West Midlands Open 2022 | The New Art Gallery Walsall

Chris Reynolds — Untitled (Into Flames)

Mixed Media

Chris Reynolds — Untitled (Into Flames)

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
The collages submitted to the West Midlands Open were made late in Chris’s life when he was physically suffering and acutely aware of his own mortality. The themes explored in these works are topical to Chris’s personal life and include reflections on the afterlife and the changes that took place as his illness progressed. The compositions also reflect the interplay between symmetry and asymmetry in the body, while a recurring motif in many of the collages is a stitched outline of the organs attacked by the artist’s cancer. The collages also evidence Chris’s longstanding interest in Dadaism and the cosmological depictions found in religions, spiritualism and the occult. There are also observations on contemporary life - the making of these works was overshadowed by a pandemic among other things.
Date:
2020-21
Medium:
Mixed media collage on paper
Category:
Mixed Media

Chris Reynolds — Untitled (You Are Only Here Once)

Chris Reynolds — Untitled (You Are Only Here Once)

Mixed Media

Chris Reynolds — Untitled (You Are Only Here Once)

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
The collages submitted to the West Midlands Open were made late in Chris’s life when he was physically suffering and acutely aware of his own mortality. The themes explored in these works are topical to Chris’s personal life and include reflections on the afterlife and the changes that took place as his illness progressed. The compositions also reflect the interplay between symmetry and asymmetry in the body, while a recurring motif in many of the collages is a stitched outline of the organs attacked by the artist’s cancer. The collages also evidence Chris’s longstanding interest in Dadaism and the cosmological depictions found in religions, spiritualism and the occult. There are also observations on contemporary life - the making of these works was overshadowed by a pandemic among other things.
Date:
2020-21
Medium:
Mixed media collage on paper
Category:
Mixed Media

Christian Emanuel — Femme Fatale 21’

Christian Emanuel — Femme Fatale 21’

Photography

Christian Emanuel — Femme Fatale 21’

Photography

Artwork description:
The mindset for this image was to provide representation for members of the LGBTQ+ community and empower them by bringing them into a space that hasn’t yet been made accessible. I wanted to cast a gay man as a femme fatale, the seductive and dangerous woman that you’d see in a bond film that the protagonist lusts after only to fall victim to a trap after being charmed. The aim was to showcase modern attraction and provide the nuance which is still missing from today’s cinema.
Date:
15/11/2021
Medium:
Film photography
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://christianem.myportfolio.com
http://instagram.com/novocem/

Christian – Emanuel — Bonnie & Clyde 21’

Christian – Emanuel — Bonnie & Clyde 21’

Photography

Christian – Emanuel — Bonnie & Clyde 21’

Photography

Artwork description:
A modern black love story showcased through the recreation of the infamous duo ‘Bonnie & Clyde’. This image aims to represent the diversity of new age black relationships, highlighting a same sex couple. I relied on my filmmaking influence to bring this to life, providing each subject with their own distinctive personality by the clothing, backdrop and tattoo choices.
Date:
25/11/2021
Medium:
Film photography
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://christianem.myportfolio.com
http://instagram.com/novocem/

Christine Gordan — Magpies

Christine Gordan — Magpies

Painting

Christine Gordan — Magpies

Painting

Artwork description:
My painting Magpies is based on my observations of Magpies on my regular walks out in nature at my local nature reserves - Priory Wood and Forge Mill Lake. I love the character of these birds and their distinctive black iridescent and white feathers. I love their boldness, cockiness, intelligence and their distinctive chatter, which can often sound very frenzied. Despite the bad press that these birds can sometimes have attached to them Magpies are quite amusing and a joy to watch.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Acrylic Paints on canvas
Category:
Painting

