15th July 2021

Thursday 15th – Sunday 25th July [12 – 6pm]
Drinks Reception – 23rd July 2021 [5 – 8pm]
click here for tickets

To someone a thought occurred – and it plunged their brain into a vortex of reoccurring notions following one another. The tinkling, fuzzy feeling of that spiral of thoughts giving birth to each other, endlessly multiplying, left them sitting uncomfortably for hours. The physical sensation of being externally trapped became blurred with internal fear.
Eternity moment seemed now like business as usual, almost good. That someone’s heart however felt heavy – a warning sign! Their chest indeed felt very tight…
Eventually the brain could not stop ruminating on it all. “Get me out of here, I’m so *vortexed*!” that someone shouted! To whom?

Artists:
Paula Turmina
Kate Lyddon
Adam Leach
Angela Maasalu

2nd July 2021

Friday 2nd – Monday 12th July [12 – 6pm]
Preview Day : Saturday 10th July

On October 14, 2012 at 127,851 ft, Biggus Icarus whispered “I’m going home now” before stepping off a helium powered Rod Bell capsule and free falling to Planet Earth. On his descent from the edge of space, reaching speeds of 843mph he became the first human to break the sound barrier without the aid of engine power. After momentarily losing consciousness and spinning out of control he regained stability and with a parachute successfully landed on his feet in the New Mexican desert where he dropped to his knees and punched the sky.

‘Biggus Icarus’ is Rosie McGinn’s solo exhibition following an extended year-long graduate residency at Lewisham Arthouse.
The show will feature a large inflatable sculpture of a human free-falling from the stratosphere surrounded by a sequence of drawings and paintings that explore ‘A History of Human Flight.’
From a Benedictine Monk fixing wings to his hands and feet and jumping from the top of Malmesbury Abbey to a Serbian flight attendant surviving a plane crash to Icarus flying too close to the sun; this new watercolour series continues McGinn’s research into the human spirit of exploration.
Climbing higher, scratching that itch, reaching the furthest corners of our universe before turning on the last rung of the ladder, looking back down at the glowing lightbulb planet below and surrendering ourselves to the complete mercy of nature.

17th June 2021

17-23 June

Over the past year, the pandemic and current political movements have illuminated the glaring inadequacies of arts institutions as spaces fit and able to engage in activities of decolonisation and critical anti-racism; demonstrating the need to re-imagine what a ‘degree show’ can be. In support for, and in protest of, the silence of our department on these urgent matters we want to re-imagine and re-define what a degree show can look like, how it can operate, and the ways in which it provides access to the local community. We are therefore choose to take this event outside of the educational institution and into the social/public environment.

The Alternative Degree Show manifests as an art trail across Lewisham Borough, including traditional art venues, public spaces, and community centres. It is a group project predicated on community building and the desire to allow art to breathe outside of the educational institution. It includes the dynamic and exciting work of graduating students on the BA Fine Art & History of Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. 

23rd May 2021

Sunday 23rd – Saturday 29th May
Preview Day: Saturday 22nd May

Launching our exhibition program for 2021 and re-launching the project space after the lockdowns, uncertainty and prolonged closures of 2020, Resolution/Revolution celebrates the ongoing work and creative resolve of the Lewisham Arthouse artists.

Behind closed doors our studios have remained open and the 45 artists that make up the Lewisham Arthouse cooperative have kept working. This exhibition is a showcase of the range and diversity of our practices and a declaration of our commitment to restarting the public program, adapting however we can to provide engaging and exciting exhibitions to connect with the local community.

20% of the proceeds of all sales will be donated to Lewisham Food Bank

4th June 2021


A local postcard project celebrating women, creativity and community 


Friday June 4 – Sunday June 13
Opening Times: Thursdays & Fridays 15:00-18:00, Saturdays & Sundays 12:00-18:00
Preview Day: Saturday June 5, 2021

Dear Brockley is a local postcard project celebrating women, creativity and community. Women of the South London neighbourhood of Brockley were invited to submit a postcard in response to the theme of WOMAN. 12 winners were printed and distributed to 2,000 households across Brockley on International Women’s Day 2021 – but all 45 beautiful, thoughtful submissions will be exhibited at the Lewisham Arthouse June 4-13.

Dear Brockley examines what it means to be a woman today and celebrates the diversity of perspectives, while showcasing the creative spirit of our community and doing what postcards do best – creating a sense of personal, human connection in a time when we’ve felt more isolated than ever. Postcards and artwork will be for sale with all profits going to Brockley-based charities.

If you want to celebrate female creativity and community, spread the word about the Dear Brockley exhibit at the Lewisham Arthouse June 4-13!

4th February 2021

4th – 15th February 2021 from 12-6pm (Sunday 12-3pm)
Preview Day: Saturday 6th February from 12-6pm

The Neulinge Collective consists of five artists from Taiwan, Pakistan, Srilanka and India who have come together as a group to critique the status quo with work that reflect issues of injustice we face today. There is a sense of impatience with the legacy of colonialism and as artists they not only want to engage with this conversation but also provide solutions and allow glimmers of hope through their works. Marium confronts orientalist notions of the ‘oppressed’ woman in Pakistan with her monumental figure paintings while Chudamani reflects on individual achievement of immigrants contributing to the success of Britain today. Divya’s work confronts themes of regaining a mother tongue that was denied by imperialism. Yihsin explores her own state of mind dwelling on intimacy, loneliness and vulnerability Finally, Maryam’s beautiful jewel like mixed media works are reflections of her research and experiments with textiles and their new age iterations.

Artists Instagram: @chudamani1034 / @divyasharmastudio/ @mariumbo_studio / @white_chu_artist / @maryamhinahasnainstudio

8th October 2020

Georgie Andrews | Joseph Clarke | Umut Gunduz | Rebecca Rayner

Opening: Thursday, October 8th, 6-9pm
Until: October 17th, 12-6pm

‘Hant’ is the idea of the vernacular; of the objects, materials and architectural structures that furnish our lives and urban centres. It is a frequentation, or the spirit that haunts a location. It is a spot often visited; an obsession. The collective work that makes up ‘Hant’ extracts elements from their origin and relocates them in a new space, opening a discussion around our conception of site. Through the abstraction of materials, forms, sound and language, it explores the different ways that artists create reference to place.
Georgie Andrews explores ideas of ‘hostile architecture and design’. Her sculptural work removes urban objects from their everyday context and re-situates them in the exhibition space. Alternatively, Umut Gunduz uses 3D models alongside textures, sounds and imagery appropriated from their real-life situs to construct his virtual worlds. Dealing with the inherent tensions between humans and material within these built environments, Joseph Clarke’s sculptural installations address the dichotomies of construction verses deconstruction and order verses chaos. Also working from the premise of the human convergence with materiality, Rebecca Rayner uses discarded and found materials to create ‘ambiguous landscapes’ that reference the human body. Her work focuses on themes of consumption, objectification and the abject.
By examining processes of movement as applied to inert forms, this exhibition looks at the effect a forced displacement from site has on our aesthetic experience with the material makeup of our daily world. ‘Hant’ speaks to a tension between territory, human-made structures, and the language we use to represent these. It asks what specific role vernacular components serve in this exchange.

24th September 2020

24.09.2020 – 04.10.2020
Private view: 24.09 from 18:00 – 21:00

Please pre book a free time slot for the private view via Eventbrite

It’s not you, it’s me is a show to mark the first anniversary of 226 Honeymoon, a group of seven recent graduates, who formerly co-ran a non-profit space in Peckham, between September and February.

Their tenancy at 226 Rye Lane ended at the close of February. Added pressures of varying working schedules, disparate individual practices and relocation to different cities and countries, meant the idea of the collectivism that 226 Honeymoon was formed upon was challenged, leaving a new space for a reassessment of its future intentions and position.

The show, It’s not you, it’s me, seeks to foreground seven individual practices via group-working, and looks at the role of communication, self-analysis and planning in the development beneficial relationships.

Kerri Cole
Lenard Giller
India Mello
Joseph Morrissey
Sian Newlove-Drew
Will Pegna
Harry Roberts

16th September 2020

Weds 16th – Saturday 19th, 12 -6pm
Sunday 20th, 12 – 3pm
Private View Thursday 17th, 7 -9pm

Please pre book a free time slot via Eventbrite for the private view

Nature Encapsulated is a group show gathering artists, most of them based in South London, in the mission to explore the definition of wilderness. This definition is often very subjective as everyone has a different way of thinking about Nature, feeling,
seeing or experiencing it. We aim to explore the difficulty of defining wilderness in our current world and our ways to live within it. We want to bring an optimistic perspective on the preservation and utilisation of nature and hope to inspire and incite positiveness.
The exhibition will be a recognition of the crucial importance of wilderness left on earth, the power of nature on the mind, the possibilities of ethical utilisation of nature, and the positive impacts of protected areas on nature and the animal world.

Featuring work by:
Abi Aldridge-Apaza
Zerrin Asir
Tom Davies
Jono Ganz
Roanna Holmes-Frodsham
Miriam Luehrs
Caitlin Parks
Tom Scotcher
Jade They
Messua Wolff

Curated by:
Segolene Py

6th March 2020

Fabric is a magazine celebrating female creativity. This year for International Women’s Day, Fabric brought together 28 women from Brockley to share their stories, experiences and perspectives on being a woman. Join us for the Fabric launch event on Friday March 6 at 7pm and follow @fabricthemagazine for more information.

13th – 15th March 2020

Private view 12th March 2020 7 – 9pm
Opens 13th – 15th March 2020 12 – 6pm

In Paradox Amusements Birtles and Metcalfe deal with a day dream. This day dream encompasses extremities of escapism and obsessions with absurd fixations relating to holiday and play. Through performance, painting, photography and sculpture the artists challenge and darken escapist desires. Reoccurring motifs appear like holiday hallucinations. An inflated unicorn appears as an unsettling fluorescent monster, whilst an inflated dress is transformed into a drawing and brought to life by operatic singers. Metcalfe and Birtles unpack the surreal dream through interpretations from their ongoing research into the longing for escapism and performance catharsis.

www.hollybirtles.com

www.lucindametcalfe.com

5th – 16th December 2019

Zoë Mendelson at Lewisham Arthouse
Private view: 6 December 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Zoë Mendelson’s new work aligns with and critiques diagnostic criteria pathologising space. It also responds to Mary Douglas’ 1966 book on taboo and cleanliness, Purity and Danger. These are dirty archives – works in which schema are established via placement, but what is being stored presents a problem of either cleanliness or possible collapse. This exhibition connects the domestic and clinical, provoking dialogues around consumption, excess and hygiene – located within a configuration of overlapping drawing, animation, painting and objects – a library of potentially pathological elements.
A large wall-drawing, will take the run of the show to complete, a form of sullying and exertion – spatial ‘madness’ in itself – with an emptying and clearing process to follow.

20th November – 1st December, 2019

Preview date time: Friday 22nd November 6 – 9 pm

Opening times: Wednesday – Saturday: 12pm – 6pm, Sunday: 12pm – 5pm

Folds is an exhibition curated by Chahine Fellahi, Gloria Bernal and Megan Garry-Evans featuring works of 13 international and UK based artists who have responded to the theme “folds.” The full line up will showcase a multimedia array of work which includes drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation and moving image.

Exhibiting artists: Nikki Alford, Andrea G Artz, Latifah Al-Said, Abbie Cairns, Kirsty Dixon, Luisa Maria Maccormack, Lina Laraki, Wiebke Leister, Freya Nash, Lisa Pettibone, May Rohrer, Ellen Sampson, Emily Scaife.

Folds are pleats of fabric, wrinkles in the skin or carefully folded strands of DNA in each of our cells. Folds are earthly or watery, creases in a landscape or ripples at the surface of the ocean. Folds bend straight lines, they provide texture to the smooth surface of appearance. Folds follow the curves of time, they testify to its passing and its opening to endless possibilities.

Using the notion of folds as a point of departure, this exhibition sets out to uncover the aesthetic, conceptual, ethical and sociopolitical implications of thinking through folds. Activating the interplay between surface and depth, inside and outside, exposure and concealment implicated in folds, this exhibition explores the multiple ways in which the concept can be mobilised as a tool to deconstruct binary oppositions. The diversity of the works presented in the exhibition reflect the various forms folds can take. These include bodily folds as seen in the visceral paintings of Freya Nash and sensual photography of May Rohrer, paper folds as presented in Andrea Artz’s installation and Wiebke Leister’s photo-collages, as well as folds of cloth as explored in the drawings of Luisa-Maria Maccormack and Lisa Pettibone’s kiln-formed glass sculpture.

