E.M. Parry joined the Arthouse in December, we interviewed them to find out about working with history in a different or queer way and what it feels like to share a smoke with a ghost.

What attracted you to joining the Arthouse?

So many things about the Arthouse were really appealing. I was drawn to a space that felt very embedded and invested within a community, not just within the artist community but the wider community of South East London, where I’ve been based for around 20 years.

The Arthouse co-operative model is very exciting compared to other studios in London, which can be incredibly unaffordable, perpetuating a culture of the arts being a luxury for elites. I liked the idea of being part of a co-op structure and have always been interested in alternative, non-hierarchical models – especially at a time when we urgently need to be re-thinking a lot of traditional structures of power and organisation. I was interested in finding out more about this type of art space model, as my ultimate ambition – building on an online queer space I helped set up during lockdown – is to create a queer community and art space in South London.

The Arthouse has been a life-line for me during lockdown, being close to my home, and it’s been really nourishing to feel like my work was in conversation with other artists during the group show recently.

How would you describe your art?

My background is in theatre, primarily design, but I’ve always worked in quite a multidisciplinary way – I also devise, perform, and write. My personal practice draws on the vocabulary of theatre making. I find it quite hard to describe exactly what ‘it’ is, because it’s a lot of different things. Sometimes I describe it as durational sculpture, or performative installation. I use objects and costumes, usually with some time-based element. I work with bodies a lot, mostly my own, but sometimes engaging with other bodies.

My work is essentially collaborative, including with people who aren’t necessarily with us in the flesh. This ties in with my PhD, which looks at meeting the past using queer ways of doing history. This isn’t the traditional idea of history as something written and stored in an archive, where only certain people are allowed to decide what even is history. This is not history as we were taught in school, a history that’s linear, with the kings and queens of England represented in a neat line like a ruler sold in a castle gift shop. A queered way of looking at history is non-linear, messy and unruly, meeting the past in more embodied and imaginative ways.

What are you working on at the moment?

I did a residency last year at Harts Lane gallery, New Cross, where I developed an ongoing strand of work which I’m continuing in the Arthouse, using pipe shards which I collect from the banks of the Thames, as a way of physically connecting with the past. I make installations, sculptures and wearable objects out of them, often with time-based elements, such as melting ice. Engaging with these objects feels like craft, but also like a performance, a ritual, or seance even.

I recently created an installation connecting hundreds of these pipe fragments, laying them out across the floor in snake-like trails. I think about how these fragments represent people connected to a part of London – perhaps some of them knew each other, maybe they were neighbours, friends, lovers, enemies, perhaps they walked the same streets, but hundreds of years apart. The moment when I stopped and looked at them all laid out, I had a sense of all those people in the room with me – it was quite overwhelming and I actually found myself crying.

Each shard represents possibly the only trace of a person’s existence in this world. Usually the way history engages with people is through the written archive, recorded when people are entering into a relationship with the state – dying, being born, getting married, or in trouble with the law. So it boxes people in particular ways. In the early modern period many people couldn’t read or write, or could only read but not write. I’m fascinated by the idea of a material archive, especially of anonymous and forgotten lives – a kind of queer archive.

One of the things I do with the pipe shards is a ritual performance where I smoke tobacco or just breathe through them. It feels very haunting, and very moving. I try to be really respectful in how I treat these objects because each one is a life and a person; when I breathe through that little channel it links me with the last person who smoked it. This is what I mean by a different or queer way of doing history. It’s basically sharing a smoke with a ghost.

Has the pandemic influenced your art?

I’m very grateful for having a practice that takes a long view, this queer view of history and of time. I think we experience time as a social construct, and the past year has really revealed this. Viewing things in this way has helped me process the strangeness of these times and to find some hope – which isn’t to say it’s been a breeze! I’m aware this is a really tough experience for everyone, but I do feel a lot of curiosity about the situation, even at its most challenging, and it’s certainly informed my thoughts and practice.

What other work inspires you?

I’m very inspired by other queer performance and drag artists, such as Cyro, Nando Messias, Furious Brown, Rubyyy Jones, Prinx Lydia, Emma Frankland, Oedipussi Rex, Travis Alabanza, Prinx Chiyo, and many others.

What do you have coming up?

I’m developing the pipe fragments work for a show at the VSSL Studio gallery in Deptford, in May. I’m also working on some photography projects and learning film editing, making little films and performing to camera. Joined with this I do drag performances – which haven’t been possible in the flesh during lockdown, but I’m exploring ways to keep up drag practice using digital platforms. I’m working on new characters and costumes, and weaving that into the photography work.

E.M. Parry’s website

Pipe shards project on the Shakespeare’s Globe blog

exhibition and performances at VSSL Studio – further details coming soon

Today we’re inviting you to join us on catching up with Sola Olulode, LAH’s Graduate Resident for 2018-2019.

Lewisham Arthouse: Hello Sola! First of all thank you for your time, we’re excited to have the opportunity of interviewing you. Could
we start by learning a bit about you and your work?

Sola Olulode: I’m an artist from south London mainly working in figurative painting. My paintings focus on the lives of black womxn
and non-binary people. I paint tender visions of relationships and intimacy. In my paintings people express love unhindered by the outside world in a bubble of freedom and happiness.

LAH: What are your materials of choice and could you please tell us a bit about your process?

SO: I mostly work using batik techniques on hand dyed or stained canvas, using paint or other mixed media once stretched on a frame.

LAH: Is there a piece you are particularly proud of, something you felt has been really important to you, or has changed the way
you work? If so could you tell us why?

SO: She’s Like My Sister – A painting I did in my second year of uni. It
focuses on sisterhood and the close friendships between Black womxn. It perfectly captured the energy I was going for my work and the colours in that piece have stayed with my work since.

LAH: What interests you? What influences you?

SO: People in my life influence me the most but also music and film is where I get a lot of inspiration. I’m always playing music
when I’m painting. It can capture the feeling that I’m trying to convey in painting with words and beats. Listening to the vibrations can often set the mood of the painting or the lyrics inspire the title. I also look at films and music videos especially for
examples of relationships or poses for figures.

LAH: Are you working on anything particular at the moment?
Is there a theme you are currently addressing?

SO: The theme I’m currently addressing is romance. I’m looking at couples and physical intimacies between lovers.

LAH: You were the Lewisham Arthouse’s Graduate Resident Award holder in 2018-2019. What did you think of that experience?

SO: Having the space allowed me to create many new pieces of works and continue to experiment following my degree at a time when
I couldn’t afford a studio so had no opportunity to continue making work and pursue a career out of making art. It was great to have a studio space free for a year and remove some of that stress and be free to focus on creating!

LAH: In October 2019 you had your Residency’s final exhibition, Hold
My Hand, at the Arthouse Gallery. What were you mainly focused on during its preparation?

SO: Finishing the works! I wanted to show all new works and really fill up the gallery space so I had to dedicate a lot of time in
the run up to get everything finished!