Claire Buckerfield — Nine Buildings in Willenhall

Claire Buckerfield — Nine Buildings in Willenhall

Mixed Media

Claire Buckerfield — Nine Buildings in Willenhall

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
'Nine Buildings in Willenhall' is a work that explores our surroundings through a different lens and celebrates that which largely goes unnoticed. I chose to focus on architecture in a small local town rather than the more imposing buildings in a city or its recognisable landmarks. The intention behind the work is to highlight the beauty that can be found on our doorstep if we dare to look deeper. Each individual component of the work references a different building in Willenhall and is made with tape and ribbon as an alternative to the more traditional materials usually associated with drawing. I use simple line and form as the interpretation for these buildings. The bright colours are my way of elevating the subject matter and celebrating the banal by extrapolating elementary detail from the original buildings. The result is an artwork that can be appreciated purely as an abstract design but one that also ask questions about what is considered beautiful in a man-made landscape.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Tape, Ribbon, Paper
Category:
Mixed Media
https://www.instagram.com/clairebuckerfield/

Clarissa Harris — Velvet Ribbon

Clarissa Harris — Velvet Ribbon

Photography

Clarissa Harris — Velvet Ribbon

Photography

Artwork description:
This woman is confidently applying her red lipstick, her war paint. But the ‘shaky’ image suggests that something else is going on; she is unsettled, she is preparing for something. I hope this image encourages viewers to form their own story about what she’s going through and ask questions such as what is she thinking about? What/who is she getting ready for? Is she okay?
Date:
October 2021
Medium:
Taken on Polaroid 600 film using a Polaroid SX-70 Sonar camera
Category:
Photography

Clive Sayer — Bistro Scene

Clive Sayer — Bistro Scene

Painting

Clive Sayer — Bistro Scene

Painting

Artwork description:
This scene is an amalgam of many local pub and restaurant interiors I have visited. I have attempted to capture the noisy and busy atmosphere of such places
Date:
January 2022
Medium:
Acrylic
Category:
Painting

Courtenay Welcome — framing dreams of freedom

Courtenay Welcome — framing dreams of freedom

Painting

Courtenay Welcome — framing dreams of freedom

Painting

Artwork description:
This piece embodies the transitional state of ones sense of self - depicting internal dialogue [thought] surrounding the biracial identity. Playing with the material obligations of traditional art objects. This piece anchors collective consciousness // shared perspectives surrounding political race relations and de-colonial practices. This piece belongs to a collection of works with underlying themes of freedom, identity, social change, race, memory and space-time consciousness.
Date:
2020
Medium:
installation
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://courtenaywelcome.com/

Cristina Celestini — Frida

Cristina Celestini — Frida

Drawing

Cristina Celestini — Frida

Drawing

Artwork description:
This drawing, which is part of a series completed in coloured pencils, depicts my daughter wearing her favourite t shirt which has a portrait of Frida Kahlo on its front. I started this drawing, like the others in the series, using old sketches and photos, during one of the lockdowns, when my adult children could not come and visit me, and drawing helped me cope with the loss and longing we all felt during these periods. Although it would seem that the t-shirt takes centre stage as my daughter's face is out of sight, this drawing is very much a portrait with just enough information to offer us an insight into her personality.
Date:
2020
Medium:
coloured pencil on paper
Category:
Drawing
Website/s:
https://celerrissima.wixsite.com/website

Cristina Celestini — The way you left it II

Cristina Celestini — The way you left it II

Drawing

Cristina Celestini — The way you left it II

Drawing

Artwork description:
This drawing, which is part of a series completed in coloured pencils, depicts one of the t-shirts my son left behind when he moved out. The t-shirt is hanging to dry in the sun. During the lockdowns, unable to see my grown-up children, I started washing, drawing, and tiding up their old clothes. This domestic, time-consuming process helped me cope with the pain of not being able to see them, the clothes and the process of drawing replaced the pain with memories.
Date:
2021
Medium:
coloured pencil on paper
Category:
Drawing
Website/s:
https://celerrissima.wixsite.com/website

