Following a call out for ESP members to improve the problems they have with Eastside Projects, we’re delighted to announce the development of four new commissions by Emilie Atkinson, Ben Harding, Sophie Huckfield and Dolly Kershaw. Emilie Atkinson is producing a charcoal bar soap and ceramic soap dishes for the Eastside Projects bathroom. This edition will provide a fitting home for a uniquely fragranced, artists' bar soap. Wrongly promoted as unhygienic by the marketers of liquid soaps that are used more quickly, a bar soap will be a more economical alternative. Ben Harding is designing and making a new light shade for the gallery. This work is beginning its development with components made from steam bent wood and 3D printed parts. Ben’s light will feature as both artwork and light source for illuminating other works within the gallery. Sophie Huckfield is responding to Eastside Projects’ audience and testing a variety of ways to safely secure bikes on the front of the gallery. Sophie’s edition will make it easier for more visitors to visit by bike and will keep the gallery free of tyre tracks in the process. Dolly Kershaw is making Eastside Projects a donations box. A staple feature of many gallery and museum entrances, Dolly’s star-shaped work will ask visitors to support Eastside Projects and thank them for their contributions. Editions of some works will be made available for sale later in the process. Emilie Atkinson works in film, photography, performance and object making to consider the dormant qualities of objects, highlighting the myths associated with them. She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2014 and was awarded the The Lim Ai Fang, Woon Foundation Sculpture and Painting Art Prize for recent graduates that same year. Recent exhibitions include KUKURUZ, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (2016), Exposition, Unit 9, Clermont-Ferrand (2016), Do You Hear What I Hear? A.I.R. Gallery, New York (2016) and Die Distanz zwischen Dir und Mir, Freies Museum, Berlin (2015). In 2016 she was an Associate Director at AirSpace Gallery where she contributed to the curation of the gallery programme. Ben Harding is a designer-maker based in Birmingham. He is currently pursuing research and development into 3D printing with experimental and unconventional materials. More broadly, he works across a range of media, employing traditional and developmental processes in the production of craft objects. Ben was awarded the Artspace Research Commission Bursary from Artspace, Coventry (2013), and has worked in residence with In-Public, at Innovation Centre, Birmingham (2016), and Summer Camp at Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2015). Sophie Huckfield is a maker based in Birmingham. She is currently an Engineering Technician at the University of Birmingham, where she is completing an Engineering Traineeship. Sophie is developing a design practice around sustainability and materials experimentation. Previously, Sophie has worked in various creative industries from aerospace to animation. Dolly Kershaw is a sculpture and installation artist, currently based in London and the West Midlands. She graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with a degree in Photography in 2013, and has since exhibited her work throughout the UK. Her research explores artistic labour and art's impact on society, and her practice is often participatory, site-specific and ephemeral. Dolly's recent activity includes the ESP Summer Camp residency here at Eastside Projects, a solo exhibition at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, and a group exhibition at Off Quay, London.