Interesting projects!

Hello again, a quick update from the Transporter Project with a list of projects and websites which you may be interested in....

A great community project building a greenhouse from plastic bottles
http://www.the4csne.com/greenhouse.html

Go back to basics and make your own book!
http://theresaeaston.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/print-book-making-36-lime-street/

Uniting new and old technologies, Yvette Hawkins and Susannah Pickering - whose work incorporates books, poetry and traditional crafts - will start a poem thread on Twitter with clothing as the central theme.
http://www.bookapothecary.co.uk/#!blog/cs0g

An interesting article about sustainability
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2013/mar/18/environment-reporting-arts-council-sustainability

Northeast Permaculture - Since January 2005, permaculture activists throughout the Northeast have been meeting and actively creating a network for mutually supporting each other and advancing permaculture solutions among the wider public in our area
http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/

A link to a great project one of our Newcastle University Fine art students recently attended
http://www.felinuchaf.org/

Enjoy the Easter Weekend!
Transporter Project

Newcastle University 'Strand' Project

We are working with 15 Newcastle University 2nd yr Fine Art students as part of our creative exchange element of the Transporter project. The 'Strand' project, which runs alongside the students studio practice, allows us to share information, knowledge and skills learnt during our time in Peru and Berlin (as well as the developments within our arts practices), with the students to help them develop ideas and new skills.

They’ve had some great ideas and are inspiring us with new ideas too- we are encouraging the students to learn a new skill or develop a body of research on a new area during the Strand. They are responding well to this and some are integrating the project into their studio practice as they discover a new interest or area they wish to work in.

We are uploading images of the students work onto our flickr photostream so please have a look and comment to give them feedback on their ideas so far! http://www.flickr.com/photos/transporterproject/sets/72157633054505042/ Any signposts to artists, books etc to help them with their research is welcomed too!

The Student project aims and learning outcomes are - 

•Develop an understanding of different crafts and skills, what role they play in cultural heritage and whether they can inspire contemporary art

•Gain a greater understanding of other art forms

•Experiment and collaborate with other artists/peers.

•Learn, share skills in arts and crafts such as weaving, paper making, pottery, woodwork etc

•Learn new ways of seeing and doing through cultural exchange and researching their own cultural heritage

•Understand issues surrounding sustaining local and international traditional art forms and cultures

•Develop understanding of sustainable arts practise and broader environmental issues

•Question and explore their relationship to their environment.

•Self direct their studies and research

•Group work and critical feedback

•Create a body of research, ideas and experiments which explore new ground for the student

•Create a ‘resolved’ new art work/design/prototype (either individually or collaboratively) for public showing.

SOAPBOX at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts

We were recently invited to deliver a talk at Baltic as part of the programme for The Encampment of Eternal Hope, which is a major new sculptural installation by Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich. The exhibition 'extends their enquiry into the role of art as an active agent for transformation in society.  Taking apocalyptic predictions for 21 December 2012, the end date for the Mayan Calendar, as an imaginative catalyst, the project envisages a post-apocalyptic utopian community, a kind of ‘garden of earthly delights’.

Our talk was part of Soapbox events where 'diggers, dreamers, survivalists, optimists, pessimists, slackers, thinkers, doers, creatives, philosophisers, alternative life stylers, environmentalists, freeganers..... could step up on The Encampment of Eternal Hope Soap Box and help shape a better world.' People could voice their opinions, demonstrate a survival skill, create an event, speak, sing, perform or meditate to show how can we live in a better way with our environment and our fellow beings.

SO... we decided to talk about the Transporter project and invited people to answer questions to contribute to our research. We also had a discussion with the audience after our presentation which was really interesting and covered subjects which ranged from; guerrilla gardening, the disconnection of man and nature and specifically the waste which artists create when making work and whether pieces/materials should be reused/remade in an effort to be more sustainable. We also discussed up-cycling waste materials and whether it is more interesting to try and recreate something which disguises the materials' former use (such as creating something using plastic bottles which doesn't scream 'plastic bottle sculpture') and also the boundary between a functional object, craft and art.

Here is a copy of our soapbox script! We'd also invite you to comment on the blog post with your answers to the questions at the end...

'We are here today, not because we know much about Mayan culture or that we believe the world will end on the 21st December but that we are interested in the Encampment project and how it is highlighting different, creative ways of living and questioning how connected we feel to the world, Mother Nature and the environment. The idea of being more ‘in tune’ with the world around us and being more resourceful is something that appeals to us and connects to our philosophies we have currently been developing within our own art work.

