Ready Steady Make
Ready Steady Make, Residency at Hospitalfield, Arbroath
I’m one of the founding members of Closing The Loop, a collective of 20 artists, designers and makers from across Scotland, who are supported by Applied Arts Scotland. Our projects address sustainability and environmental responsibility through our material choices and making processes. Our focus is striving for regenerative making processes that consider the entire life cycle of our work, including how it might be mended, disposed of, or reinvented.
Central to our ethos is to share materials, tools and knowledge among our members. We recognise that the climate crisis cannot be tackled alone. We share our learnings with fellow artists and the public, through exhibitions, workshops, talks and panel discussions. One of our favourite practices is material swapping, which we facilitate through in-person residencies, studio visits, and parcel exchanges via post.
We were awarded Lottery funding to get together for an in-person micro-residency at Hospitalfield, a renowned centre for contemporary art and ideas. Each of us brought a selection of waste materials from our studios and workshops, plus some of our favourite or unusual tools. We've found that introducing unfamiliar tools or materials to our fellow artists, often leads to fresh and innovative approaches, unbound by conventional rules and offering new perspectives on our creative processes.
Photography © Hannah Ayre & © Jeni Reid