We are very happy to introduce Chanelle Brown, a local artist and graduate of Glasgow School of Art, who began a six-month residency at the workshop, funded by Foundation for Future London. Below she talks us through her first month and her experiences so far.

‘Late April marked the start of my 6-month residency at Blackhorse Workshop, commissioned by Foundation for Future London. Blackhorse Workshop is an arts space shaped by local community with a prolific network of incredible makers and designers. It is exciting to work so closely with some of Waltham Forests’ finest creators and I must admit getting over my imposter syndrome has probably been the biggest challenge.

‘Recently I learned of a psychology known as Flow (or better recognised as “being in the zone”). Flow is a state of mind in which a person is fully immersed in an activity, and by doing so they may experience a sense of meditation, grounding or enriched energy. Currently I am reshaping my practice around aesthetics of care, some of this research involves engaging in making process’ that might initiate a state of Flow or Meditation.

‘My introduction to woodturning was my first Flow “encounter” in the Workshop, igniting a newfound love for making and material. Once “in the zone” turning wood felt almost balletic. More recently, I have been able to find moments of Flow on a self-made loom.

‘Workshop spaces with hefty machinery and a multitude of health and safety precautions can be intimidating for even the most advanced maker and so as a novice it felt right to familiarise myself with the machines. In continuity with my research on emblems of care, I decided to spend the first month constructing a wooden frame loom. The loom measures roughly a meter by meter, with a heddle for adjusting warp threads and Ski Shuttles for weaving weft threads. The Loom represents a labour of care and dedication to craftmanship, heralding trademarks of agricultural practices and Neolithic design.

‘My Nana was a child to working-class Farmers in Westmoreland Jamaica, their livelihood was built on nurturing land and harvesting crops. When my grandma immigrated to the UK her first job was washing and mending utilitarian textiles in Whipps Cross Hospital. Somehow this project felt like an ethnographic sentiment: an amalgamation of histories intertwined with renewed perspectives of care and labour.’

We look forward to further insights from Chanelle over the next months.