Slade Director to participate in “A Personal Gesture” art project
Photo credit: Jos Nyreen
The Slade School of Fine Art is pleased to announce that its Director, Mary Evans, has been invited to participate in “A Personal Gesture”, an art project initiated by Dutch artist Rini Hurkmans. The project involves a sculpture based on a detail from Michelangelo’s Pietà in Saint Paul’s Basilica in Rome, which is passed from person to person as a symbol of empathy and connection.
The sculpture, which is a reproduction of the hand of the Virgin Mary reaching out to the viewer, was created by Hurkmans in 2020 as a response to the global pandemic and the social distancing measures that followed. The intention of the project is to pass A Personal Gesture from individual to individual, allowing them to reflect on the gesture and its meaning in different situations and contexts. The project also aims to create a dialogue about how we exist in relation to one another, especially in times of crisis and isolation.
Mary Evans received A Personal Gesture from Dutch lecturer, researcher and costume designer Carly Everaert on 4 December, and the piece will be kept in the Director's Office for a six month period, before passing it on to another person of her choice. During this time, she will document her experience and thoughts on the gesture.
For more information, visit the project website.
MANIFEST: Art & Policy - Bloc Projects
©Dryden Goodwin
Slade Prof. Dryden Goodwin is one of the three artists exhibiting in 'MANIFEST: Art & Policy’ at Bloc Projects, Sheffield. Following his residency exploring ‘What role can artists play in policymaking?’ - a new initiative following in the footsteps of the historical Artists Placement Group inquiring into the potentiality of art in Policy Spaces. Other artists in the exhibition are Christopher Samuel and Semiconductor.
The exhibition is open until 16 December 2023.
MANIFEST is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to evaluate artistic approaches and effects relevant for policy, and how artists can work with policymakers to channel those dimensions to improve the process of policymaking.
The residencies and exhibition are curated and produced by SRG Bennett, co-head of Policy Lab within the civil service, a team which seeks to radically improve policy through design, innovation and people-centred approaches.
Photos: Dryden Goodwin from ‘A Day With Mark’ and ‘Sphere(s) of Influence’
Jesse Darling wins Turner Prize 2023
Congratulations to alumnus Jesse Darling, winner of this year's Turner Prize. He graduated with a MFA in Fine Art in 2014.
Darling was nominated for his solo exhibitions, Enclosures at Camden Art Centre and No Medals, No Ribbons at Modern Art Oxford. The exhibition of shortlisted artists' work is at Towner Eastbourne until 14 April 2024.
Read about his win in The Guardian.
Slade Interim Showcase
The Slade Interim Showcase, featuring work by our 1st and 2nd year MA/MFA students is open from 12 - 14 December. Entry is by tour only, book via Eventbrite.
The Slade Interim Showcase website featuring our students' work goes live on 12 December.
Winsor & Newton Mural Project: Jessie Stevenson
Photo: Peter Cattrell
Jessie Stevenson, Material Research Project, Honorary Fellow, has created a wall painting at the London Graphic Centre, Covent Garden for the Winsor & Newton Mural project. She writes:
"My work is inspired by the natural world as a way to explore physical and emotional energies. Built of shifting, bright colour dynamics, the wall painting investigates a sense of escapism as a poetic and philosophical narrative. The expansive piece embodies a feeling of a brooding storm, using bold curvilinearity and applying thin layers of acrylic paint to create an ethereal effect. The clouds and waves are inspired by the tumultuous stormscapes of the Dutch Old Master artists, William van de Velde the Elder and Younger whilst using a contemporary soft colour palette to situate the work today. ‘Loosed from its hold, how no one knew’, 2023. 400 x 300 cm."
UCL East Saturday Club in Art and Design
The UCL East Saturday Club in Art and Design is a free weekly art and design workshop for Years 9,10 and 11 living and/or attending schools in the East of London. For some of these students Art is not on offer for GCSE at their schools.
This term's Saturday Club began on Saturday 4 November 2023 with 25 students, the Slade is leading seven sessions, organised by Sandra Smith, Slade Summer School and Short Course Coordinator. This session involved working with light, making delicate lumen prints alongside classic three tone painting exercises, all with plants.
