Objects of Repair & Renewal
This new work explores using digital coding, fabrication, and 3D clay printing with recycled clay to co-create new objects and interpretations of wellbeing, renewal, and repair. My focus has shifted to the concept of resetting and repairing familiar forms, which allows for the creation of unique and meaningful pieces.
Inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending pottery, I am using lustre to highlight areas of disruption within the 3D print.
This approach underscores the narrative of resilience and transformation inherent in both objects and the human experience. By emphasising the beauty of imperfections, this exploration celebrates the value of repair and renewal, inviting a deeper appreciation for the potential stories embedded in every flaw. 3D Ceramic printed objects - Recycled clay, glaze & lustre
Exploring 3D Clay Printing
This body of work was consciously co-created in the ‘middle ground’ of collaboration between human and non-human ‘beings’,
neither were in competition rather both are reacting to each other’s actions. Using the narrative theme of repair and renewal the
work centres on developing a relationship with Automation and integrating it into a creative toolkit in order to co-curate artefacts.
SWCTN Fellowship - https://swctn.org.uk
Polly was awarded an Automation Academic Research Fellow with South West Creative Technology Network in April 2019 and has started exploring how automation developments are effecting the skills, creative ideas and processes of Designer Maker / Craft Practitioners in the South West. https://swctn.org.uk/automation/fellows/polly-macpherson/. The South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN) is a £6.5million project to expand the use of creative technologies across the south west of England. The network is offering three one-year funded programmes around the themes of Immersion, Automation and Data.
Automation Fellowship
Things - Meanings
Buckland Abbey
This project aimed to engage the materiality of the site itself with the materials of the objects becoming equal partners; abandoning the idea of a map as guide, letting the visitor carry all the objects from the beginning of their visit, allowing them to choose where and in what order to engage with the ‘things-meanings’. Researching and experimenting with new objects to guide a new tour. Buckland Abbey is a National Trust Property outside Plymouth, a former religious institution which was once famous for being the home of Sir Francis - Diversifying visitor understandings of the site
Things - Meanings
Castle Drogo
The primary aim of this project was to develop a small number of prototype objects to be used by visitors to the
National Trust property Castle Drogo so to enhance the visiting experience.The early development happened before the Castle engaged in major building renovations and was then put on hold for a considerable time while renovation funding was confirmed and renovations started. The project has had to be re-developed with the new emphasise of enhancing the visiting experience whilst the building renovations are happening. It is estimated that the building work will take at least 5 years to complete.
The aim is for the objects to engage the visitors senses so to have a full embodied encounter with the materials of the site.
This is of particular relevance as materials are deconstructed and exposed during the period of the large-scale renovation.
The objects are being design to provoke, enable and encourage a coherent sequence of sensations.
Key Focuses were Julius Drewe – Lord of the manor, Dartmoor & Granite – Location and materials, Edwin Lutyens – Architect,
That that never was/lost – The castle that was never built & loss of dreams and Entertainment – Fishing, shooting and games
Cupola
Spacex Contemporary Art Gallery Spring Screen - Film
Spacex hosts a night of artist film, screening a cross section of current practice from artists in Exeter and
across the south west who are working with the moving image.
Artist in Residency
Simon Persighetti and myself were successful in having our Artists in Residence proposal accepted by The Devon & Exeter Institute, in Exeter. Under the heading of 'The Backs' the first investigative section of the proposal focuses around acting more like forensic scientists than artists and excavating like archaeologists rather than delving into the books.
We were reading into the very fabric and material of the building which is where the title of the ―The Backs comes from dealing with the spines of the books as well as the hidden spaces behind the book.
Outputs:
Presenting 'THE BACKS', exhibition at The Devon & Exeter Institution, Exeter
Academic Paper ‘Reading THE BACKS’, Creativity & Place conference, Exeter Uni., Geography Department
‘Cupola’ Film Spacex Contemporary Art Gallery, Film Spring Screen
Envelope
Exhibition
​Research into iconography of contemporary culture focusing on pictorial signage.
