Haptic/Tacit exhibition at the Leyden Gallery and The Old Fire Station, Oxford.

The opening paragraph from our introduction written by Bonnie Kemske

In October 2016 Haptic/Tacit opened at the Leyden Gallery for one week. http://leydengallery.com/haptictacit2
It was always our intention to have a short run for London and a longer run outside of London.

Just as a reminder as my last blog post talking about this was back in April.

Haptic/Tacit is a collective including five makers who met in 2013 on the Crafts Councils development programme Hothouse.

What we all have in common is an innate fascination with making and material language.
Some of us are bound through process or material others by concept or exploration.
This opportunity has enabled us to develop creative networks and to be able to involve our mentors or buddies from the programme to showcase these working partnerships.

Exhibitors

Kim Norton http://www.kimnorton.co.uk
Laura Ellen Bacon http://lauraellenbacon.com

Jane Cairnes http://www.janecairns.co.uk
Annie Turner http://www.galeriebesson.co.uk/turner.html

Laura Grain http://www.lauragrain.com
Shelly Goldsmith http://shellygoldsmith.com

Tomas Appleton http://www.thosworks.com
Giles Macdonald http://www.gilesmacdonald.com

Grant Aston http://www.grantaston.com/#0
Bonnie Kemske http://www.bonniekemske.com

Install begins

Group discussion before opening 

Opening night 

We were given some Arts Council funding which enabled us to print an exhibition catalogue. 

We felt this was an important element to support the two exhibitions, as it helps to build a deeper understanding and greater insight into each partnership. The catalogue includes five conversations between each maker and mentor and touches upon elements around working practice that can't possibly be completely visible just by experiencing the work.

The key element that holds the catalogue together is Kimberley Chandler's essay called Material Talk. Looking at how we have come to work together and the importance of the collective voice. 

The conversations and dialogue we have ignited with Kimberley will continue in Oxford where you can hear us in conversation where Kimberley will be chairing the evenings event. 

Shelley Goldsmith

Laura Grain 

Giles MacDonald

Thomas Appleton 

Bonnie Kemske

Grant Aston

Laura Ellen Bacon

Kim Norton

Annie Turner 

Jane Cairns

Haptic/Tacit opens in Oxford on January 13th at the Old Fire Station and can be visited until March. 

During the exhibition we will be running a workshop and a Q&A. 

More information can be found on the website. please note although these events are free to attend tickets will still need to be booked in advance. http://www.oldfirestation.org.uk/exhibit/haptictacit/

The Old Fire Station, Oxford 

Setting off from Vanguard studios to pick Grant up.

We finally arrive after an epic six hour journey from London to Oxford the day of the train strike.

Day 2 of install we Laura and Giles.

The decals installed after much fear they maybe too large.

 Our catalogues ready for the opening Becki kindly made a shelf for them to be neatly displayed throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Giles MacDonald and Thomas Appleton

I changed my collection to scale it down slightly for the space. This was discussed with the gallery at the very beginning. Collection 2 was three renditions of brick ranging from the found object to fired and unfired porcelain creating small assemblages.

Collection 3 was exhibited on grey slate instead of mirror glass showing a handmade rendition of the brick form in black and white. Made from porcelain and black clays the cracks and stresses reveal the making process and hi-light the evidence of my weight applied to the material.

Laura Ellen Bacon

Laura Grain and Shelley Goldsmith

Grant Aston showed different work in Oxford as his previous work was being exhibited overseas.

Bonnie Kemske

Jane Cairns 
Jane remade this piece, changing the darker lines than ran through the work shown in London. 

Annie Turner 

Collaborative making workshop 

Jane and Grant ran a collaborative making workshop for adults one Saturday afternoon. 

The idea behind this was to get everyone thinking as a group. 
Architecture was given as a starting point as this lends itself to structural building methods, it immediately triggered ideas of scale.

Additional props such as wood, bamboo canes, string etc were used to help create a foundation and the clay could be introduced in and around that.

The exhibition

The Window

We were given the opportunity of having a dedicated window to introduce the exhibition from the gallery shop entrance. 

In order for this to have an impact we decided that CaCO3 was to be hung in two parts as it filled the entire space and is a piece of work that talks about material, scale and locality.