There are seven sessions, which move through working with light, drawing, geometry and pattern, casting, video, sound, performance and broadcasting. All sessions are intertwined and related to questions about the human/non human.
For more photos, see our Widening Participation page.
Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970–1990 - Tate Britain
Slade lecturer Prof. Liz Rideal and alumnae Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Judy Clark, Catherine Elwes, Bhajan Hunjan, Zarina Bhimji, Sutapa Biswas, Mona Hatoum and Anne Tallentire are showing in Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970–1990, 8 November 2023–7 April 2024, at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG.
Women in Revolt! Is a landmark exhibition of feminist art in the UK from 1970 to 1990. It will explore how interconnected networks of women used radical ideas and rebellious methods to make an invaluable contribution to British culture. Showcasing work by over 100 women artists and collectives living and working in the UK, this will be the first major survey of its kind.
Spineless Wonders of Wales: poetry, presses and zines
Spineless Wonders of Wales is hybrid event takes place at Y Drwm, NLW/LLGC, Aberystwyth and online, Friday 17 November, 10.00am - 5.30pm.
Spineless Wonders is an international network of artists, writers, academics and librarians, creating and researching small press publications including artists books.
Presenting small press material by small publishers in Wales at NLW/LLGC we will be joined online by presentations of material in the Welsh language from library collections at University College London, UCL and The Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
The aim of the day is to focus attention on these small press collections with poetry readings, film and visual art presentations, discussion panels, and a creative workshop.
FREE, register:
Haworth Tompkins complete painting studios for the UCL Slade School of Fine Art
Photo credit: Fred. © Haworth Tompkins
Haworth Tompkins have worked with University College London (UCL), University of London (UoL) and the UCL Slade School of Fine Art to deliver the refurbishment of eight top-lit painting studios in the Bloomsbury area of London. Designed in the 1950s by Charles Holden as gallery spaces for the Courtauld Institute, the studios sit on the top floor of the Warburg Institute building but are accessed by a dedicated entrance and stairwell.
A glazed roof and laylight ceiling provide filtered natural light, creating ideal conditions for painting and sculpture, while retaining maximum available wall space for display.
The spaces have been called ‘home’ by generations of students at the Slade. Haworth Tompkins have refined and refreshed the interiors with respect for the integrity of the original design. New heating, lighting and ventilation systems are carefully incorporated to improve the studio’s energy efficiency and user comfort to contemporary building standards.
These sensitive refinements give the studios a new lease of life, providing refreshed creative spaces for generations of students to come.
Five questions with Mary Evans, Slade Director
Photo credit: Christa Holka
We are delighted to welcome Mary Evans as new Slade Director, who started on 4 October. To get to know her better, we asked her five questions:
- Tell us a little bit about yourself and your practice?
My research interrogates the social and political frameworks of Diaspora. I work mainly on large scale site and research responsive installations. My main medium is paper which I use because it is both fragile and resilient and is a metaphor for the investigations at the core of my practice which involves making the Black Body visible. I deploy craft-based processes and my work is often ephemeral and temporary. - What was your previous role and what did it involve?
Previously I was the BA Fine Art Course Leader at Chelsea College of Arts/UAL. I led the staff team in the running of the course and was also a personal tutor for 30 students a year. I particularly enjoyed teaching in year 1 when students are starting on their creative learning journey. I consider teaching to be part of my practice as an artist. Before Chelsea I was an associate lecturer at CSM where I taught on the BA Fine Art XD pathway as a personal tutor. - What is your vision for the Slade?
At the core of my vision for the Slade is to strengthen equity in relation to staff and students and reduce barriers to inclusion and progress. I want to nurture and strengthen the diverse voices and experiences that make up the community of practice at the Slade. - Which artists do you admire?
Kara Walker, Zanele Muholi, Carrie Mae Weems, El Anatsui, Sonia Boyce. - What advice would you give to artists starting their careers?
