Ruskin in Sheffield have released a packed schedule of Make Good Livelihoods events happening this month. Mostly based at the Millennium Gallery, a whole range of free crafts activities and workshops suitable for all ages will be held across the weekend of 18-19 June. The emphasis is on ‘doing’. Organisers are hoping to inspire adults and children to learn new skills and showcase the many ways people across Sheffield make a living from crafts.
On Saturday 18 June, a panel of professional craftspeople – including Jason Thomson, Seiko Kinoshita, Sarah Jane Palmer, Frazer Hudson and Nina Rithalia – will reveal how they became makers in a talk called How Did I Get Here? at the Millennium Gallery, with many of their paths unexpected ones.
The following day, local poets will pay tribute to John Ruskin, the renowned thinker, writer and artist, after whom the programme is named, in an event exploring the links between poetry and craftsmanship. Poets Fay Musselwhite, Sally Goldsmith, Tony Walsh, Rommi Smith and Clive Wilmer will discuss this and read their own poetry, and Ruskin-inspired poetry from Walsh and Smith, commissioned last year by Off the Shelf and Word Life, will also be performed.
An open day at Portland Works on the Saturday offers the chance to see forgers, knife makers and hackers at work in the birthplace of stainless steel, now home to creative arts enterprises, musicians and small-scale manufacturing. Also on Saturday is an exhibition by Sheffield Institute of Arts students at Sheffield Hallam University.
Throughout the weekend you can catch displays and demonstrations from a variety of Sheffield’s professional craftspeople at the Millennium Gallery, including sculptors, illustrators, architects, metal workers, wood workers and textile artists. In addition, the Gallery’s Ruskin Collection will be open on both days of Make Good Livelihoods.
Ruskin in Sheffield will also have a series of events at Walkley Festival in late June and early July, as well as activities at Meersbrook Park, Stannington and The Moor throughout summer. Over 7,000 people attended last year’s programme of events. Why not help beat that number this year?
Words: Dan Rawley
Images courtesy of Ruskin in Sheffield & Portland Works
