This week saw me attend the Design Factory Speed Collaboration meeting in readiness for the second Synchronise exhibition.
In 2105 the
Design Factory
will celebrate its 10th Birthday and what better way than to launch
another collaboration opportunity and encourage as many of our members
as possible to take part
in it. The
second Synchronise exhibition will take place in the Roof Gallery at the
National Centre for Craft & Design at Sleaford
during July-August of next year.
In addition to
this year-long collaborative project there will be the opportunity for a number of
'mini collaborations' running for about 4 weeks, where members names will be picked out of a hat.
Synchronise was an initiative launched
by Design Factory and the National Centre for Craft & Design in
2012. The project challenged members of the Design Factory to team up and produce a new collabor-ative body of work which was exhibited
at the NCCD. Synchronise was more than an exhibition; it acted as a
catalyst for new
ways of working and skill sharing. I certainly gained
an insight into how other artists work. My collaboration was with mixed media ceramacist Samantha Robinson and Paper Lighting Specialist Sharyn Dunn.
Those that took part
approached collaboration in a variety of different ways, including
'swapping' materials or influences, learning skills from a partner,
producing work of a different scale or making work that was more
commercial/conceptual than the work normally produced
For myself, I was finally able to produce a large scale piece of work. This trio of panels is currently being exhibited at Walford Mill Gallery in Wimbourne until 18th May 2014.
Last
year I feel in some ways I took the easy option by choosing two makers
that I have worked with before either in collaboration or organizing group exhibitions. This time with the "Speed Collaboration" meeting organized
I was able to chat to other Design Factory makers which will give me
the opportunity to choose someone I haven't worked with before.
