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.

AWOL / Comme Ca 2024 Open Call Preview

A few pictures from the AWOL/Comme Ca Art Open 2024 preview. Had such a fantastic evening! Many great conversations with beautiful people amongst a gorgeous, eclectic selection of work. It must’ve been a huge challenge to narrow down the 200 odd entries to 22 artists!

 

The show is open to the public at Hope Mill from the 18th May and runs until Sat 22nd June 2024 (Opening times are Wednesday and Thursday 11-4pm & Sat 11-2pm). Plenty of time to catch it if you are about in the area! If you are new to the space, the gallery at Hope Mill is amazing too – great light with wonderful views of Ancoats and beyond. Highly recommend a visit!

Manchester Open 2024, HOME

Wonderful evening catching up with a number of familiar faces and meeting new ones at the Manchester Open 2024 (a few of whom are captured here).

It was too busy to really see the work properly so I will head back in the not too distant future for a closer look! The show is open until Sunday 28th April so there is plenty of time to see a snapshot of what Manchester’s creative scene has to offer. A catalogue of participating artists is available here.

Many thanks to Ruby Knopf who has kindly given me permission to share a couple of her photos of the evening.

Open 2023, Preview at Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre

Really enjoyable and absolutely packed preview this evening for the Open 2023. Huge thank you to the judges Paulette Brien, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Tony Heaton and Jez Dolan for selecting my work and to all the team at Bury Art Museum for their hard work in bringing everything together so beautifully!

If you weren’t able to make it to the preview, there is still plenty of time to catch the pieces there as the show is on until the 3rd February 2024.

Tees Preview at Rogue Artists’ Studios

 

Doors opened at Rogue Studios this weekend for the Tees “shop”. If you have been unable to make it this weekend, the show is open by appointment or between 12-4pm on Saturdays. All T-shirts are available to purchase (including the ones I made).

The catalogue from the show is available here (although the information I supplied did not make it in for some reason so I will supply it here instead).

Title of the diptych and medium:

“Mind the Gap”, unique recycled fabric embellishments on sustainable cotton shirts.

What was the idea behind the T-shirt: 

Language is a powerful tool. When adopted by artists, it is utilised to interrogate the political, social and cultural landscape. Its position on t-shirts is no different. Through the use of text, we are drawn to question how we think, feel, function, judge, and differ from one another.

With this premise in mind I was inspired to create a piece exploring text as a direct (or rather indirect) form of communication. I was interested in how material usage and approach can be harnessed to create emphasis, drawing subtle references for those who decode it.

I decided to recycle and repurpose fast fashion slogan T-shirts sourced from charity shops, in order to highlight the waste generated by the industry through such “joke” products and comment on the duplicitous actions of some suppliers.

Price of T-Shirt:

£200 each

 

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!

Private View of Northern Lights: A New Light Retrospective

This evening saw the opening of Northern Lights, a celebration of the prize exhibition’s tenth year in operation.

New Light was initially established to provide exhibition opportunities for artists in the region (especially those using traditional media), and the show at Saul Hay was held to present new work from previous prize winners. Unfortunately due to an administrative error I was marked as not being able to participate in the show and my piece was therefore missed in the catalogue.

You can view my piece “Lockdown 2.0” along with work of other prize winners Diana Armstrong, Karolina Szymkiewicz, David Chandler, Christopher Cook, Joshua Waterhouse, Anna Poulton, Joanna Whittle, Sarah Harris, James Naughton, Vic Harris, Ian Brooks, Nat Quinn, Mandy Payne, Josie Jenkins, Emma Lawrenson, Jo Taylor, Deborah Grice, Neil Bousfield, Rhea Sherriff-Hammond, Gavin Watson, Jan Huntley Peace, Linnet Rubaya, Christian Alexander Bailey, Alan Stones and Ben Ark.

The show will run from from 26th March – 17th April 2022.

 

 

Upcoming New Light Retrospective show at Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester

In celebration of 10 years of New Light, a retrospective in collaboration with the Saul Hay Gallery has been arranged (opening on March 26th). The exhibition will host work of New Light’s award winning artists spanning the last ten years. For the show, prize winners from the last 5 Prize Exhibitions were invited to submit work for inclusion (of which I am one having won the Norman Ackroyd prize for printmaking in 2013).

The exhibition will also feature work by Nat Quinn, Josie Jenkins, Mandy Payne, Christopher Cook and 2020 winner Joanna Whittle, amongst others. An online catalogue of the show can be viewed here although I was mistakenly marked as not taking part even though I was so please ignore that bit! Entries include paintings, prints, ceramics and sculpture across a range of disciplines with wide ranging subject matters.

It promises to be a diverse and thought provoking exhibition. Hope to see you there!

Turner Contemporary Open Preview

What a wonderful evening at the Turner Contemporary Open! My first preview since Covid lockdowns and although there were many measures still in place (entry to the show was staggered, socially distanced and included masks), you could feel a buzz among attendees… we were able to go to physical shows once more!

It was also fantastic to see the interaction occurring with my piece as I had intended! Apparently the first marks were down to a guide dog’s tail swishing across the surface. This was the catalyst needed for others to step forward, play and contemplate. I can’t wait to see what happens to the piece between now and 20th February next year!

 

Preview Night – Saul Hay Anniversary show, Manchester

A few pictures from the Anniversary show preview at Saul Hay gallery on the 29th September.

All images appear courtesy of Art Across (Sara and Michela Riccardi) apart from images 16 and 26 courtesy of Omid Asadi.