Crow Dillon-Parkin — Keppra Diaries II

Crow Dillon-Parkin — Keppra Diaries II

Mixed Media

Crow Dillon-Parkin — Keppra Diaries II

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
I made ‘Keppra Diaries II’ in 2021 as part of coming to terms with my late diagnosis of epilepsy after a major seizure in 2018. I have had minor seizures all my life without being aware that there was a name for those experiences. I covered the individual canvases with patient information leaflets for my seizure control medication and extracts from my journal notes. Everything is partly hidden by the layers of blue tissue. Blue for ‘out of the blue’, blue for ‘blue sky thinking’, blue for ‘feeling blue’. The torn edges are held together by lines of gold ink, like the lead in stained glass windows or the gold in kintsugi mending. Connections are made, and interrupted, by the edges of the canvases. Trying to bring fragmented experiences back together, trying to incorporate a different definition of myself, adding more layers to my personal history, and trying to share how all of that feels. I wanted to make something soothing and beautiful from something confusing and frightening.
Date:
June 2021
Medium:
Collage on canvas
Category:
Mixed Media
Website/s:
https://www.crowdillonparkin.com
https://www.instagram.com/crowdillonparkin/

Dan Booth — Raft

Dan Booth — Raft

Painting

Dan Booth — Raft

Painting

Artwork description:
The painting is based on a found image of migrants in the back of a lorry in Austria. This type of image has become ubiquitous as the various migrant crises have unfolded in recent years. I considered the image hopeless and tragic, and it sat in my sketchbook for a while before I decided to use it. It is not clear whether the figures are still alive. It also seemed to reflect a voyeuristic role on behalf of the viewer which I found unsettling - the observer sees the forms inside the back of the lorry from a distance. When I came to make the painting I altered the colours and flattened the forms, giving as much attention to the inanimate mechanism of the lorry as to the human figures. I wanted to enhance the cold, dehumanising aspect of the image. I gave the painting the title Raft in reference to Theodore Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa and have used a similar palette and introduced some elements from this painting.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://dannyvile.co.uk/

Dan Booth — Laura and Peter – 4 months, 2 days

Dan Booth — Laura and Peter – 4 months, 2 days

Painting

Dan Booth — Laura and Peter – 4 months, 2 days

Painting

Artwork description:
The subject of this portrait is my wife Laura and son Peter, who was then 4 months 2 days old. At that point we were still sitting with him every evening while he slept on us on the sofa before going to bed. I wanted to contrast the banal routine and domestic environment with the actual emotion of caring for Peter, and the strength of my wife. I have left some of the underpainting visible and used loose brush strokes for the background to contrast with the sharper details of the figures. I want the room to look like it might fall apart if it wasn’t for Laura’s presence.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://dannyvile.co.uk/

Daniella Turbin — 1km

Sculpture

Daniella Turbin — 1km

Sculpture

Daniella Turbin — 1km

Sculpture

Artwork description:
1km is part of an ongoing investigation into the visualisation of a walk through artist materials, in this case cartridge paper. When I returned to my studio after walking from Birmingham to London there was a box of cartridge paper on my studio floor and I wondered 'what does 1km of cartridge paper look like?' and 'how long it might take to roll by hand?'. So, I grabbed a pencil, cut up the paper and started rolling.
Date:
October 2021
Medium:
Mixed Media
Category:
Sculpture
Website/s:
http://www.daniellaturbin.com
https://www.instagram.com/daniella_turbin/

David McGuire — Place

David McGuire — Place

Painting

David McGuire — Place

Painting

Artwork description:
‘Place’ 2022 This location is nearby. It is not a place where we would chose to spend our time, but so much is owed to this place. The old factory has had old windows and doors bricked up and new doors added so many times. It has been adapted in order that people may continue to work and prosper, and as new demands are made it will be altered again. It has seen off the Kaiser, Adolf, Red Robbo and Dominic of Barnard Castle, they all come and go, but this place stays.
Date:
2022
Medium:
Acrylic and collage on board
Category:
Painting

David Stokes — Hitchcock Homage

David Stokes — Hitchcock Homage

Mixed Media

David Stokes — Hitchcock Homage

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
A homage to Alfred Hitchcock, combining elements from two of his films, The Birds and Rear Window. And featuring, as always, a cameo appearance from the director himself. This piece combines elements of scale models and collage enclosed in a box frame.
Date:
20-01-2022
Medium:
Box frame, scale models, collage.
Category:
Mixed Media
https://instagram.com/scottymadethis