The different interpretations of the theme will be deployed within the exhibition space, crystallising into an immersive topography. Resonances, echoes and dialogues will take place between the various perspectives provided by the artists, and folded within one another the works will form a dynamic ‘texturology.’

A series of events and activities will take place alongside the exhibition, including a drawing workshop organised in partnership with the London Drawing Group, a performance by Gen Doy and a reading group responding to the theme of the exhibition.

If you wish to book a ticket via eventbrite please click here

For Fold Exhibition Info Pack please click here

click here for the facebook event
click here for the instagram page

15th – 17th November 2019

Luca Bosani, Jocelyn McGregor & Sheila Rennick
Curated by Séamus McCormack

15th – 17th November
PV: Thursday 14th November, 6-9pm

Rain Wetting Thirst, featuring artists Luca Bosani, Jocelyn McGregor & Sheila Rennick and curated by Séamus McCormack explores how taste, identities, aesthetics and class culture and made manifest through absurd images, fragmented forms and complex genders. It considers how disembodied bodies can be (re)presented, and how commodification through popular culture and particular contexts and stimuli can blur our individual sense of self. Caricature and satire are used by these artists to create conflicting identities, asking how sensations of desire and aversion can occupy the margins between intimacy, repulsion, fetish and fantasy. Various moments of awakening – erotic, alarming, frightening, arousing and liberating – question the fluid nature of identity. The three artists in the exhibition set up situations that aim to question how our desires, represented by fragrances, images, words and actions, might be satisfied but also remain unfulfilled, thirsty even.

Exhibition Events

Zine Making Workshop
Wednesday 13 November 6.30-9.30pm

Studio Novel designer Ashley Kinnard and artist Jocelyn McGregor will lead a zine-making workshop based on some of the themes in the exhibition with an introduction by curator Séamus McCormack. Materials and beers provided. Take home a free zine with you

To attend for free please book here

Private View
Thursday 14 November, 6-9pm. All welcome!

Join us for a drink to celebrate the opening of ‘Rain Wetting Thirst’, which will include a new performance developed by artist Luca Bosani and new works by Sheila Rennick and Jocelyn McGregor.

Artists’ Workshops
Friday 15 November 2-6pm

Experimenting with Performance: Rhythms is a participatory workshop led by artist Luca Bosani focusing on performance making and rhythm. Through the introduction to three primary elements – repetition, stillness and inconsistency – the participants are invited to experiment with different performance rhythms, in collaboration and individually.

Exhibition curator Séamus McCormack will lead an artist-led peer support workshop on ways of discussing and supporting practice. This participatory session consists of various exercises and will look at self-positioning, reflection and feedback on direction.

Aimed at emerging artists and students, it is advised that artists attend both sessions.

To attend for free please book here

Supported by:

Art Council England Logo Black

Artists’ and Curator’s Bio

Luca Bosani is an artist based in London. Solo exhibitions and performances include: ‘Too Early to Love You, Too Late to Kiss You’, Tate Britain, London, 2019; ‘Knaves of Radiance (paintings)’ Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall, London 2019; ‘Knaves of Radiance (Bolan edition)’, London, 2018; ‘Performing the unknown’, Hortensia gallery, KCC College, London, 2018. Group exhibitions include: ‘Singolar Tenzone II’, Kunstraum, London, 2019; ‘Score!’, Beaconsfield Gallery, London, 2019; ‘Singolar Tenzone’, OXO tower, London, 2018; ‘Knaves of Radiance (Bang Bang)’, Gallery 46, London, 2018; ‘Knaves of Radiance (The Bipotential stage)’, Subsidiary Projects, London, 2018; ‘Revolve Performance Art Festival’, Uppsala Konstmuseum, 2017; ‘Liberté d’action’, L’Amour, Paris, 2017; ‘Being alone together’, Crown Building, Liverpool, 2017. 

Jocelyn McGregor is a sculptor based in Cumbria. Recent exhibitions include: Bloomberg New Contemporaries touring South London Gallery and the Liverpool Biennale (2018-19); ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’, The Art Foundation (TAF), Athens, 2018; ‘Mei Yahn Yu’ Kaitak Centre, Hong Kong, 2018; and ‘Risky Attachments’, curated by Like A Little Disaster, Polignano a Mare, 2018. Recent awards include the CVAN NW Artist Bursary 2019, finalist for the Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2019; The Lee Alexander McQueen: Sarabande Foundation Emerging Artist Award 2017; and the Diabolique Scholarship for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies (UK) in 2016. www.jocelynmcgregor.com

Sheila Rennick is an Irish artist based in London. Recent exhibitions include ‘Pretty Fleshy Pain Things’, with Amanda Doran at Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, 2019; ‘Paper Cuts’, curated by Kris Day; Saatchi Gallery, 2018; ‘GIFT’, APT Studios Deptford, 2018; ‘Mrs Pig and the Ketchup’, with Adam Hennessy, Josh Berry, Paul Branca, Pierre Poumet Bordeaux 2018; ‘The Marmite Painting Prize, Block 336, Brixton, 2016; ‘Sausage Fest’, with Jemma Egan, curated by Séamus McCormack, Art Box Dublin, 2016.  Awards include: Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, 2011; Marmite Prize for Painting Runner Up, 2011. Her work is in the collections of Office of Public Works Dublin and Country Bank, NYC.

Séamus McCormack is a curator based in London. Curated projects include: ‘Scaffold’, Bomb Factory; ‘Rain Wetting Thirst’, Lewisham ArtHouse; ‘Jealous Wall’, Luan Gallery, Athlone; ‘SausageFest’, ArtBox, Dublin; ‘Traces’, IMMA, Dublin; ‘Roadkill’, IMMA, Dublin. Séamus was co-curator of both ‘Mobile Encounters’ and ‘Primal Architecture’, IMMA, Dublin. He currently works with New Contemporaries and was previously at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). He has written on the work of a wide range of artists, including Haroon Mirza, Leonora Carrington, Wolfgang Tillmans, Paul Sharits, Jonas Lund, Ulla Wiggen, Christopher Williams, Janine Davidson, Elaine Leader and Jennifer Brady. www.seamusmccormack.com

6 – 10 November, Wed – Sun 12 – 6pm
Private View: Thursday November 7, 6 – 9pm

Mark Beldan, Robin Dixon, Sam Douglas, David Edmond, Mandy Hudson, Rhys Trussler, Ben Walker
Library music is an exhibition about time, memory and place. Seven painters explore aspects of suburban, edgeland and rural landscapes, wandering from faded modernity and future ruins to idyllic villages, from eerie landscapes and spectral houses to utopian visions, bringing together different ideas of folklore, the unknown, the weird, as well as hazily recollected cultural memories.
The landscapes depicted may be mundane, featureless or interchangeable, yet there is often an atmosphere of realised or implied unease or suspense. They can seem familiar, reassuring, yet also unsettling or eerie. The notion that the familiar, the everyday, could carry something that remains hidden or somehow becomes significant, lies at the heart of much of the work.
Alongside the external landscape paintings, on a more interior level, are works that depict sites of creativity and alchemy with views of surrounding woodland, children on listless afternoons stuck in a perpetually unsettling 1970s, and shadowy depopulated spaces inhabited only by flowers.
Although each painter uses a different visual language, their paintings share a sense of something having been discovered – images lost and found during the painting process, and a way of using paint that calls attention to the medium itself, and an understated, quiet atmosphere. The idea of simplicity is fundamentally important to the work featured, and it’s very much at the root of what makes still visual imagery so powerful.

Mark Beldan (born Toronto, lives and works in London) studied at Queen’s University at Kingson, Canada (BFA, 1999) and at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (MA in Fine Art, 2002). His paintings have been exhibited at Guest Projects in London, Rye Creative Centre in East Sussex, and MOSTYN in Llandudno. In 2017 and 2018 he was an artist-in-residence at Artscape Gibraltar Point in Toronto. He also hosts the Skelf Podcast, a quarterly series of audio interviews with other artists.
David Edmond was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He lives and works in London. His paintings have been shown in many UK exhibitions including – the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2019 (selected by Jock McFadyen) – Creekside Open 2019, London (selected by Sacha Craddock) – Studio 1.1 Group Show London, 2019 – New Art Projects London, Group Show, 2018 – Columbia Threadneedle Prize, London, 2018. His work was published in Michael Petry’s book ‘Nature Morte’ Thames and Hudson.
He attended the Turps Banana full-time painting programme between 2014 and 2016. He graduated from the Royal College of Art with a MPhil in Printed Textile Design in 1995 and ran his own design business selling designs internationally.

Robin Dixon lives and works in London. He has exhibited in the UK and internationally.
Exhibitions include: The Immaculate Dream, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London 2019, John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2014; MK Calling, Group Show, Milton Keynes Gallery 2013; Luna Park, Lion & Lamb Gallery, London 2012; Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London 2007;He studied at Maidstone College of Art (KIAD).

Sam Douglas has exhibited widely since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2007. Recent exhibitions include Contemporary British painting at Yantai Museum, China, We are Building a new world, Studio 1.1, London, The Turning world at Charlie Smith London, and Transpositions at St. Petersburg Museum of Nonconformist art. Solo exhibitions include Wayfarer at Carslaw St. Lukes, London, Remnants at the Royal Hibernian Gallery, Dublin, New paintings at The Cross Gallery, Dublin, and the Corn exchange gallery, Edinburgh. Competitions include The East London painting prize, The Threadneedle prize, The RA Summer Exhibition.. Residencies include Sumburgh head Lighthouse, Shetland Rost, Lofoten, Norway, NKD Dale, Norway, NCCA, Kronstadt, Russia, CCA Andratx, Majorca, Pushkinskaya-10, St. Petersburg, Russia, Pedra Sina, Funchal, Madeira, Brigus artist in residence, Newfoundland, Canada, Cill Rialaig, co. Kerry, Ireland, The Curfew Tower, Cushendall, co. Antrim, Ireland, and Burren college of art, co.Clare.
Mandy Hudson lives and works in London. She studied at Maidstone College of Art and has exhibited in group exhibitions in the UK and internationally; These include The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2019, Re-Assemble, Collyer Bristow Gallery, 2019, The Marmite Painting Prize 2016; MK Calling, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes; Souvenirs, Fieldgate at Angus Hughes, London; One day, Gallery Corridor, Reykjavik. and the Contemporary Art Society’s ART futures 2007 held at Bloomberg SPACE, London.
Rhys Trussler is a graduate from the acclaimed Turps Banana Studio Painting Programme (2015-17) and has a B.A. (hons) in Fine Art from Winchester School of Art (1998-2001). Recent exhibitions include Turps Summer Show, Art Space Bermondsey, London (2017), Running With The Wolves 35Blumen, Kreffeld, Germany (2017) and Helical Swirl, Studio 180, London (2016). His work is influenced by his interest in horror films, vintage Sci Fi novels and the Western Occult Revival of the early 20th century.
Ben Walker was born in Cheshire and lives and works in Kent. He is a painter with an interest in English landscape, folk horror , Factory Records and a distinct era of British culture and TV programmes and films – 1970s and 80s educational programmes for schools, childrens’ tv programmes and public information films. He studied at Sheffield Hallam University and Wimbledon School of Art. He has exhibited widely, including at Transition Gallery and Charlie Smith London, and in the Marmite Prize, and in 2012 won the Jack Goldsmith Painting Prize. He studied on the Turps Correspondence Course 2018-19, and has had work selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2019.

29th October – 3rd November 2019

PRESENCE takes the form of an exhibition and two day drop-in collaborative studio session held at Lewisham Arthouse. Women of Colour are invited into a restorative and discursive space to share their experiences of being rendered visible/invisible and present/absent. Participants will co-create artwork in response to the emotional impacts of these experiences by impressing parts of their bodies or written text onto pre-rolled beds of clay. Robinson aims to provide a supportive space for Women of Colour to explore, disrupt and reclaim ownership of their gendered and racialised bodies within adverse cultural, social and political terrains.

In the project space, Robinson is exhibiting some of the outcomes from the first iteration of the collaborative studio session, PRESENCE, held at the ICA, London, in September. The exhibition is open to all.

Davinia-Ann Robinson’s practice explores the cultural politics of emotions and their implications for Black Female bodies in colonial spaces. She also works in art education at the South London Gallery and is one quarter of the SLG’s Heritage Team as well as working as an Artist Facilitator for Bow Arts. Robinson is an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant recipient and a 2018/2019 artist in residence at the Florence Trust.

Workshop
Women of Colour are invited to join artist Davinia-Ann Robinson to co-create work in clay while exploring and sharing emotional and bodily experiences of navigating colonial and gendered spaces. No prior experience with clay required. Assistance and materials provided.

