Make Festival

MAKE

Make Space with Architecture

Experience how to design and build a tensegrity structure. Working with students from the Interior Architecture and Design Course at UCA Farnham, construct and take home your very own architectural model.
Join architectural model maker and illustrator, Sebastian Harding, to create a bespoke paper model of the Watts Gallery.
Immerse yourself in the digital possibilities of architecture with artist and RIBA educator, Wilson Yau. Please bring your own smart phone, tablet or iPad.

Make Autobiography with Illustration

Be inspired by Pullen’s Pictorial Autobiography and draw your own life-story using charcoal. In collaboration with members of our Art for All programme.

Make Time with Animation

Discover the history of Victorian animated toys and contemporary versions in a collaborative workshop with our Artist in Residence, Christopher Eales (RCA).

Make History with Clay

Watch the potter’s wheel in action, look inside the kiln, learn more about the glazing process and have a go at making tiles in clay. Led by Richard Miller, Director of Froyle Tiles and ceramic technician for BBC’s The Great Pottery Throw Down’.
To have a go at throwing a pot, please sign up for timed slots on the day. Ages 4+.
Reimagine yourself as part of the Compton Potters’ Arts Guild and help make a clay banquet fit for the Wattses and their Victorian guests.
Work with the festival’s Maker in Residence, Steven Edwards, to bring to life the shape and patterns of Surrey’s vernacular buildings through clay.

Make an Impression with Printing

Let your imagination wander whilst exploring different printmaking techniques, from drypoint to screenprinting, with Ochre Print Studio artists Mai Osawa and Sarah Cliff.

Make Nature with Textiles

Create a stitched paper ship with artist Vanessa Rolf (RCA) and add your design to the fleet sailing through the woodland.
Go foraging in the woods for natural weaving materials and collaborate with craft leader, Claire Dadswell, on a large-scale textile work in the trees. Sunday only

Make Some Noise

See the gallery come to life with this reimagining of clay through Indian classical dance. Demonstration & Q&A by Vidya Thirunarayan.Saturday, 12pm
Inspired by Pullen’s work, watch Stopgap Dance Company artist, Chris Pavia, perform his own choreography. Saturday & Sunday, 11.30am and 1.30pm
Build your own instrument, make a band and join the Junk Orchestra for a recycled rave on Limnerslease lawn. Sunday only, performance at 3pm

MAKER DEMONSTRATIONS

KD Fine Art

See behind the scenes of this on-site framing studio, and learn more about the history, tools and materials of the framing industry. Saturday & Sunday from 1pm

Steven Scott

Discover how a Swedish-style wooden spoon is made, from trunk to table. Saturday only

Talos Art Foundry

Find out about the moulding and casting process, and see examples of its application in modern bronze sculpture. Led by Richard Atkinson-Willes.

The Lettering Arts Trust

Delve into the making of memory at the Watts Chapel with letter cutter and stone carver, Tom Sergeant. Learn more about the skills and tools needed in this ancient craft before visiting the memorials to George and Mary Watts in the cemetery.

Make your Mark

Become a Watts apprentice. Roll up your sleeves, grab an apron and collect the maker’s marks from each activity to create a special memento of your day’s work.

Make a Statement

Are you thinking about applying to Art School? Bring along your portfolio for expert advice and guidance. Open to all students, young or old. Saturday 11am-1pm

TALKS TENT

What does a dentist have in common with a ceramicist? How do you invent a new paint colour? Why are architects responsible for our mental health? Who are the craft makers of the future?

Our Talks Tent brings together artists, architects, writers, designers and those in the creative industries and beyond, for a series of informative and fun talks about making. Saturday & Sunday, from 12pm.

Make Sense of it All

Curator led tour of the James Henry Pullen exhibition. Saturday 1pm and 3pm
Collector, author and leading De Morgan expert, Professor Rob Higgins, examines the life and work of Arts and Crafts maker, William De Morgan. Saturday & Sunday | 2pm and 4pm
Tour guide led tour of the Watts Chapel. Saturday & Sunday, 2pm
Curator of Landscape, Nicky Webber, gives an exclusive tour of gardens once owned by the Wattses. Sunday, 2pm

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

James Henry Pullen: Inmate – Inventor – Genius Bringing together newly restored works – and drawing on new research – this exhibition will shine a light on Pullen’s life and work to offer a new perspective on an artist of wit and inventiveness
Florabundance From exquisitely accurate botanical watercolours to exuberant riots of colour in acrylic paintings, Florabundance celebrates the best of modern floral art.

Festival Exhibition: The Echoing Space.

This temporary exhibition features a collection of mono prints made at Leith Hill Place by artists from The Grange, Surrey Choices, Artventure, Art Matters and Creative Response. Led by the artists in residence, Mary Branson, Penny Green and Julie Hoyle.

EAT & DRINK

Cookie Bar

On site all Sunday, this local, social enterprise sells biscuits, cakes and more.

The Tea Shop

Our award winning teashop will be selling delicious seasonal food throughout the festival.

For more information: https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/whats-on/make-festival/