Posts by sfletcher

Rachel Goodyear in conversation with Dr. Catriona McAra

Thurs 27th Oct 5.30 – 7pm

New Adelphi Studio Theatre, Salford

University of Salford Art Collection is delighted to host an in conversation event between artist Rachel Goodyear and writer and curator Dr Catriona McAra, chaired by Assistant Curator Stephanie Fletcher.

Having written a short essay to accompany the presentation of Stirrings at the Grundy Art Gallery in Spring, Catriona will dive deeper into Rachel’s new work, discussing themes of feminism, surrealism, and the human-animal psyche.

Read more about Stirrings and find Catriona’s text here.

This event is part of a programme of activity accompanying Stirrings Rachel’s first major solo exhibition in Salford, at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. More details here.

The exhibition was co-commissioned by the University of Salford Art Collection and the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool.

Book your free tickets here on Eventbrite

Salford Museum & Art Gallery and University of Salford Art Collection present:

Rachel Goodyear: Stirrings
15 July 2022 – 26 February 2023
Salford Museum & Art Gallery

This summer Salford Museum & Art Gallery in partnership with the University of Salford Art Collection will host solo exhibition Stirrings by the internationally recognised, Salford-based artist Rachel Goodyear. Co-commissioned by University of Salford Art Collection and Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, this is the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Salford. Following the acclaimed launch at the Grundy Art Gallery in spring 2022, we’re delighted to now bring the exhibition ‘home’. Rachel is based at Islington Mill studios in Salford, and is now a co-director and strong advocate for the wider artist community across the city.

Lindsay Taylor, Curator of the University of Salford Art Collection says:

“This exhibition is a kind of homecoming for Rachel.  Her work has rightly been recognised nationally and internationally and this is a long overdue solo show in the city she has been committed to for over 20 years.  Through the co-commission process Rachel has been able develop an exciting new body of work – experimenting with both scale and ambition. This is exactly what the University Art Collection aims to do – through working in partnership to support artists in our city to be bold and courageous, and to make new work for the Collection that tells a story of the world we live in now.”

Over her career Rachel has retained a core commitment to the act of drawing, as well as the expansion of drawing as a medium. Throughout her practice, her drawings have found their way onto bus tickets, diary pages and envelopes, as well as onto more conventional sources of paper; while her experiments with drawing as a form have seen her works take shape as sculpture, animation, performance and installation. For Stirrings, Rachel has experimented with scale, making her largest and most detailed drawing to date. With heightened detail, bodies contort, a wolf-pack is tangled into a single entity of snarls and fur and figures explore sensations that hold an ambiguous balance of pleasure and discomfort. The exhibition also includes a new animation exploring structure, space and sound. With nods to mythological journeys into the Underworld, Dante’s levels of Hell and our continuous scrolling through social media, Hole takes the form of a never-ending descent. With a specially commissioned soundtrack by Matt Wand, Goodyear’s frozen moments are locked in time to be repeated forever.

Selected works from the exhibition will be jointly acquired into the permanent collections of the Grundy Art Gallery and the University of Salford Art Collection.

Rachel Goodyear comments:

“There are so many aspects of this commission that have been very special for both me and my practice.

It has given me the opportunity to push the boundaries of my drawings – exploring a larger and more immersive scale than ever before – whilst realising and producing the animation Hole which has been a vision running through my mind for a number of years. It has been so meaningful to produce this exhibition with the collections, curators, collaborators and writers who have all been a part of my 20+ year journey as an artist at different points over the years.

It is incredible to have the support to create such significant new works, and also for them to be showcased in the city where they were created and the place where I have grown both as an artist and a person.”

Claire Corrin, Exhibitions Manager at Salford Museum & Art Gallery says:

“We are delighted to be working with Rachel, the University Art Collection and the Grundy Art Gallery to bring Stirrings to Salford Museum & Art Gallery. It is really important for us to promote Salford based artists and display high quality contemporary art, and we are excited to be showing work by a national and internationally recognised artist who is based in our city.”

A specially commissioned text by  Dr. Catriona McAra accompanies the exhibition.

Stirrings runs from 15th July at Salford Museum & Art Gallery, and is free to visit – plan your trip here. An accompanying programme of events will be announced soon.

Our outgoing Digital Content and Engagement Officer, Alistair Small, offers some reflections on the collection’s digitisation project and new online catalogue.

I’m now coming to the end of my time working with the University of Salford Art Collection as Digital Content and Engagement Officer. Since last September we’ve seen a step-change in the accessibility of the University’s collection, facilitated by a move to a new, purpose-built Art Store in the heart of the campus and our growing Online Catalogue.

