Makers Using Technology was an artist residency programme based at PDR supported by PDR, the Arts Council of Wales and the Institute of Sustainable Design (ISD). In 2015, two internationally profiled artists were selected for ‘Exploration of Materiality’ residencies.

Artists Zoe Preece and Sean Vicary were commissioned to create new artworks using 3D CAD software Geomagics Freeform, 3D scanning and then PDR’s in-house 3D printing facilities to produce the final works.

They were also given business mentoring by the programme director Victoria Jones and were trained on the Freeform software by Senior Researcher at PDR, Dr Peter Dorrington. The point of contact for the manufacturing element was PDR's Prototype & Manufacture Engineer Emily Bilbie.

Sean derived his inspiration from the human relationship with nature, and had a particular interest in art that encapsulated the spirit of a particular place/ landscape. He used 3D scanning to collect data from natural sources, such as seahorses, frogs and his relatives' faces. This data was then used to amalgamate artwork using the haptic software. The team at PDR printed his work using 16 micron (0.016mm) layers on the ProJet 3000Hd Plus machines. These pieces were later painted by hand and taken back to their natural environments to be photographed.

IMAGES COURTESY OF SEAN VICARY

Zoe predominantly works with ceramic materials and uses flux to disrupt the porcelain objects during firing to create the idea of fluid material just about to tip over the edge of the objects side walls. PDR printed her artwork (created from 3D scans of existing spoons) on the ProJet and explored the ‘tipping-point’ through various mediums including vacuum casting resins. The CNC milling machine was also utilised to create the platform for her artwork, this was made from upcycled offcuts of Teak timber.

A third artist Anne-Mie Melis, gained funding from the Arts Council directly to undergo a Research and Development project following the same processes as Zoe and Sean. Anne-Mie’s art is motivated by humanity’s evolving bond with nature in a progressively technology-driven world.

With the aid of the Makers Using Technology team and the dental scan department of Morriston Hospital, Anne-Mie was able to explore various 3D scanning technologies. She used scans of seedpods to develop artworks which she then sculpted in Freeform CAD.

The delicate nature of her work shows how digitally designing and 3D printing can produce art that would have been incredibly hard to manufacture by hand and using other traditional methods.

IMAGES COURTESY OF VICTORIA J E JONES

"The team at PDR were great at supporting the Makers Using Technology artists to gain an understanding of the technologies they were using. This new understanding helped the artists make informed decisions when fabricating their work. The positive reactions of the artists to their residency experiences was in part due to the professional and expert nature of the technical team at PDR... thank you!"

VICTORIA JONES, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
MAKERS USING TECHNOLOGY