I’m currently working out of Metal’s Southend venue, Chalkwell Hall for a fortnight, developing works towards my solo exhibition this June. You can follow my progress on my artists talking blog. Here’s some images at the half-way point:
Last Thursday night saw the opening of this exhibition, which continues from today until Sunday 23 February, so you’ll need to be quick if you want to see it.
I’ve got Watermark installed as a four channel video installation and I created Migrate: Free Movement of Workers, a drawing using rubber stamps and a projection live on Thursday night at the opening event. Take a look at my website for more pictures from the performance and don’t forget that you can download the Drawing Project publication, which includes two essays on drawing by Sophie Preston and Lewis Cornish from the website.
The Drawing Project
Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester, M15 4GB
14 – 23 February 2014
Wed-Sun 1-6pm
Artists: Jenny Core, Sophia Crilly, Hondartza Fraga, Mary Griffiths, Lesley Halliwell, Jenny Steele, Claire Weetman
During the autumn of last year I was working with two secondary schools in Halton as part of the Inspired Responses programme. Inspired Responses is a mini artist residency programme where an artist visits a secondary school, sharing their practice and passing on the skills that they use, before the teacher develops work with the students during the term. The artist returns at the end of the programme to advise on presentation of the work in an exhibition at the Brindley Gallery.
The exhibition is currently showing at The Brindley until 22 February 2014.
The after-school club at the Grange looked at a selection of my works about movement and chose the ‘One Minute’ drawings on paper to be inspired by. These works are about how people move around spaces as viewed from the top floor of a building. The new building that houses the Grange school is sleek and modern, with curving balconies and staircases where pupils pass through, much like the places in my ‘One minute’ drawings.
I’m currently making a new piece of work which will be shown at The Drawing Project at Castlefield Gallery this month. It’s a piece of work that I’ll create live on the opening night that involves projection, rubber stamping and migration. It’s all under wraps at the minute, so you’ll have to come to the event on Thursday 13 February between 6-9pm to see how it all comes together.
In the meantime, go and have a look at all of the other wonderful artists who use drawing who will also be part of the exhibition: http://thedrawingprojectnorthwest.wordpress.com/
Submissions came in from throughout the UK, and, as a nice but unexpected surprise, a number of works were submitted from abroad. Photograms from artists in the USA, Hungary and Malta have made the final selection. Claire Weetman is exhibiting a multiple exposure photogram ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here (Up)’.
The exhibition takes place at Urmson-Burnett Gallery in Salisbury from 25 January – 15 February 2014 and then tours to Silverprint in Elephant and Castle, London from 18 February – 15 March 2014.
Urmson-Burnett Gallery
34 Winchester Street, Salisbury SP1 1HG
Open: Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat 11am-5pm
Silverprint
120 London Road, London SE1 6LF.
Open: 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday
10am – 4pm on Saturdays
‘Change in real and imagined cities’ is the focus of the exhibition, so as part of my research I walked the streets of Hanley and Stoke looking for a space that I would respond to. I was looking for spaces where movement occurs, the traces of something that documents a change has taken place. At the end of my first walk I came across a number of bus shelters with signs advising that the bus stop was closed. This space, where you expect a bus to arrive that never will, intrigued me. The building of a shiny new bus station has formed part of a programme of changes to the town centre which involves pedestrianisation of public spaces and the re-flowing of traffic through the town centre. Stafford Street is one of the main thoroughfares in Hanley that has had it’s one way flow of traffic reversed, resulting in four bus shelters now being on the wrong side of the street and therefore out of use. It was this simple act of reversing the flow of traffic that I decided to make a piece of work about.
I laid ten 6m long lines cut from blue felt fabric along the centre of Stafford Street in Hanley, Stoke on Trent, cutting between other road markings. Starting at the south end of the road, which has been closed at one end for public realm improvements, I placed a blue triangle on the far end of the blue line, creating an arrow pointing uphill. Repeating this action for each of the lines resulted in a passageway of arrows all pointing north. Passers by asked questions of my photographers, a delivery driver drove his van ever so slowly alongside the arrows taking great care not to drive over them and one man asked me where the taxi rank had moved to. I started to notice where the previous road markings for the bus stops had been burnt and chipped away leaving a coarse road surface. After a short pause after reaching the top of the street I removed the arrowhead from one end of the line and placed it at the other end. Repeating this action, the flow of the drawing changed to end up with all the arrows pointing downhill. Another short pause, then repeat; turn all the arrows to face uphill, pause, turn all the arrows to face downhill. Then remove the arrows from the street and leave.
Where are we heading? That was represented by only one title: The wish list. 
