Spark #1: For artists who want to intervene in the trajectory towards climate breakdown

Spark #1 follows on from SUSTAIN; our recent programme focussed on low carbon artmaking.

It is intended to seed a new Greater Manchester/North West-based network of low carbon artists who want to intervene in the trajectory towards climate breakdown.

If you want to get involved then get yourself along to Manchester Art Gallery (Studio 1) from 2pm-4pm on Saturday 4 June for the first meeting. (BOOK HERE)

The high demand for places on our SUSTAIN programme showed a clear appetite for collective conversation and cross-fertilisation around low carbon art practice in Manchester and beyond. In response, Castlefield Gallery is organising two in-person meetings (hosted at Manchester Art Gallery) and facilitated by SUSTAIN coordinator Jane Lawson, and artist and Climate Emergency Manchester group contributor Jackie Haynes, to bring interested artists together and provide space and time to discuss how we can develop effective low carbon art practices.

Spark #1 is an opportunity to meet other artists also interested in developing a low-carbon practice and to share information and ideas. There will also be the opportunity for people to flag particular areas of interest and to talk about whether to form some kind of network and, if so, what they want it to do.

We’ll begin by co-creating a map of our practices and interests; please bring an object, image, anecdote or similar to communicate to the group your low carbon attitude and intentions in relation to your art practice.

Like most aspects of contemporary life, there’s an increasing urgency for our art practices and processes to engage with sustainable, low-carbon ways of making and showing work. Through bringing people together to pool thoughts, experiences, ideas and knowledge we can collectively multiply our impact and effectiveness.

Register your interest in attending at spark_1.eventbrite.co.uk. You can still attend even if you haven’t registered, but this will help give us an idea of numbers. Date and booking details for Spark #2 to be announced soon.

VENUE: Manchester Art Gallery (Studio 1), Mosley St, Manchester M2 3JL

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Jackie Haynes is an artist and art practice-based researcher. Her textiles background includes House of Haynes, a costume-making and fancy dress hire business which she ran for 17 years in Manchester city centre: Jackie still has her stock of costumes. Her PhD research into the German Dada artist and writer, Kurt Schwitters has resulted in an increasingly low carbon art practice, often using left-over materials and ‘making on the move’, on site and out of the studio. Jackie collaborates with artist Heather Ross under the interchangeable name, Artist A & Artist B. She also writes citizen journalism for Climate Emergency Manchester, reporting on Manchester City Council’s Scrutiny Committee meetings, and is part of Manchester Art Gallery’s Climate Justice Group, which selected artworks from the city’s publicly-owned art collection for Gallery 6: Climate Justice.

Jane Lawson is Artist Development Producer for Castlefield Gallery where she runs programmes such as SUSTAIN, bOlder and the Gallery’s graduate programme. She is also an artist with a particular interest in carbon, fungus and diagrams. Before training as an artist she was a knitwear designer, researcher into corporate ethics and climate change activist, helping to co-organise the first three UK Climate Camps. She is also a member of Manchester Art Gallery’s Climate Justice Group.

Image credit: Image of chromosomes (blue) lined up for cell division courtesy of Jane Stout, Indiana University. Used under a Creative Commons license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/