The wait is over! Today marked the start of the Making for Change pilot programme and it was a busy day of thinking, talking and making. The focus of the day was to introduce and confirm the group’s understanding of social justice and what matters to them, as well as a chance to try out various making processes in  workshops with four different artists.

To start the day Luci Hammans led a campaign skills workshop. Luci gave examples of different types of campaigns and through a variety of activities and discussions the group voiced their opinions about social justice and what matters most to them. One of the main messages from the morning’s session and to remember throughout the week is that everyone’s opinion is respected and valued.

After lunch the group split into three sections to try out the different artists’ processes, thinking about how they could incorporate the ways of making into their own craftivist campaign.

Melanie Tomlinson uses illustration and metal in her work. She is passionate about environmental issues and nature helps her to relax and think. In her workshop the group explored drawing onto different metals such as aluminum, copper and brass to create an imprint. They then practised their  skills by creating their own bird, bee or fish and attaching a tag with a message on to it.

Iain Perry introduced using collage and posters to effectively and quickly get your message out there. He showed the group some examples from artist and anarchist Jamie Reid, famed for creating the Sex Pistols ‘God Save the Queen’ image. The group used current newspapers to find inspiration and as material to cut and paste onto their own campaign poster.

Juneau Projects were keen to show how 3D digital printing works. Phil and Ben have a background of working with digital technologies and traditonal methods such as painting. After a brief explanation of how the 3D printer works they set it off printing whilst the group began their activity. Using foam and wooden blocks everyone designed their own stamp and used it to create a group poster.

The whole group got together to particpate in Gemma Latham‘s workshop. Using colourful LEDs, batteries and paper the group created individual light up paper pyramids. Some wrote  messages on their pyramids and some were using the variety of LED colours to explore different meanings. It was great to see all the pyramids bunched together at the end of the session.

Today was a busy day full of new ways of making and thinking about social justice. It was great to see how the group began to think about how they could combine different processes they’d learnt  – we’re looking forward to seeing how the week progresses!