LAH: Could you please tell us about the series of Creative Crits you conducted during your time at LAH and what motivated your initiative?

SO: I held two crites for creatives of colour during my time at the Arthouse. I think having a critical discussion about your work
with other creatives and receiving feedback is really essential to pushing your work forward. Having a safe space dedicated to people of colour helps alleviate some of the pressures I and other Black and POCs have felt receiving feedback from white dominated
spaces where often work is overlooked or misunderstood.

LAH: Do you have more similar plans in the future? If so how can those interested get involved?

SO: I have plans to hold more of these events at the Arthouse.
Look out for posts on instagram about it!

LAH: We understand you’ve been very busy! Can you please tell us about your most recent and current exhibitions, what are you working
on at the moment and how can we follow your practice?

SO: Recently I’ve been included in quite a few online exhibitions as the art world adapted to lockdown. Now I’m back in the studio,
I’m finishing off a lot of new works so I can focus on the current series I’m working on (romance). The best place to find out what I’m up to is my instagram page.

LAH: Great, Sola! Thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you again at the Arthouse!

—
Olulode received a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton in 2018. Since graduating she has succeeded residencies with solo shows: von Goetz, Moving in the Bluish Light (2018); Lewisham Art House, Hold My Hand (2019); V.O Curations, Where the Ocean Meets the Beach (2020); and featured in the V&A’s In the Palm of Your Hands (2020). Various group exhibitions include: BBZ BLK BK: Alternative Graduate Show (2018); Twilights of the Idols (2020), Alice Black; Build Love Break Walls (2020), Shado Magazine; Blacklisted: An Indefinite Revolution (2020), Christie’s Education; and most recently When Shit Hits the Fan (2020), Guts Gallery (online).
You can follow Sola Olulode’s work on Instagram and www.solaolulode.co.uk

It is certain that, as recommended, Lewisham Arthouse members have been keeping their distance from their studios, but that doesn’t mean they don’t keep in touch and try to reach out to fellow artists, particularly to those who are recent new comers, such as Kemi Onabulé, who we had the pleasure of getting to know better through an interview we’re now delighted to share with you. Needless to say we’re eager to see Kemi again in the Arthouse and we’re excited to make her feel as welcomed as possible. Please join us on this tour through her experience in LAH so far and her work in her own words.

1. Hello Kemi, welcome! How long have you had a studio at The Arthouse?

Pre-Corvid-19 I had just started a new sublet at Lewisham Arthouse in February of 2020. I was so far enjoying my time at the studio spaces.

2. We’re glad to know that, what is it that you like about them?

They offer the right balance between privacy and community. Giving me the chance already to meet some great people. I am someone who has for much of my professional life shared studios and moved spaces a lot so I have had to get used to new places quickly. LAH has definitely been the most welcoming. I find the building itself quite inspiring with its moulded ceilings and grand staircase, there is something encouraging about stepping into the space. I am amongst fellow artists who are all dedicating themselves with a steady energy to their chosen subject. I really love this.

3. We couldn’t agree more and look forward to working by your side. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do?

I am a painter, printmaker and musician, I work fluidly going from each medium during the course of a day. My work mainly focuses on the close connection human beings have to the natural world, exploring ways in which we have distanced ourselves from it. The figures in my paintings and prints are in many ways an ancient version of a human being. They are stripped of all signs of culture or civilisation and often stand naked in the landscape. For me this is something akin to the religious in its importance to being a fully rounded person. The further away from nature we become the less human we are.

4. We’re sure your different practices can bring so much to the studios, where there are other painters, printmakers and even a music studio. Would you be able to tell us about any specific project that you’re particularly proud of or has been really important to you, perhaps even triggering a change in the way you work?

It is hard to pick out a single work as I feel like all my art is a development onto the next project. Saying this there is a series of prints that I completed in 2017 that have given rise to a whole new language within my work. The series was called ‘Before Midnight’ – all 10 or so prints and drawings were an exploration of the relationship between the female sexuality and the natural world. The fact that it is such a mercurial and beautiful thing. I feel like women still see themselves through so much abrahamic guilt when it comes to their bodies and wanted to shed that through the work.

5. It seems that you have a special relationship with nature and the female body. What else interests you? What influences you?

So many things have influenced me! Films, Books, Movies, documentaries, my love of gardens and nature in general as well as my own cultural histories have made a huge impact on my work. My family come from Nigeria, Greece and England and I have always used elemnets of the art and culture within the work subconsciously I think. The Literature and essays of Arundhati Roy made a huge impact on me as a teenager. Her book ‘God of Small Things’ is such an intoxicating tangle of sex, family, cultural ideas of sin all mixed in with vivid descriptions of subtropical Kerala. Something has always fascinated me when it comes to human beings’ relationship to their environment and in turn with one another.

6. The way we connect to each other is certainly going through a new scrutiny during these current times. Are you working on anything particular at the moment? Is there a theme you are currently addressing?

I think now is a really interesting time to be making artwork. In a way we have all been forced in to a kind of artist residency on our own homes. Oddly given the free time at first I found it hard to focus on making work in the first few weeks of self isolation. In the last week however I have seized the opportunity to make more works on paper. The drawings all relate to my feeling of discomfort to do with what might happen in the coming years. The paintings I am making are looking to find a road map through these trying times by engaging with the possibility of reverting back to a more basic way of life. The themes I have been exploring for the past years seem oddly pertinent at this time.

7. Exactly, we were just thinking of that! We’re almost at the end of our interview now, and would like to ask you if you have a mentor or a piece of advice which has influenced your practice?

I am lucky to have parents who are both artists and musicians and I have learnt so much from them just by watching their example. I would say they have taught me to be resourceful and to work hard despite what may come. There are always opportunities no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in if we use our natural talents and initiative. I think this is a way of living we may all be forced to live by in the coming years.

8. Thank you for generously sharing your thoughts with us, Kemi. Lastly, we’d love to keep in touch while we maintain our safe physical distance. Where can we find your work online?

You can find my work online at kemionabule.com and on my instagram @kemionabuleart

An evening of performance and film marking International Women’s Day 2020 with artist Tischler Wood aka Alma.

Friday 6 March
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Freud Museum London
20 Maresfield Gardens 
London, NW3 5SX

“Carrying On” is a new short film by art collective Foreign Investments, directed by Tischler Wood aka Alma in collaboration with Femmetasia as part of “You Burn Me”. The film focuses on endurance and fragility
Taking the Sappho text as a starting point, join members and friends of the Subjectivity and Feminisms Research group at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London for an evening of immersive performance and film exploring the timely issue of burnout. ‘You Burn Me’ will offer attendees the space to reflect on what burnout means particularly in relation to gender, against the backdrop of International Women’s Day. Together the works will walk the fine line between desire and exhaustion.


