Artist Talk: Chantal Powell

Chantal Powell will present an artist talk, alongside Making Futures 2026 International Research Conference at Arts University Plymouth, about both her practice and exhibition at MIRROR, SEEDBED. 

FREE // All Welcome. Please Book Tickets.
Plymouth Arts Cinema
Friday 30 October 2026
18:00 - 19:00

Chantal Powell (b. 1977, UK) is an artist-researcher based in West Dorset with a PhD in psychology. Her interdisciplinary practice asks how symbolic imagination can function as a legitimate form of knowledge in contemporary culture. Drawing on Jungian psychology, alchemy, mythology and historical source material, she examines relationships between psyche, matter and the living world.

Across making, curatorial and collection-based projects, writing and public speaking, Powell explores archetypal imagery alongside the symbolic life of objects and materials. Her research has led to the development of Vegetal Alchemy, a framework centred on growth, decay, incubation and regeneration as symbolic models for psychic and material change. She has presented this research at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo.

Powell has exhibited nationally and internationally. Upcoming institutional exhibitions include the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter, and the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich. She is the founder of Hogchester Arts, a contemporary arts residency programme in West Dorset, and host of The Red Book Club, an international speaker and book programme exploring Jungian psychology, contemporary art and symbolic thought.

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Making Futures™ is Arts University Plymouth’s research platform exploring contemporary craft and maker movements as ‘change agents’ in 21st century society. The highlight of Making Futures™ is an international conference bringing together scholars, makers, artists, designers and educators to explore the frontier of material practices in the context of sustainability, community regeneration and technical innovation. First convened in 2009, the conference is focused on the transformative potential of material and fabrication practices, whose tacit and traditional ways of making contribute to new, progressive futures where people and the planet live together more harmoniously. Making Futures™ seeks to situate material cultures and material knowledge at the centre of the many critical issues facing global consumer society, including how we might move beyond mass consumption towards an inclusive, regenerative economy capable of supporting social well being and enabling more resilient communities. As a platform for challenging the material status quo and inviting speculation on how traditional approaches to material production might inform emerging technologies and economies, Making Futures™ advocates for the importance of our shared human heritage, social making, and the significance of place in the value of creative form.