Art Bridge Traces Exhibition Brochure

TRACESAn exhibition of work by students from the 2012-14 Art Bridge programme.

This exhibition showcases the achievements of the Art Bridge studentsover their two year course at Art Shape. Arts Council funding hasenabled Art Shape to offer Art Bridge, a tailored, supported, professional,high-level programme of artistic and professional training andmentoring, delivered over two calendar years to ten talented andemerging artists facing disabling barriers.The students have undertaken a series of developmental workshopshelping them to emerge as practising artists. During their time at ArtShape they have:• received ‘class-room’ tutorials and supervised and supported studiotime• been provided with time, facilities and support to develop and honetheir artistic practice• received assistance in assessing potential ways forward in terms oftheir art, whether through further artistic education/training, workingprofessionally or semi-professionally or becoming involved in differentareas of the art world (e.g. exhibitions, galleries)The Traces exhibition maps the journeys that the students have taken, totrace their exploration through art. Their work is accompanied by workfrom the tutors and artists that have supported the programme.The final exhibition will be touring venues throughout Gloucestershire untilFebruary 2015. The emerging artists are holding a number of Meet andGreet days during their tour. The artists will be sharing their unique andpersonal journeys by giving you an insight into their practice. Theywelcome you to come and view their work and will be pleased to answerany questions.Over the past 25 years, Art Shape has brought the arts to those facingdisabling barriers to participation, enjoyment and the relatedexperiences of personal development and self-esteem.For more information please contact the Art Shape office at:Brockworth Court Farm, Court Road, Brockworth, Gloucestershire, GL3 4QUPhone: 01452 863855 Email: [email protected]



MEET THE ARTISTSNine emerging artists participated in the Traces exhibition, sharing their uniqueand personal journeys. Throughout the tour the artists held a number of Meetand Greet events giving members of the public the chance to see their workand to ask them questions. This helped to raise awareness for their developingpractice and work with Art Bridge.To gain an insight into their practice each artist has written a personalstatement to accompany their work, helping to show their exploration.

Bekki HandAs a child, different forms of creativity and expression played a big part in mylife. I lived and breathed Dance and Music. So when recovering from illness in2011 Art Therapy was a natural choice.I have a deep connection with Nature and the Elements. I love going out intothe countryside or to the coast, taking photos, sketching and collecting bitsand pieces that may inspire me creatively.This connection often translates into my Art. As an artist in progress I’m stilllearning about different media and trying new techniques as exercises orwithin experimental pieces. I haven’t established my own style yet as this cantake years but the more I paint and discover, I feel it will gradually emerge.Georgina SumnerI am a mixed media artist exploring the process of making and the power ofthe subconscious to express itself through the Arts. My work explores theunconscious mind through doodles, play, poetry and miming resulting in new,accidental imagery revealing what the conscious conceals. These works playbetween the subconscious and conscious, they are moments in time. Theyreflect my experience of the fragmentation and isolation of the senses as aprotective instinct and the healing nature of the creative process to rebuildthese networks.I have found resonance in the work of Donald Winnicott and his SquiggleGame.Joanne BensonMemories are extremely important to me. We all have them whether good orbad. Most of us from time to time reflect upon them. They help us make senseof the world we live in today.I’m a memory and past time collector and a keepsake maker. I take a memoryor story and create 3D art to compliment the moment in time or tale that I amportraying.From the purely abstract to the most practical of pieces, I find a way tosympathetically bring together random objects and items to produce a newkeepsake that compliments the subject and holds all that is precious to one, ina single piece of art work. From historical stories to belongings from loved ones.It’s the story they hold that interests me. The history, the tale, the meaning andall that comes along with it. It is this that I draw my inspiration from and try toportray in my work.