David Walton — Rosaceae No.3

David Walton — Rosaceae No.3

Painting

David Walton — Rosaceae No.3

Painting

Artwork description:
Celebrating Florence Nightingale’s statistical achievement. In 1858 Florence demonstrated, using a rose diagram, that epidemic diseases caused far more deaths than battlefield wounds in the Crimean War. Soldiers were dying from preventable infections and the cleanliness in hospitals reduced these deaths by 99 percent. Rather that presenting her evidence as a dry bar chart, she created a graphic diagram using coloured wedges to deliver her message. Her rose chart was the inspiration for my series of shaped paintings.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Oil on wood
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.davidwaltonart.co.uk

Daya Bhatti — Devi

Daya Bhatti — Devi

Painting

Daya Bhatti — Devi

Painting

Artwork description:
The painting is an exploration of identity and culture. The essence of the piece is a celebration of woman and culture - depicting a strong and empowered woman who embraces her identity. The piece is a connection to culture, and how generations foster connections with family and ancestors through tradition. At its core, Indian adornment is a visual expression. The role of the adornment in the painting is to express cultural identity, display creativity (represented by the paintbrush) and as a whole is a tool for self-expression and belonging . The nath (nose ring) is considered to have spiritual significance. The adornment of the necklace is believed to attract bliss for the wearer and impacts the aura of the women. The name ‘Devi’, meaning divine, relates spirituality with the feeling of empowerment from wearing traditional adornment.
Date:
January 2022
Medium:
Oil on Paintbrush
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.dayaillustrations.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/dayaillustrations/

Daya Bhatti — Complexion

Daya Bhatti — Complexion

Painting

Daya Bhatti — Complexion

Painting

Artwork description:
This collection explores women of colour of South Asian Heritage. The series was made in response to colourism within the culture which is a big issue even today. Instead these paintings celebrate and empower women. The focus on the eye purposely illustrates a vision for change and for a future of equality, inclusivity and representation.
Date:
Nove 2021
Medium:
Oil on Board
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.dayaillustrations.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/dayaillustrations/

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #33

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #33

Photography

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #33

Photography

Artwork description:
Amorphous form, created by a female body in motion for 2.5 seconds
Date:
27/8/2021
Medium:
Pigment print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art paper from a digtal photograph
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://drewk.photo/artworks/

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #38

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #38

Photography

Drew Kirkland — Danseuses #38

Photography

Artwork description:
Amorphous form, created by a female body in motion for 2.5 seconds
Date:
9/4/2021
Medium:
Pigment print on Hahnemuhle Fine Art paper from a digtal photograph
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://drewk.photo/artworks/

Ed Isaacs — Riot

Ed Isaacs — Riot

Drawing

Ed Isaacs — Riot

Drawing

Artwork description:
This drawing shows riot police
Date:
2021
Medium:
Coloured pencil
Category:
Drawing

Ed Isaacs — Path / Explosions

Ed Isaacs — Path / Explosions

Drawing

Ed Isaacs — Path / Explosions

Drawing

Artwork description:
This drawing shows a footpath near my home and some explosions
Date:
2021
Medium:
Coloured pencil
Category:
Drawing

Edgington — JE1233177

Edgington — JE1233177

Painting

Edgington — JE1233177

Painting

Artwork description:
The title of this work is taken from the artist's patient number whilst a patient with the mental health home treatment team in 2012. The nude male body is used to explore vulnerability, truth and isolation.
Date:
January 2021
Medium:
Mixed media on paper
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.edgington-co.com

Edward Jeavons — Red Swimmers

Edward Jeavons — Red Swimmers

Painting

Edward Jeavons — Red Swimmers

Painting

Artwork description:
The starting point of this series was the romantic idea of swimming at night with a group of friends. The original studies were quite figurative but these evolved through their encounter with the painting process to become something much more mysterious and abstract. Although vestiges of the figures still remain I became much more interested in the abstract idea of forms dissolving and appearing across the surface.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Oil on Paper
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.edwardjeavons.com/

