THE NEIGHBOURHOOD MAKESHOP SUMMER EXHIBITION

Last week we had a wonderful finale to the Neighbourhood Makeshop exhibition that has been in our foyer this summer! The closing party involved having a good old look at the 'reclaimed garden' exhibition, then TEARING IT DOWN… carefully and collaboratively. Ending in a procession through the streets with the artwork back to the Neighbourhood Makeshop for a celebration.⁠

Hear from Neighbourhood Makeshop facilitator, Caitlin Strongarm:

The Neighbourhood Makeshop is a free community space offering workshops on DIY, upcycling and creating with reclaimed materials. Folks join in to share skills, help each other realise ideas, and connect over cups of tea and a mutual love of making. From May to August, we reimagined household rubbish into upcycled art, creating a 'living wall' of upcycled native UK plants and flowers for exhibition in the ODAC foyer. Each week, we tackled a new material, technique, and botanical inspiration: packaging and wrappers were heat-fused to create plastic leather and shaped into bluebells, water bottles were riveted to form bright daffodils, and aluminium cans were reassembled into welcoming blooms of wisteria. Each week, these creations were crafted through collaboration and conversation - the flowers each connecting to a new topic of discussion on different ways we can make a DIY difference in our communities and neighbourhoods. "How can we make everyone feel welcome?" "How can we create healthy neighbourhoods?", and "How can we seed nature connection" were questions that sparked ideas for future community makes - from swap boxes, to medicinal herb planters, to public art installations; we've planned plenty of things to build together in the coming months!

Our exhibition brought these ideas and artworks together for display, and celebrated the process of making as much as the finished products. In a nod to the steady way a garden grows over time, we let our exhibition grow during the time it was on display. While week one started with only a few blossoms on the wall, by the closing week, it was full of colourful blooms alongside other creations - participants’ personal projects like artwork, sewing and sculpture all found their way into the ODAC Makeshop display.

Our closing celebration brought all makers together in a final view of the full exhibition, taking a moment to enjoy what we had steadily created. Then, we worked together using our DIY skills to de-install the artworks, and as a collective we processed with them through the streets in a colourful parade from the ODAC main building back to the Makeshop in Starcross Yard.

It is a rare thing to find a community like that of the Makeshop. Folks who can see value in 'waste'; who take time to repair, reclaim and reimagine rubbish into art materials, and transform them into sophisticated, elegant, joyful and surprising works of functional art. People who are supportive of one another, who leap in to help others realise creative ideas, and who grow beyond their comfort zone through lifelong learning and skills sharing. Our exhibition celebration was as much for the things we have made as it was for the people who made them.

The Makeshop is currently on break for September, but we'll be back and ready to welcome makers new and old from October 6th. If you'd like to join our community, please come along! We'd love to make it with you.