The chalk for this work was gathered from Sombourne chalk quarry in Hampshire. One of the last chalk quarries in the UK. 

Capability Brown 300 exhibition at Syon Park July 2016

Design work by Ian Estevens 

Well here we are in June and I must admit running a little behind from our original plan to be open for May, but on the plus side things are coming together quite smoothly. 

One of the reasons we have been delayed was that we had to wait for the roof to be installed. 

It's now in situ and looking great!

Here are some images of the space a few months ago.

And here is the brand new roof...

The seating has been removed the hanging baskets have been cleared and the walls are being built around the entire space to create an open light environment. 
The fence at the front entrance will be removed which will also help to create the illusion of space and the signage will be moved to the outside entrance. 

Brian kindly prepared a few samples for the walls, the idea is to keep it light by using a birch ply treated with Danish oil to help waterproof the surfaces and protect against rain. 
Although we have the roof the space is still partially open at two ends. 

The plinths will also be built using the same methods to create a clean contemporary feel to the exhibition. 

Plants are going into large wooden planters either side of the central space creating an opening for the title of the exhibition.

The walls have been completed and plinths planters are in position and whilst Ian and I are in the process of finalising the graphics there has been enough time to see how the space stands up to rainfall. 
With an exhibition partially exposed to the elements it's been slightly more challenging particularly when it comes to considering the placement and display of objects.

This was the space a week ago.. 

29th June 2016 
With two weeks to go we are finalising the design work and gathering the objects together to be displayed on to the plinths.
These are currently being divided into tools and plants. 
Every object selected has been carefully extracted from the original household vouchers Susan has been transcribing. 

It's surprising how many objects particularly the building materials such as nails and screws have remained much the same. The language may have changed slightly but I'm sure within the building trade nails are still referred to as 8d,10d,12d, 
As I found out last week this equates to the size of the nail. for example a 10d = 3''
The letter D is an abbreviation for a penny, but the D originally came from the old Roman coin the Denarius where carpentry nails were bought by the pennyweight. 

Here is an example of vellum parchment this was used for the original garden plan drawings. The receipts were written for 2 skins of vellum for plans. 
The skin used for Syon parks design work would have been calf and I managed to get hold of some remnants from a company called William Cowley in Buckinghamshire http://www.williamcowley.co.uk who have been making Vellum using traditional methods since 1870. 

Wednesday 6th July 2016
With one week to go until opening the install for all the graphics begun. It was a resonably early start to the day with fair weather making it easier for the everyone working on site that day.

All the plants were selected according to the original plant list for Syon that entire list can be seen around the edges of each planter. 

Monday 11th July 2016
With two days to go until opening the printers installing the graphics started their second day on site. We encountered a few technical issues the previous week which slowed us all down slightly, but we swiftly made it back on track and everything had been positioned onto the walls by 1.30pm leaving myself and Topher to finish the final planting and positioning of artefacts. 

As it would have been impossible to include all the plants and tools that were originally used or planted. 
Small transparent containers filled with seeds give a more rounded idea of the range of flowers, herbs and vegetables that were documented on the receipts. 

These include onions, spinach, red and white clover, spring bulbs, carrots, mustard cress. 


Here's an example of one voucher invoiced to the Earl of Northumberland in 1756 for garden tools and equiptment.

Image belongs to the Northumberland Estate

The people and workers plinth in progress showing tools plant seeds and other materials such as hay seed, dung and brick. 

The exhibition officially opened on Thursday 14th July to the public and Syon visitors and will continue until the house and garden closes for the winter season on Sunday 30th October 2016. 

 

You will be able to visit the exhibition without having to pay to go into the house and garden. This was something Susan and I felt was really important for it to be open and available to everyone. Whether you are an avid follower of Brown or a new convert to his work.  

I'd like to say a big thank you to:
Susan Darling 
Ian Estevens 
Topher Martyn 
Exhibit-Graphics http://www.exhibit-graphics.co.uk
Brian and his team at Syon Park 

It's been a real collaborative process from start to finish. 

Capability Brown at Syon.

This project has been brewing for quite a while now, When I think back It maybe approaching nearly two years. 

