Residual Projects, South Square Gallery, Thornton, Bradford

Seven artists, six residencies, one group show.
Claire Weetman, Ian Jackson, Alice Bradshaw, Rebecca Long & Cameron Muir, Leah Hislop, Tom McGinn
5 Dec 2014 - 25 Jan 2015

Opening night 5 December 7pm
Join me on the opening of Residual Projects to see the beginning of my mini residency as part of this new exhibition or come and visit on Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th December 12-3pm.

Residual Projects is the culmination of an annual traineeship programme between South Square Gallery and The Hepworth Wakefield, which sees Curator Charlie Booth make her debut. Charlie explains;

‘Residual Projects is a critical look at traditional artists residencies, where work will be created and installed whilst the gallery is open. The result will be a group exhibition which grows week by week as different artists enter and leave the space. This is an interactive project, where visitors are invited to engage with the work being created so as to better understand the processes used and decisions made.’

Residual Projects is a series of miniature residencies with seven nationwide artists using the gallery to explore their own artistic interests whilst the gallery is open to the public. The work they create during their residency will be left for the next artist to negotiate. The aim is to create a dynamic group exhibition which explores how artists can work collaboratively.
All participating artists will be creating new work which responds directly to the physical architectural or social history of South Square Gallery and the history of Thornton.

Throughout the evening of the 5th December I will create an instinctive performance piece inspired by South Square’s domestic history as a collection of Stonemason cottages. My intervention will involve the audience on the night; dividing lines will intersect the galleries floors and walls, marking out different possibilities of living arrangements within the confined space. This new work is a continuation of the socio-political piece Residential Mosaics shown at the Brindley earlier this year and 'a remarkable architecture of stairs' which looked at the proliferation of high rise flats of Shanghai.


Residual Projects | Group show | 05 December 2014 – 25 January 2015
Opening night – 05 December 7pm
Christmas Closure – 29 December 2014 – 05 January 2015
Closing celebration – 23 January 7pm

Participating artists and residency dates (Exact dates are subject to change):1. Claire Weetman – Fri 5th Dec – Sun 7th Dec
2. Ian Jackson – Tues 9th Dec – Fri 12th Dec
3. Alice Bradshaw – Tues 16th Dec – Fri 19th Dec (dates tbc)
4. Rebecca Long and Cameron Muir Tues 6th Jan – Fri 9th Jan
5. Leah Hislop – Sat 10th Jan – Mon 12th Jan
6. Tom McGinn – Thurs 15th Jan – Sun 18th Jan

South Square Centre
South Square
Thornton
Bradford
BD13 3LD

Opening Hours | Tuesday - Sunday | 12 - 3pm | And by appointment

Footsteps at St Augustine's High School, St Helens

During October I've been working with St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School on some varied drawing activities.  The bulk of the time was spent with Year 7 on a project using footprints, although I also got to spend some time with pupils from Years 9, 10 & 11 on a range of drawing activities too.

Over the course of a day I worked with each Year 7 pupil using frottage to capture an image of their footprint, before they layered tracing paper over the top to create a black and white graphic design.  These drawings have then been transformed into digital files suitable for cutting with the school's laser cutter - a piece of kit that more and more high school technology departments have in their arsenal.

Their very helpful technology teacher then cut the files that I laid out into mylar stencils and rubber stamps for an after school session where Year 7 pupils returned with their parents for an evening of jet washing and animation.

The stencil designs are inspired by the transitional journey that Year 7 pupils have taken from primary to high school and feature footprints, maps, school names and words to describe the emotions of moving to this new community.

 

 The footprints were also turned into rubber stamps, which were used to create a quick stop motion animation by building up the prints a few at a time, the results of which are here:

Closing soon: A Landscape of Marginal Encounters

You've only got until this Saturday 9th August to catch my exhibition at the Brindley.  If you missed the artist's talk on Saturday 26th July, then here's a bit of footage of me talking about the Residential mosaic works:

TEN: Cornerstone Gallery, Hope University Liverpool

7 July - 10 October

The Cornerstone Gallery at Hope University in Liverpool celebrates it's ten year anniversary this summer with an exhibition of artists who have exhibited there in the previous decade.  I'll be showing one of my pinned collages created in Shanghai in 2012.  The show will be open during the Liverpool Independents Biennial, 9am-5pm weekdays only.

The Cornerstone Gallery,
Liverpool Hope University,
Creative Campus,
17 Shaw Street,
Liverpool, L6 1HP.

Publication for 'A landscape of marginal encounters'

The publication that accompanies my solo exhibition at The Brindley is now available to view online, but you can also pick up a paper copy when you visit the gallery between 28 June and 9 August 2014.

A landscape of marginal encounters

My solo exhibition 'A landscape of marginal encounters' opens from Saturday 28 June 2014 at The Brindley Arts Centre in Runcorn.  From the draw o expansive spaces in big cities to encounters in more intimate spaces, this exhibition will feature new installations and artworks which explore how people move through spaces and what factors affect that movement.

