Category Archives: Exhibitions

Upcoming events and workshops: Early bird booking

In October 2015 I’m involved in quite a few things. I will be taking part in a new event in Cheltenham, SITselect SHOWCASE organised by Stroud International Textiles. This promises to be an exciting addition to the art / craft calendar. It runs over three days, Friday 23 October, Saturday 24 October and Sunday 25 October and includes talks, exhibitions, book signings, a conference, workshops and over 70 maker stands. Until the end of July there is a 20% discount on entrance ticket prices. An early bird day ticket is £6 and for 3 days is £18. Children 14 and under go free and there are concessions tickets also.

Do go look at the website www.sitselect.org/showcase to find out more. Highlights for me are the talks ‘In Conversation’ between Isamini Samanido and Jilly Edwards and between Isamini and Theo Wright on Friday 23 October. Details about these and other talks can be found on this page: www.sitselect.org/showcase/showcasetalks

I will be there for the three days as I have a stand. I’m very excited to take part and am looking forward to meeting visitors to the show. I will also be running a one-day experimental papermaking workshop on Saturday 24 October. The workshop will be very much hand-on and we will explore textures and patterns to make a simple zig-zag or pamphlet book. Starting simple means that we can try out all sorts of techniques that participants will be able to use in their own work. The course will include using cotton rag pulps, casting and couching, laminating and embossing. We will use a Hollander beater and we will also explore processes that can be used at home. As part of this day I am giving a short talk about my work and inviting you to participate in my latest project by making and dip dying a sheet of paper.

The workshop is suitable for all.

Tickets: £55. Concessions: £35.

Entrance ticket required. There will be ample time to go round and look at all the other things going on as part of a really enjoyable day.

At the end of that week I am running a short course at lovely West Dean, ‘An Introduction to Creative Papermaking’, Friday 30 October – Sunday 1 November. (Suitable for all)

Course Reference: WE 5743

At West Dean we will be exploring traditional western papermaking techniques to create paper artworks inspired by the landscape. We will make pulps using cotton rag, and learn casting and couching, laminating and embossing, using a Hollander beater but also learn other pulping processes that can be used at home. More information here: pdf

To book please visit the West Dean Short Course booking page here: https://www.westdean.org.uk/CollegeChannel/ShortCourses/Courses/CourseSubCat.aspx?group=boo

Or phone for a brochure: Tel: +44 (0)1243 811301

There is a new on-line booking log-in system which allows one to view the various options (non-residential, single room, double etc) but setting up a log-in doesn’t commit you anything. I really enjoyed my last visit and am looking forward to this one a great deal. As anyone will attest who has attended a course here, the setting is wonderful, the facilities are great, the food is ample and good and there is a very friendly creative atmosphere (and a lovely bar).

The course cost without the residential element is £230.

Exhibition

Also in October I will be showing an installation of some recent work inspired by walks along the Downland paths of Southern England. I can’t say more about it than that as details are still to be confirmed but there will be more information soon.

Land, material and memory, ongoing

Art raffle fundraiser

A postcard-sized piece of my work is in a fundraising exhibition for a very worthwhile cause.

‘Seep’ 2015, handmade paper, Indian ink, embossing. Jane Ponsford

‘Art Raffle’ fundraiser Sunday 15th March 12-5pm at White Conduit Projects White Conduit Street, Islington, London, N1 9EL An ‘art raffle’ featuring postcard-sized artworks from both CSM and CCW Students and established artists. Raffle tickets are £5 and proceeds go towards the Art Action UK Residency Programme. Those who Go East commemorates the 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown in East Japan. In the four years following the disaster, many artists have ‘gone East’ into the irradiated zones to work with local communities and create artworks documenting the complex political environment in Tohoku. These artworks reflect and amplify the voices of those who question the status quo in both micro-political and global con

Those who go east

Those Who Go East aims to generate discourses that explore the social impact of our dependence on nuclear energy – not just in Japan, but worldwide. It prompts us to consider the global significance of the Fukushima meltdown, and to discuss ways in which visual cultures can influence the way in which we collectively make social and political decisions. Artists and speakers include: Haruka Komori and Natsumi Seo Chris Wainwright The Otolith Group Kaori Homma Kaya Hanasaki For more information please visit: Art Action UK: http://www.artactionuk.org

Review of Selected 2014 on Helen Terry’s blog

I came across a lovely blog post about the exhibitions which are part of this year’s Stroud International Textiles events.

