Camden Arts Centre has announced a new partnership with the Freelands Foundation to support three years of the Freelands – Lomax Ceramics Fellowship.
The fellowship will offer three six-month part-time residencies at Camden Arts Centre followed by an exhibition the following year.
The scheme will offer mentoring opportunities, build new partnerships with organisations outside of London and provide the time, space and resources to enable artists to experiment, develop and present their work within cross-disciplinary environments.
The first fellow will be London-based artist Jonathan Baldock, who works across multiple platforms including sculpture, installation and performance.
Baldock recently worked with 2015-17 Max Mara Art Prize for Women winner Emma Hart on the collaborative touring exhibition ‘Love Life’, currently on show at Blackpool’s Grundy Art Gallery before its final leg at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea in October. The exhibition takes Punch and Judy as a reference point for exploring the tensions and frustrations of modern domestic life.
For his fellowship, Baldock will continue his ongoing interest in the contrast between the material qualities of ceramic and fabric used within his work.
Baldock said: “The fellowship at Camden Arts Centre will allow me the time and facilities to focus on evolving my expertise from my self-taught foundations to create new and ambitious works that challenge expectations of how and what ceramic as a material can perform within an artwork.”
With Jenni Lomax stepping down as director of Camden Arts Centre in September, the fellowship has been named to mark her tenure.
Lomax said: “There has been a space to work with clay at Camden Arts Centre since its foundation in 1965. Over time it has been used by many people of all ages, some well-practiced in ceramics, others learning new skills.
“Refurbished in 2004, the Ceramics Studio now sits at the heart of much that we do. I am delighted that Freelands Foundation are supporting the exciting next stage of our Ceramics Fellowship programme.”
The new partnership builds on a tradition of ceramics fellowships at Camden Arts Centre which have supported the careers of artists including Katie Cuddon, Phoebe Cummings, Jesse Wine, Salvatore Arancio, and most recently Phil Root and Giles Round of The Grantchester Pottery.
Images:
1. Jonathan Baldock, Eye Staring, 2010-14. Ceramic, clay, glass eye, paint. Photo: Matthew Hollow; Courtesy: the artist and Belmacz
2. Jonathan Baldock and Emma Hart, Love Life (video still), 2017
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