Foreword, Materials Matter publication

​

The project is dedicated to the memory of Myra Ostaccini, a former student and latterly friend and colleague, who's boundless energy and enthusiasm for everything creative was limitless. In the summer of 2021, a generous pile of textile materials were gifted to the department by Myra's husband Asif. These materials became an important catalyst for Year 3 plans, which eventually took the form of the project Materials Matter. The key aim was to encourage students to work with wood, textiles or plastic in a way that helped them to recognise and value the different material qualities they were encountering. It was hoped that the focus on materiality would enable the process, rather than any particular outcome or product, to become central. In this way the materials themselves might become more like collaborators or animate "things" with important secrets to reveal about their qualities and potential to become new forms in the world. 

​

For the plastics strand of the project, we were lucky enough to be supported by Midton, an acrylic manufacturing firm based in Lochgilphead. Midton were interested in working with students at the Glasgow School of Art to test their new product Remade- a recycled acrylic material composed of in-house industrial surplus. When speaking on Midton's collaboration with GSA, managing director, Craig Cameron explains- " At Midton, we are passionate about supporting creatives, and encouraging new possibilities for artists. As an underappreciated, and underused material within the art sphere, we hoped for an opportunity to educate and engage a new generation of artists to see the benefits of using cast acrylic. The creation and development of Remade presented the perfect opportunity to do this."