‘I drove 150 miles to Gloucestershire in the rain on Friday to see what I could of the SITSelect exhibitions. My sat nav guided me up the steepest, narrowest lane with heart-stoppingly beautiful views (when I dared to look) to Newark Park. I read the advice to not use your sat nav only after that little adventure, once I…..’

See the rest of Helen Terry’s post here on her beautiful blog.

Selected at Newark Park

Newark Park is a lovely, quirky house set high above and overlooking a valley. Work for the exhibition is infiltrated into the indoor and outdoor spaces in such a way that sometimes it is difficult to work out if it is part of the exhibition or is always here. The last owners of the house collected all sorts of objects and the work in ‘Selected’ often sets up a dialogue with them.

‘A landscape in ten parts’ is placed up on the top floor in a long gallery overlooking the spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. It’s interesting for me to see the work in situ and compare it to how it looks set in a neutral background. This is part of the process that I really enjoy; the beginning of the conversation that objects have with their surroundings.

A landscape in ten parts – Jane Ponsford

A landscape in ten parts, detail – Jane Ponsford

The artists and makers showing as part of this exhibition show a real range of different approaches to making work in relation to Newark Park. I’ll show some of their work in another post but looking at photos is no substitute for visiting in person.

Website for Newark Park, National Trust : www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newark-park/

‘A landscape in ten parts’

I wrote in an earlier post about my interest in collecting pigments, stains and impressions from the landscape and the materials of particular places. These traces and the process of collecting them shape the form of pieces of work as well as providing the colours that I use.

When I’m collecting materials towards some work I frequently come back with pockets full of bags of clay or sand or chalk. These samples end up in jars with strips of paper tests to show the colours derived from them. This collecting and classifying urge shows itself in the work that I make which often takes the form of accumulations of cast paper shapes. Process and material are different ends of the same thing in my work. I find it extraordinarily difficult to think about or plan new work without material in my hands but I also need a process or framework of approach to be able to make. Working in relation to the landscape gives me both matter and method.

For the work that is going to be shown at Newark Park I was very interested to be able to respond both to the surrounding outdoor landscape but also to the indoor ‘landscape’ of the house where objects placed in relation to each other form a connection.

The photo was taken in my studio while I was finishing things off last week. I don’t want to show whole pieces of work yet before they have arrived at Newark Park but I am pleased to see the way that individual parts work, overlapped with others.

Countdown to ‘Selected at Newark Park’

In the next few days I’m going to be packing up my work for ‘Selected at Newark Park’ which opens to the public on 23 April. The exhibition is part of Stroud International Textiles’ annual Festival which this year includes various exhibitions, a symposium and a local artists studio trail. More information can be found here: Stroud International Textiles.

There are two beautiful e-brochures, one for the exhibitions, workshops and symposium and one for the trail. Link here.

Artists and makers in ‘Selected at Newark Park’:

Mary Butcher, Caroline Bartlett, Lucy Birtles, Moira Buckley, Jilly Cobbe, Jennifer Collier, Francesca Chalk, Gaynor Dowling, Tara Downs, Ruth Dresman, Susan Early, Caren Garfen, Eleanor Glover, Anna Glasbrook, Matthew Harris, Sue Hartree, Annie Hewett, Annie Hutchinson, Zoe Hillyard, Jo Lovelock, Katharine Morling, Morag MacPherson, Malcolm Martin, Plum Neasmith, Jane Ponsford, Penny Prince, Sue Rae, Bart Sabel, Anthea Walsh, Sasha Wardell, Camilla Ward, Laura Youngson Coll.