Tickets for the event can be bought here.

www.foreign-investments.com

Successful Arts Council bid – ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ Round 7

Leila Ziu is Over the moon to be awarded Arts Council DYCP Funding to develop new explorations in audio-visual and animation works. Learning new skills, collaborating and developing work in her Arthouse studio.
Congratulations Leila!

A music video directed by Leila Ziu for Pearson Sound,
2018

For more work by Leila Ziu click here

1. How long have you had a studio at The Arthouse?

I moved into the studio on November 1st

2. What do you like about The Arthouse?

Having the studio space at Lewisham Arthouse is amazing, after working from my bedroom since graduating in 2018 I’m feeling quite overwhelmed with the size of the space! Even in the short time I’ve been here there have been a succession of really interesting shows downstairs in the gallery and everyone has been really welcoming. Just a bus away and I’m a Catford resident so I’m well impressed with the Lewisham Arthouse reputation in the area and it’s emphasis on public-facing, free and inclusive community events and activities.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do? “An Introduction to Rosie McGinn”

As an Artist I am interested in unpicking moments of euphoria and despair through a plethora of mediums including motor-based sculptures, inflatable installations, videos and prints. From a monstrous writhing Paul Gascoigne puppet [connected to a hand-winch] t oa giant inflatable bingo woman to stuffed Torvill and Dean figurines reliving the Boléro [on robot hoovers], my recent work has gravitated towards [British] sport and leisure whilst observing the provincial areas and communities where rituals, such as Bingo, going ‘out out’ and football, provide a sense of faith and escapism. Whilst the artworks look at primal psychological drives and concepts, the mechanisms can be as complex as the feelings they are trying to portray.

The priority in my practice has always been to incorporate and collaborate with sections of society who are otherwise uninvolved and uninterested in the art world. The work remains unashamedly accessible and connected to a wider audience through its familiar references, use of humour and acute observations of human behaviour.

4. Is there a work your particularly proud of and why-
Something you felt has been really important to you, or has changed the way you work

‘HOWSE’ came at a really important time, when the work was shifting from video to moving sculpture. Video of installation: https://vimeo.com/274089466
Video of installation at Picnic Gallery, Peckham : https://vimeo.com/311287725
It’s probably the most attention-seeking piece I’ve made, the image is of my grandma [who was banned from her local bingo] and it’s relentless inflating and deflating is both joyful and terrifying. Taking you through the highs and lows of winning a full ticket at the Bingo.

The publicly engaged installation ‘GET IN THERE’ with OOF Magazine at Tate Exchange for WHO ARE YA? Exploring Art, Identity and Football this summer was also really important : https://vimeo.com/369549630
Several months of promotion prior to the event asked football fans to send in an image of themselves celebrating [and who they support] which I then turned into an interactive jumping jack. We started with 342 fans installed on the wall in a crowd at Tate Exchange; visitors could then come along and pull down each football bead and the mini fans arms would rise in celebration. Throughout the week visitors [peaking at 1,130 on the Saturday] could come and have their photo taken and turn themselves into a jumping jack, joining the ever-growing installation. We finished with 489 football fans joining the crowd “..in a simple joyous statement about humanity, togetherness and the unwavering power of football..” It was one of the most fulfilling experiences and reaffirmed my beliefs that art should be opened up to the masses [rather than stay insular and elite.] Football is rich in that it draws out extreme emotions and human insight, it’s community based as well, it’s where people go as a collective to support one team. It has power to stir emotion and it felt good to channel this in order to make people think about art differently.

5. What interests you? What influences you?

There’s definitely a lot of links to sport in the work as well as leisure [raving, bingo] but I think it’s more to do with being human, finding our placement in the world and a sense of belonging, chasing these ‘euphoric experiences’ in order to feel alive…my main influences come from sitting on the bus or going to the pub or watching the tele. When my minds switched off and I can watch the world go by.

6. Are you working on anything particularly at the moment?

I’m currently working on ‘The Mountain’ a small stuffed World’s Strongest Man sculpture who will be connected to a pulley block [so the viewer can pull his giant weight up and down]

7. Anything coming up?

I’ll be showing ‘The Mountain’ at the ‘Giblet Bayes Award Show’ at the Royal Society of Sculptors 16 Dec – 20 March.

You can see more of Rosie’s artwork on her website – www.rosiemcginn.co.uk

Arthouse artists Sophie + Kerri hit the north this month for a residency and solo show with fellow artist-led studios Ebor. They have been invited to spend time exchanging with the artists working from this space and to develop the first exhibition of their recent work in progress ‘Guttural Living,’ sharing their work and processes with a new audience in Greater Manchester.

During the residency the artists will shape their newest performance-based work bringing ‘philosophy to the bodies archive’, started during a residency at Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire in 2018. They will develop ideas exploring the body, material practice, sculpture, sound and furniture design in conversation the artists of Ebor Studio.

Gallery FRANK is set in a former mill in Littleborough and having this space will open up a new environment within which to explore and further their ideas and experimentations posing questions such as: how do bodies orientate in the world? What shapes the way they move?

The residency starts with a movement based workshop exploring themes in the show and runs until 8 March when the exhibition will open to the public with an artist talk, the show will then continue until 17 March.

Residency: Feb 27 – Mar 8
Exhibition: opens 8 March – runs until 17 March (10 – 4pm Mon and Tuesday, ever other day by appointment)
Workshop: Sat 2 March, 11.00 – 13.00 Book it
Artist Talk: Friday 8 March, 6pm

All free, open to the public

Gallery FRANK

Ebor Studio,
William Street,
Littleborough,
Lancashire OL15 8JP

Credit: Sophie Chapman + Kerri Jefferis

2.What do you like about The Arthouse?
It is a beautiful building and an incredible space to make work in. My studio is upstairs under the glass barrel vaulted ceiling; the light is always wonderful, even in the winter. The temperature can be less wonderful, but it is worth the sacrifice for the light.
It is also great to be a part of the community working together to run the studios and sharing the space with lots of inspiring makers in different disciplines.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do? “An Introduction to”
I make contemporary figurative paintings of interiors from found photographs. These are usually very ornate, ostentatious spaces from old museum houses. I am interested in playing with the illusionistic depth of interior paintings; the way in which we perceive positive and negative spaces and shifting the ways which these are read across the picture.

4. How do you use your studio?
I like to keep the central space flexible with a table which I move about, either with a palette and paints on top, or clear for drawing, printing or working on my laptop. I hang the paintings on the walls whilst working on them, and stack works in progress and finished works in the corner. I try not to have too much unnecessary visual material on show, as it can make me feel a bit claustrophobic.

5. Is there a work your particularly proud of and why-
Something you felt has been really important to you, or has changed the way you work
I find this a really difficult question to answer – I tend to be focused on the next piece. Different paintings come to mind as I am working and tackling similar issues, but I don’t like to linger to long on old work. Perhaps I should do a bit more and that is perhaps why I am returning to do a Masters this year. I hope to spend more time reflecting on why I make certain decisions in my practice.
I have been making paintings of interiors from photographs since my BA which I completed in 2012 – I suppose that was a breakthrough moment. Time for a new one!

