Craftspace

Exhibition

Making Moves is an exhibition of contemporary craft produced through six artist’s residencies in unusual locations. These included a working Victorian pottery, a miner’s welfare club, an event held at a reservoir, and a hundred year old swimming baths. All the makers lived in and around Staffordshire. 

The exhibition toured to six non-arts venues across Staffordshire during 2008, launching at Staffordshire University in February, before moving to Kidsgrove Leisure Centre in Newcastle, Nicholson Institute in Staffordshire Moorlands, Lea Hall Miners Club in Cannock and Queen's Hospital in Burton-upon-Trent.

Through comments, photographs and the objects that they made, you can find out about how the craftspeople were inspired by their residencies in different venues.

Making Moves is an exciting programme that aimed to bring craft to unusual places across Staffordshire. It created opportunities for local craftspeople and new craft graduates from Staffordshire University to make new work.

Working in Partnership

Making Moves was a partnership between Staffordshire Arts and Museums Service, Craftspace - a national crafts development organisation, Staffordshire University and six local authorities within Staffordshire.

The exhibition is funded by the Arts Council of England.

Residencies

The first phase of Making Moves was a two-year programme of activities that were part of Craftspace’s long-term partnership with Staffordshire Arts Development Officers Group.

Previously two programmes, Handmade and then Handmade 2, developed a series of small-scale touring exhibitions of contemporary craft which travelled to community venues across Staffordshire. These exhibitions enabled local people to experience, interact with, and enjoy, the work of local, regional and national makers.

Making Moves 2007-2008  was developed to create opportunities for Staffordshire makers and to provide support for graduates from the area. We did this through:
• Mapping and identifying newly qualifying graduates and emerging local artists in order to share and sign post them to creative opportunities within Staffordshire.
• A bursary scheme with Staffordshire University that provides awards to six graduates supporting the purchasing of equipment, professional development training, mentoring and exhibition opportunities.
• Six artist’s residencies across Staffordshire.
• A touring exhibition of work produced during the residencies and work of the six selected graduates.

The six artist’s residencies were partnerships with the participating local authorities. These were:

Stoke-on-Trent City Council 5th June-July 2006
A residency with local ceramicist Denise O’Sullivan at Gladstone Pottery Museum.

South Staffordshire District Council July-August 2006
A residency with Spencer Jenkins at Bratch Locks, a short section of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and in partnership with British Waterways.

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council April 2007
Glass artists Sheldon Cooney at Tittesworth Reservior.

Cannock Chase District Council 2007
A commission from Jaqueline Cooley for a new window at Lea Hall miner’s club.

East Staffordshire Borough Council 2007
A residency with textile artist Jan Bowman in the maternity unit of Queen’s Hospital in Burton-on-Trent.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council 2007
Jennifer Collier in residency at Jubilee Baths.

Making Moves is jointly funded by the participating Councils, together with Staffordshire Arts and Museums Service and Arts Council England West Midlands.

Curation And Partners

Making Moves is a two-phase project organised by Staffordshire Arts and Museum Service in partnership with Craftspace, six councils in the county of Staffordshire (Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Cannock Chase District Council, East Staffordshire Borough Council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council) and Staffordshire University.

Andy Horn led the  project at Craftspace along with Owen Hurcombe, Arts Development Officer and Jaqueline Cooley, Project Co-ordinator for Staffordshire County Council. 

Events and Activities    

As part of the Making Moves tour, each venue offered a small number of opportunities for people to participate crafts activities, led by makers. Each venue developed their own ideas for these workshops, the aim was to enable the public and visitors to the exhibition to explore some of the techniques and materials used by the crafts people and artists in the exhibition.

The Arts Development Officers for the tour are: Claire Griffiths (Newcastle under Lyme), Deb Nicklin (Staffordshire Moorlands District Council), Lisa Shephard (Cannock Chase District Council), Michelle Clerc (East Staffordshire Borough Council) and Peta Murphy-Burke (Stoke City Council).

 

'A Career with IKEA? For Art and Design Students'                                                                 Two-day masterclass at Staffordshire University

John Grayson, Head of Design Crafts at Staffordshire University and a partner in the Making Moves tour organised a two-day masterclass with furniture designers Wayne Pottinger and Natalie Cole, as a support activity running alongside the display of the exhibition at the university. John was keen to enable his students to have insight into the design process. A particular ambition for the Fine Arts Department was to build links with students at local sixth form and Further Education colleges, and students from the City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College were invited to participate alongside the undergraduate students.

The masterclass involved the students and designers working to a set brief. They had to choose from a series of design challenges and the results were shared at the end of the two days. The masterclass has enabled the students to have insight into the professional design processes used by Pottinger and Cole.

To see more about the two-day masterclass follow this link: http://www.stokesfc.ac.uk/st/college_news/a_career_with_ikea_for_art_design_students