10 - 16 June

Nottingham based installation artist (and CRUISER founder member) Chris Lewis-Jones has been working with teachers and Y5 pupils from Clarice Cliff School in Stoke-on-Trent, MA Critical Education students from Keele University, and photographer Eleanor Babb to explore the idea of ‘travelling hopefully’ across media, regions and curricular areas. During the past year the participants have undertaken a series of journeys…around the classroom, around the school, from the school to Fenton, Fenton Moor, Hanley, The Potteries Museum, airspace Gallery and Nottingham Contemporary (where Chris works as an Associate Artist). In addition, teachers and MA students took part in an intense ‘dialogue as practice’ project with Chris at Burselm School of Art and (with teachers form across Staffordshire) at Clarice Cliff, as part of the ‘Vision 2010’ creative learning festival. The project was commissioned by Wayne Thexton of PICL (Partners in Creative Learning, formerly C.P. Stoke-on-Trent).

Cruiser is ‘a network of artists who travel hopefully’ and the participants have certainly travelled hopefully with Chris, trekking across fields and moors, suburban estates, towns and cities. They have produced a series of maps, collages, montages, photographs, poems and assemblages that are a record of their hopeful journeys, all of which were thoroughly enjoyable (though the trip to Nottingham Contemporary was the most popular and the trip to Fenton Moor the most challenging)! The residency will culminate in an exhibition at airspace gallery