6. What interests you? What influences you?
I read novels. I also I listen to audiobooks as I work. I find it easier to escape in to work with head phones on and a story I can drift in and out of. Listening and reading help me to explore my place within the world and to develop an emotional understanding; I am sure that sounds pretentious, but I think that is why I am compelled to read.
My partner is an architect, which is perfect as there is no persuasion needed to explore new buildings and gardens. We spend a lot of time discussing how we experience these spaces.
I also enjoy the charged atmosphere of theatre, although I don’t go as often as I would like. I am fascinated by the economy of information needed on stage; how structures, furniture and props elude to a world without having to fully describe it.

7.Are you working on anything particularly at the moment?
I am working on a large commission currently, as well as a few other works. Commissions are always more challenging, but interesting as they force me to confront new territory, and find new solutions.

8.What’s in the pipeline? What’s Next?
I am really excited to begin a masters in Fine Art at City and Guilds in September. A chance to really reflect on and challenge my practice.

END

Interdisciplinary artists Charles Hayward, Simona Sharafudinov and Thomas Stone present new sound from inside the Gallery’s Foyer.
Charles Hayward presents his ongoing improvised ritual 30 MINUTE SNARE DRUM ROLL which takes a basic drum technique and extends it into an epic acoustic space.
Using a collage of choreographed movement, sound and projected images, Simona Sharafudinov will present a new work _Denial_ inspired by the structures of authority and oppression.
Hear Thomas Stone’s post-classical / post-techno soundscapes that explore themes of memory, restraint, ritual and presence.

18th October 2018
8pm
Whitechapel Gallery,
77-82, Whitechapel High Street,
E1 7QX

Arthouse Members Interviews 2018: no.3

Jocelyn Mc Gregor

1. How long have you been a member at The Arthouse?

I’ve been subletting since last November.

2.What do you like about The Arthouse?

The space is great, the biggest studio I’ve ever had and it’s nice and light. Plus there are always people around and things going on. It is easy to get involved and meet the other artists in the Arthouse and contribute to the community.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do?
“An Introduction to”

I’m a sculptor on the hunt for the point of transition between internal and external, real and imagined worlds. Using my own body as a starting point, I explore the inside/outside topography of the female form, looking to folklore, surrealism and supernatural fiction to investigate the identification of women with the earth, the home and the machine.

The materials that I use – domestic fabrics, beauty products, earth pigments and industrial materials, represent for me a point of transition for the body, the moment it meets the organic or the manufactured world. This closeness comes with bed sheets, towels, furniture and beauty products, which cleanse us, support us, modify our appearance or take us from conscious to unconscious/dreaming. These are also absorbent materials and due to their proximity to our bodies, often play into tales surrounding the haunted object, where inanimate objects assume human qualities; from dolls and charms to animated furniture and aircraft parts. For my sculptures, I combine these signifiers in order to blur the boundaries between the natural world and the manufactured one, resulting in a super-natural hybrid of the two.

4. How do you use your studio?

I kind of split the space in half using one part for making smaller more detailed objects and the other part for spreading out and making more large scale things. I had a studio visit the other day and they commented that there was so much on the floor and literally nothing on the walls. I use the floor and I hang stuff; so that’s really highlighted to me how much my work is about getting stuff out into the space, it’s volume, it’s weight, how it supports itself, etc.

5. Is there a work your particularly proud of and why-
Something you felt has been really important to you, or has changed the way you work

Hmm the first cast I made of my boob, where I replaced the nipple with a Cats-eye road reflector, remoulded it using a vacuum former, made a plaster cast and then polished it up with Vaseline – not many people have seen it, and it’s never been exhibited but I’ve kept it in one piece so that says something!

It was the first object I think I made on my MFA at the Slade. I can’t even remember what lead me to make it (I just remember catching my own eye in the mirror, tied up with thread and covered in mod-roc and thinking, “well, this is a first”) but it totally changed my practice, kicked me out of the habits I’d fallen into during/after graduating from my undergrad – which had been to try to separate my work as much as possible from the body, from the hand, from myself; making work that looked like fragments of a structure, machine-made barriers. Those old habits are an artistic concern of mine, but I’d never really asked why, I’d just made them and researched the materials I used in an equally distant, impersonal, academic way. So that strange weird, hybrid version I made of my own body, when I look at it now, represents the point when I started to question my work on a personal level. I was drawing it back to myself to better understand the things that were driving me to make it, strengthening it’s foundations – basically, that work was the point when I opened up.

6. What interests you? What influences you?

Mossy walls and fallen down trees rotting, horror movies (rural horror and eco horror in particularly) and surrealism, gothic literature, ghost stories, superstitions, folklore – because they explore histories we don’t like talking about, usually involving women or people who subvert societies conventions – monsters, malfunctions and discomfort.

7. Are you working on anything particularly at the moment?

I feel like I’ve made a lot of low-lying, stand-alone sculptures recently and now I want to make a ‘space-changer’, so a sculpture that can alter a whole space in some way. And I’ve done a lot of sewing lately, so I want to get back into a messy, heavy process again – or something altogether different, just to rebalance myself.

8.What’s in the pipeline? What’s Next?

I run a residency project though, ‘Doremifasolasido’ (www.doremiresidency.com), and that’s happening up in Barrow-in-Furness with Art Gene (www.art-gene.co.uk) and Octopus Collective (www.octopuscollective.org) towards the end of the year hopefully, so that’s next.

Jocelyn is showing in New Contemporaries, opening 14th July- 9th September In Liverpool and showing ‘new work that you can sit on’ as part of ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ at The Art Foundation, Athens. Τhe exhibition’s title pays direct tribute to Rebecca Solnit’s book ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ from 5th July- 9th September.

Lewisham Arthouse member Amanda Francis is featured in a group exhibition at Galerie peyrusse in Southern France, alongside Artists Bridget Sheridan and Simon Tozer. Her installation explores the interplay between memory and place focusing on an ordinary terraced house in South London.

7th July – 3rd September 2018
Friday – Sunday 3pm -7pm
Galerie Peyrusse
18 rue Paul Gleyrose
12220 Peyrusse-le-Roc
info@galeriepeyrusse.com

1. How long have you had a studio at The Arthouse?

I’ve been subletting a studio since June 2017, but prior to that I held the Lewisham Arthouse Graduate Studio Award from May 2015 through to May 2016. I’m hoping to become a permanent member in the future.

2.What do you like about The Arthouse?

It’s a beautiful building, filled with kind and interesting people, of a range of ages, experiences and disciplines. I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with a number of other Arthouse residents on projects of various scale, including; a film, a stage for performances and the organisation and curation of the current member’s exhibition.

