Les Bicknell ‘thinking through making’ experiments

The display in St George’s Foyer at Norwich University of the Arts contains a number of starting points, samples, and paths of investigation within my recent material development research. Its inception derives from ‘we work everywhere’, part of a new iteration of initiatives at NUA. The intention is to demonstrate that tutors have a practice that informs the teaching we engage in with the students, one could argue that without a public facing personal practice that includes research and reflection we do our students a disservice. What we do outside of the institutions we work in enables us to work within them. The hybrid pieces are a small part of my interdisciplinary practice, a way of thinking through making that is valued and celebrated within the scientific contexts I work within. The articulated hand held sculptures explore and demonstrate the affordance of materials and are often developed within a collaborative framework with researchers who are exploring specific theories and concepts. This lateral thinking and creative problem solving approach provides the opportunity to reveal through making what is unseen. The work and my role acting as mediator or conduit, brings another voice or position to the conversation. It’s also great fun.