airborne - A Year of The Artist residency at the Imperial War Museum Airfield, Duxford 2000/1

When I first approached the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, I was yet to become aware of the full creative potential. I wanted to see if they would host me as their artist-in-residence as part of Year of The Artist (YOTA).

I knew that their collection of aircraft would give new stimulus for my work and that a major national museum would offer me contact with the general public. What I soon came to realise is that they have an excellent conservation department that is a world leader in aviation engineering.

The skills and knowledge within the engineering department span a lifetime of aircraft evolution. There are specialists in all forms of construction and in particular, techniques involving fabrics and metals. I have a special interest in exploring the possibilities for combining fabrics and metals.

My residency at Duxford has provided a great opportunity to feed and crystallise my creative ideas and help with the development of my practical skills. I have been lucky to work in view of the public alongside the engineers creating a new sculptural work inspired by the collection.

The 'airborne' project has formed an extension of my ongoing work. Other projects of mine have explored the visual connections between natural and man-made engineering. For example, a residency last year at the Stratford Gallery and the 'Butterfly Safari' nearby focussed on the topic of metamorphosis and flight.

At Duxford I chose to explore the development of structure within the museum's collection. I was drawn to the evolution of forms from the more skeletal, with taut paper-thin skin, through to the monocoque - where the skin is strong enough to form the structure itself. I thought about the natural equivalents - birds, insects, seeds. I then used the aspects of aircraft construction that I learnt from the engineers to create a sculptural response.

Local schools, colleges and special needs groups became involved in the project by participating in workshops. They were encouraged to think creatively about the collections at Duxford and then use them as inspiration for their own artwork.

The museum's staff have also been inspired to reconsider the potential of their collection as a resource. Together we are looking at ways to develop opportunities for creative explorations in the future.

Zoë Chamberlain's sculpture, airborne, will be on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford until further notice.

YOTA airborne - Project Update November 2000

The first few days of my residency have been spent gathering resources to help me develop my ideas. I have been sketching, making notes and photographing aspects of the collection.

I have put these images together alongside others sourced from a range of books, the Internet, and in particular, The Cambridge University Botanic Garden Education Department.

Combined with selected words, these resources start to help me see visual relationships and focus on a particular idea to develop further.

I take things into the next stage by jotting ideas, making collage and constructing relief models from paper and card.

Alongside this ideas development, I am feeding in new possibilities for construction that I am learning from the expertise of the team in Hangar 5. I have been finding out, and experimenting with, some of the ways the engineers join and form materials. In particular, techniques relating to the use of fabric and metals.

This experimentation will feed into the next stage as I start to move my ideas into three dimensions.

YOTA airborne - Project Update February 2001

Following on from my initial research I have been developing my ideas into three dimensions. The challenge with this residency is to experiment with ideas and techniques that are new, but that are a connection to, and progression from, the rest of my work as an artist.

The museum holds a massive resource, but I am struck in particular with the development of structure within the collection at Duxford. I am drawn to the evolution of forms from the more skeletal, with taut paper-thin skin, through to the monocoque - where the skin is strong enough to form the structure. It is really interesting to be able to see inside the 'bodies' and wings to fully explore their engineering ingenuity.

I have been thinking about these structures and the natural equivalents that form the basis for many of the man made designs - birds/ insects/ seeds for example. I have also been finding out about how they move, and the airflows around them. In thinking about a sense of movement when exploring different forms I can create a more dynamic sculpture.

To develop these ideas further I have been drawing with wire, and using my soldering iron to construct models for a series of sculptures that explore this evolution. The aim being to find a starting point that will allow me to experiment with the relationship between structure and an evolving surface.

So far I have defined a series of forms that will form the basis of these sculptures. Once the frameworks have been made I can use them as a basis to try different techniques with combinations of fabric and metal to create the developing surface.

YOTA airborne - Workshop Update February 2001

As part of my Year of the Artist residency at IWM Duxford I have undertaken a series of workshops and talks through the education and interpretation programme. I have worked with a variety of different groups including children and adults with special needs, families and sixth form art students. More workshops are planned over the spring, including a session with aviation enthusiasts.

By engaging in a practical ideas development workshop, participants

gain an insight into aspects of the museum's collection
find out more about the work that I am producing in response to the collection
get the chance to explore their own creative potential.

Some of the workshops have been devised as a drop in activity. Encouraged to create a sculpture that is neither a bird nor plane, but a combination of the two, the participants have a range of cardboard, tissue, fabric, film and foils to make their three-dimensional flying forms.

Other workshops use a more involved process. Through quick drawing (some of it with eyes closed!) and brainstorming, participants are able to get their initial ideas down on paper. They are then able to take these ideas into three dimensions using a combination of wire, sticks, paper and metal foil and scraps. The sculptures are then selectively covered using white tissue made taut with PVA, still allowing the structure to be seen within.