Welcome to the web archive documenting Nicola Ellis' long term residency at Ritherdon & Co Ltd
Nicola Ellis is a visual artist based in Manchester. Ritherdon & Co Ltd are a manufacturer of steel enclosures based in Darwen, Lancashire.
The residency at Ritherdon began in February 2018 in the form of an Art in Manufacturing residency which resulted in a commission for the National Festival of Making in June 2018.
Following this residency, Nicola undertook a two year residency focused on further exploration of the Ritherdon factory and office ecosystem with particular focus on the physical manifestation of Lean Manufacturing and constructing a practice in and around factory systems. This project was funded by an Arts Council England Project Grant and after a slight extension in the timeline due to the covid19 pandemic, the residency ended in the solo exhibition No Gaps in the line: Nicola Ellis and Ritherdon & Co Ltd, at Castlefield Gallery.
Leading on from this, Nicola and Ritherdon formally collaborated with technology provider Digiotouch in a European Funded Knowledge Transfer Experiment (KTE) facilitated by Better Factory. The KTE ran for 16 months for the purpose of developing new technology and innovations in the factory infrastructure along with expanding Ritherdon’s service portfolio.
At the end of the KTE Nicola undertook a Henry Moore Institute artist research fellowship which was focused on archive material documenting Garth Evans’ Artist fellowship at British Steel corporation which took place in 1969 - 1971. Using this period of research to learn more about Evans’ time as a British Steel fellow and also to reflect on the long term residency at the Ritherdon factory, this web archive materialised as one of the tangible outcomes.
This archive will be populated with documentation and other materials generated by the Ritherdon residency, along with any other work by Nicola or other visitors to the factory which overlaps with the residency activity in some way.
This archive will be populated up to date slowly during 2023. Nicola's residency at Ritherdon is now permanent so this archive will be added to and maintained for the foreseeable future. If you are interested in discussing the material or residency in the mean-time, please navigate to the contact page in the menu above.