entrance space – indeed, it intrudes into it in a dynamic but benign way. Made from expansion joint filler, paper binders and metal, it unfurls like a giant concertina and spirals into space only to turn back on itself in a graceful fluid movement.

It is partnered by Jennifer Robertson's textile work CU29, 2016, on the facing wall. Robertson continues to experiment using new digital technologies in weaving. She has hand woven this organic form in copper, glass and silk thread on a digital hand loom. It billows out from the wall as if filled with air so that it seems to be gently breathing.

Dianne Firth continues to produce admirable work with a strong structural sense of design. Her rectangular machine stitched panel Breath, 2017, suggests the rhythm of breathing in the moving line of the thread – the shadow that the work casts adds to its sense of substance and gravitas. Barbara Rogers' two long panels Composition in Red, 2017, remind me of why I always enjoy seeing her work. Lengths of resist dyed, printed and de-coloured panels in black and tones of red demonstrate her professional mastery of textile processes.

Sharon Peoples' machine-embroidered Currawong Handkerchief, 2016, is a delightful contemporary twist on a traditional craft. The currawongs are imbued with a liveliness that suggests they are well known to the artist. Small arrangements of works by artists rest companionably together.

Sean Booth's Entropy, 2017, is ostensibly a rusty tin container. However, it is soldered together with silver and lined with 24 carat gold – a turning on its head of our preconceived notion of the order of things. Alison Jackson's two little characterful objects, Spout Bound, are more objects to enjoy than use. They are paired with Angela Bakker's Snowdrop Platter and Server, 2017, that demonstrate there is always pleasure to be gained from a utilitarian object which is well designed and well made.

Judi Elliott had an important solo exhibition at Craft ACT this year. Her glass panel Architecture in the Environment, 2017, seduces as ever by the sheer brilliance and vibrancy of its colours. In the design a particular shade of blue coloured glass is matched with glass in reds, oranges and yellows. Take away the note of plum-purple coloured glass that holds the composition together and see just how clever the artist's orchestration of colour is.

Richard Whiteley's glass cube Absence, 2016, is more muted in its diffuse cool grey blues. Indistinct grey forms seem to float enigmatically within its interior space.

Rose-Mary Faulkner's Map series – the Soft Gaze, 2017, is a collection of small glass panels. Do the images refer to a human or earthly landscape? Mass and void are diffuse and indistinct in this imagery seen as if through a soft focus lens. The landscape of earth and body melt and are transmuted as if one. And mention must be made of Jochen Heinzmann's stools –Sparc Stool I & ll. These stools made in walnut and maple are beautifully conceived fluid forms that celebrate the warmth of the colour and grain of the wood. Sculptural in design but also functional, they demonstrate the creative art of making and design at its best.