Exchange: workshops

Throughout this project community engagement was significant to its development. Not only do workshops allow for artists to get to know their community, but it also facilitates the opportunity for cultural learning and exchange. Three artists, Nathaniel Laydon, Nicola Bolton and Katie Bamford provided transdisciplinary workshops to the community at the ESEA Contemporary in Manchester, UK. The results of which have created contributions by the public, displayed as part of the exhibition. The Exchange exhibition would like to thank ESEA Contemporary for their unwavering support throughout this project and for making our community engagement possible. 

The Jueju Project: Jueju Workshop 24th August 2023

Hosted by Poet Nathaniel Laydon:

‘Jujeju : An Exchange Workshop’, was a brilliant opportunity to highlight and discuss the beauty and simplicity of an English Jueju and discuss the importance and application of Chinese poetry as a whole. I provided a brief context to poetic form, discussing its origins and implications on Chinese literature and wider society and why it is important to sensitively interpret the form due to linguistic differences between the English and Chinese languages. I provided examples of English Jueju and also shared simple instructions on tools to guide participants to write their own Jueju. I aimed for the workshop to have a collaborative element to it, encouraging participants to share their poems if they are comfortable and offering suggestions for word choices in their Jueju. All poems developed in this workshop will be part of The Jueju Project as part of the Exchange Exhibition. The space at ESEA Contemporary was the perfect setting for the workshop and the staff were incredibly helpful and encouraging.

A New Space: Paper boat folding workshop 13th September 2023.

Hosted by Artist/Designer Nicola Bolton:

The paper folding workshop, encouraged the local community to engage in learning and sharing the method of Chinese paper folding - known as zhezhi. The ESEA contemporary gallery, proved to be an inspiring location. The attendees started out with much trepidation never having folded an object from paper before. After several attempts at folding a paper boat, with lots of encouragement – the workshop was in full swing. It was amazing to watch confidence grow, great teamwork became evident, and with this the conversation and laughter became infectious.

Gathering inspiration from poetry and antique blue and white willow pattern pottery placed at the centre of the table, the attendees began to add writing and illustrations to their work. As the confidence grew so did the size of the creations- the boats became much larger involving 2 or more people to help with the folding.

The workshop didn’t go unnoticed by staff at the ESEA – Si ieng who grew up in Macau shared her own childhood memories of paper folding and showed the class how to make beautifully crafted paper hearts.

Learning how to fold paper boats and then having the opportunity to teach the craft in a workshop environment was an amazing experience. To witness how powerful the act of paper folding became in its ability to help a person feel relaxed and chat more freely was inspirational. It was evident that whilst engaging in Chinese paper folding, the mind becomes a free space – a new space. The paper boats will become a large hanging installation celebrating the global importance of the maritime Silk Road.

Together: Paper weaving workshop 16th September 2023

Hosted by textiles designer Katie Bamford:

The Dr Lee Kai Hung CBE DL bursary award has given me the opportunity to take inspiration and make connections with Chinese culture and the community at the ESEA Contemporary. The most inspiring aspect of this project has been engaging with the Schmoller Collection of Decorated Papers from the 

Manchester Met Special Collections Museum. Specifically I have been using the Special Collections decorated Chinese tea chest papers from Hans and Tanya Schmoller which was published in 1987. These would also become the focus of the paper weaving workshop.

I use weave within my own textiles pieces and wanted to connect with people through the process. Using copies of the Chinese tea chest papers and strips of plain coloured paper I helped participants create their own patterns. The workshop allowed participants to be creative and free in how they constructed their woven pattern. Once the papers had been woven, we transformed them into cylinders. Chinese New Year firecrackers influenced the shape and construction of theses paper weaves. Firecrackers were traditionally used to scare away evil spirits, whereas now they are a major custom of the coming of the new year. This exhibition piece is to celebrate the coming together of different people and the conversations shared during the workshop.

The workshop outcomes were very successful. For me, the most significant outcome was the connections I made with the participants. One participant was an international PhD student from China. I found it extremely interesting learning about her culture and traditions. She shared photographs of her village, showing me the traditional dress and way of life. Very much like how we constructed the weaves by building up layers our conversation followed a similar process. Through these connections and conversations it has strengthened my knowledge on Chinese culture which has directly influenced my exhibition pieces.