We’re incredibly proud to be a part of the Year of Making and we’re celebrating with a special residency with the new High Sheriff of South Yorkshire, Julie MacDonald.

The Year of Making celebrates our past, present and future as a city of makers and is an opportunity to foreground all forms of making in the city and region.

With support from Julie, studio holder Gillian Brent has been appointed to work with pupils in the Manor neighbourhood of Sheffield to create a piece of permanent public art for the school environment.

"Having been interviewed by 6 children and then by the High Sheriff (among others), I was selected for the Year of Making commission to make an artwork for Manor Lodge Community Primary School's hall. I nearly didn't apply as the brief for the artwork is for a wall-based indoor work; something I am not known for. However I was delighted to get the commission as most of the work I do currently doesn't lead to making permanent artworks as it once did.

The High Sheriff and the school are very keen that all 90 children in Y3/4 (7 - 9 year olds) have something in the final artwork that they can show to their families and friends. The challenge so far has been to develop making activities that children are able to do that can be turned into high quality, permanent elements of the artwork.

The theme of the artwork is the different types of making that has historically and still does happen in Sheffield and particularly at the Manor Lodge/Manor Oaks site. I have been picking the brains of other Yorkshire Artspace artists and makers as to how to incorporate their media and practice and have borrowed from them silver, ceramic, woven and wooden objects for the children to use as subject matter and to inspire them that they one day could become Sheffield makers too.

Soon the children and I will be visiting Manor Lodge and some of the Manor Oaks studios to meet the makers based there. Then we will get down to the serious business of designing and making the artwork."

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