Edward Jeavons — Red Velvet

Edward Jeavons — Red Velvet

Painting

Edward Jeavons — Red Velvet

Painting

Artwork description:
The starting point of this series was the romantic idea of swimming at night with a group of friends. The original studies were quite figurative but these evolved through their encounter with the painting process to become something much more mysterious and abstract. Although vestiges of the figures still remain I became much more interested in the abstract idea of forms dissolving and appearing across the surface.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Oil on paper
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
https://www.edwardjeavons.com/

Egle Gelaziute-Petrauskiene — Enclosure encounter

Egle Gelaziute-Petrauskiene — Enclosure encounter

Mixed Media

Egle Gelaziute-Petrauskiene — Enclosure encounter

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
enclosure encounters, 2021 story of the drawing is based on limited and intense social connections within own spaces in our own homes we experienced during all lock downs imposed because of covid.
Date:
2021
Medium:
mono print, paint on paper
Category:
Mixed Media
Website/s:
https://www.egleg.co.uk/old-works
https://www.instagram.com/eglegp/
https://www.instagram.com/circlevirsmuknyga/

Eiko Matsuura — Inner Journey

Eiko Matsuura — Inner Journey

Painting

Eiko Matsuura — Inner Journey

Painting

Artwork description:
This work represent a "place" where you can think and rest, to make choices and decisions in a safe, relaxed, nostalgic and imaginative cocoon, which provides an opportunity to create at anytime and anywhere, free from fear and distraction. It is a return to ones nature in order to find answers to what you are searching for.
Date:
2021
Medium:
egg tempera
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
http://www.eiko-matsuura.com

Elena Thomas — The Pin Prick and the Edge

Elena Thomas — The Pin Prick and the Edge

Drawing

Elena Thomas — The Pin Prick and the Edge

Drawing

Artwork description:
Heavy watercolour paper is saturated with water and acrylic inks. Seasalt grains are scattered across the surface. When dry, these are rubbed away, but some crystals still cling to the surface and catch the light.. The drawing is worked afterwards, with the ink in various dilutions, using old metal nibs in various widths to give a line that is responsive to pressure. Blots occur when more pressure is applied, or when the nib encounters any remaining salt crystals. The resulting images are reminiscent of nebulae, topography, geology, plant and animal cell structures.
Date:
2022
Medium:
Ink and salt on paper
Category:
Drawing
Website/s:
https://elenathomas.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/elenathomas13/

Elena Thomas — You Held Your Breath

Elena Thomas — You Held Your Breath

Drawing

Elena Thomas — You Held Your Breath

Drawing

Artwork description:
Heavy watercolour paper is saturated with water and acrylic inks. Seasalt grains are scattered across the surface. When dry, these are rubbed away, but some crystals still cling to the surface and catch the light.. The drawing is worked afterwards, with the ink in various dilutions, using old metal nibs in various widths to give a line that is responsive to pressure. Blots occur when more pressure is applied, or when the nib encounters any remaining salt crystals.
Date:
2022
Medium:
Ink and salt on paper
Category:
Drawing
Website/s:
https://elenathomas.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/elenathomas13/

Ellie Lilly — Under Wilsons Pier Teinmouth Devon

Ellie Lilly — Under Wilsons Pier Teinmouth Devon

Photography

Ellie Lilly — Under Wilsons Pier Teinmouth Devon

Photography

Artwork description:
The waves underneath pier in Teignmouth, the colours of the wood and the circles that surround each pillow
Date:
September 2021
Medium:
Photography
Category:
Photography

