Hothouse 2011 Crafts Council UK - via the Design Initiative

Design Initiative

It is now official, (see above), as opposed to when I blurted out the news at the end of the June - (please read here).

I am extremely grateful to have been offered this amazing opportunity, and very much looking forward to the induction day in London next week.

I have been selected for the Hothouse 2011 North cohort, but there is also a South West Textiles and a Goldsmiths' Institute Cohort.

Jane Dzisiewski - Crafts Council Hothouse 2011 North Cohort

Full list of all the Crafts Council UK Hohouse 2011 participants with links where applicable:

Amy Bear, Aimee Betts, Eleanor Bolton, Emma Bradbury, Kevin Brook, Hannah Felicity Dennis, Jane Dzisiewski, Amelia Fever, Lucy Jane Foakes, Helen Foot, Jasmin Giles, Anna Glasbrook, Mahtab Hanna, Zehava Hashai-Spellman, Tortie Hoare, Anna Collette Hunt, Zoe Lloyd, Hanna Nielsen, Elizabeth Peers, Carly Petit-Taylor, Helen Smith, Rhian Solomon, Thorody, Ellen Thomas, Victoria Walker, Sarah Warsop and Janice Zethraeus.
 

Moulds, Resin Blocks and Bangles

It was out with the silicone again this week to make a new mould based on drawings of the Jaume Plensa exhibit at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I also made new moulds from a couple of bangles and got started on pieces for both the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Designers Eclectic at Manchester Craft & Design Centre.

Masters fixed in place within plastic boxes

My able assistant, (my son Freddy), mixing the silicone and the catalyst together.

In goes the silicone and wait 24 hours for this to cure...

...leaving plenty of time to now walk Bonny, who was completely
underwhelmed with this whole process.

24 hours later, Freddy was given the task of choosing a painting on which to base the colours.

He selected a painting by Edouard Vuillard, and all the colours mixed to make the bangles
were inspired by the painting on the front cover of the book.

This is where my training as a textile designer comes in very handy, using the pastes
to make resin colours in a similar way one would as if they were paints.

The aftermath.

Hopefully we'll get some decent weather next week, so that I can get outside and sand and polish all of the above.

Crafts Council UK - Hothouse Programme 2011

It appears that the craft gods are smiling on me this week. I have been hovering around my inbox for days, and happily for me, when that email came from Crafts Council UK yesterday, it was one containing good news. Therefore I can announce, (and with considerable excitement I might add), from September 2011 until March 2012, I will be taking part in the Hothouse 2011 programme.

In its second year, Hothouse is an initiative run by Crafts Council UK, (with selected partners), which aims to support emerging makers. Last years collective were a very impressive bunch, so I feel extremely honoured to have been chosen. They are all presently working on a joint exhibition of their work, which will take place at Pitzhanger Manor House, Ealing - Portraits in the making (21st Sep - 12th Nov 2011), curated by Greg Parsons. There are seventeen makers in total from different disciplines, all exploring the process of making, in response to Pitzhanger Manor. They are recording their respective journeys on a blog, and you can also follow Hothouse 2010 on Facebook and Twitter.