For many keen gardeners and garden lovers 2016 marks the 300th birthday of Lancelot Capability Brown. 

A figure in garden history that really changed the English landscape from highly formal structured garden spaces we expect to see during the 16th-17th centuries. 
To open expansive landscapes or parklands that emerged during the 18th century and still remain across many sites today. 

Browns style is instantly recognisable some fine examples such as Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Compton Verney in Warwickshire, Chatsworth House in Derbyshire are the ones many of us will be familiar with. 

 The garden I'm going to be talking about is Syon Park. It sits directly opposite Kew Gardens It's one of Browns smaller garden spaces and lesser known but one of the best preserved.

Back in 2014 I met Susan Darling a garden historian whilst I was busily working on my exhibition at Siobhan Davies Dance. 

During this time we started discussing Brown 2016 as Susan was in the process of researching Capability Brown's garden at Syon. 
Susan was and still is methodically working through the archives on the Northumberland estate in Alnwick. Including the original receipts from the build and construction of the garden. Revealing an enormous amount information that wasn't formally known. 

That's one of the reasons Syon Park was so keen to host an exhibition this year.

Over the past year or so we have been exploring how this body of research could be presented in the form of an exhibition. 

Susan would have always been a key figure in this as the entire exhibition has come about from her own research. 
The uncertainty was my involvement and whether the initial ideas for this would be suitable.

In December 2015 after previous meetings, site visits and conversations, We proposed our ideas where a more formal presentation was arranged at Syon Park with head gardener Topher Martyn. 
From there on in we have started work to open the exhibition in May 2016. Exact dates are to be confirmed but I will be updating our work in progress over the next couple of months.

Follow the link below for more information about Brown and Syon and Susan's article written for the London Gardens Trust. 


Changing the Landscape: Capability Brown at Syon. 

Topher Martyn Head Gardener 
Susan Darling Garden Historian and researcher 
Kim Norton Curator and design
Ian Estevens Exhibition design

http://www.londongardenstrust.org/features/BrownatSyon.htm

www.capabilitybrown.org
www.syonpark.co.uk
http://www.capabilitybrown.org/news/site-month-syon-park

The brick continues

With more brick compositions coming through I'm beginning to think about how these can fit in to the next couple of exhibitions. They may simply be part of the work in progress that directly feeds the final work or they may be shown on mass as a collection.

These two pieces of Cheddar red brick from Ibstock in Bristol are off cuts from my final MA design Pause. Cutting these bricks was quite difficult each brick weighed 12kgs making it a hefty cube. The cutting wire tended to move a lot as I sliced through and the clay was so grainy and heavy with grog I ended up with these wonderful circular marks across the surface. The marks from the stacking shelves are still imprinted on the bottom in the form

of tiny dots. 

I collected some of these remnants from my time spent in the factory they seemed too interesting to throw into reclaim. The pieces shown in the photographs below were shaved off the side sections and the bottom edge of the seating space.

The images directly below were pieces I have carved some of these bricks had to be 

re-carved or reworked. 

These two pieces were cut by Ben. Whilst he helped me during the first couple of days setting up. 

 Here's a shot of Pause once finishes and installed.

Making ideas with brick.

My first blog post for 2016.

So far I've been working on several different projects some I can begin to drip feed images through. Here are some ideas emerging for a couple of pending exhibitions later in the year.

My continuing fascination with brick is a starting point. Some of these pieces have been found some have been given to me and others have been carved by myself. 

What I'm immediately thinking about is weight. 

Or how these pieces and compositions can join together to make one large piece of work.

Revisiting these porcelain chunks that were initially split into sections. However,  I've never fully explored the fact that they all belong together. Considering that they were cut from one piece of clay there is an immediate connection.

The cuts and joins, the raw outer edges, the traces of being handled.
These elements have been a consideration of mine for a while now and it may have been something that remained part of that feeding process whilst developing another idea. 

I often find that pieces of work that have been produced quickly as part of a bigger thought can still hold their own as a stand alone object. There is a huge value in these pieces and to move them into another context can often unlock those initial thoughts that may or may not have fed the final work that they were originally born from. 

As well as being consumed by the idea of weight in clay I have also been throwing other key words around such as suspension, gravity and balance. 

