AIR Open 2024 Announcement

Thrilled to hear I have made the final selection of 60 artworks for the AIR Open 2024. A big thank you to the judging panel (Alan Baker, Jude Wainwright, David Gledhill and Mike Chavez-Dawson) for selecting my piece ‘Salty’ from over 1,300 pieces of work. Feeling humbled and truly honoured!

The exhibition launch will take place on Thursday 15th August at Rogue Artist Studios from 6-9pm with all welcome to attend. If you’re free then I hope to see you there!

Other artists in the line-up include:

Aimee Spilsted, Alex Aiton, Amelia Frances Wood, ANDI, Archie Leigh-Jones, Becky Moon, Bethan Hamilton, Bill Psarras, Chris Lewtas, Ciarraí MacCormac, Craig fisher, Daniel H Bell, Enxi Liu, Gareth Cairns, Hang Zhang, Helen Davies, Jay Ottewell, Julie Cassels, Justine Lesage, Kate Street, Katy Mason, Kelan Andrews, Laura Nathan, Lucy Ridges, Lucy Waters, Lois Hopwood, Luke Skiffington, Lula Braimbridge, Marc Remshaw, Marie Jones, Nicola Bolton, Nigel Grimmer, Nisaa Saeed Raja, Rachel Ackroyd, Ramon Omolaja Adeyemi, Ruby Tingle, Sam Owen Hull, Sara Hindhaugh, Simon Leahy-Clark, Steve Sutton, Tom Motley and Vincent James.

Huge congratulations to you all! I can’t wait to see your work at the show.

AWOL / Comme Ca Open 2024 – First Prize Winner

Thrilled to share the news from this evening that I am the recipient of AWOL / Comme Ca Open 2024 First Prize award. It was such a wonderful surprise! Many thanks to the selection panel and the judges Sean Williams, Ceri Morgan and Short Supply for the honour, it is greatly appreciated.

Also a big thank you to all at AWOL and Comme Ca for the seamless curation of work and making the event one to remember. Special mentions for David French, Jude Wainwright, Claire Turner and last (but by no means least), Cass Art for the fantastic goodie bags you provided to all artists, the vouchers I received as part of my prize and the opportunity to show in your Manchester gallery (can’t wait to get planning!).

Delighted for the lovely Laura Nathan too with her highly commended award! Many congratulations to her; very well deserved for her strikingly beautiful and poignant piece.

Photo appears courtesy of Jude Wainwright.

Live with It Preview at Mura Ma Art Space, Marple

Lovely preview event this evening at Mura Ma. It was wonderful to view the results of the unseen installation performance! The premise definitely gave the space a very different atmosphere.

Jane and Nan on curating and developing ideas for the show:

“Jane and I wanted to explore ideas around creative and artistic practice in the home and questioning who gets to be the curator. We believe that anyone who creates an environment, however small, be it a shelf, a studio flat, shelter or a house does so with their own artistic, aesthetic, and cultural sensitivities. Reading Shaun McNiff’s book, Trust the Process in the early days of my own practice, helped me tune into this idea that domestic space, arrangements, physical activities around the home, each offers insights into our unique expression as humans.

“Collecting objects is associated with building meaning into our lives and the things around us are vessels for memory. The way we display those objects is vital to our creating a world in which we feel safe and sheltered from the outside world and in that becomes an expression of our inner world.”

“Rethinking, re-imagining the gallery space as a place not only to experience artworks but to participate in this mise en scene as actors performing their roles. As a modern gallery we want to show people that art offers a multi-dimensional value to life, whether that is art, or a handmade item or even something given to us with all that embedded meaning and memory. It is about creatively constructing our own reality and bring together objects that help us to create that world, express who we are and to act as memory holders.”

Nan Collantine

“It seems a simple act to place my work in an empty space but there is something profound and quite daunting in the act of choosing, as the first actor on the stage setting in motion the scene for what is to follow.

In activating the space within a freeform concept lays the foundation for an unknown structure and that is exhilarating. Like a seed whose DNA has been scrambled and knows not what it will become but knows that from its germination something new and wonderful will bloom.

I’m excited to play my part at the start of the construction of a stage setting to which each artist will bring their own flavour and when the viewers arrive to take their part the mise en scene will be complete.”

Jane Fairhurst

You can find information on the exhibiting artists here.

The show is open until 21st October and the space will host an accompanying programme of events and activities. These sessions will investigate home as a place of creative endeavour, observe and discuss the practice of collecting and arranging, and explore how domestic labour and caring can be reframed as valuable creative capital.

The exhibition will also evolve as art and all objects in the exhibition are available to buy and be taken away (as in a shop). Sold items will be replenished on a weekly basis and different artists will be invited to place work within the installation, so no two viewings will ever be the same!

Talk at Manchester Art Gallery as part of Manifest Arts

Really lovely to be invited to speak and share slides of my work at Manifest Calling. Quite possibly the most compact talk I have given but heaps of fun to deliver. They provided a brilliant insight into what is happening in the region.

The event was introduced by Kate Jesson and took place in Manchester Art Gallery’s Lecture Theatre. Other talks were given by Rachel Connor, Amanda Sutton, James Roper, Lucy Ridges, Rachel Goodyear, Richard Shields, Neil Greenhalgh, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Jude Wainwright and Ruta Skudraite.

Pictures appear courtesy of fellow Wellington Studio member Karol Kochanowski.

 

Manifest Calling – Upcoming Artist’s Talk

Just a quick note to let you know that the Manifest Arts have launched the Manifest Calling event I will be speaking at on Eventbrite (as well as on Facebook). It is free to attend but ticketed, and I have been informed that there are roughly fifty left of the 100 available.

Taking place on Sunday 21st July from 2pm onwards, the talk will house 10 speakers (each with 7 minutes allocated). It has been designed to provide a quick snapshot of the diverse art being produced in the region. With a healthy mix of arts organisations, painters, photographers, performers, installation artists and sculptors as well as leaders of outsider art projects, it is guaranteed to be informative, educational, and enjoyable!