Nube Lab

In March 2026, Nube Lab (Chile) conducted their Living in the Midtones workshop at Buxton Contemporary, an experience open to all participants to reflect and dialogue through art. This case study demonstrates how a methodology based on creativity and collaboration can be transferred to different educational and cultural contexts, highlighting the role of the artist in developing creative pedagogies.

"The question we put to ourselves is 'what could education look like in the 21st century? How can we make it more innovative and inclusive, relatable, and rooted in creativity and critical thinking?' We invited Nube Lab because their methodology shows how art can develop critical and creative capacities. It's a model that has the potential to be expanded to more spaces and people and we're excited to share in this project." Dr Kyla McFarlane, Academic Engagement Fellow.

This project, made possible with the support of a 2024 Teaching Innovation Grant awarded by the Academic Vice-Rectory of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, invites us to think about new ways of learning for the 21st century: innovative, inclusive, and deeply connected to critical thinking.

About Nube Lab

Nube Lab (Santiago, Chile) is a public learning lab that promotes creativity and socio-emotional skills as fundamental pillars for the future. It designs experiences that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, promoting new ways of seeing, learning and doing at all stages of life. This vision aligns with the mission of the Museums & Collections Department at the University of Melbourne to bring art into the everyday lives of the greatest diversity of people, promoting dialogue between cultures, interdisciplinarity, and creative practice beyond the boundaries of art. Out of this shared interest, the two institutions have forged a trans-Pacific alliance that embraces creativity as a tool for learning, encounter and social transformation

About the artists

Paula de Solminihac

(Santiago, Chile)

Visual artist, Associate Professor at the School of Art at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and Executive Director of Nube Lab, a foundation dedicated to work in the field of art and education. Her research has focused on ceramics, exploring its processes of material and symbolic transformation, which has led to an artistic practice linked to research on creative processes and the tensions between nature and culture.

Consuelo Pedraza

(Santiago, Chile)

Cultural researcher, with degrees in Art and Aesthetics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Her work has focused on art education, cultural mediation, and collaborative projects, with special interest in the construction of narratives and the development of research in different areas of culture. She is currently responsible for communications at Nube Lab.