Through this project, we’ve been able to open up opportunities for engagement with the collection in both online and real space, and lay the foundations for a collection that is accessible to all, and used by students, staff and the wider community. Our Socially Engaged Photographer in Residence – Gwen Riley Jones – has recently facilitated the first visits to our new store, with Salford Youth Council and Action for Conservation. These visits prompted enthusiastic and heated debates around the definitions of art and how it can function in wider society and hit home the importance of viewing works in person. Ahead of the visits, both groups were invited to use the Online Catalogue to browse and select works to then view in person in the stores, giving them agency over the visit. These are exactly the kinds of interactions we hoped to facilitate through this project: using digital platforms as a point of entry to the collection and to generate interest in and engagement with our work, and with art and visual culture more generally.

Moreover, collections are holders and producers of cultural heritage and making them visible is crucial in opening up critical dialogues around collecting practices and institutional practices. It is hoped that the online collection will support the work and research of students and staff across the University, particularly around the creation of cultural narratives and institutional practices: what’s collected and what’s left out, and how does this influence definitions of culture, and historical narratives?

The practicalities of digitising a large number of artworks and creating a framework in which to show them has required a lot of collaboration – with photographers, web developers and our colleagues in the Archive and Library. There’s so much variation in the collection both in terms of medium (with works ranging from prints and drawings to performance objects and Augmented Reality installations) and in terms of the amount of contextual information held by the University – particularly with works from the collection’s early days. This has facilitated many conversations about what it means to represent a work online, and what risks being lost through this representation. The digitisation process can also elevate the works in the collection. I’ve found it particularly satisfying to make visible works which are otherwise hidden in drawers and plan chests or haven’t been on public display for years.

Digital photography also allows new details to emerge and for works to be studied in greater detail – for example in the below Self-Portrait by Albert Adams: the detail can reveal brush strokes and movement that show the painter’s process and technique – his creative process frozen in time, his hand made present.

The digitisation process has also opened up the possibility of drawing new connections between works, offered by the ability to position disparate works together, side-by-side within a digital, flat space. The catalogue home page also randomly regenerates the order of works, creating new and previously unexplored comparisons, and generating visual connections between works.

To date we have made over 200 works from the collection available to view online, and we’re uploading new works every week. There’s over 800 artworks in the collection, not to mention the various studio objects and documents in its care.

Moving forward, the collection – both in its online and physical spaces – will be a site of activity, with new tools allowing users to curate their selections further, and there’s a lot of potential for residencies working with the collection, for artists and researchers alike.

Ahead of our artist tours this weekend (Sat 2nd) of The Storm Cone – an augmented reality app by Laura Daly, which explores the site of the former bandstand in Peel Park – we share a guest post by University Archivist Alexandra Mitchell. The unique collection of material in the University’s Brass Band Archives was one of the early inspirations for the project – here Alex shares some selected items.

Find out more about the University Archives on their new online platform here – Salford Digital Archives

Brass bands have a long history in Salford and the North West and Laura Daly’s amazing The Storm Cone put me in mind of one of our archive collections, the Roy Newsome Brass Band Archive. The collection is a treasure trove of documents, posters, photos, publications and music scores about brass bands and brass banding in the UK. It was put together by Dr Roy Newsome, who was Head of Band Studies at the University during the 1970s and 1980s. Highlights from the collection include an almost complete run of the Brass Band News – a newspaper (which the title suggests!!) about the brass band scene which ran from 1881 to 1956. It might sound niche, but it is fantastic source for understanding the history and popularity of brass banding and how it intersected with what was going on in the wider world. It contains some fantastic adverts for instruments and clothing, as well as articles and reproduced scores. In fact, Brass Band News is just one of many serial publications, magazines or newspapers that we hold on the brass band theme.

Other popular historical items from the collection include programmes from the Brass Band Contests that were held up the road from Salford at Belle Vue, Manchester since the 19th century. The collection also includes posters from some other early organised brass band events.

There is also an array of music scores and band parts, many of which are out-of-print or rare manuscripts, which were donated to Dr Newsome by various people and bands themselves. Keeping with the Belle Vue theme, this material includes test pieces that were used in the contests as early as 1875.

Thanks to Dr Newsome’s enthusiasm and expert knowledge of brass bands music, the collection is an amazing and unique resource for anyone interested in the field. From the histories of individual brass bands and major personalities, to over 300 vinyl recordings and photograph of the brass band ‘scene’ in the 1970s and 1980s, the collection touches on all aspects of brass band culture in the UK.

26th March – 11th June 2022
at Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool

& from 15th July 2022
at Salford Museum & Art Gallery

‘Stirrings’ will be the first major solo exhibition by Rachel Goodyear in a North-West museum and art gallery. It has been co-commissioned by Grundy Art Gallery and the University of Salford Art Collection and will include new large-scale drawings and a new animation. While the animation shows Goodyear experimenting with structure and sound, the new works on paper see the artist working at a scale larger than ever before.