Emma Bowater — Re-growth

Emma Bowater — Re-growth

Mixed Media

Emma Bowater — Re-growth

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
Derelict spaces succumb to the power of nature and time. This piece was created from a digital photograph manipulation using Procreate. The juxtaposition of elements of colour act as a marker for the gradual discolouration of buildings. The ash-like decay of brickwork contrasts against the new life of the natural forms that begin to take over. The image was transferred using gesso to further create a sense of textural decomposition, imitating the irregular growth pattern of moss. The image is deteriorated, much like the physical spaces and memories within.
Date:
December 2020
Medium:
Mixed Media
Category:
Mixed Media

Emma Plover — Bodies of Nature

Audio/visual

Emma Plover — Bodies of Nature

Audio/visual

Emma Plover — Bodies of Nature

Audio/visual

Artwork description:
Bodies of Nature is an audio/visual work using my queer neurodivergent experience to connect with the “other” or “more-than-human” in a time of devastating climate change and a global pandemic. Through rich textures and a mythological exploration of the landscape, it highlights the importance of remembering our connection to the earth in a time of crisis. A walk through my eyes, guided by my own words, the piece posits nature as healing, as an antidote to a society that has distanced us from the land and neglected our mental health for so long. The piece allows others to experience and embrace my position as a Rural Other, one who holds a direct line to the other worlds, the spirit worlds, the more-than-human. With the overlaying words, I tell of how I listen to the memories and knowledge held in the land to forge connections with ancient stories, stories that are older than any human definitions of what is good and what is bad.
Date:
15/10/21
Medium:
Video
Category:
Audio/visual
Website/s:
https://sites.google.com/view/emmaplover/emma-plover-artist

Eric Gaskell — Sunset

Artwork description:
Over the last two years Covid has impinged on travel, travel that usually use as the basis for new work. This has led me to reuse old drawings (of which I have 40+ years supplies) and relying on memory to create new work. This is one of the latest linocuts I have made. Parts of it are taken almost directly from earlier works, parts that I think work. Although recreating a new work does tend to shift balances and structure and those changes then affect the colour values used. The idea of the "harbour' and safety through these times has clearly had a subconscious influence on me.
Date:
2022
Medium:
Reduction Linocut
Category:
Print
Website/s:
http://www.egdesign.co.uk

Eric Gaskell — Safe Harbour

Artwork description:
My work over the last two years has become more about texture, pattern and recreating memories of place, rather than any reality. I have basically used each print as the basis for the next, taking elements I thought worked and recreating them in a new composition. More recently I have been interested in recreating drawing methods and “collage” effects, using two or more linocut blocks.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Reduction Linocut
Category:
Print
Website/s:
http://www.egdesign.co.uk

Fae Kilburn — Captivated

Artwork description:
This Silkscreen print celebrates her experiences and showcases how Fae experiences the landscape and how her perception of colour has changed The print is in shades of blues and translucent pinks. In the foreground of the image are branches reaching upwards, surrounding a lake. The left and right side of the print are blurred, depicting Fae’s sight loss. This piece documents the blurring of boundaries that have arisen and captures the beauty she is still able to see. Avoiding any notions of pity. Using methodologies including comparison colour charts and her partner’s audio description of the landscape have enabled Fae to create prints inspired by what she has seen, experienced and been told was in front of her.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Silkscreen Print
Category:
Print
Website/s:
https://www.faekilburn.co.uk

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Recalibration

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Recalibration

Photography

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Recalibration

Photography

Artwork description:
Taken at HMP Send, this image was inspired by RHS records from WW1 prison camp gardeners. The women I was working with wanted to recreate one of the archive group portraits. This physical performance of solidary showed a recognition of shared experiences and, wanting to be seen in that context, participants asked for the picture to be sepia. The group became confident in directing me as a photographer to make the most of the rare opportunity of having a camera in the prison. We agreed our artworks should be shared where possible, to build public understanding, but this would only be agreed by authorities if works were anonymous. I decided to use the archive’s digitising photography colour calibration chart as a censor bar, which linked with discussions we had about archives and agency. Visibility is itself a form of resistance: prisoners refusing to be hidden away are asking society to question itself and its difficult issues.
Date:
September 2021
Medium:
Photographic print
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://www.fayeclaridge.co.uk