3. Could you tell us a little bit about what you do?
“An Introduction to Chris Alton”

I’m an artist and (occasional) curator. Throughout my practice, I combine geographically and temporally distant points of reference to produce images, objects, films and events. Whether deploying disco music in opposition to fascism, recording a rhythm ‘n’ blues album about tax avoidance, or crafting banners that prefigure the future, my work addresses the interconnected nature of prevailing social, political, economic and environmental conditions. I use humour, radical joy and speculative fiction to disrupt our lived reality and imagine the world otherwise. In doing so, I hope to bring this seemingly distant ‘otherwise’ closer to hand.

4. Is there a work your particularly proud of and why-
Something you felt has been really important to you, or has changed the way you work

In 2012, I started a project called English Disco Lovers (EDL), a multifaceted protest movement, which aimed to reclaim the EDL acronym of the English Defence League. Drawing upon the history and etymology of disco, as a site of musical resistance, it redeployed the genre in opposition to contemporary fascism. That project was pretty fundamental with regard to shaping the work that I do now.

6. What interests you? What influences you?

Growing up as a Quaker was a pretty major influence on the work that I make now. Quakers have a long-standing commitment to social justice, which manifests in various ways; from collectively lobbying of our government through to lying down in front of lorries that are carrying missiles into arms fairs. I also site skateboarding as a key influence, as it fostered in me an engagement with my built environment that was subversive and creative.

7.Are you working on anything particularly at the moment?

I’ve just wrapped up a few projects, including a billboard commission for Spit & Sawdust in Cardiff and a small body of work about Quakerism & punk for a group show in Birmingham. After a bit of a break, I’ve a few ideas that I’m looking forward to researching further; a board game about perpetual growth economics and climate change and a book of children’s nursery rhymes about arms dealing and the monarchy.

8.Anything Coming up?

I’ve a couple of exhibitions coming up, including Bloomberg New Contemporaries, as part of the Liverpool Biennial, from 14 July – 9 Sept 2018, which then comes to the South London Gallery in December. I’ll also be showing new work at Jerwood Space in October, as part of Survey, a group exhibition of 15 early-career artists. Other than that, I’m coming to the end of Syllabus III, an alternative peer-led learning programme that I’ve been participating in since September 2017.

END

4 – 6 May 2018
Opening: 7 – 10pm, 4 May
Open: 10am – 5pm, 5 – 6 May
East Bristol Contemporary
East Bristol Contemporary
Trinity Arts Centre
Trinity Road
Bristol
BS2 0NW

For Spit & Sawdust’s first Billboard Commission, Alton has created a speculative reworking of this woodcut, re-telling the 1607 flood with a new cast. St. Mary’s Church, the image’s original focal point, has been replaced by Hinkley Point C; the yet to be completed nuclear power station that sits on the southern bank of the channel. When it is finally completed, Hinkley Point C will be the most expensive power station in the world. It will perch on the edge of a precipice, vulnerable to the increasingly prevalent instances of extreme weather that are being experienced globally.

By mimicking the style of the original woodcut print, Crudely Plucking the Strings prefigures that which is yet to pass, training a sceptical eye on nuclear power as an answer to climate change. In many ways, this science fiction inspired image operates as an ‘early warning system’ and a call to action.

10 May – 12 Nov 2018
Launch: 6 – 9pm, 10 May
Open: Tues-Fri 5-10pm, Sat/Sun 10am-7pm, 11 May – 12 Nov
Spit & Sawdust, Cardiff

L. How long have you been a member at The Arthouse?

C. I joined in 2001 and became a full member in 2002.

L. What do you like about The Arthouse?

C. Two things- First, ever since I’ve been making music, it’s been in parallel to visual artists.
When I was in THIS HEAT we moved to an ACME studio in Brixton. After that, I moved to Mumford’s Mill studios in Deptford Creek. Coming here to The Arthouse was like coming home.

L. So was it a considered choice to be amongst visual artists?

I don’t like being amongst lots of other musicians. To be honest, it gets a bit boring. We end up talking about bass drum sounds. It’s not about that for me. I like to be with people outside my discipline.
The other thing I like particularly about The Arthouse, compared to all the other places I’ve ever been involved in, is that they have a link with the neighbourhood. They feed their energy in from the local people as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
Like Dada – it’s about doing stuff, it had a sort of grass roots level street vibe. The Arthouse can be a thing of great joy. There has been a lot of evenings programmed here with a particular take on how to present things that’s built up a reputation.

L. Are you referring to ’SOUND IS SOUND IS SOUND’ an event you instigated at the Arthouse?

C. Yes- I was doing it every month here. We had a very successful night with Thurston Moore, from Sonic Youth, that sent up a big wave of energy in the neighbourhood. We have now moved SOUND IS SOUND IS SOUND to The Albany in Deptford so we can showcase to a higher spec and a larger audience.

L. Do you invite people to take part in ‘Sound is Sound is Sound’ events or are more people getting in touch directly?

C. People now get in touch and I try to go along and see them – Part of the criteria of what we’re doing is to engage local, London, UK and if possible, international. So there’s a cross pollination of expertise and so it’s not just one scene speaking to itself.

L. You work a lot collaboratively – sharing, giving and receiving, seems to be very important to you.

C. I’ve been watching my peers, people my age, and often this thing happens, which is a little hat with a small brim; really good equipment and a technique that’s settled in, but it doesn’t question itself. So I’m wary of that.
One way of avoiding that is I’m playing less. I also work with guys 25-28 years old, reconnecting with that early energy. DATA QUACK is one group I’m in, where we are all equal members in the group but I’m one and a half times their age.

L. You are known as a drummer, but you make and use a lot of other instruments and bits of kit. Your drum kit has to fit, didn’t you say, its like putting on a suit- So it’s different for every drummer isn’t it.

C. Yes. I have several different drum kits for several functions and also to stop that signature thing. Also I have drum kits based on portability.

L. Yeah, that must be a factor. Physical and economic limitations can make a difference to what kit you use, what you might play?

C. Yeah. I try and integrate my aesthetic back into everything. I try not to be this guy with this big thing in my head I’ve got to express, like Wagner or something, but much more a person who’s a conduit for all these different circumstances, some of which are non- musical or completely incidental.
I get a lot of my instruments off Deptford market and I’ve got a friend who climbs in skips and sells me things. My brother used to work with all sorts of different media and he would go to scrap iron places. He bought these alarm bells he didn’t use and gave them to me. I’m still doing versions of things with them. I’m working out what notes they are by measuring them against the keyboard. I’m missing some, so I’ve integrated the whole concept of this missing minor 7th chord so the whole tonality has got this gap in it and I’m completely fascinated by this.

