Published Tuesday 13 May 2025 at 17:09
Three groundbreaking new artist commissions have been announced as part of the National Festival of Making’s impressive line-up for 2025.
The festival’s headline commissioning programme – Art in Manufacturing – will this year feature Matter at hand, Morag Myerscough and Liaqat Rasul.
Each artist will undertake a new residency embedded inside a different UK leading manufacturer based here in Blackburn with Darwen, creating ambitious new work that will be on display at the National Festival of Making over the weekend of 5th to 6th July 2025, with exhibitions extended after the festival too.
Now in its ninth year, the festival, supported by Blackburn with Darwen Council, takes over Blackburn town centre with large-scale artworks, performances and exhibitions shaped by the area’s making heritage and contemporary creative practice with almost everything being free to enjoy.
Art in Manufacturing offers artists and makers rare access to factory floors, heritage materials, cutting-edge technology and expert craftsmanship — inviting them to create works that are bold, participatory and deeply rooted in the local area.
This year, the leading businesses taking part are Darwen Terracotta, Crown Paints and Herbert Parkinson (part of the John Lewis Partnership).
Elena Jackson, Co-Director and Curator of Art in Manufacturing said:
These commissions have always been about shining a light on the extraordinary creativity behind closed doors and an invitation for artists to experiment with materials and scale.
This year’s artists are exploring clay, colour and collage – making new permanent work for Blackburn, turning industrial waste into finely crafted collage and through an expanded two-year placement, developing in-depth research into sustainable making practices through new architectural and sculptural outcomes.
Councillor Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, added:
This is a hugely impressive line-up of artists who will showcase their work at the National Festival of Making.
It’s the sort of quality you’d expect to see in major cities around the world and visitors will be able to enjoy their works here in Blackburn and for free.
The Art in Manufacturing programme is a triumph – bringing together critically-acclaimed artists with our leading businesses, yet another fantastic example of the partnership working that Blackburn with Darwen is so renowned for.
We are making huge strides with our cultural offer and the National Festival of Making is a creative force helping to drive the shift and we’re incredibly proud to support them.
Matter at hand + Darwen Terracotta
This two-year residency sees architectural designer Lewis Jones’s new design practice, Matter at hand, embedded within Darwen Terracotta in a dedicated space on the factory floor.
Best known for his role as co-founder of the Turner Prize-winning Assemble collective, Jones will present the first phase of his project at Blackburn Cathedral: an interactive and playful exhibition exploring clay’s potential as a sustainable building material. Within a field of material experiments and new sculptural prototypes, his work reimagines earth as a low-carbon solution for future construction.
Morag Myerscough + Crown Paints
Known internationally for her vibrant, community-driven installations, including “Dancing in the Sky” (2024, Coachella) and “Love Letters” (2024, Paris Olympics), Myerscough is creating three works in collaboration with Crown Paints, supported by the High Street Accelerator Project.
Works will include an installation inspired by the artist’s garden and an interest in greening the high-street; and ‘Colour Factory’ takeover of Prism Contemporary, with participatory workshops and a bold, permanent mural energising the townscape long after the festival ends.
Liaqat Rasul + Herbert Parkinson (part of the John Lewis Partnership)
Through workshops with John Lewis Partners at the Herbert Parkinson textile factory, Liaqat Rasul will explore personal handwriting, memory, and belonging to create mobiles composed of sculptural 3D faces and shapes. Intimate and reflective, his installation will invite audiences to slow down and consider identity, community and connection.
Launched in 2016, Art in Manufacturing has supported over 30 artists in residencies with 20+ manufacturers in Lancashire.
These collaborations break down barriers between industry and art, turning factory spaces into studios and production lines into sites of inspiration.
A new publication, Radical Pairings, will launch at the 2025 festival, documenting this unique model of artist-industry collaboration. The publication features an essay, Artists and Factories Make Radical Pairings, by art critic Elizabeth Fullerton.
Discussing their practices and the unique nature of working as an artist within the industrial setting, Fullerton introduces work created in response to, and alongside workforce communities.
For more on the National Festival of Making visit: www.festivalofmaking.co.uk