Facilitated by artist Rachael Campbell-Palmer this workshop will demonstrate how to cast a small object from a silicone mould using stone finish Jesmonite AC730 in charcoal.

The session will provide opportunity to gain hands-on experience in how to mix and pour Jesmonite, a micro-cement and an acrylic polymer liquid, that, when mixed, form a strong and versatile material.

Participants will engage directly with the materials, to cast their own charcoal composite artefact selected from a range of silicone moulds designed by the artist. Moulds are created from natural and synthetic objects collected from the shore and abandoned railway lines of the Lecale peninsula.

During the session there will also be opportunity to hear more about Rachael’s art practice, alongside a range of mould making and casting techniques, and properties of the different materials involved.

Each participant will come away with their own cast object. All materials will be provided and no previous experience is required.

 

About Rachael Campbell-Palmer

 

Rachael Campbell-Palmer’s practice addresses seriality and architecture. She works with concrete, plaster, Jesmonite and resin; materials that in production and exhibition, she situates between the industrial and the hand-crafted. Using traditional casting processes, the work explores the slippages of material surface, considering associations between physical space and cognitive experience, drawing connections between materiality, weight, the urban landscape, environmental and structural design.

Rachael graduated from the University of Ulster with an MFA in 2007 and is based in Belfast. In 2014 she completed a two-year directorship with Platform Arts studio collective and gallery.

Selected solo and group exhibitions include Propagate Catalyst Arts Belfast (2022), Irish Modernisms CCA, Derry (2021); Edgelands Framewerk, Belfast (2017); TULCA: The Headless City, Galway (2016) Methods for Egress QSS Gallery, Belfast (2016); Periodical Review #5 NCAD Gallery, Dublin (2015), Reassemble for Purpose Platform Arts, Belfast, (2015). Bath House Field Notes, Templemore Baths, Belfast (Dec 2015) TERRA FIRMA PS2, Belfast (2014). Debris (2022) a commission of hand cast sculptures for Uphold Art Belfast.

Rachael has also designed and delivered casting workshops for Flax Art Studios and the Ulster Folk Museum as part of their annual programmes.

 

Acknowledgements