Breeze Art and Makers Fair CIC has a mission to get young people to explore the possibilities of training and a career in design and craft. On Friday our students enjoyed a series of presentations by makers at different points in their careers who told their stories of how they discovered making and how they learned their skills.
The students heard from –
Matt Foster
Matt will be demonstrating throwing and making work while he gives his presentation. Matt is in his third year as an apprentice at Leach Pottery St Ives. He has been awarded a QEST scholarship and he is the oldest of the group. Foster studied fine art at Kent University 2004-2006. He went on to work for Joseph Clarke at the Millennium Gallery in St Ives. At the Millennium, he worked alongside a collection of exciting contemporary artists, many of whom are local to the area. In October 2015, Matt joined the Leach Pottery as the second Seasalt Bursary Apprentice, giving him the opportunity to learn and work alongside a talented and diverse production team. ‘This environment and opportunity allow me to develop my personal work.’
Millie Melborne
Millie is a recent Fashion and textile Graduate of Falmouth College. She has radical ideas about making sustainable and flexible garments and has set up her company OBWear studio in Bristol ‘My work is an ongoing seemingly never-ending exploration of the intimate relationship human bodies have with cloth objects and clothing. Focusing on how we get in and out, wrapping, folding, slotting, pulling, rolling, tying, transforming. Always striving to express the craftsmanship of working with textiles. Encouraging positive engagement and awareness in the relationships towards the objects in our lives and designing to prolong, play and celebrate the character each object can hold.’
Ellie Carr-Smith
Ellie is a freelance Designer/ Artist, after graduating in 2017 in Product Design at The University of Edinburgh. She is currently involved in a new innovative start-up design exhibition called, ‘Design Exhibition Scotland.’ This involves being part of a creative collaborative group of established designers, discussing and challenging the existing divides between art, craft and design. Her aim is to create meaningful objects which highlight alternative materials and manufacturing methods aiming towards more sustainable alternatives for everyday products. She has created an experimental material, comprising of wool fibre and potato starch, that has a range of properties from soft/flexible to rigid/dense, which is compostable and can be combined with plant-based natural dyes to provide a variety of colours.
Caja Trevorrow
Caja is starting her third year on the BA Artists Blacksmith’s course at Hereford & Ludlow College. She will be talking about challenging norms and bringing contemporary ideas to the rich tradition of blacksmithing. Her course encompasses a breadth of practice from architectural design to interior product and sculpture, all made from hot forged metal. She will talk about her future options and the road travelled so far.
Will she become a self-employed practitioner; setting up design studios and workshops, and producing work ranging from large-scale exterior forged metalwork to small gallery objects or a journeymen working for smiths across the world, or postgraduate study?
Discover Making Day has been brought to students with the support of The Arts Society, Patricia Fay Memorial Fund, Cornwall College and Truro & Penwith College, Hereford College of Arts, The Leach Pottery and Breeze Art and Makers CIC.
Truro College Art and Design 