Joy Gregory: A Taste of Home
Artist, photographer and a-n member Joy Gregory presents an expansive new artwork across 24 billboards at Heathrow Terminal 4 Underground station.
The project expands on Gregory’s interest in themes of migration, memory and plant knowledge. Created in dialogue with the community of refugees and asylum seekers who currently live in temporary accommodation near Heathrow airport, A Taste of Home offers a space for the stories of newly arrived people, whose realities are increasingly maligned and misrepresented.
Gregory explains: “I have long been fascinated by the journeys of food and plants, how they traverse continents and cultures, weaving stories of migration and resilience. Plants are central to our being, they sustain our bodies, heart, and soul. They embody the essence of human migration, reflecting our innate desire for new beginnings—sometimes chosen, but all too often, imposed by circumstances beyond our control. A Taste of Home honours the richness of diverse cultures and the shared humanity that binds us all.”
From 25 July 2024, Heathrow Terminal 4 Underground station art.tfl.gov.uk
Libby Heaney: Ooze Machines
This solo exhibition from artist and quantum physicist Libby Heaney includes an immersive multi-channel video, oozing glass sculptures and 2D works. Slime, at once “seductive and repulsive”, is a recurring motif through the show. For Heaney it refers to “the innate sliminess of our bodies” as well as the “slimy nature of big tech.”
‘Ooze Machines’ offers a glimpse into the “non-binary, entangled futures” that quantum technologies may bring. Quantum devices, Heaney explains, function entirely differently than current binary technologies and when fully developed will “enable us to see intricate connections and entanglements between matter, energy, space and time.”
Until 30 June 2024, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton phoenixartspace.org
Will Cruickshank: Way Station
Devon-based a-n member Will Cruickshank presents a solo exhibition of textile-based sculptures.
Repurposing equipment such as cement mixers, bicycles and potters wheels, Cruickshank makes his own improvised tools, for example to wind thread onto sculptures. Using the repeating nature of these machines to sculpt and wrap his materials, the forms that emerge – minimal, tactile, formal and playful – are only partially determined by the artist.
Cruickshank’s approach to making is a resourceful one, where nothing is discarded, and where waste from unusual combinations of materials often becomes useful: offcuts, failures and accidents are fed back into new pieces.
Until 30 June, Bo Lee and Workman, Bruton, Somerset boleeworkman.com
Drawing Biennial
This showcase of 300 drawings from artists working across the globe provides a vibrant overview of trends in contemporary drawing practice. All works are for sale by auction, with the raised funds going towards Drawing Room’s activities that support artists and champion drawing.
The forms and the subjects of the drawings act as barometers of the many and various complex issues of our time. Catherine Daunt’s essay that accompanies the exhibition highlights the diverse ways in which the artists use drawing to ‘pick, poke, prod and probe’ to process and understand the world.
Numerous a-n members are among the artists who have donated their works on paper, including Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Leo Fitzmaurice, Ryan Gander, Serena Korda, Giles Round, Adam Shield, Emily Speed and Osman Yousefzada.
Until 3 July 2024, Drawing Room, London drawingroom.org.uk
Jerwood Survey III
a-n members Aqsa Arif and Philippa Brown are among the 10 early-career artists selected for this major biennial touring exhibition of newly commissioned work, which travels to G39 in Cardiff this summer.
Brown, who is based in the Welsh capital, makes sculptural forms, installations and paintings which explore the “ambiguous, magical and sometimes fragile interconnectedness between histories, materials, beliefs and bodies,” to consider conformity and alternative ways of living.
Meanwhile, Glasgow-based Arif works across film, installation and poetry to explore ‘identity disruption, migration and the process of healing through archetypal narratives.’ Her practice is underpinned by her mixed cultural identity as a Pakistani refugee to Scotland.
13 July – 7 September 2024, g39, Cardiff g39.org
Glasgow International
Scotland’s largest festival for contemporary art returns, presenting exhibitions, installations, talks and performances by artists living locally and internationally, in venues across Glasgow.
New commissions by artists include Turner-Prize nominee Delaine Le Bas, who presents their largest exhibition to date at Tramway. It features densely intertwined objects, installations, textiles and costumes, which reflect the artist’s ongoing exploration of the mythologisation and demonisation of Romani, Gypsy and Traveller peoples in the UK and Europe.
Meanwhile, a summer solstice performance at Lenzie Moss nature reserve by artist and a-n member Rabindranath X Bhose and artists Belladonna Paloma and Oren Shoesmith explores trans bodies, boglands and ancient Celtic rituals.