10th – 19th October, 2019

Lewisham Arthouse, 140 Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD

Exhibition Hours:
Thursday 10th – Saturday 19th, 12:00 – 18:00 daily
Closed on Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th

Opening Night:
Thursday 10th 18:00 – 21:00

An exhibition that showcases the work of 18 artists and photographers who have been exploring collective ways of working in relation to their own practice. It borrows its title from a talk given by David Morris (editor of Afterall) and Grace Samboh (Indonesia-based curator) during the spring 2019 After School programme.

The exhibition can be perceived as the organic output of all participating artists, workshop leaders and organisers, having gone through a process of collectivity, and asks how it has influenced their work and how they work.

Stepping in and out of photography, installation, sculpture, text and video, the works in the exhibition also engage with a wide range of personal and collective interests, from questions of romance, ageing and desire, to collective assembling and storytelling and the relationship between body and image.

***

Open Discussion:
Getting there: the Highs and Lows of the Journey
Friday 18th 17:00 – 19:00 followed by drinks until 20:30
Lewisham Arthouse, 140 Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD
(Free but booking essential via here)

A discussion focussing on the process of self-initiating and organising, especially in the first few years after graduating. We ask how such endeavours can bring one’s practice further. But also what are the struggles and challenges that are often encountered and how have people been managing them?

In the spirit of being open about the lows as well as the highs, the discussion will welcome input from everyone in the room, to exchange tactics, share wisdoms and combat the often felt feeling of isolation when we embark on the creative journey.

Contributors include Effie Paleologou (artist and educator), Sunil Shah (artist, curator and writer), and Jack Lewdjaw & Karanjit Panesar (artists, co-directors of east bristol contemporary).

***

Exhibiting Artists:
Bayryam Bayryamali, Laura Blight, Jacqueline Ennis Cole, Sarah-Jane Field, Lucas Gabellini-Fava, Rachel Glass, Pamela Gomez, Eva Louisa Jonas, Dawoon Kim, Michaela Lahat, Rowan Lear, Debbie Naylor, Joshua Phillips, Loreal Prystaj, Marie Smith, Marie Sutter, Christel Pilkaer Thomsen, Joanna Wierzbicka.

Workshop Leaders:
Alejandra Carles-Tolrá, Hal Silver (Josh Bilton, Una Hamilton Helle) and Hemera Collective (Fangfei Chen, Jaime Davis, Kay Watson)

Programme Organisers:
Yuxin Jiang (artist, co-founder of pic.london)
Rakesh Mohindra (artist, educator, co-founder of pic.london)
Beverley Carruthers (photographer, course director of BA Photography, London College of Communication)

After School – Collective Strategies is a public programme consisting of a series of talks and workshops, running from May to June 2019, and culminating in a public group presentation in the autumn. Participants of the workshops and the group show are selected via an an open call.

A collaborative effort between pic.london and London College of Communication (University of the Arts London), the programme explores collective ways of working both conceptually and in action, and considers them as strategies that can be helpful to any kind of art workers, especially for early stage practitioners who often struggle in the extremely challenging period after graduating.

Full details see here

1st-6th October 2019

Lewisham Arthouse is happy to present an exhibition of Graduate award recipient’s Sola Olulode.
Hold My Hand is Sola Olulode’s second solo exhibition following a year-long residency at Lewisham Arthouse. Over the course of the year, Olulode has been exploring the colour yellow – shifting away from blue as the dominant colour in her works – for an exciting new series. It marks the beginning of a series focusing on romance: these paintings are intimate scenes of dating and courtship. The figurative works are a queer love story following the ‘honeymoon period’ of a couple. Yellow becomes representative of the joy of falling in love, drawing from passionate love songs, music videos and film. This series comes from a dreamer’s desire for love to not be shrouded in politics, the figures living in their own bubble of sunshine. Fully embracing mixed media, the story is told using oil, acrylic, wax, oil bars, charcoal, oil pastels and ink.

1st-6th October 2019
12-6pm
Private view: 1st October 2019 6-9pm.

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD
The exhibition is wheelchair accessible, if you have any other accessibility issue, please contact info@lewishamarthouse.org.uk.

20th-28th September 2019

And in me too the wave rises investigates materiality in an attempt to expand notions of space, time, process and participation. The work identifies with touch and notions of ‘being in touch’ as vital to how we de-centre the locus of self in order to face our problematic relations with each other and with our planet. The works on show explore ideas around the nature of membranes, inner and outer-ness, states of emerging and disintegrating and the narrative of presence – offering a space in which materials become unstable and are subject to rupture and change.

Exhibiting Artists:
Emma Bang
Ella Balenky
Jasmine Pajdak
Chen Winner

Performances by:
Demelza Toy
Galit Criden

Dates and opening hours
Private View: 19 September 2019 6pm-9pm
Exhibition Dates: 20th – 28th September 12pm-6pm
(exhibition closed on 23rd and 24th September 2019)

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
SE15 3BJ
London

4th-15th September 2019

Flock Project is an installation of over 200 ceramic birds created by artist Julie Nelson and with people who have overcome adversity and are recovering from trauma. The birds represent the challenging individual migration journeys their makers have experienced as refugees and asylum seekers.

Birds are a metaphor for transcendence, connection and the universal need to congregate. With social prescribing now placed high on the political agenda, Flock Project serves as a positive response to current issues around mental health and recovery, encouraging group participation.

The exhibition at Lewisham Arthouse is the result of workshops held over a number of months, working with group members of the Grounding project, supported by the Maudsley Charity and South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM). The project has offered an opportunity for creative expression and participation that also serves to inform the wider public about the subject of migration.

The workshops were assessed in collaboration with academics from UCL, and funded by a Grand Challenges grant to assess the wellbeing of Julie’s art workshops on those taking part.

The exhibition at Lewisham Art House will be the first time that Flock Project will have been shown altogether with birds by Julie, group members, the general public and other participating artists.

Focusing on birds as a subject for the installation has enabled the participants to express themselves in a subject that is ever present even in the city. The project has helped to connect participants with the environment, increase awareness of birds and the sometimes difficult journeys they make and to help us to engage with them.

Rita* is one of the group members who regularly attends The Grounding Project, and has been taking part in Flock. She suffers from arthritis, and enjoys working with the clay as it helped her to move her fingers. She spent a lot of time moulding out her bird and later she shared: “Playing with this clay takes me back to my childhood in Africa when we used to pull clay from the rocks and make pots and plates. It was a fun time.”
Daris* has a great interest in birds, having kept homing pigeons back in his country: “I used to have many of these as pets and I know how intelligent they are. I am really enjoying learning more about birds and working with the clay”.

Dr Humera Iqbal is a Lecturer in Psychology at University College London, and has been coordinating the research side of the project. She says: “Working on Flock with group members has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. We know from research that participating in cultural activities can help improve wellbeing and combat loneliness in individuals. It has been great to witness first-hand the healing power of clay. Our ceramic birds stand for a shared community and a sense of resilience; they have been able to battle the odds just like their makers.”

Julie Nelson comments: “The workshop has been a focus for people to think about the metaphor of birds and to engage with nature and the environment. We also encourage shared production so that a clay pinched head may attach to a press moulded body created by someone else in the group. Everyone has been very happy to collaborate and join in. The focus and concentration has been amazing. One interesting result of the project has been the diverse styles and forms of birds that have been made. When I’ve researched birds from Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq, for example, I can see where the inspiration comes from. I think that having a common goal of the exhibition has really helped.”

We will be holding a talk event on Thursday 12th September from 6.30-8pm at Lewisham Arthouse. Please join us for drinks and meet those involved.
Speakers include Dr Humera Iqbal, lecturer in Psychology at UCL, Dr Gemma Eke, Clinical Psychologist at the Maudesley, Helen Shearn Art and Wellbeing Strategist and artist Julie Nelson. We will also have involvement from members of the Grounding Project who will talk about their experiences.

www.flockproject.co.uk

Opening times:
Wednesday to Sunday 12-6pm

Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

*Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the participants.

24th-28th July 2019

We Each Have Our Own Landscape reflects a personal element in landscape.
Each artist explores a sense of place as a metaphor for the exploration of the psyche.
Hypnotic waves that peak and fall in a repeating visual mantra, horizons that speak of
a future… almost fictional, landscape employed as a stage, nature anthropomorphised.

The title of this show references the idea of locating one’s self both within a present,
remembered or imagined landscape and also the emotional landscape we each inhabit.
We are primed by Romanticism; offering landscape as an opportunity to create a context
for oneself; it is at once a place and a visual representation of an emotional state.

Building on this romantic tradition of the sublime, there is an established trajectory
that considers the mind-scape. Kant established the idea that the connection
between nature and man, is man’s imagination. Landscape offers an orthodoxy
that is familiar, that instantly brings the viewer into the understanding that they
are participating in the work. The viewer summons a philosophical convention to the
reading of the work.

However living in the Anthropocene age we humans require too much of nature… we
imbue landscape with an artifice that it clearly can not support. Therefore we are all on
the verge of processing a shift in our relationship with nature.

For more information about the artists, please visit:
www.rebeccabradleyartist.com
www.emmacoop.com
www.louisamahony.com

24th—28th July 12—6pm
Private view: Wednesday 24th July 6—9pm

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
SE15 3BJ
London

18th – 21st July 2019

Location, landscape and setting can be experienced by the artist through observation, memory and imagination. There is an indelible connection between time and place, which the act of painting and drawing can attempt to access and interpret. During the making process distortions occur as the artist responds to the layering of paint, marks and colour. Place and image start to transform as they are remembered or imagined in the studio, inspired by notes, photos or studies drawn in a sketchbook. Departure Lounge explores the concept of place and environment through painting, print and drawing. Each artist responds to this theme differently, both in terms of their subject matter and artistic process.

Charlie Reed attempts to capture a specific moment, recording and documenting the changing topography of London. He explores the relationship between the cyclical natural world and the expanding and shifting environment of the city – focusing on London’s waterways. The flowing water of a river is a constant in the ever-changing environment it dissects.

Anthony Banks uses paint as both a means of encryption and description; camouflaging or disrupting his subjects, allowing them to hide in plain sight. Often using symbols of modernity or industrialisation as allegory, he plays with their assertions, displacing or reimagining these archetypes to create discordance. His paintings are deliberately slow in their production. During the gradual making process the façade of the painting becomes worn, imbued with a tangible history, a geological layering of paint.

For George Little, the idea of place and environment is examined through a research-based studio practice, looking at the interrelationship between Modernism and sites of eating and drinking. He explores how the archetypes and aesthetics within the dining experience collate with those of modernist ideals.

The three artists met whilst studying Fine Art Painting at Brighton University between 2007 and 2010 and have since studied at the Royal Drawing School and the Royal College of Art. Although they each use a different visual language, their paintings share certain aesthetic qualities. Departure Lounge creates a dialogue between the three artistic processes and explores how each painter has developed since working in close proximity ten years ago.

Instagram
@charliereedart
@themerchantbanker
@george_little_studio

18 – 21 July 2019
Open 12-6pm Thur, Fri, Sat
Open 12-4pm Sun
Private View Thursday 18 July, 6-9pm

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London, SE14 6PD

5th-13rd July 2019

The Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths University of London, are proud to present ‘Disrupting the Visual – An Art of Distance’ a degree show of multimodal experiments in visual anthropology. It explores the fluid boundary between art and anthropology and the importance of distance to perception. We understand distance as both proximity and as the abstracted space between ‘’anthropologists’’ and participants or ideas. Students’ topics traverse and engage with borders, the mobility of objects, and intimate lives, deploying distance to disrupt assumptions about near and far.

The image is a still of a video work by Pepe Bingham-Hall, The video is called “Drag it Out”

Show opens: 5th-13rd July 2019
weds-sun 12-6pm
saturday 13th 12-3pm
PV: 5th July 6-9pm

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
SE15 3BJ
London

14th-23rd June 2019

Translating objects and experiences through physical intervention, three artists question the limits and promises of permanence.

Legibility is challenged as boundaries and mediums are blurred. Time becomes malleable in their hands, their artworks acting as physical and temporal punctuation.

Zanny Mellor uses painting and photography to address themes of speed, light and time, in a sensory exploration of place.

Kasper Pincis plays with the contradictions inherent in trying to produce original pieces of work on copying equipment, and inhabiting a space somewhere between the heroic and the mundane.

Nick Scammell examines the frailty and impermanence of media, via surface and word.

Generating extended instants through repeated combinations and interventions, each artist adapts ageing technology to new ends.