Using existing work to begin this process I ventured outside with a bag of string, hooks, wire, sheeting, fabric and with Ben's help we began to explore how we could convey these singular descriptive words through objects and compositions. The works will not be shown outside but I find it so much easier to have space as opposed to being restricted to a room or studio. It also helps to have the addition of the elements to contend with because this could help change the direction of the thinking or help to stumble across something that would never have previously been a consideration. 

This is a starting point! I still have a long way to go but I always enjoy the time that allows you to really experiment with ideas without feeling they are too precious. Thoughts and ideas come and go quite swiftly at this stage. 

Exhibition at Arthouse1 October 2014

It's often said that simplicity requires a lot of hard work. In the case of our installation at Arthouse1 in Bermondsey Sasha and myself were setting up for about a week. 

A little longer than we both had expected but this particular exhibition required an exceptional attention to detail. We had decided to keep the ceramic works low to the ground in order for the audience to look at the work from a different perspective. 

I personally feel that a lot of galleries show work at eye level on plinths and it's too easy. It's a format we are all far too familiar with and it's not always the best way of really be able to focus on the work. 

Perpendicular opened on Thursday evening (9th October) after much help and assistance throughout from both Rebecca Fairman and Adrain Hicks. 

Here are a few images of the exhibition in natural daylight on the first day kindly taken by Adrian Hicks. 

www.arthouse1.co.uk

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

 Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

Image taken by Adrian Hicks 2014

Sasha is exhibiting two installations and a series of photographs that have been born from the installations themselves. Through the use of water, light and motion. 

These collaborative pieces titled Collection of five #1 and #2 comprise of small ceramic segments that sit along side Sasha'a photography. 

There is a strong synthesis between us both particularly through the use of mark making. 

Image Taken by Ben Winkley 2014 

Image taken by Ben Winkley 2014 

My two collections on show are titled Kuro and Shiro are looking at small intimate spaces that contain light. 

These objects are the complete opposite to Sasha'a works. They are dense, heavy and present within the space. 

There is a physical tactility to them and the process of making is evident within the traces and marks left either by my hand the tools or other processes I have undergone to achieve certain aesthetic qualities. 

Sasha's work is more transient it's continuously changing with movement, light and shadow. There is an illusion of something tangible but mark making has been created through an impermanant medium and there is an ethereal quality to the entire body of work showing here.

Perpendicular will be showing at Arthouse1 until 1st November 2014 

The gallery is open every Thursday-Sunday from 3pm - 7.30pm or by appointment 

www.arthouse1.co.uk

In Conversation with Laura Ellen Bacon

Tomorrow evening I'm in conversation with the lovely Laura Ellen Bacon at Siobhan Davies Dance as part of their Human Nature season. Laura is  known for her intricately woven large scale spaces using willow.

The evening begins at 7pm and we will be discussing the crossovers between Space, Scale and Site. 

Photo by Alison Proctor Lines, Levels, Layers Kim Norton in conversation with Laura Ellen Bacon You are invited to a special conversation exploring the new exhibition by ceramicist Kim Norton onFriday 25 July, 7pm. Siobhan Davies Studios 85 St. George's Road London SE1 6ER In Lines, Levels, Layers ceramicist Kim Norton dissects our perceptions of daily life and interactions with nature. Kim looks at clay as a material before it becomes an object, as a life-giving property to plants and something which is integral to all living matter. The exhibition invites the viewer to look more closely at the materials around us, under our feet and within our visual landscapes, encompassing the different smells, colours and textures of clay and soil gathered from locations around Southwark. Sculptor Laura Ellen Bacon creates site-specific willow sculptures in urban and landscape settings such as Chatsworth House, Somerset House and New Art Centre at Roche Court. Laura weaves together willow to make spaces that can be intimate like nests or that reflect movement and structural growth at a human scale. Kim and Laura will speak about crossovers in their work and the similar and differing processes on working site-specifically. This event is FREE but please RSVP to info@siobhandavies.com or call Reception on 020 7091 9650. Exhibition Dates: Friday 18 July – Sunday 21 September Kim Norton Exhibition Tour: Tuesday 16 September, 2-3pm We very much look forward to seeing you there.