Exhibition open: Wednesday 23 April – Sunday 8 June Wednesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays 11am – 5pm closed Mondays & Tuesdays, except Bank Holidays

Newark Park, Ozleworth, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire GL12 7PZ

New work

Jane Ponsford, A landscape in ten parts, 2012 - 13, detail

Jane Ponsford, A landscape in ten parts, 2013 – 14, detail

I’m looking forward to showing some recent work at ‘Selected at Newark Park’ in April. ‘A landscape in ten parts’ is based on material from research trips and walks in different parts of England over the last few years. It is a celebration of the receptive nature of paper in collecting traces and impressions and makes use of pigments found in the landscape, chalk, clay, coal and natural dyes. The form of the work reflects the repetitive processes involved in collecting. Walking has become an essential part of my practice and I hope the work shows something of the meditative and calm nature of the experience of walking, collecting and serendipitous discovery that inspired it.

The pigments and materials that have fed into this work have come from places as far-flung as the Medway and Kings Wood in Kent and Teesdale in County Durham.

Selected at Newark Park

Newark Park
Ozleworth
Wotton-under-Edge
Gloucestershire
GL12 7PZ

www.sitselect.org/
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newark-park/things-to-see-and-do/events/

Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition

OVER 100 ARTWORKS BY OVER 100 MEMBERS
19-20 July 1-5pm, Preview Thursday 18 July 6-8.30pm
Artists and curators in dialogue, Saturday 20 July 4-5pm

Exhibiting Members: Cos Ahmet, Jane Archer, Phil Baird, Ros Barker, Sharon Beavan, Molly Behagg, Axel Bottenberg, Miranda Boulton, Sasha Bowles, Jo Brown, Deborah Burnstone, Sandy Campbell, Isabela Castelan, Andrea Coltman, Stephanie Conway, Emma Cousin, Amelia Critchlow, Julia Miranda, Julia Davenne, Rosalind Davis, Suzanne de Emmony, Etienne de Villiers, Ruth Dent, James Devlin, Elizabeth Dismorr, Sarah Drake, David Edmond, Alex Evans, Simon Fell, Sarah Filmer, Roisin Fogarty, Tina Francis, Bettina Fung, Hannah Futers, Cathy Gale, Pippa Gatty, Melissa Gibbs, Julia Hamilton, Kirsty Harris, Hayley Harrison, Genevieve Hatton-Brown, Henry/Bragg, Denise Hickey, Sam Hodge, Jonathan Hood, Lauri Hopkins, W.M. Hudson, Bridget H Jackson, Catherine Jacobs, Pauline Lane, Joanna Layla, Jane Lawson, Fernando Leon-Guiu, Karolina Magnusson Murray, Oskar Marchock, Julia Menzies, Faza Merajdin, Jennie Merrell, Diane Mikula, Marion Mitchell, Laura Moreton-Griffiths, Kate Murdoch, Kate Murray-Browne, John Myers, Radka Myslikova, Michaela Nettell, Olabisi Onisemo, Edward Parsons Brown, Elspeth Penfold, Charley Peters, Irene Polites, Jane Ponsford, Steven Porter, Chantal Powell, Sarah Praill, Máire Quinn, Shelley Rae, Ritva Raitsalo, Victoria Rance, Andre Ritins, Ana Ruepp, Julia Russell, Wendy Saunders, Christabel Scott Anderson, Timothy Shepard, Lindsay Simons, Katie Sims, Hannah Slater, Jayne Anita Smith, Lisa Snook, Donna Snyman, Lucy Soni, Jennifer Talbot, Annabel Tilley, Dina Varpahovsky, Pandora Vaughan, Judith Walker, Binita Wallia, Frances Walsh, Charmaine Watkiss, Ruth Weinberg, Tisna Westerhof, Rachel Wilberforce, Bernice Wilson, Robert Worley, Carol Wyss, Claire Yspol.

‘Tonight I’ve had any cynicism that was setting in about the capital’s art scene, charmed out of me at two thoroughly fantastic exhibitions. The first: organised by a couple of ladies who under the name of @ZeitgeistAP are positively shaping the art world into something
A) more accessible B) more realistic and yet C) invariably vibrant. This is the right kind of innovation and boy is it refreshing. An antidote to the Royal Academy show’ Rachel Guthrie

Short but sweet treasure trove exhibition of works under £150.

Zeitgeist Arts Projects, ASC Studios Entrance 2, Bond House, Goodwood Road, London SE14 6BL

http://www.artofengland.uk.com/exhibitions/zeitgeist-summer-exhibition/