Render Permanent
Friday 14th June – Sunday 23rd June 2019
PV Thursday 13th June 2019
Opening hours: Fri-Sun 12-6pm

zannymellor.com
kasperpincis.com
nickscammell.com

May 31st – 8th June 2019

Like catching snippets of other people’s conversations in a crowded bar Pears is an exhibition made up of fractured dialogues. Each exhibiting member of the Arthouse cooperative has invited a guest artist to show alongside them. Each pair of works will be hung side by side, encouraging a dialogue between them and hopefully allowing new conversations to form across the room.

This is a group show with the emphasis on looking outward, an open and expanding conversation. By focusing on the connections between different artworks and artists we hope to promote the creative networks that underpin our community and emphasise the role of the Arthouse as a resource for bringing people together.
Dates: May 31st – 8th June 2019
Opening times: Wednesday – Sunday 12-6pm
Private view: Friday 7th June 7-9pm
Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

Pear drawings by Sophie Chapman

May 15th-26th 2019

The Sherbet House originated in the kitchens of Ottoman palaces and is depicted in a Topkapi manuscript as a kiosk of concoctions being wheeled against a background of bands of intense colour. As an institution it travelled and eventually morphed into the London coffee-house, becoming less refined and more alcoholic as it went, but it remained synonymous with a refuge from the mundane with its richly-patterned textiles, multicoloured glass and nowadays, flashes of neon. Assimilating influences ancient and modern, from Havana to the Euphrates, Jennifer Harding and Stephen Jaques make paintings, constructions and prints which sublimate pattern and transcend the exotic, creating emblematic images of visual vibrancy.

Dates: May 15th – 26th 2019
Opening times: Wednesday – Sunday 12-6
Private view: Thursday, May 16th 6-9

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

May 8th-12th 2019

Private View: Tue, 7 May 6-9 PM

A group exhibition by Rachel McRae and Sarah Derat, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Stine Deja and Kristina Pulejkova.

Life and Beyond brings together artists whose work explores aspects of human/non-human life, death, emergence and loss through technology and digital culture.

Through film, interactive installation and sculpture, the exhibition and programme will be looking at how technology is shaping our perceptions of life and death. With the fast development of AI, our growing social media presence and the fast-paced progress made in bio technology, new, hybrid forms of existence make part of our daily lives.

Our troubled relationship with social media and big companies which own our data gets more complicated when we die, as we carry on living as digital ghosts online. With Artificial Intelligence, we are seeing a rise of ‘deepfakes’ (fake videos created using this technology). We are thinking weather AI will lead towards a new evolution of life. The food we consume is genetically modified, and a baby’s DNA in China has been edited, sparking ethical and moral concerns.

Life and Beyond will aim to dissect our relationship with these issues, looking at how human, non-human and extra-terrestrial life and consciousness are defined in an increasingly fluid world mediated through technology. The show will invite audiences to discuss the ethical and moral implications of these new-found states.

Life and Beyond is curated by Kristina Pulejkova.

You can download Digital&Dead, an AR application (Android) by artists Rachel McRae and Sarah Derat ahead of the exhibition here:

Event: Emergence
Friday, 10 May 6:30 – 8:30 PM.
You can book your tickets (donation) here.

An evening of artists’ film exploring the emergence of new lifeforms, ways of communication and ideas in the digital age.
Join for a screening of recent and new films by artists Jeremy Hutchison, Rowena Harris, Hazel Brill, Stine Deja, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Natalia Skobeeva, Milo Creese, Camille Barton, David Blandy, and Kristina Pulejkova.

Opening times
Wed – Sat 12-6 PM
Sun – 12 – 2 PM
Private View: Tue, 7 May 6-9 PM

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

14–24 March 2019

by the way

The group of seven artists (Madi Acharya-Baskerville, Tom Banks, Joost Gerritsen, Sam Hodge, Mark Sowden, Matthew Swift and Ana Vicente) and one writer (Mike Sims) showing at Lewisham Arthouse in March all make work that emerges from an engagement with the landscapes they inhabit and move through.

Often this engagement begins with an unexpected encounter that demands attention. It may be the sight of a single lit window in a darkened cul de sac, a gnarled piece of wood that assumes the shape of a figure, an abandoned frame that demands to be given a new life or a discarded piece of plastic that will be given the close attention of a precious stone.
These incidental encounters and others like them have opened up new ways of working for the artists showing together in by the way. Through the diverse media of photography, performance, poetry, sculpture, printmaking and painting they have shaped and grown work out of these encounters.

We use the phrase ‘by the way’ when we want to introduce a new topic, something we have just thought of but needs to be said. We may not be quite sure of its importance but will share it anyway. It is this spirit of the incidental, tangential, happened upon, and the new that informs the working practices of the artists in this show and gives energy to the group.

by the way is part of an ongoing project called Things That Are There.

14 – 24 March 2019
Private View 14 March 6-9pm
Closing Event 24 March 2pm
Open Thur-Sat 12-6, Sun 12-4

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

22 February – 2 March 2019

Private view 21 February 6-9 pm

Featuring: Charlotte Edey, Emma Talbot and Gosia Walton curated by Martha May Ronson

A group exhibition of works by three female artists exploring themes surrounding the spiritual awakening process. The title of the exhibition Dark Night of the Soul refers to a poem written in the 16th century by mystic and poet, St John of the Cross. The poem describes the several stages one goes through during spiritual enlightenment: realisation, purgation, contemplation, ascension, and the feelings and emotions that arise along the journey.

Opening times
22 February – 2 March 2019
Wednesday 12-6pm
Thursday 12-6pm
Friday 12-6pm
Saturday 12-6pm

Proudly sponsored by Brockley Brewery

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD.

30th Jan-10th Feb 2019.

JAMSHAC artists’ collective presents:
　
Worlds Apart
　
Lewisham Arthouse’s latest show, Worlds Apart, may make you smile in the face of chaos, catastrophe and midwinter gloom.
　
In a gallery packed with innovative new work, ten members of JAMSHAC offer a collection of installations, textiles and paintings that explore a range of contemporary themes, concerns and passions.
　
Critiques of the ever-strengthening powers that be, utopia/dystopia, as well as reflections on the challenges facing our ecosystems – sit alongside a love of nature and a 21st century take on Rossetti. All these topics are explored in wry, quirky and thought -provoking ways.

It’s a show that definitely offers a different spin on the world today.

Weds 30th Jan – Sun 10th Feb 2019.
12-6pm
Private View: Thurs 31st Jan, 6-9pm.

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD.

25th-28th January 2019

Echoing Walter Benjamin’s vision of existential possibilities within urban utopias, ‘A Thousand Configurations’ presents the beginnings of a barely envisaged creative formation and the final conclusion of fully realised works. At Lewisham Arthouse, four current students from the MA Drawing course at Wimbledon College of Arts will display new work that considers “what will have been wanted”, monumentalizing the notions of memory and emotional experience, archaeological traces and fleeting biological imprints. Diverse in the content and processes of their respective practices, Silvia de Giorgi, Lucy George, Hannah Gormley and Denise Poote each grapple with notions of process, possibility and memory whether archaeological, biological or experiential.

ARTIST INFO:

SILVIA DE GIORGI
Silvia De Giorgi’s drawing practice explores the relationship between landscapes and memory. Her photographic works often reflect on her personal connection to the natural surroundings of her home region in the Italian Alps, and the memories associated with it. Her strong interest in landscape, archaeology and prehistoric art recently led her to a research trip to rock art sites in Norway and Sweden. Returning to the UK, Silvia created a series of monumental drawings that reflect her onsite collaborations with archaeologists as they worked to conserve ancient artefacts.

LUCY GEORGE
Increasingly concerned by the environmental impact of humans on wildlife, Lucy George uses 2D and 3D line drawings to map how insect behaviour can convey visual information about the decrease in the population of pollinators. Using Ethiopian book binding techniques, she has been working to create a sacred book of the pollinators and, drawing on knotting skills acquired as a climber, she creates welded 3D installations that map the flight paths of bees and other pollinators.

HANNAH GORMLEY
Hannah Gormley’s drawings combine self-portraiture and portraits which challenge and consider the concept of ‘confessional art’. Using coloured pencils, these works focus on the intentional revelation of the private self, revealing specific and often unseen moments of fraught emotional experience embodied within the nude form. By positioning these bodies within hidden domestic interiors, Gormley permits a voyeuristic view into environments’ that questions the extent to which artworks created in this way claim an emotional veracity for the content as a defining feature—regardless of whether or not these ‘confessions’ are constructed or performative.

DENISE POOTE
Denise Poote examines how the embodied experience of drawing relates to the artefact or residue produced in the action/performance of drawing. Her aim is to better understand how the experience of drawing creates a form of shared knowledge with between the maker and her audience. Combining an eclectic mix of printmaking, DIY robotics and video, Denise’s practice attempts to understand the complexities of experience involved in both the making and viewing of art.

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
 London SE14 6PD
Private View: Thursday 24th January 2019, 6-9pm
Opening Times: Thursday 24th January to Saturday 27th January 2019, 12pm-6pm
Sunday 28th January 12pm-4pm.

6th-9th December 2018

A group of Camberwell College of Arts graduates including: Savannah Grieve, Alia Hamaoui, Simon Handy, Lowri Heckler, Isabel Mills and Gwenllian Spink, have come together to show a collection of new works. These artists share an interest in functions, mechanisms, lost history and cultural appropriation, which collectively creates the feeling a navigating through an ancient tomb.

Savannah Grieve (b. 1996, London, UK) graduated from Camberwell College of Arts (2018). Recent group shows include ‘FLOCK 2018’ at GX gallery, London. Her current work reflects her time spent in Florence after being awarded the Cedric Morris Foundation Travel award. Grieve’s work has recently been acquired by the UAL collection.

Alia Hamaoui (b.1996, Albi, France) graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2018. She was recently awarded a residency and solo show at Peckham Artist Run. Recent group exhibitions include, ‘Extended Call’ at Subsidiary Projects and ‘The World Tour Inauguration’ at Fivehundredthousand Gallery, Art Licks Weekend. Hamaoui’s work has been acquired by the UAL collection. Her work is currently on show at Hannah Barry Gallery.

Simon Handy (b.1996, Gloucestershire, UK) is a Painting graduate from Camberwell College of Arts. Recent exhibitions include the ‘Orbit UK Graduate Show’ where Simon was selected to exhibit his robotic sculptures at the OXO Tower, Southbank; and ‘Act Natural’, a group exhibition at APT Gallery. In 2017 Simon was awarded the Mead Scholarship which aided the development of his technical practice.

Lowri Heckler (b. 1996, Carmarthen, Wales) is a recent graduate of Camberwell College of Arts (2018). Her work is focused on re-configuring an objects original function and its design. This is achieved by unpicking and re- building the object until it takes on a new form. Heckler’s recently exhibited in a group show at the Flying Dutchman, Camberwell.

Isabel Mills (b.1995, Brighton, UK), is a 2018 Camberwell College of Arts graduate. Group shows include ‘Act Natural’ at APT Gallery in London. Her latest work considers taste, materials and arbitrary objects as well as recent time spent in Vietnam and Japan.

Gwenllian Spink (b. 1996, Hong Kong) graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2018. Recent group shows include ‘Marginalia’, Leiepark, Ghent, ‘Xhibit’, Bermondsey Project Space, London, and ‘Act Natural’, APT Gallery, London. She recently won the Vanguard Court Studio Prize, and upcoming shows include the Elephant x Griffin Art Prize, London and UKYA City Takeover, Nottingham.

Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD
6th – 9th December 2018 open 12 – 6pm
Private view Wednesday
5th December 6-9pm

28th November-2nd December 2018

This Instead of That

Alexandra Baraitser / Trevor Burgess
Julie Fountain / Olha Pryymak

Lewisham Arthouse, 140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD
28th November – 2nd December 2018 open 12 – 6pm
Private view Wednesday 28th November 6 – 9pm

This Instead of That is a show about artistic exchange – what happens to both representation and reality when artists get together to re-evaluate their ideas and influences through dialogue with one another. It looks at the processes and practices of artistic exchange, and focuses on the interchanges that are established when similar passions collide and how these are expressed in the tactile, haptic process of making physical artworks.

The mutual sharing of ideas about a portfolio of work that is not your own, is deeply rooted in fine art practice. Essentially this quid pro quo movement of critical exchange has been around for centuries. For example, Matisse immersed himself in the work of others, quoting imagery from his friends and contemporaries, even going into debt to buy work from those painters he admired, thereby sustaining an ongoing dialogue with their work. Discussion about the work of colleagues and contemporaries remains a central strand in fine art training, and is often sustained beyond the confines of art school through informal networks, collaborations, social art practices, shared studios, and other innovative modes of exchange.