We drew some diagrams, made some notes and thought about an audience. How would they experience this? As an installation to navigate through themselves, with barriers to duck under and stairs to ascend changing their viewpoint and causing them to move differently. Videos of eyes watching them from between the books. A viewing platform where they could take in the whole thing (the audience playing the part of hindsight). Shelves populated with books selected by the audience, the books obscuring the view from one path to another. Thelibrary as a performance space where dancers could tell the story of these multiple selves that we take on our journey. A movement score that uses verbs from our initial playful explorations: 
And then, we realised that our initial collaboration, starting from nothing, had become an exciting potential project combining dance and visual art. So we’re meeting again next month to play some more, only in a different library this time. Can’t have the lady in the large print aisle thinking that there’s a monthly exercise class there.
If you’re in Scarborough or Stoke this weekend, you’ll be able to see my work ‘Watermark, an intervention in four directions’. It continues to be shown as part of Small Change at Airspace Gallery in Stoke on Trent and will also feature in a set of screenings by Axisweb as part of this weekend’s Art Party Conference at the Spa in Scarborough. For more information on the Art Party Conference, click here.
AN EXHIBITION ABOUT CHANGE IN REAL AND IMAGINED CITIES
AirSpace Gallery – 8th Nov – 7th Dec, 2013
CURATED by Sevie Tsampalla
ARTISTS – Jane Lawson, Noor Nuyten, Lauren O’Grady,
Claire Weetman
COLLECTIVES – Buddleia / public works, Network Nomadic Architecture, Plus-tôt Te laat, Quartier Midi, Spectacle
“small change focuses on change and placemaking in the city, seen both as a physical and imagined entity. The project comprises a group exhibition featuring existing and new work by four artists, a public intervention and a talk. Alongside artists, collectives from the UK and beyond contribute to the exhibition with audiovisual material that documents their engagement with the public realm.
The exhibition is a response to the book Small Change by architect Nabeel Hamdi and its main idea that small-scale actions have the power to bring about positive change in urban communities. Acknowledging creative practice and collectivism as agents of change, the exhibition invites artists and collectives whose practice addresses issues of place and social change. The artists will realise new work, alongside showing existing sculptures, drawings and video’s. Audiovisual material from collectively-run projects that aim to making meaningful contributions to their environments, will open up the gallery space to various localities and concerns. “
I am exhibiting a number of works in this show, Watermark, an intervention in four directions is being shown on four monitors installed at floor level. Using the paving stones of a pedestrianised square in Istanbul as a canvas, Watermark follows prominent lines of passage across the space, linking ferry, bus and taxi terminals at the edge of the Bosphorus with the Beşiktaş area of the city.
Chatham Road (Eventually everyone had moved) traces where displaced residents of a single street had relocated and has also been selected for this show along with a first public outing for my Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here collages, which can be found gently glowing in the darkened space to the rear of the gallery.
I’m creating a new intervention as part of this exhibition titled ‘reversal of flow’ which will take place in the city centre of Stoke on Trent during the exhibition and is inspired by recent re-organisation of bus routes and one way streets in the town centre. Watch this space for documentation of the work once it has taken place.
There’s a host of other great works in this show, including Jane Lawson‘s proposals for alternative economic systems, Lauren O’Grady‘s ‘Other Possible Locations’ sculptures and the beautifully poised works of Noor Nuyten.
An exhibition in association with Arena Studios and Gallery, Thoughts and Pictures brings you a taste of the impressive work which is emerging from Liverpool’s grass roots arts scene.
Featuring: Josie Jenkins, Richard Robinson, Phil McKay, Susan Stevens, Carol Ramsay, Mike Snowdon, Lucy Wilson, Nathan Pendlebury, Helen Pendlebury, Anthony Pendlebury, Mo Peacock, Claire Weetman, Julie Dodd, Anna Ketskemety, Richard Robinson and Gareth Kemp.
This Autumn, Sir Howard and Lady Newby are delighted to host Thoughts and Pictures, an exhibition which brings together a mixture of selected artists showcasing artistic talent from across Liverpool. The featured artists are linked through the craftsmanship they use to represent their vision, presenting art, craft and illustration which displays real skill and process in its execution, whether the work is figurative or abstract.
A small percentage from the sales of work in this exhibition will be donated to Arena Studios and Gallery to support its continuing programme of events and exhibitions. For more information about Arena Studios and Gallery please visit www.arenastudiosgallery.com .
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| Works by Mike Snowden, Julie Dodd, Susan Stevens |
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| Works by Mo Peacock and Josie Jenkins |
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| Works by Nathan Pendlebury |
The Exhibition will be held at The University of Liverpool Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge, strictly by invitation only and not available for viewing at any other time. If you would like an invitation to one of the open events, please email info@claireweetman.co.uk