Karen Griffin-HillI am a multi-talented craftsperson, with the ability to combine crafts andtechniques to create imaginative, unique works of textile art. I am a veryexperienced seamstress, with various West End show collaborations to myname, as well as children's, and fantasy movies and television commercials. Ihave an extensive, colourful collection of fabric, allowing me to produce manyunique items with colour palettes, which are never repeated. I am inspired bymy contact with nature, especially birds and dogs, and I transform mycollected documentation into patterns and shapes. I also research back intohistory as a source of inspiration.My imagination and visualisation for projects is growing on a daily basis throughmy love of nature, and the world around me, I combine new materials withrecycled ones, to create traditional, modern and exquisite items. This is oneway I feel I can help the environment, while still creating new pieces of art. Kate Hellon-BharuchaStudied Art and Design Diploma at Stroud Art School, BA Crafts at ManchesterMetropolitan University and BA Ceramics at Wolverhampton University. Thenwent on to explore Interior Design, Marriage and Babies, with success in somebut not all. I arrived at Art Bridge whilst in the midst of a traumatic life changingperiod of transition and in need of refuge. Once a week I got some respite,then a new focus to confuse the anguish with. Some of my work is a reflection,a visual diary of these experiences and some of my work is just me at play,laughing in sunlight. Max FrancesA person made of wire, string and the scavenged parts of someone I used tobe. Nothing has ever been routine, run of the mill or easy, as my construction iswithout emotional padding; meaning that I live in a world that is at oncebaffling, frightening and astounding in its beauty, where anything from birds ofprey in flight to the layers of rust on a radiator can inspire awe.The urge to create art is like the need to breathe, and is not something I canreadily explain. I sketch what strikes me in rapid lines or detailed drawings andlove nothing more than working in the field. I also research subjects from asmany angles as possible; particularly the mythical; and use the information tocreate implied narratives or add a sense of mystery to works.I believe that I can see the magical in what might be called mundane.

Sarah PolsonMy art is a collection of intuitive thought, ideas, experiences and feelings. They aregathered from my own life experiences, and borrowed from others stories, that I seeand hear, as I journey through my life.The pieces I create are a collection, of ‘things’, gathered and re-used. My work growsinstinctively through working with my ‘collections’. I use a wide variety of mixed mediato create my visions. I enjoy working with collage, mosaic, and recyclable materials,to form 3 dimensional, as well as 2 dimensional, pieces.Texture, colour and energy, dominate my work. I enjoy using words, poetry mixedamongst imagery, as a way of portraying powerful emotions.I am inspired by opposites and extremes, such as: angelic spirituality/ macabredarkness and dreams/ nightmares. I will continue to explore these themes through myart.Sharron BrysonA species in denial, awaiting transformation.Dead on the floor, there lays our waste.View from the top, bottom and every side, change perspective.Turn corners, unlock hidden doors, affect and challenge.Freedom for our unconscious minds for there lays our forgotten wisdom andtruth.Simon StephensMy art, to myself, is always innovative and unusual. In the past my work hasbeen based on my passion for music, which is American Soul Music andDetroit musical influences. For the previous exhibitions I have used the themeJourneys to create a piece around the Philadelphia Soul music. For thisexhibition I have made 4 paintings influenced by my surroundings andcurrent affairs.



Venues Taurus Crafts 10th – 23rd November 2014 Old Park, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 6BU New Brewery Arts 15th – 24th January 2015 Brewery Court, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1JL

The Wilson8th December – 13th January 2015 Clarence Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 3JT The Lansdown Gallery 16th – 21st February 2015 Lansdown, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BB

Supporting ArtistsThe Art Bridge programme has been supported by artists who have deliveredworkshops and tutored the students in their development. Their studio time has beensupported by various artists who have helped to guide the students in assessingpotential ways forward in terms of their art, whether through further artistic education/training, working professionally or semi-professionally or becoming involved in differentareas of the art world.

Sue AustinSupporting Artist MentorThe role Sue has taken in the Art Bridge student’s development has been key inshowing them the artistic ability they are capable of. Sue has helped on a number ofprojects alongside her own practice.Outside of Sue’s work with Art Bridge she has been setting up the ‘Freewheeling’enterprise. Freewheeling is a disability led initiative focused on providing a ‘hub’around which to foster integrated arts projects. They aim to allow ideas and artisticconcepts to develop while maintaining an emphasis on promoting academicresearch that acts to reposition Disability Arts and the status of disabled artists withinthe arts and cultural sector.Zoe PartingtonLead ArtistZoe has worked with Art Bridge to support their work on a number of projects. She hasalso helped with the pilot of the new Art Bridge online course. For more informationplease contact Art Shape.Zoe has worked extensively with many art and cultural organisations both as anaccess trainer, auditor and artist providing specialist knowledge in the areas ofinclusion in art, design and architecture. She has been a Director at Architecture InsideOut (aio) and focused on activity that develops and promotes access models of bestpractice in the built environment with architects, led by the creativity and experiencesof disabled and Deaf artists. Zoe works in close partnership with disabled artists,architects, educators, museum and gallery professionals and related agencies toassess, discuss and develop access to buildings and public spaces.

