Beck Prior and Stephanie Tudor – Barton Hill Art Warriors
Combining a love for colour, geometric form, surfaces and community arts: Prior Made and Studio Meraki collaborated with nine young people from Barton Hill to build a giant, tessellating, screen printed, wooden and cotton art piece.
The young people started by exploring the neighbourhood, picking out shapes, colours and textures that made up their neighbourhood. They then used the images they gathered to create shapes and patterns to screen print on to fabric. The group turned the sculpture into an installation, and eventually they themselves became part of the artwork creating t-shirts and naming themselves the Barton Hill Art Warriors.
Amy Peck and Dee Moxon – Woven Threads from the Weaving Sheds
Amy and Dee built a nomadic ‘home’ installation based on traditional Somali Aqals and British Gypsy/Romany/Bender tents with members of the local Somali community. The ‘home’ is built from wooden poles and lengths of hand dyed, printed and woven textiles to create a unique and thought provoking ‘den’. The ‘den’ was created during the summer at Barton Hill Urban Park where Dee and Amy held drop in building workshops.
At the festival the ‘den’ became a space for sharing food, experiences and stories of this nomadic lifestyle.
On the day visitors to the Festival created another den out of plumbing supplies and fabric alongside the more traditional looking ‘den’
Annabelle Shilliday – Community Loom
Annabelle invited members of the community to help her build a giant piece of fabric on her giant loom. She took the loom ‘on tour’ throughout the summer to various community hubs. Visitors to the Festival of making were also invited to add to the work.
PSC was delighted to work with In Bristol Studio and to deliver it’s first Bristol-based project. Three artworks were commissioned as part of the Festival of Making that took place in September 2018.
The PARTICIPATE commissions invited artists from In Bristol Studio to submit proposals to create a new piece of work with people from the local neighbourhood. PSC provided guidance to the artists and groups to ensure the outcome of the project was not just successful participation, but the creation of works with artistic merit.
The festival theme was ‘Cotton’. It was chosen because the building that the studio occupies is one of the last remaining parts of The Great Western Cotton Factory, Barton Hill. Commissioned artists were asked to submit an idea for an artwork that explores and responds to the building, local history through cotton as a material. These initial ideas developed through participation and input of the community.
As well as the theme of Cotton, artists were asked to consider and respond to the more sculptural concerns; space and mass, permanence, material, form, location and environment. Successful artists addressed these sculptural concerns in different and interesting ways.
PSC and In Bristol Studio have created a PARTICIPATION toolkit. The toolkit provides artists with an accessible framework to utilise when engaging with participants around the concept of public art and sculpture as an art form.
These participatory sculptural installations were part of the studios ‘Festival of Making’. The Festival of Making was a multi-disciplinary open studio event showcasing the work of the studios residents. As well as opening the doors of the studio during the Festival, In Bristol Studio spilled out into the neighbouring streets and green spaces. There was food, music and creative workshops for all ages.
For more information about the Festival of Making visit the In Bristol Studio website.
All the commissions for new work and participatory workshops were thanks to funding from Arts Council England. The artists were also supported by the Up Our Street Endowment Fund, a grant for residents and groups helping deliver projects in the local area.
