One to Twenty: Public Engagement Projects

One to Twenty was an Arts Council funded open call national competition commission from Somerset Art Works(Somerset County Council), ‘Maximum Exposure’ project. The research builds on a previous commission called 'Mining Couture' through exploring the connections between the language, tools and textures associated with the heritage of pattern cutting in work-wear with the bouncy castle maker KLC Castles.
For Maximum Exposure Barber Swindells adopted a relational approach into the creative process through conducting a number of site visits to Yeovil’s artisan glove making industry, heritage sites, and in particular a long-standing family run glove making factory in Yeovil (Southcombe Bros), which supplies 85% of the British Fire Service with the specialist Firemaster glove. The intention was to integrate glove making histories and practices within an expanded field of art and craft, and concomitantly explore the relationship between current glove making industry, heritage, and public engagement. The final outcome resulted in a large flat-bed inflatable sculpture (title: ‘one to twenty’, measuring 13.7m x 7m), which is composed of the individual flat-pattern components of the Firemaster glove, enlarged 20 times. When the audience is invited to bounce upon and negotiate the shape and form of the inflatable sculpture they tread upon and re-activate the template of a Southcombe glove that has been used for over 160 years. Negotiating the inflatable sculpture invites a performative action in which the public undertake to represent themselves through engagement with Yeovil’s glove making industry in ways that provides self-representation. The inflatable sculpture was made by a family-run ‘bouncy castle’ business in Alfreton, Derbyshire (KLC Castles). The research unites the comparative craft (pattern cutting and specialist sewing skills) of the glove maker and bouncy castle maker. While the composition of One to Twenty symbolises a tree in reference to heritage, craft-community and family.