Four years of Art in Manufacturing pairings has seen incredible and diverse creative works unfold across the mediums and methods of each artist and the choice of manufacturing narrative they choose to portray. Each year these outcomes are exhibited at The National Festival of Making.

Season Four saw an unexpected turn in this commissioning programme. In 2020 Covid Restrictions prevented artists from visiting factory floors, manufacturers were faced with new challenges in their capacities and the National Festival of Making could not open its doors and create a platform to exhibit these commissions. Despite the limitations of this extraordinary year, artists have been building relationships and developing research in new, different and unexpected ways. They now continue to develop these works to present at the festival in 2022 with digital records created throughout 2021.

Artists Tim Denton, Raisa Kabir, Hannah Leighton-Boyce, Liz Wilson and Chris Gilmor have been exploring the lines between creative and technical; in departments from the design studio to the mechanised production line. We see the return of two manufacturing partners from previous iterations of the programme; choosing to join us again and invite artists into residency for a second year. We also welcome three new partners as we extend our programming to include factories from further afield than previously seen, in Mersyside, Kent and North Lancashire. Season Four takes us behind the scenes and onto the factory floors working with clay, cardboard, textiles, construction fabrication, robotics and steel.