The Art of the Maker Series (2021-2022)
In collaboration with Arnolfini, Bristol, we are launching an exciting series of lectures and events.
We will be starting the series with a round table discussion exploring:
The Art School Tradition in the 21st Century.
18th March 2021, 5pm – 6.15pm (online)
Recorded discussion – catch up here
The panel will be chaired by Carinna Parraman (Professor of Design, Colour and Print, Director Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE). Speakers include Jacq Butler (Head of School of Art and Design, Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, UWE Bristol), Steve Hoskins (Professor of Fine Print, CFPR, UWE), Teresa Dillon (Professor of City Futures, UWE) and Christine Howes (Spike Print Studio).
The panel will discuss life after art school, practice and resilience as a maker, exploring creative practice and tacit knowledge, and address the question: what are the skills practitioners need to learn to survive and flourish in the 21st century?
The Art of the Maker Student Symposium – Sustainability and Resilience for Studio-Based Practice and Practice-Based Research.
Monday 22nd March and Thursday 25th March 2021 (online)
The Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR) at UWE, Bristol in collaboration with The Art of the Maker events presents a student symposium. UWE students are invited to come along and to learn about recent artworks, ideas and processes from recent graduates to doctoral students’ projects. Find out more here.
If you would like to attend this free event as a UWE student or alumni please contact Sarah.Bodman@uwe.ac.uk
The Art of the Maker – Craft, Design and Technology in the 21st Century
Thurs 6 May 2021, 5-6pm
Recorded discussion – catch up here
Presented by Carinna Parraman (Professor of Design, Colour and Print, Director of the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE)
Invention, innovation and insight are keywords for any technologist, designer and maker. In the twenty‐first century, a wealth of new and emerging materials, alongside digital methods for the manufacture of products and services are transforming and enhancing our lives. But there are also the age-old techniques and crafts traditions that demonstrate fundamental benchmarks in material culture that are the foundation for high-quality printing and fabrication today and in the future. Exploring the future of printing and fabrication, new ways of thinking and working, alongside traditional methods of making, Carinna will be exploring the shifting field of Homo Faber and the human condition, and how digital technologies are transforming craft and design.
Practitioners in Conversation
A series of practitioners-in-conversation from different backgrounds will talk about their research skills and tools but from very different perspectives. This might include sharing examples of what they have made, finding cross-overs between their practice or work, or issues they have encountered. These talks will be led by senior academics from the CFPR and UWE Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education.
Thurs 13 May 2021: Printed Poetry Project
with Steven Fowler and Angie Butler
Details here
Thurs 20 May 2021: Make, Do and Mend:
with Stephanie Wooster, Senior Lecturer in Knit and Stitch, Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, UWE Bristol
and Angie Butler, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Fine Print Research, Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, UWE Bristol
Recorded discussion – catch up here
Special Artist Talk by Alice Channer
Wed 17 Nov 2021, 19:30 to 21:00, Arnolfini Theatre, Bristol
Details here
Alice Channer (b. 1977) is a London-based artist working with sculpture who has exhibited internationally for the past 15 years. Over long periods of time, she immerses herself in industrial and natural materials and production processes to find forms to inspire new art works.
In this talk, Channer will use words, images and objects to talk about her first public sculpture, Nanowires, commissioned for the new Engineering Building at The University of the West of England, curated and produced by Field Art Projects. The artist will describe the processes of exchange, collaboration, endeavour and imagination that built the sculpture. The talk will discuss Nanowires in the context of her wider practice and the politics of materiality she has been articulating in recent work, especially her commission for Artangel, Lethality and Vulnerability; her work for Liverpool Biennial 2021, and her solo show Megaflora at Large Glass, London (all 2021).
Coming up for Air: Stephen Gill and Gary Topp in Conversation
Thurs 2 Dec 2021, 19:00, Arnolfini Theatre, Bristol
Details here
Accompanying his current retrospective at the Arnolfini, Stephen Gill joins us for an intimate, revealing and entertaining journey through his extraordinary 35 year long career and the making of Coming up for Air with the show’s curator and Director of Arnolfini, Gary Topp.
Sharing the experience of bringing this major exhibition to life, the conversation will be aminated by images from Gill’s extensive portfolio – many of which appear in the retrospective or its 624 page accompanying catalogue – and an opportunity for audiences to utilise their own curiosity in asking questions of Gill.
Guests will have the opportunity to visit the exhibition in advance of the talk with the galleries remaining open until 7pm.
Special screening of new work Lumen by Sutapa Biswas
Thurs 10 Feb 2022, 19:00, Arnolfini Theatre, Bristol
Details here
For the first Art of the Maker talk of 2022, Arnolfini is delighted to welcome Sutapa Biswas for a special screening of her new work Lumen.
Having previously exhibited at Arnolfini in the 1990s, artist Sutapa Biswas was invited to participate in Arnolfini’s 60th anniversary programme. The resulting exhibition is currently on display, details here. This event, however, will focus on Biswas’ major new film commission, Lumen, which links together the emigration of the artist’s family from India to Britain, with the colonial legacies shared by the two countries. Drawing on archival footage, newly shot material, and a central dramatic monologue, Biswas has described the film as ‘trying to understand the taste of what is left in the lives of people who are disenfranchised because of imperial histories’. The event will include a special screening of Lumen, followed by an in-conversation with the artist.
Sutapa Biswas (b. 1962), is a British Indian artist, whose work is recognised nationally and internationally. Her art engages with questions of identity, race and gender in relation to time, space and history. Inspired by oral histories, literature and art history, she is particularly interested in the ways in which larger historical narratives collide with personal narratives.
Paula Rego’s Printmaking
Thurs 7 April 2022, 19:00, Arnolfini Theatre, Bristol
Details here
Carinna Parraman will be in conversation with artist Paul Coldwell on the role of printmaking within the work of Paula Rego and in particular her approach to etching. Coldwell worked with Rego on all etchings between 1986 to 2005 which included The Nursery Rhymes, Peter Pan, The Children’s Crusade and Untitled (Abortion Series) and through this has a unique insight into how these prints came into being.
The talk will explore broad themes around Rego’s prints including, her use of colour and their relationship to graphic traditions.
Florence Peake- discussion with Nicoletta Lambertucci
18th November, 18:30 – Arnolfini Theatre, Bristol
Artist Florence Peake discusses her work and inclusion in the ninth iteration of the British Art Show. With Nicoletta Lambertucci from The Box, Plymouth, where British Art Show 9 is on display until 8 January, 2023.
Join in with our creative challenges!
Let’s talk tools! #letstalktools
We want to know what tools you use in your practice. Continuing from the #letstalktools project co-ordinated by Sofie Boons and Tom McDonagh, we invite you to join in and share your three work tools of choice! Tag us with your images on Instagram (@cfpr_research) or Twitter (@cfprresearch) and #letstalktools.
How I Work #howiwork
Sofie Boons challenged the team to produce a short ‘Manual/Recipe/How To/Formula’ of their research/work. Find out more here and join in by sharing an image of how you work. Tag us on Instagram (@cfpr_research) or Twitter (@cfprresearch) and #howiwork.
This series is inspired by Sir Peter Blake’s Portfolio The Ways of Making. Find out more here and here.
We will be adding more events and talks, so please keep checking here for updates.
