Welcoming our new Artists in Residence!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Author: Laura Southall (Residency CoordinatorOn the 1st October we welcomed our new artists in residence into the V&A fold.Sophia George, BAFTA award winning games designer and one of our youngest ever residents at only 23 years old, is creating a gamers hub in the smaller of our Sackler centre studios. By the end of her six months with us we hope that Sophia will have designed a digital game inspired by the British Galleries. She is busy wandering around the galleries and meeting the curators, getting inspiration and looking for starting points.

Sophia researching the British Galleries © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

James Rigler is our new ceramicist in residence up in the studio on level 6. Having worked as a mould-maker for architectural ceramics, James is really interested in the architecture and history of the Museum’s buildings rather than the collections themselves. He has already been on numerous tours with knowledgeable staff members around the hidden spaces of the building, finding out hidden histories and seeing some amazing views.

View from the dome © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

James hopes to create some new ceramic sculptures inspired by what he sees and finds out in his time here, but as a starting point he has found the V&A’s paint store! This is where we keep all the different paint colours for our galleries and James is taking samples to display in his studio and to start experimenting with.  Our favourite is ‘invisible green’.

Invisible green? © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Aside from settling in and meeting all the right people, James and Sophia also took part in our Sackler Conference 2013 on the 11th October, by staging some short workshops for delegates. Sophia took her group to the Tapestry galleries to teach them the basics of starting to design a game, and James’ group had a good old mess around with plaster. The spoils of their workshops were shown alongside others in a display at the end of the conference.

James with his hand in a plaster © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

James and Sophia both start their open studios this week, and so do come along if you’re keen to find out more and meet them both.