 

Saturday 26 July

Artist’s talk | 1pm | free event
Claire Weetman will be speaking about her work in the gallery at the Brindley.

All welcome, refreshments will be served.

A Landscape of marginal Encounters
28 June - 9 August 2014
The Brindley
High Street Runcorn, WA7 1BG
www.thebrindley.org.uk

Supported by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts, Halton Borough Council Arts Development Team, Castlefield Gallery New Art Spaces, Metal Time and Space residency, New Mills Arts Festival.

Time and space Residency at Metal Southend

I'm currently working out of Metal's Southend venue, Chalkwell Hall for a fortnight, developing works towards my solo exhibition this June.  You can follow my progress on my artists talking blog. Here's some images at the half-way point:

The Drawing Project - Castlefield Gallery

Last Thursday night saw the opening of this exhibition, which continues from today until Sunday 23 February, so you'll need to be quick if you want to see it.

I've got Watermark installed as a four channel video installation and I created Migrate: Free Movement of Workers, a drawing using rubber stamps and a projection live on Thursday night at the opening event.  Take a look at my website for more pictures from the performance and don't forget that you can download the Drawing Project publication, which includes two essays on drawing by Sophie Preston and Lewis Cornish from the website.

 

The Drawing Project
Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester, M15 4GB
14 - 23 February 2014
Wed-Sun 1-6pm

Artists: Jenny Core, Sophia Crilly, Hondartza Fraga, Mary Griffiths, Lesley Halliwell, Jenny Steele, Claire Weetman

Inspired Responses 9 -The Brindley

During the autumn of last year I was working with two secondary schools in Halton as part of the Inspired Responses programme.  Inspired Responses is a mini artist residency programme where an artist visits a secondary school, sharing their practice and passing on the skills that they use, before the teacher develops work with the students during the term.  The artist returns at the end of the programme to advise on presentation of the work in an exhibition at the Brindley Gallery.

The exhibition is currently showing at The Brindley until 22 February 2014.

With the Heath School we looked at the jet-washed drawings that I have been making recently.  We went on a walk around the school photographing and drawing signs, and the students felt as though all of the signs in school were negative, telling them not to do something, or not to go somewhere.  So working with their teacher Mrs Wade they have designed signs that are positive actions that can be carried out in school.  They developed these designs by cutting stencils from paper and experimented with layouts by painting them onto banners.

The students designs have been turned into digital files that can be cut out on the school's laser cutting machine.  Using a sturdy plastic we have created stencils which have been jet washed onto both the school playground and onto pavements around the Brindley.  Here's a video of the designs being installed:

The after-school club at the Grange looked at a selection of my works about movement and chose the 'One Minute' drawings on paper to be inspired by.  These works are about how people move around spaces as viewed from the top floor of a building.  The new building that houses the Grange school is sleek and modern, with curving balconies and staircases where pupils pass through, much like the places in my 'One minute' drawings.

We took a walk through the building, taking photographs and videos to record the movement and the shapes of the architecture.  Using pencil, graphite sticks, graphite powder and stencils cut from paper the students experimented with making marks, photographing their drawings at a number of stages to create a selection of short animations.  Learning from these initial experiments, each student has created their own graphite drawing inspired by moving through the school, taking the ideas and techniques that I've shown them and making the work their own. I'm really pleased to see such an interesting range of techniques in their works - I might borrow some of their ideas for my future works.

 

Inspired Responses 9

The Brindley

High Street

Runcorn

WA7 1BG

18 January - 22 February 2014

The Gallery is open: Mon – Fri 10am – 5.30pm, Sat 10am – 3pm
Closed Sundays & Bank Holidays

The Drawing Project - Castlefield Gallery 14-23 February 2014

I'm currently making a new piece of work which will be shown at The Drawing Project at Castlefield Gallery this month.  It's a piece of work that I'll create live on the opening night that involves projection, rubber stamping and migration.  It's all under wraps at the minute, so you'll have to come to the event on Thursday 13 February between 6-9pm to see how it all comes together.

In the meantime, go and have a look at all of the other wonderful artists who use drawing who will also be part of the exhibition: http://thedrawingprojectnorthwest.wordpress.com/

Urmson-Burnett Photogram Open

Urmson-Burnett Gallery announced the first national prize competition for photogram makers in August 2013. Submissions have been collated and a final selection made. To view images that will comprise the show click here

Submissions came in from throughout the UK, and, as a nice but unexpected surprise, a number of works were submitted from abroad. Photograms from artists in the USA, Hungary and Malta have made the final selection.  Claire Weetman is exhibiting a multiple exposure photogram 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here (Up)'.

The exhibition takes place at Urmson-Burnett Gallery in Salisbury from 25 January - 15 February 2014 and then tours to Silverprint in Elephant and Castle, London from 18 February - 15 March 2014.

Urmson-Burnett Gallery
34 Winchester Street, Salisbury SP1 1HG
Open: Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 11am-5pm

Silverprint 
120 London Road, London SE1 6LF.
Open: 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday
10am - 4pm on Saturdays