Kate is a regular Heart of Glass collaborator, a St Helens based artist who works across the North West. Currently she is working with us on a zine project with young women in Parr called PARRTY! Deirdre is a textile artist whose work 'embodies a quiet activism' in the words of Craftspace director and Heart of Glass collaborator Deirdre Figueiredo.
The artists discuss working together as mentor and mentee, through the Crafting the Commons Network. We also get to hear lots about the commons and commoning in the context of making art. For those of you not familiar with the term, you might say commoning is about using the power of social cooperation to get things done and bring us together. We’ve added some reading materials to the description below in case you are interested in finding out more.
Big shout out to our partners Craftspace, who together with Nottingham Trent University have developed the Crafting the Commons Network, which runs alongside the We Are Commoners exhibition and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
This episode was created as part of PARRTY, a project with Artist Kate Hodgson in collaboration with young women in St Helens, featured as part of We are Commoners (2021) at Oriel Davies Gallery. Featuring UK and international artists, the projects exhibited represent ideas and resources to inspire ‘acts of commoning’. A shift in approach from ‘you’re on your own’ to ‘we’re in this together’. Actions of claiming, healing and co-operating can enable communities to thrive.
