Creative Practices
Polly’s creative work and research comes under the themes of Mapping, Journey and Movement.
She is interested in the different ways in which this theme can be presented, organized
and structured to create both cohesive pieces of visual composition as well as
strengthening the original identity of the individual components.
There are a variety of different ways in which she has successfully executed these ideas through the mixing of materials, sound investigation, film/stills to produce objects, drawings and images.
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.
Automation Fellowship
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.
Things-meanings Buckland Abbey
With this new project there is an aimed to seek to engage the materiality of the site itself and the materials of
the objects made, as more equal partners; abandoning the idea of a map as guide, and with the plan to let
the visitor carry all the objects from the beginning of their visit, letting them 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, a National Trust Property outside Plymouth - Former religious institution - Famous for once
being the home of Sir Francis - Diversifing 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
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Julius Drewe – Lord of the manor
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Dartmoor & Granite – Location and materials
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Edwin Lutyens – Architect
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That that never was/lost – The castle that was never built & loss of dreams
Entertainment – Fishing, shooting and games
Quick sketch ideas for Things-Meaning objects.
Castle Drogo ground floor plan with the un-built part of the building shown as blank laser cut sections stacked on top of each other.
A plywood ‘ground plan’ shape of the designed but never-built wings of the Castle.
Unbuilt ‘jigsaw’ model of Castle Drogo laser cut in ply wood and scaled to the original plan.
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
In November 2009 Dr 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:
Dec. '10 Presenting 'THE BACKS', exhibition at The Devon & Exeter Institution, Exeter
June '10 Academic Paper ‘Reading THE BACKS’, Creativity & Place conference, Exeter Uni., Geography Department
April '10 ‘Cupola’ Film Spacex Contemporary Art Gallery, Film Spring Screen
Envelope
Exhibition
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/students-and-family/arts-institute-public-programme/exhibitions
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
Artists: ad:HOC, Bridgette Ashton, Tim Brennan, Simon Persighetti and Tony Whitehead, Phil Smith and Polly Macpherson, 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.
Curated by Peter Quinn Davis
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.
‘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 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.