All Kinds of Hands

About

Offering new models for making which venture beyond individual vision, works by five artists from across the UK present sculpture as a means of engaging communities, welcoming alternative perspectives, and positioning art practice as a collaborative field. Pieces on display include object-based artworks, sculptural environments and site specific projects exhibited via documentation. The exhibition morphs the gallery from a place of silent contemplation into a space for making, talking, exploring and playing.

Five different approaches to involving people in the making process are embodied in each practice. Ellie Barrett uses the playgroup setting to facilitate intergenerational collaboration through exploring domestic craft materials. Nisha Duggal invites conversation through making and walking to encourage consideration of the relationship between belonging and landscape. Beata Podstawa works closely with her son in order to access her own imaginative view of the world. Assunta Ruocco offers a co-created space for making, activated by a workshop to share collaborative creative methods developed with her daughter Lou. Sarah Ryder works with children to create a reconfigurable setting for explorative play, presenting sculpture as fluctuating and changeable. All of these approaches are directly concerned with increasing public access to art making, involving different voices in shaping works of sculpture, and considering shared experiences - such as playing, drawing, walking and talking - as existing ways of producing.

Working with children is a recurring theme. Children offer a view of the world which emphasises tactility and curiosity. Some of the artists bring their own children into the making process as ongoing collaborators, meaningfully developing the works by accessing childhood perspectives. Others involve larger groups of children, overlapping sculpture making with opportunities for creative learning. These approaches position the child as a source of knowledge, as well as offer practical solutions towards deconstructing barriers experienced by artist-parents - especially mothers - when accessing time and space to make work.

Though the exhibition brings together artists from across the UK, there is an emphasis on Lancashire as a region related to democratic making and artisanal craft, especially in connection with its history of textiles production. Two of the artists are based in the county (Ellie Barrett and Beata Podstawa), and another of the works (Nisha Duggal’s Held) was made by residents of East Lancashire, installed permanently on Pendle Hill. These artists are joined by those based in other regions (Nisha Duggal, Assunta Ruocco and Sarah Ryder), bringing topical discussions related to widening public participation in visual art via making to Lancashire. 

This exhibition is part of a larger research project funded by Arts Council England, exploring co-production as a method for making sculpture. The project ends with a symposium at Morecambe Library on Saturday, 6th September. This event will include a panel discussion with the exhibiting artists, as well as speakers on this topic from across the UK towards sharing new models and approaches to engaging communities via sculpture making. More information to come.

FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKSHOPS:

ASSUNTA AND LOU’S AFTER SCHOOL ART CLUB
Saturday 3rd May, 12 - 1pm

Assunta and Lou’s After School Art Club is a mobile, participatory studio designed for intergenerational art collaboration, led by artist Assunta Ruocco and her 9-year-old daughter, Lou. This workshop activates the sculpture displayed in the exhibition, creating a cosy and creative space in the gallery. 

Children and their parents or carers can relax, have fun, and make art together. Using a combination of traditional art materials and simple digital technology, including a digital printer-copier, Assunta and Lou share methods developed through their five-year collaboration. By layering interventions with different media, they encourage playful experimentation and co-creation. Their workshops are designed to be welcoming, low-pressure, and inspiring—helping families connect through the joy of making art.

FAMILY FRIENDLY CURATOR’S TOUR
Saturday 10th May, 12 - 1pm

Discover more about the artists and artworks on display with artist and curator Ellie Barrett. Ellie will talk about how each of the works in the exhibition were made with an emphasis on children’s contributions. This event especially welcomes young children and babies, offering opportunities to explore some of the works via play.