Sharing ideas and bringing the Creative Economy to life!

With the support of University of Readings ArtLab, The Abbey School Art department are partnering with schools in Reading.

We are delighted to be working alongside the fabulous students and staff at The Federation of Oxford Road Community school and Wilson Primary School and thanks to Reading ArtLab www.readingartlab.com, we have become 3D printer twins!

Sharing digital futures – How the project started

ArtLab had previously worked alongside The Abbey School on a project called Downloading the Woods (with Dr Kate Allen and Dr Tristan Quaife) and we discussed ways of working on other projects in the future. 

Last year, Wilson Primary School entered a competition organised by ArtLab at The University of Reading and their artwork won! ArtLab awarded the school an awesome Ender Pro 3D Printer in recognition of their work. 

Wilson and Oxford Road Community Schools are based in West Reading whilst The Abbey is close to the university. This geographical conundrum led ArtLab to suggest a way of us all working together and the suggestion of twinning technology happened. As a result, ArtLab has provided a further 3D printer for The Abbey Senior School to go with Wilson’s and The Abbey Junior School’s machines. 

We will use these creative technologies as ‘beacons’ across Reading in order to start conversations and projects with our partner schools.

As the project continues it will lead to in-person events and creative events at all sites (including at The ArtLab) and we are encouraging anyone who is interested in technology, creativity and working in collaboration to get involved!

The Art Department