Kirsty LimburnProject ManagerKirsty is a multidisciplinary artist, social sculptor and creative philosopher. Her creativepractise embodies space and the people it in, it can be translated into a universalhuman theme. These themes include identity as a perpetual student of freedom, awoman of contradiction and an explorer of the hidden messages in the natural world.Kirsty energises her creative practise with an unconscious curiosity towards materialsand people, and during the collection of the research reflects on understanding whomy audience is and the intentions of the creative work. Therefore giving space toexperiment and play with the properties and forms of new materials.Tears of Orgonon, 2013“'Tears of Orgonon' is inspired by the Kate Bush song Cloudbusting from the albumHounds of Love, released 1985. The song tells the story of Wilheim Reich who proposedthat by changing the level of Orgonon in the atmosphere we can use it positively tochange the weather and initiate healing in the human body. Orgonon is similar toluminiferous aether. It is this luminosity that I am often drawn to after the rain hasfallen.”Paul McKeeTechnical SupportPaul has worked with and supported Art Shape for many years, in his roles as SeniorExhibitions Officer/Curator, Fine Art and then as Arts Development Officer, inCheltenham. Paul was involved with the initial planning of the project and now offerpractical support for the Art Bridge Online course.Paul is now a full time artist and freelance teacher and curator of Fine Art, after manyyears working in schools and museums. He trained at Liverpool School of Art andUniversity College London and has painted and exhibited his work since 1974. He is amember of the Cheltenham Group of Artists and has a solo exhibition planned at TheWilson in the summer of 2015.

Rock pools, 2013“I have been fascinated by rock pools for many years. They are complete little worlds,full of colour, form and movement. We often visit the coast of North Devon, where Ican be found staring into them, taking photographs and sketching, whilst I try tocommit colours and shapes to memory. The small studies exhibited here are thebeginnings of a larger series of paintings.”Mike CarterTechnical SupportMike Carter has a background in design and always incorporates this into his artwork.The work tends to be simple and minimal, with use of simple lines and block colour. Itis very methodical and involves a surprising amount of planning involved in order toachieve this simplicity.He is inspired by pop culture and graphics. He has always had a firm interest in music,film and television, in particular album covers, movie posters and iconic images of the21st century. Other inspiration can come in the form of photography, advertising streetart & graffiti and from the work of other artists.Anxiety Reciepts, 2013“I have lived with anxiety and panic attacks since my early twenties and have spentlarge parts of my life looking for a miracle ‘cure’. After years of searching I have finallycome to terms with my anxiety and am content with the fact that this is a part of mybeing and something that I will have to combat when it rears its ugly head throughoutmy life.”“At home I feel safe, no stresses of the world can harm me. However when confrontedwith the need to leave my bubble I panic. Journeys, meetings, shopping, work; all fillme with dread. Sketching is my safety away from home; my ‘coping mechanism’.When I feel anxious I sketch, whether in the car, waiting in a queue or just walkingaround the local shops.”“I use anything I can get my hands on at the time, whether an old receipt and a biroor my sketchbook and a fine-line pen. The repetitive nature of the sketches and useof pattern helps calm my nerves and frees my mind, taking away the stresses thatcome with my anxiety.”

Artist Contact Details Sue Austin Email: [email protected] Zoe Partington Email: [email protected] Kirsty Limburn Email: [email protected] Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ladychiral/videosFlickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thirstykirsty100/sets/Tumblr: https://www.departmentforvocation.tumblr.com Paul McKee Email: [email protected] Web: www.gallerymckee.com Mike Carter Email: [email protected] Web: www.mjcarterdesigns.blogspot.co.uk

With ThanksA special thanks goes to all the volunteers and all those who have made this possible by supporting the Art Bridge programme over the last 2 years. Brought To You By Contact Details Art Shape run a number of classes and courses. For more information: Tel | 01452 863855 Web| www.artshape.co.uk Email| [email protected]