Artists view and learn about materials

During April a small group of selected artists undertook site visits to East Anglian InCrops business partners to view and learn about materials, their properties and their production. The artists recorded and explored the potential for these new materials, both in terms of the possible impact on their own work and also to develop some ideas for how these materials and technologies might present possibilities for other artists in general.
The businesses visited were:

• Cyperpac www.cyberpac.co.uk Suffolk-based packaging company.  Makes Harmless Dissolve plastic which dissolves in water.
• Hemp Technology www.hemcore.co.uk Halesworth hemp processors.  Different grades of hemp fibre available (from paper grade to insulation material).
• Earth and Reed www.earth-and-reed.co.uk Needham Market, Suffolk.  Retailers and producers of biobased construction and decorating materials, including linseed oil based paints with natural pigments, reed mats, Heraklith wood wool panels etc.
• Cambridge Biopolymers www.cambridge-biopolymers.com/
• Woad-inc www.woad-inc.co.uk Bioresin producers based in Duxford.  Products are derived from natural vegetable oils (Rapeseed, Soybean, Sunflower) or aromatic plant oils such as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) and can be combined with wood or other natural fibres for renewable composites.