ASPEX Ambassador Program- The Inventors

I have just started a very exiting program with the Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth. It's called The Inventors and I will be working along side artists and students in helping out and learning various roles that I think will be very useful to me. Here is the little blurb:

"Aspex, in Partnership with the Makers Guild, Victorious Festival and the University of Portsmouth are developing an exciting new project for 2018.  The project is inspired by Aspex’s Summer exhibition from the artist Will Cruickshank, who creates work through the use of machines and jigs.  Three artists will be commissioned to act as inventors, developing new work for presentation at Victorious Festival, to be seen by over 150,000 people.  All artworks will be interactive, produced over a series of artist residencies at Aspex with contributions from participatory workshops and visitors to the gallery."

The program started on the 4th of July and so far we have had two sessions. After this post I am not going to blog about each session but do a few posts here and there just to go over important things we have covered. 

The first session was an introduction to the program and we got to meet members of the Aspex team. We also met Mig from the Makers Guild who are the other partner in this project. I had previously met Mig when I went to check out their studios at Guild Hall. If you're in Portsmouth and do creative bits, from woodwork to jewellery making to photography to what ever, and don't have anywhere to work, check out their studios! It was interesting too, to learn about the history of Aspex and made me feel more exited to be a part of the gallery. 

The second session covered some of the programs that Aspex runs or facilitates under Participation and Learning. You can find out about some of this here. One of the events that they run was particularly interesting to me, it's called Generate. "Generate provides life enhancing art sessions for people with dementia. They are led by artists who support folk to develop their skills and creativity at whatever level they are at. My Mum loves coming here [Aspex] and always leaves in a great mood."- Jacqui, Carer (2018). Find out more here.

This hit home with me as my Nana suffered with dementia and sadly passed away because of it. At the time I searched for places near where she lived in Linconshire with a similar idea to them but couldn't find anything. Then we got her to move closer to the rest of the family, I again tried to find activities that might help stimulate or just provide a secure space to interact but with not much luck. We were lucky that the last care home we found did do some great activities within the home but this Generate program I think is great because it gets people out of their home and interacting in a different space. Abi, who runs the program, also pointed out that it is a great space for carers or family members to interact with one another and share the experiences they have been through. This, I know, would have been very helpful for me and especially my Mum during the time my Nana was suffering. 

I have mentioned Abi and as well as hearing about her work with Generate, she also told us about how she has gotten to where she is, the create processes and changed shes been through and where she is now, as well as how she defines herself. Another gentleman also came in and he told us how she had gotten tow here he was. They both had been down a teaching path, which I am considering, so it was interesting to hear about how this had changed they way they work. It also made me realise how many different things you end up doing as a creative. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm sure it's enriching in some ways, I guess it's just how it goes. 

Looking forward to the rest of the sessions and especially the workshops. Next week we will cover Marketing and Audience Development and I've also opted in to doing a workshop in a school with the artist Jon Lockhart.