Workshop, sanctuary, studio: sheds are all things to all people. From Walt Disney to Philip Pullman, Charles Dickens to William Blake, artists have used sheds as a space to create their finest work. Shed Space celebrates the role of the humble garden shed in the creative industries, past and present.

Artists and designers Jeni Burnell and Patrick Stimpson, from the Oxford architectural practice Space Program Ltd., developed the concept for Shed Space with Arts and the Old Fire Station. They have created a full-size shed in the gallery complete with green roof. Inside the shed, architectural space-making is explored through the construction of an elaborate scale model depicting an urban garden and shed scene.

Collaboration is central to Space Program’s creative approach. For this exhibition, they worked with art and architecture students from Oxford Brookes University to develop the whimsical sheds that will form part of the architectural model, and ran a planting workshop with Crisis members to create the green roof.

During the exhibition, seven makers in residence will transform the shed into a ‘making space’, a place where visitors can meet makers and learn from them in workshops in basket making, weaving, wirework, illustration, woodwork and more.

Residencies

Cathy Miles: Fri 20 – Sat 21 May. Cathy uses wire as a medium to ‘draw’ with, creating remarkable portraits of everyday objects.

Daisy Webb: Fri 27 – Sat 28 May. Daisy will produce a series of illustrations which consider the identity of sheds as both domestic and natural.

Felicity Ford (aka Felix): Fri 3 – Sat 4 June. Felix explores fabric-covered buttons and badges as expressive sites of meaning.

Rycote13 (from Rycotewood Furniture Centre): Fri 10 – Sat 11 June. Young furniture makers Jan Waterston, Sam Bolt and Freya Whamond will be providing and insight into the workshop of a designer maker.

Katherine Pogson: Fri 17 – Sat 18 June. Katherine works with leather, and will continue her current project, exploring how objects can connect the user with nature.

Lucy Brown: Fri 24 – Sat 25 June. Somewhere in the Gallery, Lucy will use second-hand clothing and textiles to create a visual response to the exhibition.

Sherry Doyal: Fri 1 – Sat 2 July. Artist and basketmaker Sherry will work on a collection inspired by Charles Darwin’s orchid research.