In 2010 we had a discussion about the fact that, although we called ourselves artists, and sculptors, we hadn’t crafted or made anything with our hands for a very long time. We decided that we wanted to learn more about making, working with materials and being more resourceful. We wanted to learn and improve as artists and share these skills and knowledge with others- the way it used to be in cultures when stories, skills and crafts were passed from one generation to the next. It is this interest in getting back to basics, valuing tradition, learned art forms, being resourceful by working with the environment around us that has led to the development of our TRANSPORTER project.

TRANSPORTER is a multi cultural creative project and involves the exchanging and transporting of creative skills, ideas and crafts. It aims to highlight the idea of sustainable arts practise, looking at people’s relationship to their environment and the value of cultural heritage. As part of our research in 2011 we worked at an eco village in Northern Peru and learn traditional craft and building skills. In 2012 we worked in an art waste resource centre in Berlin and made art using only scrap materials.

At this stage, the Transporter project is covering broad subject matter of sustainability, the environment and traditional skills and knowledge which will be further defined and explored as the project and the artist’s interests develop. Transporter has its own blog and flickr websites as a Knowledge Bank to document the skills, crafts and ideas discovered by the project so far- anyone can access this. Sessions are delivered with universities, groups and other artists as a way to pass on knowledge and skills learnt whilst developing the artists. 

As further research for Transporter we’d like to ask you some questions which will help us gain insight into your point of view on creativity, resourcefulness and waste. It would be great if you could take part by answering the questions on the wall. Maybe the 21st December could mark the beginning of a more sustainable, thoughtful and resourceful era rather than the end of the world!'

QUESTIONS:

How resourceful do you think you are on a scale 1-6?

What have you reused/up-cycled recently instead of throwing out - and what was its new function? What was the last thing you made with your hands and your imagination?
What do you throw away the most of?

CREATIVE EXCHANGE @ HIGHGREEN, TARSET Part 2

 

 CREATIVE EXCHANGE @ HIGHGREEN, TARSET : EXPLORING CRAFT, CULTURE & THE ENVIRONMENT

As part of the TRANSPORTER project, artists and curators Suzanne Hutton and Sam Taylor will be facilitating a second skill sharing and making workshop on Saturday 3rd November 2012, 10-4pm which explores how contemporary art can be developed from traditional skills and craft and through the reusing of waste or discarded materials, looking at the theme of sustainability.

Sam and Suzanne will talk about the Transporter project, highlighting their recent artist residency at Kunst Stoffe in Berlin, an arts resource centre dedicated to an artistic, aesthetic and sociological exploration of reusing waste and discarded materials and presenting their current practice as a result of this residency.

Participants will share their own skills and develop new work in the peaceful surroundings of Highgreen. We encourage you to bring your own waste materials and something to the session so that we can learn from you too! This could be an idea or a material you are currently working with or a piece of work to show others. The aim of the session is to develop your own creative practice by working with new materials or pushing your current ideas about craft and art.

Note: Some materials will be provided. Refreshments will be provided but please bring lunch.
Car share is available from Newcastle/Gateshead –please just ask!

FREE but booking essential TO BOOK: Email suzanne.hutton@gmail.com or call Suzanne on 07900 147628 or call Janet (VARC) on 01434 240822
TRANSPORTER was devised by artists Suzanne Hutton and Sam Taylor as a way to learn and improve as artists whilst sharing skills and knowledge with others- it looks across wide subject areas such as sustainability, the environment, craft/skills and how these differ and compare across cultures. The project will develop as the artists develop. Transporter has its own blog and flickr websites which document the skills, crafts and ideas discovered by the project so far: www.transporterproject.blogspot.com | www.flickr.com/photos/67813410@N05/sets/

The Transporter project is supported by Arts Council England.
This workshop is held in association with VARC (Visual Arts in Rural Communities) and with thanks also to Highgreen Estate for providing the venue.

Invitation/Press Release to our Exhibition opening as part of the Kunst Stoffe AiR programme...

Waste and Habits
Thursday | 20 September 2012 | 7pm
Opening hours 21-25th September, 11am-6pm
Museum Lichtenberg in the Town House - Victorian Kitchen Gallery | Türrschmidtstr. 24 | 10317 Berlin | S Nöldnerplatz

Kunst Stoffe presents the third exhibition of this year's artists-in-residence programme
The two artists Samantha Taylor and Suzanne Hutton from the UK to explore the potential of reuse, revise and re-presentation of everyday materials. They create models and prototypes, exclusively using materials from the Kunst Stoffe materials warehouse. Their resulting prototypes for urban landscapes, shelters, seating and contemplative spaces aim to investigate the possible and impossible harmony between the natural and the man-environment.