L. How did you get you into music?

C. I can’t really say there was ‘a moment’ – I sort of slid into it and found it was music.
We had a band in school; in the class everyone would play something. I played a snare drum one week and the teacher said I played it well. The next week she gave me a triangle. And I said, where’s the snare drum, that’s mine! And she said, no it’s not. I was completely like, I should be playing the drum! I wanted to get better at it.
I started Piano lessons when I was about 4 and when I was about 8, I played a duet with a thunderstorm on a piano and these were things I didn’t really think about, I just did them.
Also My Dad had a great collection of 78s, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Ben Webster, Lester Young, Ella, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, loads of big bands, Duke Ellington, Count Basie…

L. That’s obviously been quite a big influence?
C. Yes and he took me to see amazing stuff, like Nat King Cole.
Then when I heard THE WHO, there was like a baptism of fire – that’s MY music! Not my Dad’s music!
Music has been around me all my life- it was my rebellion. That inner space when I was playing, I kept secret from my parents, from everybody actually. I’m not quite sure what it was… It was the space I wanted to use to change things – like that Greek thing, like when the mode of the music changes. I sort of feel, sometimes when I’m really into it, or mostly when I’m hearing something amazing, that music holds everything.

L. Is there a particular collaboration or place you’ve worked with that has had an effect on who you are and what you do? That’s had a real impact in your development?

C. l was making music in Acre Lane in Brixton for a long time, and I learnt a lot. When I lost connection with that space, I started working on youth music projects and disability arts projects at Lewisham Academy.
I’d become a Dad with three small children and it meant for once I wasn’t away all the time and could earn regular money. I still made albums and wrote songs. Some people think I seemed to disappear. I don’t think of it like that at all. I had a huge development creatively, spiritually and emotionally, just by being a Dad.
I did ‘T in The Park’ with Hot Chip, I was filling in for their regular drummer and I’m backstage in this big field and I see this guy running across the field with his mobile in his hand, saying ” I’ll call you back, I’ve got to go, I’ve just seen my drum teacher!”- He was playing with Paloma Faith, it was someone I’d taught years ago.

L. That’s surely a great feeling.

C. It’s a fantastic feeling. It’s also against this academic thing- it’s about making it about where you live, the people where you live. The actual sounds I make, feel like they belong to the people around me.

L. It’s part of life, a way of life.

C. It becomes a way of life yes. Going to the shops becomes part of the music. The Arthouse too has been a big influence.

L. It is a community here.

C. Yes it is. It took me a couple of years to get it. You can learn here, you can share things here, what more can you ask for! And it’s only 10 minutes from where I live.

L. It does make a big difference doesn’t it. Having a studio here has changed my life already and I’ve only been here since the summer.

L. Are you working on anything particularly at the moment?

C. Yeah, I’ve gone back to the piano. When you play acoustic piano, the sound bathes the body, you’re completely inside the sound. I’ve got an album called, ‘Begin Anywhere’ and that’s all at the piano.
Then I’ve got this 30-minute thing called, ‘Snare Drum Roll’ and I’m playing that acoustically in places like cathedrals. I excite the acoustics of the space via the snare drum. More like a sculptural piece.
Also this slightly out of control electronics thing, I’m doing that a few times in the next few months- I call that, ’ Zig Zag and Swirl’
And THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT, going back to things I made 40 years ago.

L. That must be interesting to re- visit. Seeing how it stands up and is still relative now, that those relationships can still exist. Finding a new audience for something you did that was important.

C . We were originally a three-piece. One of us has died, which is why we are called, THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT. We’ve now added, sometimes four or five others and my daughter is in the group.
The first album we made, Deceit, was in response to where we were at in the world. The cover is a face, which is a mushroom cloud with an American Flag.

L. Which is very pertinent now!

C. It is and suddenly, it’s like, “Oh my god we are singing about the Roman Empire!” but really we are singing about the American Empire. We actually sing The American Declaration of Independence and we’ve added the final lines of the poem at the foot of the statue of Liberty, which is all about, ‘bring me your huddled masses’. The true sense of irony inside doing this music is, ‘WOAH! – We have to do this music’! So we are doing it, but the sense of of going backness is spiritually… although it’s fresh and new.

L. Just do it why you feel it’s worth doing it, you’ve got all these other interesting things to develop.
Sounds good to me.

C. Yes. Absolutely, I’m very lucky at the moment.

END

LEWISHAM ARTHOUSE and The ALBANY present
Sound is Sound is Sound
sound is sound is sound returns with another night of genre fluid music, tuning in to the edges, echoing new sounds and beyond.
RATTLE
V4V (DJ BPM, Charles Hayward, Vern Edwards, Nick Doyne-Ditmas)
LOFE
ALEX WARD
DJ Barry C
VJ Flickering Light

April 21st
7.30pm (doors)
£10/£12/£8 under 25 with ID
The Albany, Douglas Way, SE8 4AG

Free entry:
Children’s workshop SoundHoppers 3 & 4.30pm
Films of Karel Doing 5-8pm

To find out more about this performance, follow the link: http://bit.ly/2CrZK4Z

An online panel discussion with Hayley Newman, Richard Parry and Morgan Quaintance.

The short panel debate will take place during DACS’ Annual Strategy Day, as we think about the context in which artists are currently working and how best DACS can support artists and artists’ estates in the future.

Speakers:
Hayley Newman, artist
Richard Parry, artist
Mark Waugh, Business Development Director, DACS
Morgan Quaintance, writer, musician, broadcaster and curator

The event will be an opportunity for you to join a discussion about the political, social and cultural complexities around artists’ engagement with art institutions and the art market. Our panel of speakers will be exploring questions of power, transparency and the circulation of capital in the art world and how these impact artists.

You can watch the event streamed live on DACS’ Twitter, or here: @DACSforArtists.

The debate will be followed by a short Q&A. Get involved. You can tweet us any questions for the panel before or during the event @DACSforArtists.

#OwnTheArtWorld

Sonic Imperfections returns to The Telegraph Hill Festival with another line up of stunning musicians working in the experimental area.
Charles Hayward – This local boy needs no introduction, An endlessly inventive musician who has spent decades at the forefront of the cutting edge music scene. There are simply too many songs, groups, recordings, gigs to mention. This will be a truly special performance.
Extext – Renowned Harpist Serafina Steer and singer Catherine Carter bring their improvised Operetta to The Telegraph Hill festival.
Rotten Bliss – Cellist Jasmine Pender plays a unique brand of darkly brooding weird-folk and drones. It is our absolute pleasure to welcome her to The Telegraph Hill Festival.
Nostalgia Blocks – Mark Browne (Reeds and Percussion) is one of the most striking improvising musicians working today. Richard Sanderson is fast becoming one of the most influential people in the South East’s experimental music scene. A record label owner, a promoter and a musician. Tonight he plays Amplified Melodeon and Electronics in a duo with Mark. Two musicians at the top of their game, expect 100% commitment, invention and a few surprises.