For the creation of this exhibition, the artists involved paired up, presenting each other with ideas or questions about the other’s work, the response to which was then commissioned for the exhibition.

It is easy, in a world so dominated by the visual, to customize new ideas to fit what we already know. However, like Matisse, the contemporary artist will make a conversion of an idea that has the transformative effect of changing its core meaning. The artists here have shown how embracing new ideas from other artists about their own work can divert work in a new direction, transforming artistic development and allowing for extended collective discussion and understanding.

Curated by Alexandra Baraitser. For more information contact alex@alexandrab.org.uk

Film links:
See a This Instead of That film documenting Olha Pryymak and Julie Fountain’s collaboration here.
Watch Julie Fountain’s films including In Between here.

Artists:
Alexandra Baraitser www.alexandrab.org.uk Instagram: @abaraitser
Trevor Burgess www.trevorburgess.co.uk Instagram: @trevorburgesspaintings
Olha Pryymak http://opryymak.com/ Instagram: @olha_pryymak
Julie Fountain http://julie-fountain.squarespace.com/ Instagram @jf101_art

21st-25th November 2018

syntax error
Merav Shinn Ben-Alon, Stefanie Gerstmayr, Byungchan Kim, Rolf-Maria Krückels, Matthias Pabsch, Louisa Stylianidi

Curated by Katie Yook, Stefanie Gerstmayr, and Rolf-Maria Krückels

PRIVATE VIEW + PUBLICATION LAUNCH: 20 November, 6-9pm
CLOSING EVENT WITH WORKSHOP, READINGS, PERFORMANCES: 24 November, 2-8pm
EXHIBITION HOURS: 21-25 November, 12-6pm

syntax error offers a space for experimenting with forms of communication. Through acts of speaking, translating, interpreting, and dialoguing, the artists share an interest in the transformativity of communication and how mistranslation can yield rifts in perception.

When attempting to render the unrenderable into words or images, meaning gets lost in white noise in a process that adds, alters or interprets the message. The abstraction of language and meta-codes attempt to show that which cannot find words.

The exhibition considers communication as a mechanism that is constantly reinventing itself. Given contemporary discussions around the influence of media, cultural appropriation and digital mediation, is it possible to create actual contact with the unknown? Are we still able to deal with doubt and are we patient enough to discover things not easily consumable?

Saturday, 24 November, 2-4pm
WORKSHOP: Merav Shinn Ben-Alon, “Drawing Stories and Telling Drawings”

This workshop is neither a writing workshop nor a drawing workshop; it is rather an exercise that is based on shifts between mediums—some writing exercises and some drawing exercises. The shift from drawing to writing bewilders the brain, which alternates from the right side to the left side, compelling an act of translation that generates an “error”.

The workshop is designated for artists from different disciplines, but can also be suitable for people who have no drawing or writing experience or people who have experience with other forms of media. The participants are requested to bring a notebook or a sketchbook and writing and drawing utensils.

Merav Shinn Ben-Alon is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in Tel-Aviv with 25 years of experience teaching in art institutions and private programs. She works in a variety of media including painting, drawing, writing and installation.

Please email Katie at kyook001@gold.ac.uk to sign up.

Saturday, 24 November, 5-8pm
READINGS: Louisa Stylianidi and Alexa Barrett
PERFORMANCE:Rolf-Maria Krückels, “Drawing Machine London”

In line with the Greek definition of machine, Drawing Machine does not produce drawings autonomously. Instead, Drawing Machine becomes activated by two or more participants, creating a form of direct communication without words. The process creates a situation of vulnerability and contact in which people generate an image together which is not a representation, but rather a poetic manifestation of their encounter. Drawing Machine has travelled through Europe, Thailand and Israel and is premiering in London at Lewisham Arthouse on the occasion of syntax error.

25th-28th October 2018

Xueyu Liu
As__: Travelling in the armchair
25th October- 28th October
Private view 25th October 6-10pm.
Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD

Xueyu Liu, born in China, graduated from the University of Arts London, Chelsea College of
Arts, MA fine art. Through the lens of her unique visual logic, Xueyu Liu’s works provide us
new narratives to view the relation between everyday objects and the space of its
surrounding. By dissembling the objects and deconstructing the original purpose, she
creates a resonance between spatial perception and the subjective reconstruction with a
poetic sense. A sensuous narrative was formed by the loss of functionality and the found an
ineffable familiarity, which aims to bring the viewers to a surreal wonderland.

www.xueyuliu.com

This exhibition is the third part of:
As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists
Hao-Chun Hsieh, Ting Hsu, Xueyu Liu
Curated by Ruby Lau

As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists is a three-week exhibition that includes three Asian
artists’ solo show individually yet collectively. Through the lens of their artistic practices, this
exhibition aims to offer the viewers a multi-version of perceptual experience and the
cognition of self-identity in relation to the perception of the space in the context of living in a
foreign land.

11th-14th October 2018

Hao-Chun Hsieh
As__: Shole

11th October- 14th October
Private view: 11th October 6-10pm
Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD

Hao Chun Hsieh, born in Taiwan,1992. After graduated from Tunghai University, Fine art
department in 2015, he went to the University of Arts London, Chelsea College of Arts for
further study, and finished his master degree of fine art this year. Hsieh’s practices mostly
focus on the society and religion. By using drawing, videos and sounds, his works aim to
dialogue with the audience and explore the spiritual world of individuals and communities.
With a series of works looking at self-identity and self-exploration, A Peaceful Century
(2018) presents a religious environment that looks at the artist’s emotional conclusion
toward his two years of life in London. Hsieh transfers his thinking about the religion into
three basic elements: industry, nature and the symbol, which aims to invite the viewers
to his prayer room and learn about self-acceptance irreligiously.

www.hsiehandy.com

This exhibition is the first part of:
As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists
Hao-Chun Hsieh, Ting Hsu, Xueyu Liu
Curated by Ruby Lau

As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists is a three-week exhibition that includes three Asian
artists’ solo show individually yet collectively. Through the lens of their artistic practices, this
exhibition aims to offer the viewers a multi-version of perceptual experience and the
cognition of self-identity in relation to the perception of the space in the context of living in a
foreign land.

18th-21st October 2018

Ting Hsu
As__: The blink of an eye

18th October- 21st October
Private view: 18th October 6-10pm
Lewisham Arthouse,
140 Lewisham Way,
London SE14 6PD

Ting Hsu, born in Taiwan,1993. Recently graduated from the University of Arts London,
Chelsea College of Arts and honoured with a fine art master degree.
“What did you see when you blink? You don’t know because it happened too quickly. Maybe
it was a negative image, maybe you were dreaming.”
—- Robert Wilson
Deeply believe in photography is a continuous life experience, Hsu’s practices concentrate
on the relation of time, space and existence. Her ways of seeing photography is no longer a
conclusion or capitation of a single moment, but as the duration of perceiving, constructing
and deconstructing the light, space and time altogether.
www.hsutingstudio.com

This exhibition is the second part of:
As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists
Hao-Chun Hsieh, Ting Hsu, Xueyu Liu
Curated by Ruby Lau

As__: Rolling Exhibition of Asian Artists is a three-week exhibition that includes three Asian
artists’ solo show individually yet collectively. Through the lens of their artistic practices, this
exhibition aims to offer the viewers a multi-version of perceptual experience and the
cognition of self-identity in relation to the perception of the space in the context of living in a
foreign land.

22nd-30th September 2018

A group exhibition by members of Lewisham Arthouse, an artist led cooperative based in the old Deptford Library. Ex Libris looks to explore the local area both socially and geographically, our relationship to it and our context within it. This is an exhibition about varied histories and possible futures.

Alison Day
Anita Gwynn
Barry Cunningham
Fanny Aboulker
Fiona Smithers
Heather Steed
Joyce Jocelyne Saunders
Laura X Carle
Luigi Vanzan
Mark Nelson
Oliver Campbell
Raju Rage
Rosey Prince
Ruth Beale
Sara Willett
Sophie Chapman + Kerri Jefferis
Tom Hemming
Toby Rye
Victoria Smart

Opening: Sat 22 Sept 18:00 – 21:00

Opening weekend coincides with Open Studios Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd September 12:00 – 18:00.
With special performances and tours of the building.

Part of Deptford X and Open House London

1st-9th September 2018

Make Believe

Saturday 1st September to Sunday 9th September 2018
Private view: Friday 31st August. 6 – 9pm
Opening Times: Weds – Sun, 12 – 6pm
@rothgill @clarkesville.art @lewishamarthouse www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk

Gill Roth and Andrew Clarke met at Maidstone College of Art in the 1980’s. They have lived in Lewisham for over 15 years, taking part in local Open Studios. This is their first joint exhibition.

Both Gill and Andrew make work that blurs the edge between abstraction and representation, where the observable world meets the environment of the imagination.

While drawing forms the core of Gill’s practice, Andrew’s figures emerge through a process of collaging and assemblage. Both work on paper in a way that embraces intuition, accident and play with recurring motifs hinting at inner bodily functions or states of mind.

Andrew makes collages and objects through the juxtaposition of drawings, prints and found material. By relinquishing elements of control and intentionality, new forms and ideas are allowed to emerge more freely. A line in one image continues into a line on another, overlapping shapes create unexpected negative space, a drawn mark reflects a found object. The figures and faces that emerge through these processes are often cut away from the rectangle in a way that ‘sculpturises’ the two-dimensional image and emphasizes the outside line. This has led to a move towards larger scale assemblages and three-dimensional work.

“As a printmaker I often prefer the bits that are left over in the process; the stencils, the plates and the happy accidents. It is often these unplanned images and objects that inform my next move.”

His use of cyanotype introduces the element of light through material that creates ‘X-rays’ of existing collages while also revealing previously unseen textural nuances. The process unifies the image into one colour shifting the focus from the original materials to line and form.

For Gill drawing is a starting point and an end in itself. She works on paper in a relatively large scale. There is nearly always a human presence in her work whether it’s the limbs of a life model or the limbs of a tree thrusting up into the sky.

“I often start with a ‘blind’ drawing. Not looking at what I’m drawing helps me not to think too much and often produces interesting accidents and an element of chaos.”

Gill is attracted to shapes that express movement or have an inner energy, vitality and surface tension. She uses and reuses organic shapes and universal motifs such heads, hands and feet. Tracing, flipping and repeating shapes in a process of organising and editing towards a finished piece.

Notes to editors
For more information and images please contact
Gill Roth on gillroth9@gmail.com
Andrew Clarke on clarkesville1@gmail.com

14th-18th August 2018

From the 14th – 18th August, Lewisham Art House will be showcasing a joint exhibition by artists Laura Greenway and Carlie Simpkin, both recent graduates from University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. The show provides an intimate look into the lives of those affected by psychiatric disorders, and aims to start a much needed and essential conversation about mental illness. A staggering One in Four people suffer from a mental health problem in their lifetime, yet mental illness is still often regarded as a taboo subject that remains highly stigmatised – an issue that this unique and candid exhibition aims to tackle.

Performance based artist Laura Greenway, who was recently shortlisted for the Zealous Emerge Performance Prize, explores living life with severe OCD, anxiety and depression through a multidisciplinary approach to live art. Exploring themes including vulnerability, fragility and a pathological fear of intimacy, Greenway creates physical manifestations of her inner turmoil, utilising her body as tool of communication. Her work engages elements of movement and repetition combined with physical and mental endurance to produce thought provoking works that assist the viewer in understanding what life can be like for someone experiencing relentless mental breakdown.

Focusing on depression and anxiety, Carlie Simpkin, whose work has been exhibited across the UK, employs a variety of mediums to analyse life with mental illness. Often utilising a subtle, dark humour in her work, Simpkin’s clever use of metaphorical imagery creates an accessible and captivating look at the sombre subject. Through sophisticated juxtapositions, her work tackles the issues that surround living life with severe depression, immersing the viewer amongst a visual representation of her own daily struggles.

In addition to the displayed works, the show will also feature live art from Laura Greenway, with an exclusive performance taking place at the private view, which is to be held on the 14th August from 6-9pm. The exhibition is free to attend and most of the works on display will be for sale in order to raise money for mental health charity SANE, with 15% of all sales being donated to the organisation.

Raw, brave and sincere, the show endeavours to approach the subject of mental illness in new and distinct lights, allowing a glimpse into the life of two artists whose work revolves around first hand experience of devastating mental illness.

