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In The Meanwhile Markets – Bath Spa University
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In The Meanwhile – showcasing local makers right on Bath’s high street

Thursday, 16 December, 2021

In The Meanwhile, a project to showcase the talent and imagination of the local creative community, will be hosting a Makers Market at Milsom Place, from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 December.

Organised by Little Lost Robot CIC and Bath Spa University, and working closely with Bath and North East Somerset Council, it brings temporarily redundant shop spaces into productive use.

Juliet Webb, Socially Conscious Creative Producer at Little Lost Robot said:

“The pandemic and subsequent economic crisis has seen a large number of shops in the city centre become empty. These vacated spaces are highly visible. In the Meanwhile seeks to support the council to reinvigorate these spaces during this interim period.”

In the summer of 2021, a vacant shop on the high street in Bath was transformed into an experimental space to showcase and platform the work and research in the city, pulling together work from Bath Spa University’s innovation space, The Studio at Palace Yard Mews, graduate space Emerge, and School of Art, along with Bath Fringe, Ramshackalicious, Lost Robot, and 45 freelance artists.

The project proved to be popular with students, shoppers and families, bringing a focus on creative practice and research to the high street. Over the project duration of six weeks, up to 2500 people visited the space.

The markets planned for this month are hosted by the artists themselves, including some Bath Spa students, and feature a large variety of work available to buy.

Makers Markets will be open Friday and Saturday 10am – 5pm, and Sunday 11am – 4pm. You can also get involved in workshops where the artwork created will go on to be part of a light trail populating empty shop windows in Bath throughout January 2022.

Plans for beyond January are also taking shape.

“Following the closure of this stage of the project at the end of January, we hope to secure a longer term empty shop unit, hopefully also bigger in size, to host a makery space, workshop space, artist residencies and creative events alongside exhibiting local work,” Juliet said.

“We are in talks with the council about a potential site and hopefully there will be some updates on what we can take forward, in coming weeks.”

Artists in Residence

Commissioned artists Julie and Kate will be working in residence at Milsom Place in December. Their residency will support them to test new ideas and create prototypes for light based digital or sculptural work.

Julie Starks

Julie works in ways that bring together a love of horticulture, ecology and education. Collaborating with people of all ages in community groups, schools, charities, institutions and businesses, Julie runs workshops, produces mixed-media installations and facilitates thought-provoking interactive artistic projects that look closely at the “small” worlds that surround us.

Kate McGregor Michael

Kate is an experienced mould maker and sculptor of ceramic materials as well as many other things. Kate trained in sculptural ceramics in the early '90s and spent much of the next 16 years as an art teacher and teacher of teachers. Kate’s current work focuses on natural forms, based on seed pods and the promise of life contained within them.

Workshops and events

Children’s Workshop

Help make a collaborative artwork which will be lit up by Little Lost Robot’s creative technologists and feature prominently as part of a light trail around Bath in January 2022. Switch-on is planned for 7 January 2022 and displays will be lit-up until 31 January. Our artists will bring a ready made triptych frame depicting a winter ‘where the wild things are’ type scenery. In each session we will help children make and decorate their own ‘monsters’ who will fill up the empty scene. The background will be painted on perspex so we can light it up in a window display as part of the light trail in January. Most suitable for children aged 5-7, plus we will have some colouring and making worksheets for other age groups to join in.

Illuminated Headpiece Workshop

Make a wearable light-up fascinator/headpiece. Makers can take their work home and will be invited to take part in a ‘brighten up blue Monday’ parade in January. This is for people over the age of eight. Book a place by emailing juliet@lostrobot.org and we will be accepting drop-ins on the day if there is space.

Lantern Making Workshops

Make a willow sculpture which will be lit up by Little Lost Robot’s creative technologists and feature prominently as part of a light trail around Bath in January 2022.

Switch-on planned for 7 January and displays will be lit-up until 31 January. Book a place by emailing juliet@lostrobot.org and we will be accepting drop-ins on the day if there is space. This is for adults, with a bus fare subsidy for people coming in from Baths outlying towns (Keynsham, Midsommer, Radstock, Peasedown).

Light Trail Display

In January 2022, artwork created by artists taking part at In the Meanwhile events will populate empty shop windows, creating a light trail around Bath. These imaginative artworks will bring light to our empty shop spaces throughout the darkest nights of the year, keeping the beauty of Bath alive with the skills and talent of local artists.

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