European showcase for MMU art student

SWAPPING the rain of Manchester for the sunny climes of Spain and Portugal, postgrad student Ana Rosa Hopkins will be spending her summer taking part in two art residencies abroad.

Ana has been invited to spend time working at Platforma Revolver, in Portugal, and the Royal Glass Factory, in Spain, where she will create new pieces and see her work go on display.

This is not the first international posting for Ana, who is currently in her third year of a PhD by practice. She has previously spent three months working in Munich on the invitation of the city’s mayor, and a month in Lisbon where she interviewed the internationally-renowned artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.

Ana is the first British artist to be invited to take up a residency with the two host organisations, and was supported in her application by the University’s art research centre, MIRIAD, and the British Council.

Unique opportunity

Ana said: “My host organisations have given me a unique opportunity to develop two specific aspects of my art practice. At Plataforma Revolver I have the space, support and resources to create an installation work on a large scale adopting a new working method and materials broadening my practice and experience.

“This will not be a period of working alone in a studio but within a vibrant international artistic environment engaging with other cultural players, developing contacts.

The residency at the Escuela Superior del Vidrio allows me to explore ideas and techniques, and develop new work in hot glass which would be impossible without access to their first class glass-making facilities and expert technical support.

“It will be a collaborative exchange between artist and artisan and a learning process for both.”