Make Space Winter 2023-24

Second Tuesday of every month  

14 November, 12 December 2023
9 January, 13 February, 12 March 2024

12 - 3pm, drop in

Make Space is a monthly drop in session at Platt Hall open to anyone who lives locally.  
 
Use the studio and materials at Platt Hall and try out drawing, sewing or collage and see where it takes you. We have sewing machines and embroidery threads, drawing and collage materials available.   
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If you already have a creative project on the go, or a sketchbook of ideas, feel free to bring it along, although no wet materials please, including paint, clay, inks and dyes.   

We know the benefits of making and being creative together, it's a great way to connect, exchange ideas and try something new.  We hope it will be a space to meet people, share ideas, be curious and most of all have fun. No pressure, no expectation, just relax and see where it takes you.  You decide how much you want to do.

Comfy seats, conversation, toilets and tea and coffee provided.  

Rosie and Meg from the Hall will be on hand throughout the sessions.  

No need to book, just turn up. 
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Any questions - phone the Hall on 0161 245 7245 (Monday - Thursdays, 10am - 4pm) ​

Everyday creativity at Platt Hall

Celebrating everyday creativity is central to this programme and to our wider thinking at Platt Hall. It's an idea that has become increasingly important as we have got to know the rich cultures and communities on our doorstep a little better, and deepened our understanding of the collections we hold and what makes them meaningful.

Everyday creativity is an intrinsic part of daily life. It's the practice of care and attention to every aspect of life, from choosing what clothes to put on in the morning to cooking an evening meal. Early 20th century architect and design writer WR Lethaby referred to it as 'the common art', through which a deeper connectedness with the world can be found. He described it as the essential foundation from which so-called 'high art' emerges. And because of this, the more important of the two.

​More recently anthropologist Daniel Miller has written about making things as an 'art of care', related to the care we have for others and for our environment. It makes you feel connected. And it makes you feel good. He instructs the reader to "go out and learn to make something, just because you can. Feel for yourself that sense of achievement and exhilaration when you see before you the finished object of your own labour and how that object has in turn made you more than you otherwise had been."

This idea is also central to the Mary Greg Collection of domestic, childhood and handicraft objects, which was given to Manchester and housed here at the Hall in the 1920s. It proved popular with visitors. In 1928 Mrs Greg wrote "I am glad indeed to hear so many people have seen the collection. How glad I should be if we could know if any of them ever make a single thing as a result that will be a delight to themselves, their children or those who come after." Nearly a century later, objects from this collection have proved a popular choice in our Collections Chat programme, sparking conversations ranging from favourite board games, to the history of ironing, to horse riding in Pakistan. 

Make Space is about slowing down, playing with materials, enjoying the process and the company. 

Images from Museum on My Street, the Platt Hall Collections and Open Day workshops earlier this year.