‘Same, same but different’ – collection of 32 photographic images of Ladies Loo Signs.​
Designers contribute to the design, production, marketing and messages that fill our world. Yet rarely does the public see what designers value personally, whether this might be a tool, or material, a prototype or a wood block, a drawing or something more ephemeral. Over 100 internationally acclaimed designers from across the globe, from Tom Dixon OBE and Konstantin Grcic to Marijn Van Oossten were asked to place what they value in an envelope which became the exhibition.​
Ambulation
Exhibition - Plymouth Arts Centre
Artists: 
ad:HOC, Bridgette Ashton, Tim Brennan, Simon Persighetti and Tony Whitehead, Polly Macpherson
and Phil Smith, Architecture Centre Devon & Cornwall
In collaboration with Phil Smith I created things-meanings. Inspired by props, there are a series of objects to be taken from gallery to create a walk around the historic site Royal William Yard, former 1700s victualing yard.
This is part of the work Twalk that was first performed for the Plymouth’s Hidden City Festival.
This work looks to distil the dramatic-geographical significances of the Royal William Yard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8976000/8976901.stm
'Trajectories’ – Future Pathways in Design?
Dutch Design Week Eindhover - Exhibition
A Trajectory is the path that follows a moving object through the space for a certain time. It shows where anything goes. It represents the idea of designers, cultures and themes set out to determine the playing tomorrow. Trajectories distill the future from the past and the present, and their direction is determined by many influences which are now picking up already. The exhibition wants to make tangible where it can go to in design and therefore shows young designers, designers from different cultures and certain themes.
Expos including Fontys University, University of Plymouth, School of Art & Design Middlesex University, Daniela Toledo, Graphics Studio Daylight.
‘things-meanings’ - A body of mixed medium work – 6 Artefacts
Cabinet
Exhibition
http://www6.plymouth.ac.uk/files/extranet/docs/penarts/cabinet.pdf
Cabinet is an exhibition of works by twelve architects and designers who have had unprecedented access to the archives and collections of Plymouth City Museum. This unique collaboration has created extraordinary responses to a museum collection; questioning our cultural heritage and the relationship between the arts and public institutions.
The works are enthralling and unsettling. Some are architectural environments that are perceptual and physical spaces as much
as psychological ones. Some redefine the way that we relate to our surroundings, others are personal, compelling,
multi-sensory design experiences, composed of a range of different objects, images and forms.
Nick Kary, Mike Woods, Sani Murani, Doreen Bernath, Peter Quinn Davis, Polly Macpherson,
Adam Crowley Evans, Nick Gilbert-Scott, Anthony Aldrich, Kerry Whittle & Roy Tam
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New Economies New Ecologies
Internazionale Del Mobile / Milan Furniture Fair - Exhibition
A body of mixed medium work – 4 Artefacts
‘things-meanings’ are the results of an experiment to enhance the visitor experience by creating a tour guided by objects rather than a guidebook or human guide.
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‘Renewal & Regeneration’
Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton - Exhibition
'Cupola’ is a record of the slow arrival of daylight as it filters through glass domes gradually illuminating the outer and inner libraries of the Devon and Exeter Institution. Still from moving image film
www.devonandexeterinstitution.org
Polly Macpherson & Simon Persighetti
The Purpose of Drawing
The Cube Gallery - Exhibition
The Purpose of Drawing exhibition is curated by Jacqui Knight and Patrick Lowry and brings together the diverse range of drawing work and its uses within the University of Plymouth Partnership.
Light Walk
Sound and Film-Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music - Film
This film comes from a short experiment connecting drawing, drawing with light and exploratory walking. A first walk followed the drift principle of no fixed destination or direction, drawing with various torches, to let the fall and rise of the terrain and the draw of various textures and reflections determine the route. The second walk, from which the images of the film are taken, followed the route of the first, drawing again with light (changing and adapting given lessons learned) and again filming light.
Polly Macpherson & Phil Smith
Experimental Ceramics
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring scale, balance and combining combustible materials.
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring smoke fired processes and combustible materials.
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring contracts and combustible materials.
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring contrast, balance and combustible materials.
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring balance, alternative firing techniques and combustible materials.
Experimental slip cast ceramics exploring balance, contrast, alternative firing techniques and combustible materials.