14th-18th August 2018
12-6pm

Private view
14th August 6-9pm

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

@lewishamarthouse

www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk

16th-29th July 2018

St. Nowhere gives us a space lost in time and purpose. It’s not important where these are located or if they are unidentified spaces. They are familiar and unfamiliar, between waking and reality.

With a playful pioneering spirit, these four artists’: Narbi Price, Rosey Prince, Rob Reed and Gill Rocca re-evaluate and repurpose the quiet humdrum of suburbia with the ingenuity and playfulness of explorers.

And their mission? To explore the common place, seek out the hidden havens and find a renewed meaning deep within.

Narbi Price
Rosey Prince
Rob Reed
Gill Rocca

Private View:
July 20, 6-9pm

Artists Panel Talk:
July 28, 7:30pm

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

#stnowhere
@lewishamarthouse

www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk

7th – 14th July 2018

#thestudentbeings

Community Digital Art From Eltham Hill School

Come and see the work of our young community digital artists. Featuring the meme posse from Eltham Hill School, Lewisham.

Celebrate with us on July 7th at a special opening event with live music, poetry, and art

Opening event:
Saturday 7th July 2018
3 – 8.30pm

Exhibition open:
7th – 14th July 2018
Open Wednesday to Sunday 12 – 6pm

Free entry
Step-free access

Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD

23rd June- 3rd July 2018

Sometimes I’m looking down on it from above,

Other times it feels like I’m outside looking through a window, with nothing but my reflection separating me from the space on the inside.

