HOUSE OF OCTAVERSILIA
INSIDEOUTSIDEHOUSE
4 – 26 AUGUST, 2021
HOUSE OF OCTAVERSILIA is a practical, creative and working 4-week artist residency at AirSpace Gallery, leading to a finished artwork / installation which will form a central part of USE AND ORNAMENT - a group exhibition - our partner activity with the British Ceramics Biennial, 2021. The residency will see Artist Collective INSIDEOUTSIDEHOUSE working with local community groups, AirSpace studio artists and members of the general public to co-create the final installation.
The residency will draw on these texts, together with a gathering of memories, hopes, ideas and dreams from our participatory workshops, generated through making with diverse materials, objects, conversations, creative writing, film and sound.
This approach will also enable the re-use, reclaiming and re-imagining of the materials we hold around us in the everyday. In this way, our proposal thematically connects with the residency themes; recovery, respite and refuge, alchemical processes, a space for encounter, the future city.
InsideOutsideHouse aim to create an installation of an imagined space of hopes, ideas and dreams for the people of Stoke, populated with figures, sound and projection.
WORKSHOP ACTIVITY
12, 13, 17, 19 & 25 AUGUST, 2021
(Contact AirSpace for details of how to join in)
PART ONE - creative workshops in two parts, using clay, textiles, wood, shadow projection, archive materials, objects and creative writing processes
PART TWO - audio workshops, to generate recordings of creative writing and voice, which would become part of a layered soundscape to be integrated into the final exhibition
PART THREE - Rounding up
INSIDEOUTSIDEHOUSE
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
JENNA C. ASHTON
is an artist and curator, and Lecturer in Heritage Studies, at the Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester. Jenna's research contributes to evolving social practice and creative methods within "heritage studies" theory and practice, for addressing social and ecological (in)justice.
WEBSITE
@heritagemcr
ALISON DUDDLE
is a freelance artist, puppet and mask theatre maker and director. She enjoys telling stories in clay, wood and papier-mache, working in theatre, parades, exhibitions, for films and for festivals. Alison has a performance company called A Bird in the Hand Theatre, creating visual theatre work for family audiences. She was previously joint Artistic Director of Horse + Bamboo Theatre. Alison has extensive public workshop experience.
WEBSITE
@alison_duddle
ALICE KETTLE
is an artist working with stitched textiles. She is Professor in Textile Arts at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University. She is also Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester and Chair of the Embroiderers Guild. Her work is represented in various public collections including the Crafts Council London, the Whitworth in Manchester, Museo Internationale delle Arti Applicate Oggi,Turin, Italy, Museum of Decorative Art and Design, Riga, Latvia.
WEBSITE
@alicekettle
ELEANOR MULHEARN
is an artist working with diverse combinations of materials, though principally ceramics, to create figurative works at miniature scale, often combined with moving image and sound. Eleanor is also a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Illustration / Animation at the Manchester School of Art. Eleanor has experience in running workshops in narrative generation, using clay and animation. Eleanor worked as a designer from 2000 until around 2015, since when she re-focused her practice into exhibitions / screenings.
WEBSITE
@eleanor_mulhearn
note: OCTAVERSILIA is a portmanteau - an invented name derived from two imagined cities - Octavia and Ersilia found in Italo Calvino texts from the novel, Invisible Cities. OCTAVERSILIA alludes to multi-stranded concerns around fragility, repair, ecology, change, movement and travel…
The residency will draw on these texts, together with a gathering of memories, hopes, ideas and dreams from our participatory workshops, generated through making with diverse materials, objects, conversations, creative writing, film and sound.
This approach will also enable the re-use, reclaiming and re-imagining of the materials we hold around us in the everyday. In this way, our proposal thematically connects with the residency themes; recovery, respite and refuge, alchemical processes, a space for encounter, the future city.
InsideOutsideHouse aim to create an installation of an imagined space of hopes, ideas and dreams for the people of Stoke, populated with figures, sound and projection.