7-23 June 2024, locations across Glasgow glasgowinternational.org
THISS2024
The Hide Artists Retreat hosts a site-responsive group show featuring seven a-n members, whose work aligns around themes of transience and impermanence.
The cyclical nature of water is reflected in Abi Spendlove’s practice through the recycling of materials and old work; Alice Sheppard Fidler’s sculpture, installation and photography emerges from performing interventions and actions with found spaces and materials; Emma Gregory draws, prints and builds “discomforting sculptures and restless installations” that playfully deal with human emotion, sexuality and gendered roles. Meanwhile Jo Lathwood works across drawing, sculpture, film and installation, often responding to a particular site, event, material or process.
Erika Trotzig’s sculptural practice is underpinned by feelings of instability and vulnerability; Freya Gabie often takes stories, places, archives, or collections as a starting point; Lucinda Burgess’ fascination with the raw, elemental qualities of materials informs her work; while Sharon Wylde’s work is inspired by architecture and post-industrial landscapes.
‘THISS24’ is part of Site Festival, an annual programme of artist-led exhibitions, events, talks and open studios in and around Stroud, taking place 1-23 June.
8-9 and 15-16 June 2024,The Hide, Stroud, Gloucestershire thehide.co
Open Studios Cornwall
Hundreds of artists across Cornwall open their studios and workshops to showcase their skills, reveal their processes and sell their work directly to visitors.
Many a-n members are taking part, including Breage-based ceramicist Anthea Bowen, who makes slip decorated pots and ceramic sculptures that reflect the rugged Cornish coastal environment.
In contrast, Redruth-based Vanessa Penrose works with a range of materials and processes including ceramic, cement, photography, drawing, painting and printing to make artworks that respond to post-industrial landscapes.
Until 2 June, studios and venues across Cornwall www.openstudioscornwall.co.uk
Yorkshire Artspace: Maker Showcase
Nine a-n members are among the 17 skilled craftspeople and makers who are showing and selling their work at Yorkshire Sculpture Park this summer. All are based at leading Sheffield artist studios Yorkshire Artspace, making work that spans contemporary ceramics, silversmithing, jewellery and leather work.
Nichola Gensler, of Burnt Crust Pottery, uses wild clay in their thrown ceramics, dug up from rivers around Sheffield; Penny Withers’ ceramic tableware and brooches feature colourful combinations of glazes; while Mike Scown’s tableware is created with slip casting and sculptural techniques.
Six participating a-n members are jewellers: Chris Boland makes bold pieces from metals and gemstones; Holly Suzanna Clifford (Contour Map Jewellery) is inspired by topography; Daisy Lee Jewells creates contemporary silverware with delicate floral motifs; Jennie Gill makes tactile, modern jewellery; Josephine Gomersall is inspired by wildflowers and botanical illustrations; while Emily Thatcher’s rings, earrings and necklaces are characteristed by stones in “voluminous settings”.
Until 6 October 2024, Yorkshire Sculpture Park visitor centre ysp.org.uk
Rituals: WIP (Weaving in Progress)
An open studio exhibition of two large scale woven sculptures by Manchester-based artist Jenny Steele, including elements made by female weavers from the city’s Gorton area.
Combining flora, such as leaves and grasses from local parks, with colourful ex-industrial yarns saved from landfill, Gorton Rush Cart is a celebratory sculpture created on top of a 200 year old Lancashire cart. The work references the historic local ritual of the rush cart ceremony, which travelled throughout the streets of Gorton and other Lancashire and Yorkshire towns, uniting the community with nature and its seasons.
The exhibition also includes woven samples, drawings and artworks using plant life and yarn by Steele, and weaving samples by Gorton weavers, plus films in progress.
1, 8, 22 and 29 June 2024, Rogue Artists’ Studios, Manchester a-n.co.uk/events/rituals-wip-weaving-in-progress/
British Glass Biennial & International Festival of Glass
The 20th edition of the International Festival of Glass celebrates the work of glass artists from across the world, with a dynamic line up of exhibitions, demonstrations (including live glassblowing and ‘fire drawing’), lectures and performances.
The British Glass Biennale is the flagship exhibition of the festival, featuring 121 UK-based artists, selected by open call, and showcasing techniques from the traditional to experimental.
Several a-n members take part, including Jacque Pavlosky, who is based in rural Buckinghamshire. Pavlosky’s work reflects her interests in “culture, architecture, the human form, textiles and nature” and is made using a wide variety of techniques including kiln forming and stained glass.
23-26 Aug 2024, Glasshouse Arts Centre, Stourbridge glassbiennale.org; ifg.org.uk
Top image: Joy Gregory, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) ED – Panel G ADJ, 2020, cyanotype. Courtesy the artist.