For more information see Kunst Stoffe website and see exhibition images here

Our first week in Berlin....

We have been in residence at Kunst Stoffe for a week now and already feel inspired by the urban landscape, history of the different districts and the general relaxed attitude to life here. We are staying in Prenzlauer Berg and so far have visited the Bauhaus Museum, East Side Gallery (Berlin Wall), taken part in various workshops relating to reusing materials and preserving our environment as well as spending time taking in architecture and public art by bicycle.

  

When not exploring the city, we have been in the studio creating models and prototypes for various ideas which make links between Berlin and Peru. We are creating a large dome shaped sculpture out of discarded plastic, woven posters and billboard papers and an accompanying sound piece  The piece could be transported to different urban spaces where the viewer can take time out of the city underneath its canopy and listen to the orchestral sounds from the diverse nature in Peru. It is very exciting for us to realise ideas during this residency in Kunst Stoffe for sculptures and installation which were originally conceived in Peru. The interesting aspect is that the piece will (hopefully) have resonance and meaning for both places but for different reasons.

 Our artwork is all being created using the material supplied by Kunst Stoffe#s waste centre and its many rooms filled with everything from plastic toy parts and old jigsaws, to huge reams of paper, wood/metal/cloth and tile rooms filled to the brim and an abundance of electrical and domestic items. The centre is open to the public to purchase materials which are privately donated or received from large companies locally.

 We are exploring the link between nature and the urban environment and the point at which these two co-exist and will be looking to the architecture of Berlin, and its unusually high amount of green spaces (for an urban centre) and creating artwork that reflects this. We are interested in the idea of valuing the handmade, tactile approach to art making and being resourceful in order to highlight ideas around sustainability and what it means to be ‘connected’ to your environment.

Recycling is a normal part of daily life in Berlin rather than an afterthought or a 'chore' and the city has a feeling of resourcefulness and creativity that you don't necessarily see elsewhere; quirky cafes using hay bails as seating, large scale graffiti that are regarded as artwork rather than spoiling the landscape or beach cafes on top of buildings.  This could be due to the high quantity of artists, as there are disused buildings full of studios in abundance and it feels like everyone is always doing something or there is always events/festivals happening not too far away.

SEE OUR FLICKR SITE FOR MORE IMAGES...

CREATIVE EXCHANGE @ HIGHGREEN, TARSET on 18th Aug

We had a great group of artists attend our Creative Exchange session (see flyer below). 

The morning was spent discussing our various interests and practices along with a presentation of our Transporter project so far and ideas linked to our residency in Peru. Topics covered; the connection we have to nature, the teaching of skills and crafts down generations and subverting crafts techniques to create contemporary art to comment on modern living. We had an interesting range of artists attend the session including text based, environmental and a felt artist. The afternoon was filled with creative activity and making; some collaborated to make spontaneous works outside, many working with materials or techniques not previously tried. It has been encouraging for us to discover the strong interest in sustainable arts practices and meet other artists who are already exploring this area in their work. The time flew by and as often with sessions such as this, it would have been great to have longer but here are some images to give a taster of what happened....(to see more go to our FlickR site)

'It was so nice to have uninterrupted time to listen and talk with creative people. I came away feeling very inspired by the people and  the wonderful setting...'

CREATIVE EXCHANGE @ HIGHGREEN, TARSET:
EXPLORING CRAFT, CULTURE & THE ENVIRONMENT

As part of the TRANSPORTER project, we will be facilitating a skill sharing and making workshop on Saturday 18^th August, 10-4pm which explores how contemporary art can be developed from traditional skills and craft and through the reusing of waste or discarded materials, looking at the theme of sustainability.

We will talk about the Transporter project, highlighting research gathered so far on crafts and heritage from the UK, China, Guyana, Kenya and Peru and showcase some of their artwork. The rest of the day will allow participants to share their own skills and develop new work in the peaceful surroundings of Highgreen. We encourage you to bring something to the session so that we can learn from you too! This could be an idea or a material you are currently working with or a piece of work to show others. The aim of the session is to develop your own creative practice by working with new materials or pushing your current ideas about craft and art.

Note: Some materials will be provided such as clay, weaving materials and scrap. Refreshments will be provided but please bring lunch. Car share is available from Newcastle/Gateshead –please just ask!

FREE but booking essential TO BOOK: Email suzanne.hutton@gmail.com or call Suzanne on 07900 147628 or call Janet (VARC) on 01434 240822

                                                  

This workshop is funded by Arts Council England and held in association with VARC (Visual Arts in Rural Communities) and with thanks also to Highgreen Estate for providing the venue.