Say ‘yes’ to opportunities, apply for opportunities: open calls, residencies, calls for papers etc. Even if you may not be immediately successful, you never know who will see and remember your work and contact you in the future.
Grace Lee: Fitting Room - Huxley Parlour
Grace Lee has a solo show, Fitting Room, at Huxley Parlour, 45 Maddox Street, London W1S 2PE, from 25 October - 25 November 2023.
Grace Lee completed their MFA in 2021 and was awarded the Bartolomeu dos Santos Award in 2021. They said: "The award really has been such a help since graduating, and allowed me to keep working as an artist without constant financial pressure".
Turner Prize opens at Towner Eastbourne
Photos by Eva Herzog. Courtesy of Camden Art Centre
Congratulations to Jesse Darling, who has been nominated for the Turner Prize 2023 for his solo exhibitions No Medals, No Ribbons at Modern Art Oxford and Enclosures at Camden Art Centre.
An exhibition of shortlisted artists' work is now showing at Towner Eastbourne, East Sussex, from 28 September 2023 to 14 April 2024. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023 at an award ceremony in Eastbourne’s Winter Gardens.
Simon Faithfull: 0º00 Navigation Part II: A Journey Across Europe and Africa, 2023
©the artist
This installation, part of the public art project, The Line, forms part of a body of work called 0º00 Navigation by artist Simon Faithfull. It relates to two epic journeys he undertook in order to trace the 0° line of longitude (the Greenwich Meridian) across the planet. It seeks to explore the paradoxes and absurdities of this hypothetical line.
Two films documenting Faithfull’s journeys, available on The Line webpage, will also be on show at Cody Dock Gallery Saturdays and Sundays 1-5pm, until 1 October.
Paula Rego: Crivelli's Garden
Courtesy Ostrich Arts Ltd and Victoria Miro © Ostrich Arts Ltd
More than 30 years after Dame Paula Rego (1935–2022), the National Gallery’s first Associate Artist (1990–92), was invited to create a mural for the Sainsbury Wing Dining Room, a new exhibition celebrates the relationship of one of the most ambitious of Rego’s public commissions titled Crivelli’s Garden to the National Gallery and its collection.
Room 46, National Gallery, London until 29 October 2023, admission free.
Hiroko Imada - Dr. Martens X The Met Collaboration
Alumna Hiroko Imada was commissioned to create a woodblock print to mark the collaboration between Dr. Martens X The Met (Katsushika Hokusai). The video of the process can be seen on Facebook.
Winston Branch: Jasmines Blowing in the Wind - Simon Lee Gallery
image courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery
Winston Branch: Jasmines blowing in the wind, is showing at Simon Lee Gallery, 12 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DT is showing from 22 November 2022 - 14 January 2023. See the Simon Lee Gallery website for further details.
Winston Branch and curator Rianna Jade Parker will be in conversation at the gallery on Tuesday 6 December at 18.30. Tickets via Eventbrite.
Image: Winston Branch, Dancing in the Silent Blue, 1982, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 245 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley Cover - Frieze November 2022
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley is on the cover of Frieze magazine, issue 231, November/December 2022. A profile of her work by Skye Arundhati Thomas is also in this month's issue.
Lyndsey Gilmour wins Lyon and Turnbull Award for Painting
Congratulations to alumna Lyndsey Gilmour who was awarded the Lyon and Turnbull Award for Painting at the Royal Scottish Academy 196th Annual Exhibition for her diptych painting "First Floor Left", 2022. The work was displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy 196th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy Galleries, Edinburgh, from 23 April - 12 June 2022, which can still be viewed on the online archive via the RSA website.
Stage Effects - Kate MacGarry
Lisa Milroy is showing in Stage Effects at Kate MacGarry, 27 Old Nichol Street, London E2 7HR, from 11 November - 17 December 2022. See the Kate MacGarry website for further details and opening hours.
Brewers Towner International at Towner Eastbourne
©the artist
Lara Smithson is showing in the Brewers Towner International at Towner Eastbourne, Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ, from 15 October 2022 to 22 January 2023. See the Towner Gallery website for details.