ABOUT NEWS THE TEAM RESIDENCIES TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH CONTACT
 
ABOUT  
 

SUMMARY
Makers Using Technology is an artist residency programme enabling artists to extend their practice through the use of industrial level technologies. As of Summer 2015, eight artists have gone through the process.


Six applied and fine artists have been selected and commissioned to create new work using haptic modeling software and additive manufacturing/ 3D printing. The artists are: Jessica Lloyd Jones, Anne Gibbs, Beate Gegenwart, Anna Lewis, Zoe Preece and Sean Vicary. Two other artists, Amy Thompson and Anne-Mie Melis gained Arts Council Wales funding to complete R&D projects working to the same process.

 
 

beate gegenwart Work: Beate Gegenwart. Image: Diane Oliveira.

  
  In order to be able to create a new work with the modeling software, the artists have been given one-to-one tuition by the Makers Using Technology team. Users of the Freeform system, create virtual clay, the manipulation of which can be felt in the physical world via haptic feedback through an omni-arm. The contours and shapes made in the virtual environment on screen, can be felt in the real world. The system acts as a bridge between physical and digital making.  
 

Jessica Lloyd JonesJessica Lloyd Jones training on haptic Freeform CAD system with Peter Dorrington

  
  The artists have been given training on four 3D printing technologies. Through this training they are able to make informed decisions when developing their art work, working within the constraints and advantages of the different technologies.
Alongside the technical training, a tailored programme of business mentoring is offered to the artists. Sessions are dependent on the requirements of the individual artists but have included business modeling, marketing and presentational writing. These sessions are intended to create an opportunity for the artists to pause and reflect on their careers.
  
 

Anne GibbsWork: Anne Gibbs. Image: Diana Oliveira.

  
 

The sixteen day residencies were originally located within a product design research centre in Cardiff. The artists utilized technologies that are used by a medical modeling team there, to develop skulls and moulds used in maxio-facial reconstructive surgery.
The learning journey engaged in by the artists, has been a two-way exchange with the staff at the research centre. The designers and researchers based there do not usually have time to play with the technologies and develop new ways of using them. Through working with the artists, the staff have discovered new processes and techniques that they utilize in their work.


An exhibition of the work developed by the artists is in development and it is intended that it will tour both nationally and internationally.