Blog
Special Events: Making It
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Making Stories
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“Craft can offer methods of enquiry, can transform modes of learning in schools and can teach us to examine how we live in a material world.”
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In July 2013, Making Stories officially launched – an entertaining and scholarly interactive book by Alice Kettle, with co-authors Insa Langhorst and Huw Wahl. Making Stories uses the Making It project as a springboard for even more refreshing and exciting work that explores the importance of craft.
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Making Stories is generously illustrated in multimedia and has an extensive bibliography. The section divider pages feature new drawings by all three of the authors.
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The book is a valuable acquisition for makers, collectors, educators and researchers. You can find out more about it via the Making It website, alternatively you can visit the Electric Imprint blog for more information, or follow this link to download the book directly from iTunes for just £7.49.
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About MAKING IT
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In October 2012, Making Space helped organise the significant creative project Making It – a multi-stranded celebration of making and creativity revealing how craft, and the process of making, is central to our everyday lives. The event was inclusive for all, from academics to practitioners, for adults and children. The programme championed craft and making through various activities, including exhibitions, installations, theatre, film, workshops, seminars, lectures, demonstrations, makers making and a World Café party.
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There was also a series of open debates in craft practice, maker development and education, plus discussion and learning around making in general. All activities focused on taking participants into the mind of the maker and revealing the processes of making. This enabled participants to gain a better understanding of and appreciation for the value of hand-making and of individual creativity. Making Space organised and worked with four craft artists who went out and about in Hampshire in the lead up to the Making It event. The aim was to involve communities in the experience of taking part, handling materials, watching makers make, asking questions, reflecting and contributing to discussions.
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Another project strand awarded two emerging makers a years free studio space at Making Space. Alex Archbold and Deryn Relph were the two selected artists. As part of her award, Alex commissioned photographer and fellow Making Space tenant, Tracey McEachran, to create a short film about the processes she uses in her work. You can watch the film below.
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Alex Archbold from Tracey McEachran on Vimeo.
Making It Education
Making It Education was designed to enable pupils and teachers to work with basketry and ceramics and explore the value of learning through making. Pupils with disabilities from Osborne School in Winchester worked with basket maker Tim Johnson, and pupils from Hulbert School in Waterlooville worked with ceramicist Julian Belmonte.
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Making It Outreach
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Making It Outreach aimed to create making spaces in non-arts venues, to enable practical making and creative processes that could be experienced by different audiences. Knit designer Deryn Relph and Jeweller Sarah Macrae brought their studio practices into a public space to stimulate curiosity, conversations and exchange ideas. For the event, Sarah was based in Petersfield Library and Deryn was based at the Meridian Centre in Havant. All creative work made on the education strands of the project and various photographs were exhibited at City Space, Winchester Discovery Centre, as part of an exhibition.
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Below are three films made by Shedlight Productions about different aspects of the Making It project.
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A short film on Laura Ellen Bacon’s installation at the Discovery Centre as part of Making It:
Laura Bacon- In the thick of it: A Woven Space from Shedlight on Vimeo.
A short film on Tim Johnson and his project in Osborne School:
Tim Johnson – Making It from Shedlight on Vimeo.
A short film on Jeweller Sarah Macrae and her experience of making in a public space:
Making It Sarah Macrae from Shedlight on Vimeo.
7 x 7 Craft Awards
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In 2014, Making Space awarded 7 x £700 grants to makers who had aspirations to explore the boundaries of their practice. All successful applicants were keen to use their making skills to reveal the process of making, which in turn encouraged conversations and engaged audiences.
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The following makers received the awards and showed their work at the 2015 Making Space Open Studios:
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Go to www.makingitproject.com to learn more.
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