Project overview
A world without coloured materials would be very dull indeed - we like to be able to chose the colour of a car or of our cosmetics, we enjoy artwork created with the full artist's palette, we use attractive and hard-to counterfeit banknotes and stamps, we want to be able to select a shade of paint to decorate our homes. The range of coloured materials ( called pigments) we use has been developed over many centuries, initially from natural minerals but more recently by the ingenuity of the chemist. This research continues with the need for better, more intense colours, environmentallyfriendly materials and new speciality pigments that can, for example, change colour.We will develop the Public Awareness of colour and coloured materials, emphasising ongoing research, through a number of initiatives that will seek to inform both adults and school children in enjoyable and accessible ways. This will be achieved through displays and exhibitions in museums, art galleries, science centres and science festivals. We will also assemble and provide lectures and demonstrations ( including hands-on activities) suitable for people with little scientific background informing them about the colourful world we live in and what might be possible in the future through continuing research on pigments. We will involve major UK pigment manufacturers and users in these initiatives and further engage public interest in coloured materials through open days and school visits to their sites. Examples of such activities that relate coloured materials to everyday life will include the importance of natural pigments in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, pigments in art including history and how pigments are manufactured in the 21st century. Demonstration and hands on activities will include how pigments can be extracted or made from natural minerals, how to make colour and paint and how particle size, including nanoparticles, makes all the difference to a pigment. We will also develop electronic resources for help in teaching relevant areas of the National Curriculum including Science in the 21st Century.