- Venue
- The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery
- Starts
- Monday, October 2, 2017
- Ends
- Saturday, October 28, 2017
- Address
- The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, Museum and Library, Buckhurst Lane, Sevenoaks, TN13 1LQ
- Location
- South East England
- Organiser
- Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery
During October 2017 artist Nicole Mollett will be in residence in the Kaleidoscope Gallery, using the space as her studio during the week. Situated above a library, the gallery is well suited for the artist who regularly uses books and encyclopaedias as a starting point for her ideas. Nicole will explore the idea of drawing as a language, using visual images to tell stories and make connections.
Inside the public library there will be two sculptures on display. A Frail Happiness and Darkness Visible are a pair of dioramas inside boxes, made just before the 2017 election. This work was inspired by Gainsborough’s Showbox which is on display at the V&A museum. The viewer is invited to peer into a miniature worlds containing hand-painted scenes, suggesting the parallel existences of heaven and hell.
The Sevenoaks museum collection contains a series of magic lantern slides painted in the 17th century by local artist William Knight. These glass slide were projected onto the walls of a darkened room to conjure up fantasies of beasts and exotic lands. Mollett also paints her own magic lantern slides, and works collaboratively with artist Frog Morris to repurpose these Victorian theatrical devices to perform contemporary tales.
As part of the Big Draw Campaign there will be a special slide making half term workshop. Participants can explore a number of techniques to produce their own images, and then see them projected alongside the original slides.
About the Artist
Nicole Mollett is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her work features drawing, sculpture and magic lantern performances. When drawing, her imagined realities are composed using images from early encyclopaedias together with photographs found online. She is known for her detailed drawings and maps which reveal hidden narratives, and suggest alternative histories.
Nicole completed her Sculpture MFA at the Slade School of Art. Her work features in several publications including a collection of maps of London called ‘Curiocity’ published by Particular Books in August 2016. She has exhibited and performed in many museums and galleries including Whitechapel Gallery, Space Station 65 Gallery, Jerwood Space and Tunbridge Wells Gallery. She has run public engagement workshops and educational projects with organisation such as the Barbican and Milton’s Cottage Trust.
Her public art commissions include a mobile artwork, the Kent Baton, which travelled the county of Kent 2010 – 2012, during the Olympics. The artist was recently commissioned together with writer Sarah Butler, to produce an online digital archive of drawings as part of Creative People and Places project, entitled ‘More Than 100 Stories’ 2016.
Events
Artist’s Talk; Thursday 19th October, 6-8pm
Nicole Mollett will talk about her experience of being an artist and curator, focusing on recent commissions and projects. She will talk about the works she has developed whilst at the Kaleidoscope Gallery, and whether producing work in a public space has affected the way she works.
Family Workshop; Wednesday 25th October, 1-5pm
Make your own magic lantern slide with the help of artists Nicole Mollett and Frog Morris. See and be inspired by original 18th century slides of beasts and monsters painted by Sevenoaks artist William Knight.