Do you remember what I said earlier?

~~~

Lewisham Arthouse is delighted to present Repetitive Strain, a new body of work by Kate Fahey. The exhibition is her first solo presentation in the UK and embodies an exploration of her on going practice based PhD research completed while undertaking Lewisham Arthouse’s Graduate Residency Program.

Working across the boundaries of various mediums including moving-image, sound, stills, sculpture, and installation, her practice explores our relationship with images through contemporary screen-based perspectives: aerial, satellite and elevated (drone’s eye) views, particularly in the technological hard and soft wares of encounter. Focusing on imagery predominantly appropriated from YouTube, her multidisciplinary fine art practice engages with the surface and materiality of the aerial image employing metafictional and subjective approaches to their habitual modes of spectatorship online.

PV: Saturday the 23rd June 6 – 9pm.
Dates: 24th June and 27th June – 1st July. 12–6pm daily or by appointment.
Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD

www.katefahey.co.uk

The open call for the next Graduate Studio Award will be made public this coming July – offering recent graduates a fantastic, free opportunity to develop their practice in a 200ft studio based within our artist-led cooperative in South East London. Towards the end of the period the awardee will be supported to mark the occasion showcasing a project, event or exhibition of their choosing in the Arthouse Gallery in 2019. Sign up to our mailing list and follow Arthouse social media to receive updates!

13th June- 17th June 2018

62 Hands

Wimbledon MA Painting interim show

Lewisham Art House Project Space
140 Lewisham Way, London SE14 6PD
Exhibition open: 13-17th June,
Wed – Sun 12-6pm
Private view: Wednesday 13 June 6-9pm

31 painters
62 hands
Works no larger than 12”
The work of these emerging artists centres on ideas as diverse as the myths, histories and politics of the North Caucuses; the overlooked spaces of the tourist trail; the anti-history paintings of modern India; the colonial histories of the British landscape garden; ruined industrial spaces and liminal wastelands; plant/human hybrids; anthropomorphism and fictional beasts; geology and alchemy; the erotic imagery of the Golden Lotus and the female protagonists of contemporary fairy tales.

Artists: Shuaa Alrasheidi, Emma Brassington, Daumants Brunins, Jack Candy-Kemp, Sirius Chan, Gabriel Chaim, Yue Chen, Sean Coates, Luísa De Castro, Maria Del Pino Cornejo, Nik Cross, Oliver Dorrell, Amy Gaudion, Sara Grisewood, Denise Harrison, Nimmi Hutnik, Emilie Lam, Pandora Layton, Jiaman Li, Nicholas MacNeill, Maria Mohonea, Kundan Mondal, Lorraine Monk, Maria Olivarria, Matteo Orlandi, Anna Pogudz, Ben Pollock, Junnan Wu, Renyan Xie, Xinlei Zhao, Xiaoyu Zhang

This is the third interim exhibition presented by MA Painting at Wimbledon College of Arts at the Lewisham Art House Project Space following ‘A Sharp Intake of Breath’ 2017 and ‘About Space’ 2016.

paintingresearch.net

Please also join us for an MA Painting open studio event at Wimbledon to coincide with the BA/MFA Degree show private view on Thursday 14th June 6-9pm.

6th June- 10th June 2018

Zeitgeist

A photographic exhibition by Foundation degree and BA (HONS) Photography students from North Kent College and The University of Greenwich.

The forthcoming exhibition is the students degree show, showing their own themed projects they worked on as their Final Major Projects for their BA (Hons) Degree, reflecting on their own unique style within photography.

https://www.artrabbit.com/events/zeitgeist-uog-end-of-year-show-2018

https://www.facebook.com/events/2053546434901105/

6th-10th June 2018
6th-9th June 12-6pm
10th June 12-4pm
Private view 7th June 6-9pm

Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD

26th May- 3rd June 2018

A scattergun of creative outputs from 45 disparate artists – Lewisham Arthouse presents Eyeball Pleasers an exhibition of recent works by our current studio members, showcasing the output of our artist led cooperative. Based in a grade 2 listed Carnegie Library we’re inviting people to come and see who we are and what we do.

26th May-3rd June 2018
Opening times
Wed-Sun
12-6pm
Private view
Sat 2nd June 6-9pm

Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD
Contact projectspace@lewishamarthouse.org.uk

This event is part of

10th-20th May 2018

When you travel in time, leave nothing behind.

Lewisham Arthouse
Thursday 10th May 6-9pm PV only (not open during the day)
Friday 11th – Sunday 13th May 12noon – 6pm
Tuesday 15th – Sunday 20th May 12noon – 6pm

When you travel in time, leave nothing behind is a collaborative show with three emerging female artist.
Anna Hillbom, Amba Sayal Bennett and Emma Papworth share a deep interest in exploring intrinsic qualities of material and shape, in order to bring out a possible mystic through poetic, tactile means and a personal definition of logics.
In sculpture, drawing and installation, an urgency to decipher and re-think signifiers of authority becomes evident. Gestures from ancient art, classical architecture, modern cityscape and archaeological founds are canalized and obscured in order to question ideas of body, agency, canonic history-writing and a linear sense of time.
The works of the exhibition act as a collaborative installation between the artists where the agency of each artist at times is blurred, at times visible, in an attempt to question the relation of object and agency in the gallery space as well as in a broader context of history writing.

Emma Papworth (1993) Lives and works in Berlin, DE
Amba Sayal Bennett (1991) Lives and Works in London, UK
Anna Hillbom (1983) Lives and works in Umeå, SE

Artist Bio

Emma Papaworth received her BFA (First Class) 2015 at The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University. She has recently exhibited at Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, The Griffin Gallery London, Cypher Space Berlin, ASC Gallery London, Bank Space Gallery, London. In 2015 she received The Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Art Prize, Baltic 39, Newcastle.

Amba Sayal-Bennett is an artist and PhD in Art Practice & Learning at Goldsmiths. She received her BFA from Oxford
University in 2012 and her MA in The History of Art from The Courtauld Institute in 2013. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery London, Parallel Vienna and Untitled San Francisco.

Anna Hillbom received her BFA and BA Artistic Research from Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam 2011 and her MFA at Umeå Academy of Fine Art 2015. She has recently exhibited her work at Kunstlerhaus Turn and Taxis Bregenz, Bildmuseet Umeå, Galleri Andersson Sandström Stockholm, Cypher Space Berlin and CLB Berlin, Umeå Konsthall, Udstillingstedet Q Copenhagen and Konstfrämjandet Umeå.

Contact person: Anna Hillbom
ahillbom@gmail.com
+46 76- 275 30 93

11th May 2018

Space of making project launch

The Fringe and Underground Music Group at Goldsmiths launches a pamphlet/printed edition series entitled Spaces of Making.

Based broadly on themes of physical, digital, social and conceptual/ideological space, the first run of pamphlets features contributions from artists and musicians Charles Hayward, Marlo Delara, Sharon Gal and Richard Phoenix.

The launch event for the pamphlet series, co-hosted by The Lumen Lake, will be held from 19.30 on 11 May in the Lewisham Arthouse. Contributors will present their pamphlets, and there will be live sets from Lizzy Laurance, Grey Sea Over A Cold Sky and Scrounge.

High quality Riso-print copies of the pamphlets will be available on the night.

Entry is £5, £3 concessions.

11th May 2018
19.30-22h
Lewisham Art house
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD

27th April-6th May 2018

SALT CASTLES
Billy Crosby, Thomas Greig and Rebecca Guez
Lewisham Arthouse
27 April – 6 May
Open Tuesday – Sunday, 12-6pm
Opening: Thursday 26 April, 6-9pm

This exhibition brings together each of the artists recent work and puts into dialogue the emphatic materiality and physicality of production, that surrounds their works. With an interest in labour and gesture, as well as object investigation, materials are bitten, squashed, cut, pressed, squeezed, moulded, painted and printed, creating highly charged and affective outcomes.

Billy Crosby (b.1992, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland) is a recent graduate of Painting at Camberwell College of Arts (2016). His recent group shows include ‘Changelings’, The Flying Dutchman, London, ‘Solopreneur’, Kingsgate Workshops, London and ‘The Marmite Prize for Painting’, Block 336, London/Ireland, 2016. Crosby’s first solo exhibition ‘Props’ took place at Camberwell Space, London, in September 2017, after his year long studio residency at Vanguard Court Studios, London. At Lewisham Arthouse, Billy presents a selection of new polystyrene works. Billy Crosby has exhibited in the UK and in Europe.

Thomas Greig (b.1994, Surrey, UK) is a recent graduate of Painting at Camberwell College of Arts (2016). His recent group shows include ‘Bloomberg New Contemporaries’, Baltic 39, Newcastle and Block 336, London and ‘Any, more?’, Limbo Limbo, London. His first solo exhibition ‘Possessions’ took place in the back of a van, London, November 2017. At Lewisham Art House Thomas presents underpants, socks and bananas. Thomas Greig has exhibited across the UK.

Rebecca Guez (b.1994, West Sussex, UK) is a recent graduate of Painting at Camberwell College of Arts (2016). Her recent group shows include ‘The Kiss or Poison Boyfriend or Jesus’ Blood’, Kingsgate Workshops, London and ‘Cha Cha Chaffinch’, Ridgeway Road, London. Rebecca’s first solo exhibition ‘Gardening’ took place at Thames Side Studios Gallery, July 2017, which exhibited her first largest scale work, a 9 metre long stretched canvas. (Large Garden Painting, 2017, Oil on canvas, 287 x 900cm). At Lewisham Arthouse, Rebecca is exhibiting new works from her studio. Rebecca Guez has exhibited in the UK and in Europe and is held in a number of private collections.

www.billycrosby.com
www.thomasgreig.uk
www.rebeccaguez.co.uk

11th-22nd April 2018

In the Space of Elsewhere brings together work by Lu Mei and Sara Willett that responds to the phenomenology of space. The exhibition does not just examine space in terms of cartological location and fixity, but also refers to the realm of poetic space – spaces that exist internally, in memory and imagination. Both artists have also created site-specific work, which responds to the scale of the exhibition space and the neo-classical architecture of the building. The exhibition is accompanied by a soundscape by composer John Lunn.

Lu Mei was born in Henan, China, and divides her time between New York and Beijing. Having studied traditional Chinese ink painting and calligraphy, her practice now combines this artistic inheritance with her contemporary
perspective. Drawn to what she terms the “pyramid” structure of the subconscious, she describes her work is an act of “reaching for the sky”, illustrating the road that connects humans to the rest of the universe. In the Space of Elsewhere is the first time her work has been shown in the UK.

In 2016, Sara Willett spent six weeks as an artist in residence in Being 3 Gallery, situated in an industrial area in North East Beijing. The work she produced whilst there, and since, draws on her experience of the physical environment, most specifically the days when the ever-present pollution was most visible. She became interested in the quality of light at these times, the shapes created when the sun’s rays struggled to break through the smog, or at night when the air became a neon infused haze. She also reflects on the sense of ‘otherness’, experienced when navigating a part of the city where the sight of a westerner was unexpected and unusual.

Exhibition Opening Times:
Wed – Sun 12 – 6pm
11th – 22nd April
Private View
Fri 13 April 6.30 – 9.30pm

Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD
www.lewishamarthouse.org.uk

Transport: New Cross, New Cross Gate
or Brockley stations

For more information and images please
contact info@sarawillett.com

28th March-8th April 2018

An exhibition of work by Ben Quail
I am an artist printmaker and I work and live in Waveney, Suffolk.
This show consists of varied, colourful, bold and characterful paintings on canvas and linoprints, screenprints, and etchings.
Included is a collection from ‘a fairly natural history alphabet’, a book of linocuts published in 2013.

The theme of this show is eclectic but focuses on flora and fauna, landscape, seascape, and the essential enhanced green corridor scen-aria?

A conversation on Conservation has always been my interest.

Where do we go from ‘ere?

Private view:
Wednesday 28th March 2018
6-9 pm

Exhibition open:
28th March – 8th April 2018
Open Wednesday to Sunday 12-6 pm

Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD, London

Free entry
Step-free access

20th-25th March 2018

Five contemporary artists conspire within the confines of London’s Lewisham Arthouse, negotiating an agreement with the space through five different modes of making. This work takes the form of drawing, installation, sculpture and painting, creating, without a doubt, a certain amount of friction between one another. Through this friction and perhaps, too, this idea of overlapping, comes a sense of necessity, prompting the work to stand for itself, gaining its own rights within the context of this show.

What we invest into a practice, what this means, and how this is retained, carried and displayed, contribute to a slightly larger question which has been asked of the artists involved: ‘What is true to you?’ Whether this notion of truth plays a part in our contract with the work, or if it is merely a stopping off point, or just a claim – is it important?

Aria Kiani – http://ariakiani.wixsite.com/artwork
David Fines – https://davidfines.co.uk/
Daniel Soares – https://www.danielsoares.art/
Henry Pucknell – http://henrypucknell.com/
William Cotterill – http://www.williamcotterill.co.uk/works/

Trailer for the show
Facebook event

20th March – 25th March
12am – 5pm
Private view: Friday 23rd March
7-10pm
Lewisham Art House
140 Lewisham way
SE14 6PD, London

8th-18th March 2018

The struggle to locate a self when the self is fractured or misrepresented forms the core of this exhibition. I’m Not in Your Dream or Imagination, a multi-media exhibition aims to explore the experiences and cultural presentations around how the East-Asian groups, especially those newcomers, struggling to redefine themselves after misread in the western societies.

Chao-tze Liu uses printing images of the wall from British Museum and transforms Lewisham Project Space into a ‘ready-made-museum’. In reflection, Ting-Ting Cheng’s video work Ten Thousand Chinese Things (2015), the Blue Willow pattern tells the story of how the imaginations of the West from the 18th Century has still been commonly considered as a representation of China until today. Alongside, Soljee Ahn uses installation work in a compelling scale to amplify the feeling of a ‘stranger’ as herself – how a foreigner gazed upon in societies full of hierarchy preconceptions and stereotypes.

The history of museum cannot avoid the relationship to the history of colonization. Modern museology prolongs the exhibition as showing artefacts from the other cultures, where the objects are defined and presented by experts under the authorization by institutions. While approaching the presentation under museology as a metaphor, the viewers are encouraged to rethink about history and archaeology under museum discourse. Partly, it is about where and how the objects to be presented. In the highlight of the power of display, there are existences of misplace and ignorance; similarly, minority groups are easily misinterpreted or misrepresented in a society. Through this exhibition, we aim to ask one more fundamental question: how can East-Asian, in relation to the other minority groups in London, own its agency to defend and define a self in a multi-cultural society under the shadow of dominant culture?

8th – 18th March 2018

Private view Thursday 8th March, 7-9pm
Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way,
New Cross SE14 6PD

23rd-24st February 2018
Every year Myatt Garden Primary School run the “Take One Picture Project” in conjunction with the National Gallery. The National Gallery release one painting from their collection for children to respond to creatively, to it’s themes, subject matter, historical context or composition. This years painting is ‘An experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’ Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ 1768. We then hold a ‘Take OnePicture Week’ in school and all our children’s learning and creative outpouring are inspired by this painting. We then show case the work in The Arthouse as a public exhibition.

We hope you are able to visit this exciting exhibition of young artists on Friday 23rd from 3.30pm till 5.30pm to Saturday 24th February 10am to 4pm.

9th – 18th February 2018
New Paintings by Emma Cousin.

In Leg Up London-based artist Emma Cousin (b. 1986) investigates the body as the site of
experience – examining what we can and cannot control in all aspects of daily life, and
questioning the meanings of mobility, both physical and social. Using the body as a metaphor,
and emphasising the role that the body plays in processing and defining our experiences,
Cousin’s paintings present a pantheon of women performing everyday gestures to address
notions of time, aging, strength, inertia and vulnerability.

Cousin’s darkly comic and irreverent parade of female characters are pulled and twisted into
impossible bodily contortions, balancing the weight of gravity with a lightness extending from
their mix-and-match body parts. Exploring concepts of freedom and identity, they inhabit
precarious situations and engage in awkward activities, such as urinating in a cup in the backseat of a speeding car (Peeing at 80), or teetering precariously on high heels while juggling groceries in Purchase. Running Scared depicts a wave of ‘hysterical women’ seeming to hold one another up as they launch themselves across the canvas, away from or towards we don’t know what. Nor do we know how dependable matters are underfoot, as Cousin’s figures act on
surfaces ranging from concrete to butter. Through the theme of mobility, Cousin balances
weight and agility to propose that a persistent psychological anxiety, experienced through the
body, is our frontline experience of the world.

Leg Up takes forward Cousin’s residency research project, Legwork, started at Wimbledon in
October 2016 and is supported by paintingresearch at Wimbledon College of Arts and Isabel
Bingley at Lewisham Arthouse Gallery. The work is accompanied by a text by Luce Garrigues and
Amy Mechowski. The results of the artist’s residency research project, Legwork will be published on 8 October in the form of a catalogue including contributions from over 30 artists.

Exhibition Open: 9th – 18th February 2018.
Wednesday to Sunday 12 – 6pm

Venue: Lewisham Arthouse. 140 Lewisham Way, SE14 6PD | Step-free access
Transport: New Cross, New Cross Gate or Brockley stations
Contact: For more information and images please contact: challisede@gmail.com
www.paintingresearch.net

31th Jan-4th Feb 2018
An exhibition of drawing and monoprints by Anita Gwynn.

In medieval Latin a florilegium (plural florilegia) was a compilation of excerpts from other writings. The word is from the Latin flos (flower) and legere (to gather): literally a gathering of flowers, or collection of fine extracts from the body of a larger work. It was adapted from the Greek anthologia (ἀνθολογία) “anthology”, with the same etymological meaning.

My artistic practice helps me to look outside of my own life and to see the world. It helps me to relate to it with curiosity and to understand that I am part of it and not separate from it. Ecology and stewardship are important to me, and since my research as an artist, I have come to see that we do not exist in isolation, but as part of a whole. Without plants we wouldn’t survive.

Lewisham Arthouse 140 Lewisham Way, New Cross SE14 6PD

31th Jan-4th February 2018
Wednesday 31st January at 12-6, Thursday 12-6, Friday 12-6 and runs until Saturday 9 pm.
The private view is Saturday evening 7-9.

16th-27th January 2018

Calcinatio

In this exhibition Yaroslaff Soltan explores the role of alchemical processes and the relationship between physical, spiritual and psychological transformation with reference to the works of Carl Gustav Jung, drawing on personal dreams, visions and emotions.
In a historical context, the first stage of the alchemical process was known as ‘calcinatio’, during which by the application of fire, crude material was refined to a subtle form.
