TYPECAST ceramics in recovery
Posted 24.06.15
Create, in a new and fulfilling partnership with the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCoI) and Coolmine Therapeutic Community, invited expressions of interest from artists and craftspeople with experience of working within the context of substance misuse and recovery, to create a new contemporary collaborative artwork utilising clay as a key material, Typecast Commission 2014.
Artist, Kathleen Moroney was selected through a commissioning process that required a strong artistic concept aiming to develop a new artwork utilising clay as a medium, material and process through a collaborative engagement with the participant group. The project also considered the process of making, in the recovery journey of the participants. Kathleen presented us with an innovative and transformative contemporary art response to the commission. Her proposal was dynamic, involving ideas of ways of moving through space, an experiential movement workshop referencing the movement of clay, alongside the lived experiences of the participants and making artwork as an installation.
The Coolmine Therapeutic Community believes that everyone should have the opportunity to overcome addiction and lead a fulfilled and productive life. Their programmes have a client-centred approach involving self and peer review and support and this informed the context of the commission. It was a priority for Create to use the commissioning process where the artist was selected by a panel representing each of the partners, having met with potential participants. As part of the process it was also important that the clients could choose to participate. The focus on the artistic outcomes of this project allowed for transformative outcomes without an expectation that they would occur.
The commission is funded by Léargas through the Grundtvig Programme, which is part of the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme. The Typecast Project was instigated by Portraits of Recovery in partnership with the British Ceramic Biennial. This iteration of the project, Typecast 2014, involves an EU learning collaboration across six countries, (UK, Holland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Ireland) in order to develop and share methodologies, which support artists working with people in recovery from substance misuse.