WORKSHOP ACTIVITY
12, 13, 17, 19 & 25 AUGUST, 2021
(Contact AirSpace for details of how to join in)
PART ONE - creative workshops in two parts, using clay, textiles, wood, shadow projection, archive materials, objects and creative writing processes
WORLD WITHIN WORLDS PART 1: Past and present
person, place, memory, spirit
12 August, 11am-4pm
Making: clay, textiles, wood, projection, with conversations.
WORLD WITHIN WORLDS PART 2: Futures
hopes, ideas, dreams, spirit
13 August, 11am-4pm
Writing: Conversations and creative writing processes and production, inspired by Italo Calvino texts from Invisible Cities (1972) and community contributions.
Conclude: with a mini-installation of the work produced across the two workshops.
person, place, memory, spirit
12 August, 11am-4pm
Making: clay, textiles, wood, projection, with conversations.
WORLD WITHIN WORLDS PART 2: Futures
hopes, ideas, dreams, spirit
13 August, 11am-4pm
Writing: Conversations and creative writing processes and production, inspired by Italo Calvino texts from Invisible Cities (1972) and community contributions.
Conclude: with a mini-installation of the work produced across the two workshops.
PART TWO - audio workshops, to generate recordings of creative writing and voice, which would become part of a layered soundscape to be integrated into the final exhibition
SOUNDSCAPE 1
spoken word development / creative writing
17 August: 11am-3pm
SOUNDSCAPE 2
audio recording (am) and field recording (pm)
19 August: 11am-4pm
spoken word development / creative writing
17 August: 11am-3pm
SOUNDSCAPE 2
audio recording (am) and field recording (pm)
19 August: 11am-4pm
PART THREE - Rounding up
ARTIST CONVERSATION
25 August, 11am-12pm
a one hour session in the final week of the residency, a live discussion of the work in progress and exploration of how the making of the whole work is developing, by sharing material practices and approaches that are emerging through the collective, together with the community participatory work.
25 August, 11am-12pm
a one hour session in the final week of the residency, a live discussion of the work in progress and exploration of how the making of the whole work is developing, by sharing material practices and approaches that are emerging through the collective, together with the community participatory work.
INSIDEOUTSIDEHOUSE
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
JENNA C. ASHTON
is an artist and curator, and Lecturer in Heritage Studies, at the Institute for Cultural Practices, University of Manchester. Jenna's research contributes to evolving social practice and creative methods within "heritage studies" theory and practice, for addressing social and ecological (in)justice.
WEBSITE
@heritagemcr
ALISON DUDDLE
is a freelance artist, puppet and mask theatre maker and director. She enjoys telling stories in clay, wood and papier-mache, working in theatre, parades, exhibitions, for films and for festivals. Alison has a performance company called A Bird in the Hand Theatre, creating visual theatre work for family audiences. She was previously joint Artistic Director of Horse + Bamboo Theatre. Alison has extensive public workshop experience.
WEBSITE
@alison_duddle
ALICE KETTLE
is an artist working with stitched textiles. She is Professor in Textile Arts at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University. She is also Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester and Chair of the Embroiderers Guild. Her work is represented in various public collections including the Crafts Council London, the Whitworth in Manchester, Museo Internationale delle Arti Applicate Oggi,Turin, Italy, Museum of Decorative Art and Design, Riga, Latvia.
WEBSITE
@alicekettle
ELEANOR MULHEARN
is an artist working with diverse combinations of materials, though principally ceramics, to create figurative works at miniature scale, often combined with moving image and sound. Eleanor is also a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Illustration / Animation at the Manchester School of Art. Eleanor has experience in running workshops in narrative generation, using clay and animation. Eleanor worked as a designer from 2000 until around 2015, since when she re-focused her practice into exhibitions / screenings.
WEBSITE
@eleanor_mulhearn