Yaroslaff Soltan examines anger and frustration as the ‘fire’ in the alchemical process transforming psychological experience into approximately thirty sculptures, mainly represented in natural materials such as wood, fabric and thread for their organic, bodily qualities.
Alchemists would also record changes in the sound qualities of materials during the transformation process and Yaroslaff Soltan presents the audio equivalent of his sculptures in the form of a live performance by the Calcinatio Ensemble (Bernard Burns, Polly Hunt, Col Prosser and Eleanor Roberts of the London Bulgarian Choir). Four vocal pieces will be performed of Georgian, ancient Greek and Slavic origin.

About the artist

Yaroslaff Soltan was born and bred in Poland. He received formal art education at University of Folk Art Craftsmanship in Wzdow, Poland, Camberwell College of Art and the University of East London.
At present he is undertaking his Professional Doctorate in Fine Art at the University of East London.
His imagination has been shaped by romanticism with its cult of folklore and of explorations of the dark side of soul, visual fascinations by archaeological artefacts and first of all by: Jungian psychology as well as religious studies of Mircea Eliade.
Yaroslaff Soltan lives and works in London.

yaroslaffsoltan.com

Private view:
Friday 19th January 2018
6pm – 9pm

Exhibition open:
16th – 27th January 2018
Monday – Sunday 12pm-6pm

Deborah Davies (Dd)
Dd’s work is a mixture of art and technology. Fascinated by conversation and feedback loops she combines electronics with textiles, wood and LEDs producing work that is both interactive and participatory.
www.dddavies.com

Chris Horner
Chris Horner graduated with a BA Honours in Fine Art from the UCA 2012 and is currently studying for his Masters in Fine Art. His work has been exhibited broadly most notably in May 2017 at the HLS Gallery for an International art show, and in September 2017 and an international arts festival in Venice, Italy.
www.chrishornerartist.strikingly.com

Bianca Hendicott
Bianca Hendicott explores conceptual platforms such as the sublime and the digital aura through iPhone, film, software, fabric and installation. The work explores how light can be such a ‘body’ that affects the soul metaphysically.
https://biancahendicott.com/

Mirta Imperatori
This work reclaims experiencing the world through taking photographs. In an age where humans are pushed to be constantly connected through digital media, we are not experiencing the world directly any longer. Imperatori is concerned how we are more isolated than we have ever been.

Nerys Joseph
Nerys Joseph is revisiting a place filled with memories as a photographic artist and documents what she sees. Curiously still, this is a place that has barely changed in four decades and is somewhat frozen in time: like a living photograph, breathing you in and exhaling you out.
https://nerysjjoseph.wixsite.com/nerysjoseph

30th August – 9th September 2017

An exhibition of work by Tom Wilmott and Neill Clements

Snake Oil brings together a group of works which stand on the belief that painting is at its most compelling when it addresses the specific strengths of the medium.

Wilmott and Clements share an interest in the fundamental qualities of painting; for each artist the medium is not a vehicle chosen to best deliver a message, it is itself the project.

Their work puts the unique abilities of the medium front and centre. Painting is first and foremost visual, and it is at its most convincing when engaged with in this way. Colour, form, space, texture, contrast, transparency, opacity, scale; these are the keystones of effective painting.

Presented here are physical objects borne of individual’s intent, this is not art meant to compete with sloganeering, rather it presents an alternative to it. There is no attempt to illustrate some extraneous topical concern; no explicit message.

Constructions of wood, cloth and pigment exist on their own terms, created out of an engagement with painting’s essential processes and from a passion for the medium and its history. In some ways this is an old fashioned approach, art for art’s sake. But nowadays in a climate where, more than ever, culture is being experienced at arm’s length choosing to involve yourself in physical, material concerns (such as those thrown up by the discipline of painting) looks like a sensible undertaking. We live in a soundbite world where much of the visual material encountered is designed to shout. We receive our ideas filtered and packaged; coloured by a promoter’s bias. Visual art is too often the servant of obscure ideas, virtuous or otherwise.

These works make a case for something different, something plain speaking and unmediated. Work created through an interest in materials and how they come together, through a belief that painting still offers something unique; a worthwhile pursuit for an individual but also as an entity that can be meaningfully engaged with by an audience.

Preview:
Thursday 31st August 2017
6.30-8 pm

Exhibition open:
30th August – 9th September 2017
12-6 pm

Free entry
Step-free access

13-14 September 2017
Creative Unions: Free Movement of Culture

Lewisham Arthouse Project Space, 140 Lewisham Way, London SE14 6PD
14:00 – 22:00 (13 September); 10:00 – 13:00 (14 September)

Borders are a concept and a reality that restrict and permit people in different measure. Physical, social, psychological, they hold slow and they hold fast.

Creative Unions: Free Movement of Culture is a two day international artist gathering where the only desire is to make space to ask questions and share different forms of knowledge about what is proximate to us now; culturally, socially, historically, geographically, personally and politically. And it invites you. In fact, it invites you plus one.

CUFMC is a platform and exchange where individuals occupy space/s, sound and listen. It welcomes self-defining recent graduates to produce, provoke and participate in a convivial space where discussion around cooperation and cultural agency foreground any objects, images or situations we might create.

CUFMC is an open forum for sharing and debate rooted in the experience of cultural producers as active, global citizens with common insights, intentions and senses that unite; even when interpretations are undecided or conflicted.

The hosts, (Sophie Chapman and Kerri Jefferis, Paul Haywood and Basia Sliwinska) actively welcome marginalised voices and those interested in maintaining and extending cultural freedoms beyond the reach of political institutions.

CUFMC asks you to:

Bring a friend, colleague, family member or associate based in/from another country than you. You can bring them: in person, through social media, on the other end of a phone, through collaboratively produced content, an effigy or any objects you want to bring or any other way you can think of that might represent them in the space.

Plan something to share. Such as: a game, a rant, a movement, a song, a story, an image, an art, an object, a recipe etc. It could be something you want to say, or to try out with others. It should be something that allows you and others to gain knowledge or experience and bring you into contact with new ideas, concepts, realities etc – responding to the ideas raised in the blurb. You can specify what this is in the registration form.

Be available 13/14 September, 14.00-22.00 and 10.00-13.00 respectively.

Deadline:
Participants are asked to register before 5th of September for the event via an online form here:

13 and 14 September, 2017
14:00 – 22:00 (13 September); 10:00 – 13:00 (14 September)

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6th-10th December

An exhibition of paintings by Jeffrey Cortland Jones and Tom Wilmott

Drinks reception:
Saturday 9th December 2017
3.30 – 6pm

Exhibition open:
6th – 10th December 2017
Open Wednesday to Sunday 12-6 pm

Free entry
Step-free access

30th November – 3rd December 2017

‘The Machine For Saying Sorry’ is an installation work by four people from different practices and interests. In this sense it may appear to link art, design, technology and music. However, it was not driven by any pre-determined purpose, issue, crusade, or funding requirement. So, what might this artwork be ‘about’? Well, perhaps a clue is in the title, although art often defies meaningful description, or categorization.

Since the 1970s, while economic growth has been immense, more than half of the vertebrate animal population has been lost. Some experts believe that the human species itself may go the same way. At the same time, the hype surrounding developments in robotics, AI (artificial intelligence) and ‘Big Data’ is getting as much attention as global extinctions. We are very confused. While some welcome a technological revolution that will save us from the drudgery of work, others fear that robots will, in some fiendish way, enslave us all.

Recently, it has become fashionable for AI experts to claim that machines will become empathetic. But this reveals a failure to grasp the difference between living systems and machines. Similarly, we often hear calls for politicians to apologise. But how many people know that apologising and saying sorry have almost opposite meanings? The ancient Greek word ‘apologia’ (ἀπολογία’) referred to the public defence of a religious belief. This is very different from expressing heartfelt remorse (i.e. as in saying ‘sorry’). Never mind, we might still need someone (or some thing) to excuse us, once we’re gone…

Collaborators:

John Lunn composer
Tischlerwood artist
Sara Willett artist
John Wood curator
Private View on Thursday 30th November at 6.00pm, when the Machine will give its debut ‘performance’.

Preview:
Thursday 30th November 2017
6-9 pm

Exhibition open:
30th November – 3rd December 2017
Open 12-6 pm

Free entry
Step-free access

23rd November – 4th December 2016
Preview: Friday 25th November 2016, 6-8pm

[toggle]Image: Still from The ballad of RAY + JULIE, photo: Leila Romaya[/toggle]

Exhibition featuring new film and 7” single that celebrate the RAY + JULIE sculpture, once listed by The Guardian as one of Britain’s Top Ten Secret Public Artworks.

In 2009, The Guardian’s Top Ten Secret Public Artworks of Britain included the familiar names of Moore, Hepworth, Cragg, Mach, and Muñoz. Number five on this list was the work entitled RAY + JULIE on London Road in Liverpool. Created by artists Alan Dunn and Brigitte Jurack in 1995 it has remained as a homage to the long faded graffiti on the back wall: RAY + JULIE. Intended to last only six months, RAY + JULIE has since become a symbol of the ebb and flow of urban regeneration in the North. Two minutes from Liverpool’s main Lime Street station, RAY + JULIE has inspired poems, CD covers, photographs, theatre pieces, films, short stories, sound works and billboards. As for London Road’s two original residents, nobody knows who RAY + JULIE were, but these artworks bring them to life.  

The ballad of RAY + JULIE, commissioned by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatre to mark twenty years of the RAY + JULIE sculpture is produced and directed by Nick Bagnall and features an original soundtrack by Philip Jeck, winner of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.

Tim Brunsden’s film of the event will be screened in the exhibition, along with the release of a limited edition 7” single by Dunn, Heslop & Young entitled LONDON ROAD. 

The exhibition is supported by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatre and Leeds Beckett University.
 
#theballadofrayandjulie

23rd November – 4th December 
Open Wednesday to Sunday 12-6pm except Sunday 4th December 2016, 12-4pm

Free entry
Step-free access

19th September – 16th October 2016

Lewisham Arthouse is an artist-led cooperative formed in 1992. In April Lewisham Arthouse invited proposals from artist(s)/curator(s) interested in working with us beyond traditional forms of exhibition making.

The London Drawing Group were selected to curate a month long public programme of events aiming to help people engage in the playful, unpredictable nature of making art and promote the joy of drawing through a series of free workshops, talks, walks and exhibitions.

Coinciding with Deptford X art festival and The London Drawing Group will present their programme within the wider context of the festival.

“We believe that when we copy or imitate the work of another artist, we are participating in an act of translation: learning through doing. Taking our starting points from those that have come before us allows us to translate timeless ideas into our own visual language. Through this act of translation, we learn as much about ourselves as artist as we do about our subjects, our processes, and what it is about the work that engages us.”

Their first week of workshops will take as their starting point images from their initial exhibition; with the guidance of artists and tutors the participating group will be encouraged to make art in response to these images, beginning the act of artistic translation. The artworks created in the first workshop will form the basis of our second workshop and continue throughout the month, creating a new series made by members of the community, encouraging and forging links between one group of artists and the next. The workshops will comprise a diverse range of teaching methods and draw from both our collective art history and contemporary art-making techniques, ranging from sculpture, collage and traditional life drawing to live music-scores, performances, film and animation. The work created throughout the residency by members of the community in response to our three exhibitions will be showcased in a final Community Exhibition.

Week 1: Luisa-Maria MacCormack
Exhibition opening Thursday 22nd September 2016
www.luisamariam.com

Week 2: Lucy McGeown
Exhibition opening Friday 30th September 2016
www.lucymcgeown.tumblr.com

Week 3: Frances Stanfield
Exhibition opening Friday 7th October 2016
www.francesstanfield.com

For further details on the London Drawing Group residency click here (pdf).

About The London Drawing Group:
The London Drawing Group is a collective of three contemporary artists living and practising in London. Although our practices are individually varied and diverse, we are brought together by our shared love of and passion for drawing, and our experiences of being taught by
a huge range of practising artists at the Royal Drawing School Central.

To contact London Drawing Group email londondrawinggroup@gmail.com
www.londondrawinggroup.com

17th – 28th August 2016

Alan Dunn & Peter Suchin, Mark Fairnington, Charles Gray, Charlie Godet Thomas, Susie Green, Sharon Hall, Brigitte Jurack, Bernadette O’Toole, Catherine Parsonage, James Quin, Alma Tischler Wood, Roxy Walsh, Flora Whiteley, Godbold & Wood

Doppelgänger asks the same taxing question that has set alight the heroes of the greatest writers including Baudelaire, Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, E.T.A Hoffman, Heine, Kipling and Wilde: Could there be, through the duplication of the self, the double or the shadow, a different self, a co-equivalent of the human soul?
 
Doppelgänger focuses on this idea of the double as method and methodology of the artwork, the second work as the reflection, shadow or double of the first. In these artworks, the doubling occurs through the process of observation and making and not by means of mechanical or digital reproduction.
 
As Jean Paul states through his tragic hero Roquairol’s in Titan: ‘Then I saw you, and wanted to become your You – but that won’t work, for I cannot go back; but you can go on ahead, one of these days you become my Self’. (Titan: A Romance, Volume 2 page 83)
 
The exhibition is guest curated by Brigitte Jurack (Manchester/Liverpool) and Founder of Alternator Studio. She is also Head of Sculpture/Time-Based Arts at Manchester School of Art and Co-Founder of the artist’s collective Foreign Investment.

For further details, including appointments outside the regular opening hours call 07789 123 735 or email b.jurack@mmu.ac.uk

Introduction: 17th August 2016, 5.30pm by Brigitte Jurack
Finissage: Thursday 25th August 2016, 6-8pm
Exhibition dates: 17th – 28th August 2016
Open Wednesday to Sunday 12-6 pm

Free entry
Step-free access

6th – 9th July 2016
Preview: Wednesday 6th July 7-9 pm
[toggle]Image courtesy Beecroft Garden Primary School, 2016.[/toggle]

An exhibition and sale of work by children from the school.

An event where all the art sold raises money for developing a special outside space and training for the children to revive Brockley’s tradition of bee-keeping. 

Putting art at the centre of a Primary School’s ethos is a bold thing to do – but that’s exactly what Beecroft Garden Primary School has been doing since the school re-opened in 2012.
 
Visitors to the school enter a reception area that has been designed as an open-plan gallery and library space that is filled with works by children working both collaboratively and individually. The children at the school are always encouraged to talk about art and culture and to understand how the arts can be used to explore the world around them.
 
The National Society for Education in Art and Design Survey Report 2015-16 reported that 89% of primary state school teachers felt that time allocated to art and design fell before key stages 2 National Curriculum tests. Almost half of key stage 1 teachers thought that time allocated for art and design had decreased in general.
 
It is with this context in mind, that the exhibition of works by Beecroft Primary School’s children can show what can happen when art is given a key place in a primary school’s ethos. The school’s specialist art teacher, Dilys Finlay, has worked with children to make drawings, paintings, textiles photography and sculpture that are inspired by art movements such as Aboriginal painting or ideas such as Paul Klee’s notion that drawing was “taking a line for a walk”.
 
All the works in the exhibition will be for sale in order to raise money for developing a special outside space for the children that will revive the local area’s tradition of bee-keeping. Bee-friendly plants, hives and sculptures will all feature. The exhibition has already gained the support of art critics, gallerists and even the occasional collector eager to get work early. 
 
Oliver Basciano, Editor (International) of ArtReview said: “It’s great to see a school that understands bringing to fore a child’s innate creative spirit is of paramount importance. Who knows, perhaps one day one of the children from Beecroft Garden Primary School will be showing in the Tate, building architectural icons or writing life-changing novels.”
 
Preview: Wednesday 6th July 7-9 pm

Exhibition open:
6th July, 10am -5pm
7th – 9th July, 10am – 6pm

Free entry
Step-free access

8th – 19th June 2016
Preview: Thursday 9th June 2016, 6-9pm
Artist Talk in Conversation with writer Anna McNay: Saturday 18th June 2016, 3pm

Henrietta Armstrong, Miranda Boulton, Fiona Grady, Hayley Harrison, Katya Kvasova

This group exhibition borrows its title The Overview Effect from a term used by Astronauts; described as a cognitive shift experienced when viewing the planets vulnerability and beauty from afar. An altered perspective is the emphasis for each of the artists, this is evident in their method of making the work, or in the work itself, acting as a lens of distortion.

Each artist works with multiples, repetitive marks and processes to obscure and disorientate. This disorientation shifts our relationship with the subject matter, the familiar becoming unfamiliar. This unfamiliarity is also a disclosure from which a new perspective is revealed to the viewer.

For several of the artists perspective is altered within the process of making the work; for Henrietta Armstrong this involves a reconfiguration of familiar structures into alternative architectures and patterned symmetries. Whilst in Miranda Boulton’s work shifted perspective is something that happens cognitively, through memory, and through the reinterpretation of that memory; Hayley Harrison’s half sculptural, half painted works demand a vast oversight of society through its debris. Fiona Grady’s installations are a lens in themselves, asking the viewer to adjust their perspective there and then, within the gallery space. Finally, Katya Kvasova’s work turns this altered perspective both inwards and outwards. Her paintings are a translucent surface or lens between inner and outer worlds.

There is a contradiction here, the singularity of the Overview and those astronauts’ perspectives of the planet – a single view of a single world – compared to the myriad of perspectives exhibited here. Yet the desire is shared, that of a cognitive shift rooted in perspective. The process is also similar – each artist is discovering methods of stepping back from what you know, to see their world anew.

Open: Wednesday to Sunday 12-6 pm

Accompanying publication available with introductory essay by Anna McNay

Free entry
Step-free access