Conversations with makers: Rob Anderson
I recently worked with Rob as part of Ambiguous Implements – a cross discipline exhibition that presents a collection of contemporary works that playfully reconsider the familiar objects of our day to day domestic life. I chaired a discussion at the Ambiguous Implements symposium featuring emerging makers, where we discussed strategies for developing and sustaining your career. I was suprised by how honest Rob is about his making practice, and the material-led methodology for making that he has evolved. I wanted to find out more about this process so caught up with him at Sheffield Institute of Arts where he is doing an MA in Jewellery and Metalwork.
Conversations with makers: Rachel Jones-Jones
I first met Rachel at the 3rd year work in progress show and was immediately taken by her project on failure and risk taking. I invited her to be part of the Makers & Tools project last year, and was thrilled by her engagement with the concept despite the demands of finishing her final year collection. Since then we’ve shared some excellent disucssions about the nature of making and our creative practices. In this conversation I caught up with her during her first term as Artist in Residence and we discussed what it’s like taking those first steps post-graduation, what it means if you’re not making and coping with failure.
Conversations with makers: Charlie Birtles
I met Charlie at New Designers One Year On this year, although I have been a secret admirer of her work for a while now. Something in her work, with its focus on ordinary objects and a meticulous approach to making, made me feel that she might be a kindred spirit, and I was eager to ask her more about her process and her relationship to found objects. I’ve recently started to question my own found object making practice and have discovered talking to other makers who work in a similar way illuminating for my inquiry. We met in Charlie’s studio, surrounded by her finds and her work. We chatted about her process of thinking through making, the joy of finding ordinary objects with a unique beauty and our shared loathing to change them in any way…
Conversations with makers: Lena Peters
Conversations with Makers is a new series on the blog. As part of my work I regularly meet makers to discuss their creative practices and I always find the conversations insightful and inspiring. I thought maybe you would too. The act of articulating your work, to another person, regularly, is something we often overlook but which is vital if we are to remain critically engaged with what we do. Discussing your work, but also hearing other people talk about their work, helps the thinking behind the making no end. So, once a month, I will share a conversation I have had with a maker. First up – Lena Peters…