21st March 2018
7.30pm-10.30pm
Saint Catherine’s Church, Telegraph Hill, SE14 5TY

Within their two albums and an EP, This Heat perfected a strange and volatile new strain of avant-garde rock that time has proved to be massively influential, a blueprint for much that would follow: post-rock, math rock, homemade musique concrète, experimental electronica.
Although widely considered to be Post-Punks finest they actually began performing their music in the early days of London’s punk era. Ahead of their time, their music sounds as startlingly original and relevant, live and on record, as the day it was created.
This Heat’s music has had a huge influence on generations of musicians in the decades following their break-up. Hot Chip included the song “Radio Prague” on their DJ-Kicks: Hot Chip album with Alexis Taylor commenting that the band “were truly committed to experimentation in the studio, and making a highly-charged music of great originality and dynamics.” Dan Snaith of Caribou fame noted that the band “sounded like the future then and still do now”. Avey Tare of Animal Collective revealed that This Heat “are one of those bands that (as a person wanting to be in a band) I aspired to be like”. Damon McMahon of Amen Dunes called them “the Beatles of modern experimental music”. Both Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Oneida covered the track ‘S.P.Q.R.’. Robert Del Naja, one of the founding members of Massive Attack, covered ’24 Track Loop’. Danny Brown sampled Horizontal Hold on the track ‘Adderall Admiral’ off the album XXX. The band were mentioned in LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Losing My Edge’. Viet Cong cited the band as a huge influence with bassist/vocalist Matt Flegel claiming in an interview that he was trying to ‘ape’ Deceit.

March 3rd 2018
8.30pm
National Concert Hall, Dublin
https://www.newmusicdublin.ie/Online/this-is-not-this-heat

A night of live noise with molejoy, Scrotum Clamp, Cult Figures and H.A! Live at the Gunners tav. Post-punk, post-cabaret, post-new year blues and resolutions – come on down and shake it out with frenemies and frengers. Expect arty crass, the sex pistols in dresses, classic singles, upbeats, down beats and not quite songs… all veiled in healthy dose of disdain and disbelief.

TICKETS ON THE DOOR!
£4 waged/£2 unwaged with no-one turned away for lack of funds.

CASH FROM THE JAR!
All proceeds from the jar will go to one of THE MOST IMPORTANT affirmative initiatives in London RN. First Timers Fest where EVERY band gets their first gig!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/first-timers-2018-music#

2th March 2018
First band 20.00 – 23.00
N5 Live at the Gunners,
204 Blackstock rd,
N51EN, London

The first of these sessions were held on Thursday the 14th of December from 7.30 – 10pm. The artists presenting were, Saelia Apraicio, Hadas Auerbach, Philipp Dorl, Kate Fahey and Yonatan Zofy.

Resonance FM in association with I-D.A Projects presents: THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT
£32 £30 SOLD OUT £28 SOLD OUT
Within their two albums and one EP This Heat perfected a strange and volatile new strain of avant-garde rock that time has proved to be massively influential, a blueprint for much that would follow: post-rock, math rock, homemade musique concrète, experimental electronica. Although widely considered to be Post-Punk’s finest, they actually began performing their music in the early days of London’s punk era. Ahead of their time, their music sounds as startlingly original and relevant, live and on record, as the day it was created. Exactly 40 years to the day of their first gig in 1976 the two surviving members (Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward) of the original trio came together with a large group of collaborators to play under the project title of THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT. Selling out a two day residency at Café Oto in a matter of hours, the consensus was unanimous that all present had been witness to something of cultural significance. Flooded with invitations from around the world, 2017 saw THIS IS NOT THIS HEAT take to the road. Today they return to Cafe Oto for a benefit for Resonance FM, presented in association with I-D.A Projects.
“It does feel like we’ve been witness to something special. A fine body of work has been brought to life with energy and vitality that seems improbable nearly 40 years after the fact.” The Wire
“This doesn’t feel like nostalgia but a new beginning” The Guardian

10th February 2018
7.30pm
Café OTO,
Ashwin Street,
London E8 3DL

We Need To Talk is a series of peer to peer crits organised by graduate resident Kate Fahey at Lewisham Art House. Through the presentation of works in various stages of production and development, We Need to Talk aims to facilitate constructive feedback and a forum for the discussion of critical issues relating to art, design, culture and politics. The crit runs without any introduction to the work, followed by an opportunity for the artist to speak about their practice and ideas. This facilitates the opportunity to engage with how the work is read primarily, aiming to create a diverse, open and constructive discursive environment.

The first of these sessions will run on Thursday the 14th of December from 7.30 – 10pm. The artists presenting are Chris Alton, Saelia Apraicio, Hadas Auerbach, Philipp Dorl, Kate Fahey and Yonatan Zofy. All are welcome to attend. Festive drinks and snacks provided.

Chris Alton is an artist and curator, whose practice spans; documentary film, music videos, online interventions, clothing, disruptive design, live events and exhibitions. Whether deploying disco music in opposition to fascism or playing table tennis in competition with aggressive architecture, his work addresses an array of interwoven socio-political phenomena. His practice is research led and often interrogates symbolic manifestations of power, such as; coats of arms, Latin mottos, corporate identities, mythological weaponry and national flags. He works to destabilise or subvert their logic, revealing and undermining their shaky foundations through humour and play.

Saelia Aparicio lives on a secret island in London. She graduated in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2015. She has had solo shows at La Conservera (2012, Murcia, Spain) the Patio Herreriano Museum (2013, Valladolid, Spain),Da2 2002 Domus Artium (2015, Salamanca, Spain), TURF projects (Croydon, UK) and The Tetley (Leeds,UK). Group shows include Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016, the bluecoat ( Liverpool) and the ICA (London), Retour Sur Mulholland Drive, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud at La Panacée, Montpellier, France, And A Mysterical Day, curated by Tai Shani and the Serpentine Gallery public program. In 2016 she was a resident at Sema Nanji, (Part of the Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea) and is currently enjoying a New Contemporaries studio Bursary with Sarabande, The Lee Alexander Mcqueen Foundation. She is working towards show where all the works will be collaborations with the product designer Attua Aparicio. Her multidisciplinary work dwells on ideas of the organic, establishing analogies between corporeal and social mechanisms.

Hadas “BhadasS” Auerbach was born 20 minutes from Jesus, in Israel. She is currently living and working in London. Her favorite animals are honey badgers, tortoises, and armadillos; her least favorite are dolphins, swans, and baboons. Her favorite people are identical twins, as they are the same person twice. Her research proved that twins have super powers since they can be in two places simultaneously and they can teach each other fast as they have same exact genes but two different bodies; therefore they have double the database compared to regular people. Her favorite colour is yellow. Her work evolves around how charming and stupid people are, she is telling us stories; most of them are stupid charming ones, like the ones from the Bible. These stories are non-narrative & non-linear. The characters exist in an imaginary theatre and there aren’t really any actors & actresses. There isn’t even a play.