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Plants, Prisons & Potential

Audio/visual

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Plants, Prisons & Potential

Audio/visual

Faye Claridge with women from HMP Send — Plants, Prisons & Potential

Audio/visual

Artwork description:
Reflections on gardening on wellbeing recorded in polytunnels at HMP Send during the covid pandemic. I took in RHS archives from a WW1 prison camp gardening club to act as inspiration for participants. A line from one of the 1916 camp letters resonated deeply and became the inspiration for portraits we made together. It said: “Without you I feel that only part of me is here.” The semi-transparent, partially grounded portraits that followed provide anonymity to participants and ask us to think about absence and presence as something other than physical states (particularly relevant amid the rise of remote communication). The degree of visibility and access allowed to prison experiences is also at question. As Jackie Wang writes in the foreword to Hatty Nestor’s Ethical Portraits: “prisoners are at once hyper-present and absent, sometimes made transparent for the sensationalist pleasure of the viewer, at other times consigned to invisibility to assuage the public’s conscience.”
Date:
September 2021
Medium:
Video
Category:
Audio/visual
Website/s:
https://www.fayeclaridge.co.uk

Fiona Cullinan — Female Calculations

Fiona Cullinan — Female Calculations

Photography

Fiona Cullinan — Female Calculations

Photography

Artwork description:
Female Calculations is a digital photo collage showing a series of entrances to footpaths in Birmingham where the artist feels a degree of anxiety. The photos are aggregated into a grid format via a sequence of repeated images in rows. This is in order to denote the multiple ways a solo female assesses and computes the space in which she is about to enter. This is based on the idea that women in particular have subjective algorithms of fear based on their lived experience, biases, presence of potential predators, visibility, dress and many other data points (both positive and negative). The riso print invites the viewer into the spaces and denotes a seemingly computerised view of these overlays and calculations. The work was developed as part of a British Council-sponsored cultural art exchange with Indonesian artists. It was not exhibited in this format but created as a separate limited edition print of 30 for sale.
Date:
February 2022
Medium:
Digital photo collage riso print
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
http://fionacullinan.com/projects/walking/
https://www.instagram.com/editoriat/

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Syncope – Menopause Series

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Syncope – Menopause Series

Painting

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Syncope – Menopause Series

Painting

Artwork description:
‘Syncope’ – Menopause series depicts the sensation of fainting brought on by anxiety. The oil painting was started in June 2021 inspired by an Indian ink drawing I created at the end of 2019. Part of my Thin Tissue sub- series. I have kept part of my charcoal drawing visible to make it more other worldly. This piece is part of a large body of work (over a 100 pieces) about the Menopause, started back in 2017. Depicting or conveying emotions and experiences around the menopause and body ageing. Trying to explore imaginative narrative, that is often unclear and secret, brings ambiguity and gets at things not realised. Once made, the personal becomes less private and the viewer can interpret the images as they want.
Date:
June 2021 - Jan 2022
Medium:
Oil paint and Charcoal on canvas
Category:
Painting

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Social Gathering

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Social Gathering

Drawing

Gabrielle Roberts-Dalton — Social Gathering

Drawing

Artwork description:
‘Social Gathering’ Indian ink drawing is also part of my Thin Tissue/menopause series but over laps my isolation works started in 2020 to do with Covid lockdowns. I made figures/beings out of tissue paper, my companions to party with.
Date:
July 2020
Medium:
Indian Ink
Category:
Drawing

