MUPI (Museum and Universities Parnership Initiative)

Description

MUPI (Museum and Universities Parnership Initiative) – (Oct – Dec 2017) Grant to work with Ditchling Museum of Arts and Crafts in Sussex in collaboration with the Poetics Research Centre.

Ditchling Museum / Royal Holloway Poetic Practice – Textures and Textualities
‘Out of Ditchling! Some Bookworks’

Prof. Redell Olsen (Poetics Research Centre, Royal Holloway, University of London)

Ditchling Museum of Art and Crafts
Lucy Jenner
Debbie Shipton

London / Hassocks (South West)

A series of bookworks produced by students on the MA in Poetic Practice at Royal Hollloway, University of London in response to the Ditchling Museum of Art and Crafts.


1. Explored the existing collections, stimulated a creative response in a variety of texts/poems towards engaging new audiences.

2. Activities first stage :

• Staff visited Ditchling and participated in a group tour or the current show from the Curator.
• Students have researched the context of the collection at Ditchling and developed various creative responses to it in the form of seminar presentations given in London.
• Research has been carried out into the collection and offered a range of different perspectives on the collection in the form of creative responses by the students on the MA in Poetic Practice.

3. Activities second stage:

• Royal Holloway staff and students have visited the collections at Ditchling.
• Students walked in the immediate landscape around Ditchling and carried out writing in response to the landscape.
• Students were give access to the museum’s significant collection of letterpress material by St Dominic’s Press which was printed in Ditchling to further their research.
• Students took part in a letterpress poster workshop which is a traditional printing technique during a successful study day and letterpress print workshop on November 13th with artist Tom Bolton to produce poem posters.
• Pilot outputs complete – Seven bookworks and letter poem posters which have been displayed in London and Ditchling.


The work was on show at the Small Press Book Fair in London on 10 / 11 November 2017 http://smallpublishersfair.co.uk/ and students read from the work at this event. There were about 300 visitors to the exhibition. Forty people were present at the readings.

The work was shown at 11 Bedford Square, Royal Holloway on 4th of December 2017 and students read from their work (Audience of 20).

The work was shown at Ditchling Museum of Art and Crafts in their reading room from December 13th – 1st of January 2018.

Details of the bookworks and works produced were circulated on social media by Ditchling Museum and Royal Holloway Poetics Centre https://www.facebook.com/RoyalHollowayPoetics/

Period	Oct 2017 → Dec 2017
Degree of Recognition	National