Philipp Dorl lives and works in London. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2013 where he studied with a DAAD studentship. His work has been presented in exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum Kulturspeicher Würzburg (GER), The Photographers Gallery in London and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (CH), where his work is part of the museum’s collection. He recently have had shows in project spaces in London and Berlin such as; Dreamcatcher, Zona Mista, London, Snæfells (two-person), Filet, London (2016), Taupe (solo), Art Lacuna Space, London (2015), Slit Backdrop (solo), Pavlovs Dog, Berlin (2014), DashDotDash (two-person), Projects, London Art Fair (2013).

Kate Fahey is an artist based in southeast London. Recent projects include, Secret Stations, a solo exhibition at Callan Workhouse Union (2017), Inarticulate Landscapes at Unit 1, London (2017), and the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London (2016). She is an AHRC funded practice based PhD candidate at the University of the Arts, London and a recent recipient of the Mead Residency Award to the British School at Rome.

Yonatan Zofy, is an Israeli artist living in London. He received a BFA degree with an Excellence award from the Bezalel academy of art and design, Jerusalem. He has exhibited in different galleries in Israel, among them: Barbur Gallery, Jerusalem, The Artists’ House, Jerusalem, Julie M. Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Hamidrasha Gallery, Tel-Aviv, Artspace Gallery, Tel-Aviv. In 2016 he exhibited in the 6th Jerusalem Drawing Biennale, and in 2017 he received the Osnat Mozes Prize for a Young Artist.

In 2017, Laura Cannell created the [Modern Ritual] series, which is currently on tour throughout the UK. It’s a series of performance events which explore ideas of ritual through music and words, and evokes real and fictional landscapes.

This performance at Union Chapel features Laura Cannell and André Bosman’s experimental early violin duo, as well as Charles Hayward’s The Bell Agency. There’s also Jennifer Lucy Allan’s performance of ‘Foulis’s Daughter: A short history of the foghorn in 30 interrupted acts’, and glass and electronics from These Feathers Have Plumes. A lazy afternoon with music, tea and cake. An event for all ages. Produced by Arctic Circle. Pay-What-You-Can ticket on door (suggested donation £5.00). Midday – till 2.00pm

Saturday 2nd December 2017
12.00pm-2.00pm

Union Chapel
Compton Terrace, N1 2UN., N1 2UN London.

Meet Kate Fahey the winner of our 2017 Graduate Studio Award!

Member Since June 2017

Website: www.katefahey.co.uk

An introduction – please write a few sentences to introduce your work to the public.

At the core of my practice lies a concern for the surface and skin of the image through which I attempt to channel affect and a more embodied type of visuality, positing the surface as a site of mediation, transfer and transformation. Through the haptic nature of the work, I examine humans’ relationship with the digital and seek to connect with and to slow down our experience of images, calling on lost lore and old forms of knowledge to negotiate technology and scientific advancement.

Are you a self-taught artist or have you been to art school? Has this helped shape the artist you have become?

I studied fine art printmaking at undergraduate (Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen) and masters (Royal College of Art) and both had a profound impact on my practice.

Which exhibition have you visited which made the greatest impact on you and why?

Its impossible to choose one as so many types of work and practices have an effect on the way I think about my work. I’m a big fan of craftsmanship, antiques, clocks, and the old masters so probably the collections at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.

Who and/or what inspired you to become and artist?

I wasn’t exposed to much art in my childhood and went on to study a bachelors in science at university. In my early 20’s I was particularly inspired by an artist from my home town called Tony O’Malley. He had a previous career in banking and went on to become an internationally renowned painter later in life. I went to his retrospective at IMMA in 2005, and a couple of years later I went on to study fine art in Scotland.

Discuss a recent project, exhibition or event you have been involved in.

Secret Stations is a recent body of work developed in collaboration with two crafts people; a diviner and a wood turner, on a residency at Callan Workhouse Guild in August 2016. Guided by Richard Sennett’s suggestion in The Craftsman that touch delivers invasive, ‘unbounded data’, the research related more obliquely to embodied forms of sight and knowledge, in particular haptic vision. The project culminated in Secret Stations, a solo exhibition with Callan Workhouse Union and Trasna Productions and a Divining Walk in the town in July 2017.

Do you see collaborative practice and working with others as an important part of your practice?

Recently I collaborated with a dark matter scientist, a water diviner and a wood turner, all of which were fantastic opportunities. I have also previously collaborated with other artists in projects but find it just as exciting to work with people outside / on the peripheries of the art world. Collaboration is not essential to my practice but I have found it to be rich terrain in the past.

How do you use the studio and what you do in here? Do you have studio rituals?
I use the studio for everything, admin, writing, thinking, reading and making. I don’t have any rituals but I’m a messy maker so I try to tidy up every so often.

How does the studio become a part of your everyday life and work?

The studio has become so essential to my practice and life that it is a space I need to be in. Everything and nothing happens in the studio and most of my week revolves around my time there.

What do you get from working in a studio community? How has it impacted your work, if at all?

When I graduated from my MA, I couldn’t afford a studio and I told myself that I didn’t need one. However, having a studio has made me more ambitious and motivated. Having space to think and make, changes how you process your work and the outcomes. Being in a studio environment has exposed me to many other forms of making, conversations and ways of thinking about a practice. Having other artists around with critical distance from my work can be very useful!

What are you working on at the moment? Do you have any forthcoming exhibitions to promote?

I am working towards a four person group show entitled ‘All the Elsewheres of the World’ at Zona Mista project space (http://www.zonamista.co.uk/) which also houses many artists studios. We were particularly drawn to Foucault’s text ‘Utopian Bodies’ and we will use the space not as a white cube but as a body, exploring all the passages, storage and transient spaces. We intend to work together to install the show as something living, with some pieces dependent on others for their realization. The installation will play with ideas of perception, deception, and proximity and will ideally yield many unpredictable and exciting outcomes. The show opens on the 23rd of August.

Will you be showing work at Open Studios in October? If so, what can the public expect to see?

Yes, my studio will be open and people will be able to view some recent works from my Phd research and recent shows.

Group Show is a five episode podcast series by artist and curator Caitlin Merrett King featuring Arthouse members Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis, amongst a number of others. It covers topics like work, collaboration, education and criticism through a mixture of interviews, sound commissions and regular features covering artist-led activity around the UK.

The first episode was released 30 July and subsequent releases will continue through August and September. Group Show is an attempt to draw links horizontally between people and organisations to promote all the fab work everyone’s doing. An audio interpretation of the busy, messy, exciting squishing together that happens in group shows.

The podcast was conceived of as part of 12ø’s S/S17 curatorial residency and is sponsored by Cuvva, and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Four of Sara Willett’s pieces have been shortlisted for The Sunny International Art Prize. An exhibition of the work of the shortlisted artists will run until 4th September in the Sunny Art Centre Gallery, 30 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8HR.