Manchester
School of Art
MA Show
2013
Fri 27 September —
Sun 13 October
10.00—16.00hrs
An exhibition of work
by postgraduate
students of —
- Architecture & Urbanism
- Art As Environment
- Design
- Design & Art Direction
- Filmmaking
- Fine Art
- Landscape Architecture
- Media Arts
- Photography
- Textiles
- Three Dimensional Design
- Visual Culture
Sarah Jane Lawton
The notion of 'process', the seduction of print and textile processes and how they can be adapted to facilitate learning, trigger the imagination of older people and improve the health of vulnerable individuals, preoccupies the work. Themes emerge through connections with other artists, craftspeople in UK and artisans internationally, but are consistently underpinned by collaboration and cognitive responses to the 'making process.'
The idea of "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991) and methods of psychological information 'processing' for skill acquisition informs the work. Disparate disciplines are drawn on, through research and practice, to identify key engagement methods that question the hierarchy of society's established value systems. The work connects the 'overlooked and vulnerable' intimately through the development and implementation of an artisanal 'tool-kit', which engages community groups with hand processes and print. The research is conducted through workshops and dialogue with scholars, artisans, artists and designers.
When working with and establishing new group projects each participants 'signature strengths' are stimulated, nurtured and engaged. Individual and group engagement is documented through rigorous hand drawing. Blurring the boundaries between observer and participant, drawing becomes my personal record and a tool for dialogue. The future work aims to build on knowledge exchange between the UK and India.