Gemma Moore — Should Have Taken 5 Minutes

Gemma Moore — Should Have Taken 5 Minutes

Photography

Gemma Moore — Should Have Taken 5 Minutes

Photography

Artwork description:
My responses were photographed on Edmund Street and outside the Birmingham School of Art. The photographs are responses to street violence against women. In particular, they are responses to the Sabina Nessa murder case. I was horrified by this and wanted to initiate my Fine Art Masters studies by responding to this. As a Feminist based artist keen to represent issues that affect many women's lives today, including the violation of women's street safety, I couldn't help by responding to this issue. My response was unavoidable and I wanted to use my visual Fine Art practice as a way of acknowledging and raising awareness. I hope that upon viewing the photographs the public will re-consider how the street is not always a safe or comfortable space for women; it can be dangerous and life-threatening. This work will enable the lost lives of women to never be forgotten. I hope the images will raise awareness of how we can work together to make the streets safer for all.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Photograph of a performance.
Category:
Photography
Website/s:
https://gemmamooreart.wordpress.com/ https://thefeministpersona.wordpress.com/

George – Stokes — Moshpit

Artwork description:
Moshpit linocut, the print is a4 size and the paper is 35x50cm.
Date:
15/12/21
Medium:
Linocut
Category:
Print

Gillian Holtom — Bound

Gillian Holtom — Bound

Mixed Media

Gillian Holtom — Bound

Mixed Media

Artwork description:
Inspired by the impression of a bound woman, blocked by a tree, so much to think about and do she can never be free… Bound by expectations, fashions, society, lack of vision, lack of access, loss of voice, blocked and blind, using images cut from women's magazines of the late 70s and early 80s including images of what we used to call slave bangles that went up the arm.
Date:
May 2021
Medium:
Acrylic and collage on paper
Category:
Mixed Media

Gillian Tandy — Virus Autumn dispersal 2

Gillian Tandy — Virus Autumn dispersal 2

Painting

Gillian Tandy — Virus Autumn dispersal 2

Painting

Artwork description:
Topical, expressive work dealing with spread and dispersal of Covid 19 and dispersal and decay of leaves, seeds and red, referencing spread of natural forms and of the Virus. Work deals with movement and transience of the above as seen in space basically depicted here as as a white painted background.
Date:
Autumn 2021
Medium:
mixed media collage on canvas unframed
Category:
Painting

Grace Clifford — Cone of Chips

Sculpture

Grace Clifford — Cone of Chips

Sculpture

Grace Clifford — Cone of Chips

Sculpture

Artwork description:
My practice raises questions and aims to provide a platform/space for communities to engage with art who may have felt that traditional art spaces and contemporary sculpture is not for them. I feel this sculpture works well because its direct play on words and simplicity in materials. The work explores various things that link to my heritage and growing up, and will be familiar for many people, the novelty signs you see outside shops, or the subversive use of traffic cones often the product of a drunken night out- usually ending in takeaway chips. I love exploring the ideas surrounding the ‘chippy’ - I always show off to friends about orange chips and the excellent chippy’s in the Black country, as it is a strong part of my pride and identity growing up. The idea of seeing such ‘low brow’ items in a gallery space, or presenting questions around what is art, and who is art for is something that excite me greatly, and is something my practice hopes to challenge and examine further.
Date:
2021
Medium:
Traffic Cone, chips, spigot
Category:
Sculpture
Website/s:
https://graceclifford.cargo.site/

Graham Chorlton — Interior

Graham Chorlton — Interior

Painting

Graham Chorlton — Interior

Painting

Artwork description:
This painting shows a domestic interior. The image is arrived at through layering of acrylic paint, each layer responding to the last. Certain details are picked out more precisely with oil paint. The image is only just suggested in places, implying a fragility to our experience. The chief visual element here is illumination, and there is a consciousness of the emotional power of light in the history of painting.
Date:
2021
Medium:
acrylic and oil on canvas
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
http://www.birminghamartspace.org/

Graham Chorlton — Headlights #3

Graham Chorlton — Headlights #3

Painting

Graham Chorlton — Headlights #3

Painting

Artwork description:
The ethereal illumination depicted in this painting is derived from a pool of light formed by headlights in a deserted nocturnal car park. There is very little detail here, the image on the edge of existing or being read. This is part of a series of work that uses light and empty space to suggest the mystery of the every day.
Date:
2020-21
Medium:
acrylic and oil on canvas
Category:
Painting
Website/s:
http://www.birminghamartspace.org/

Hannah Broadhead — The Addict