Over her 20-year career, Goodyear has retained a core commitment to the act of drawing, as well as a commitment to the expansion of drawing as a medium. Throughout her practice, her drawings have found their way onto bus tickets, diary pages and envelopes; as well as onto more conventional sources of paper; while her experiments with drawing as a form, have seen her works take shape as sculpture, animation, performance and installation. For this new exhibition, Goodyear has experimented with scale, making her largest and most detailed drawing to date. With heightened detail, bodies contort, a wolf-pack is tangled into a single entity of snarls and fur and figures explore sensations that hold an ambiguous balance of pleasure and discomfort.

Goodyear often describes her drawings as ‘fragments’ – like glimpses from a half remembered dream or a distorted memory – frozen in a moment. For ‘Stirrings’, alongside new works on paper, Goodyear has also developed a major new installation. With nods to mythological journeys into the Underworld, Dante’s levels of Hell and our continuous scrolling through social media, Goodyear’s animation takes the form of a never-ending descent. With a specially commissioned soundtrack by Matt Wand, Goodyear’s frozen moments are locked in time to be repeated forever.

Elements from the exhibition will be jointly acquired into the permanent collections of Grundy Art Gallery and the University of Salford Art Collection. The exhibition will also tour to Salford Museum and Art Gallery from 15 July 2022.

Rediscovering Salford: Tours of The Storm Cone and Exhibition Launch

Join us on Saturday 2 April as we celebrate the final months of Rediscovering Salford, a city-wide creative programme which highlights Salford’s parks and green spaces.

Artist Laura Daly will lead tours of her augmented reality artwork The Storm Cone in Peel Park, and you can see Lowri Evans’ new exhibition Leaves / Leaving in the Museum and meet the artist. You can also still visit the exhibition You Belong Here which runs until 19 June.

The exhibition opening is from 2:00 – 4:00pm. Please book your visit to the museum to attend. Tours of The Storm Cone will be at 12pm and 2pm and need to be booked separately.

In addition, there are monthly curator tours of the exhibition, including BSL and Audio Described sessions – plus an artist talk with Laura Daly on 19th May. For all dates, further information, and free ticket booking, visit the Salford Museum & Art Gallery ‘What’s on’ page.

You can also read more about the artists & exhibition on the project website.

In the first of a new series highlighting the work of artists in our collection, our Digital Content and Engagement Officer, Alistair Small, pays a visit to the South Manchester studio of Cecile Elstein. 

It’s the 31st of January when I visit Cecile Elstein’s home and studio, in Didsbury. On her front lawn, the first crocuses of the year are popping their heads up – ‘the first signs of Spring’ – Elstein says. Elstein was brought up in Cape Town, South Africa. She tells me that one of her childhood creative pursuits was making mud pies, perhaps an early indication of her practice and training as a sculptor. She left South Africa in 1961 with a young family, first to London – where she met and studied under the surrealist Painter-Potter Catherine Yarrow – then moving to Southampton, where she studied Printmaking and Sculpture at West Surrey College, before putting down roots in Manchester in 1977, where she lives and works to this day.   

One of the first things I notice about Cecile’s house is that it is in many ways an extension of her practice – she tells me that some of the first works she made in Manchester were made to decorate small pockets of space around the house. In her kitchen there’s a tall, thin print series occupying an otherwise underlooked section of wall, created by etching into plaster blocks. Cecile’s home is accustomed to visitors and art viewers – she’s opened up her collection to the annual Didsbury Art Trail in recent years, though Coronavirus has curtailed this since 2019. Her studio is in her garden too, though on this January day the wind is too biting to venture outside.

Whilst primarily known for her prints, Elstein’s practice has encompassed sculpture, land art, video and even inflatables – more on that later. One of her first forays into sculpture and environmental art came through a commission at Florence Trealoar School, for children with additional needs. She created an explorable sculpture in Scots Pine, working with them to create an inclusive and accessible shelter in the school garden – ‘a place for them to get away’ from the school. This work was an initial engagement with environmental art and accessible design, which would come to feature more prominently in her work. She got in touch with the school recently to see how the sculpture was holding up, only to discover it had been removed as a result of development of the school grounds into flats. This project would peak an interest in accessibility of design and the processes of working with heavy materials and with the outdoor environment, experiences which would inform later works, including ‘Tangents’, discusses below. It also created images and motifs seen in later prints works, generating creative sparks and ideas that would run through her work – we can observe similarities in form between the play sculpture and those seen in her later print series ‘Sisyphus Suite’. This sense of one work informing another is central to Elstein’s creative process, and we can see traces of one work appear in another – ‘The needs of one project often generated ideas for others’, she says.

I’d come across Elstein’s work through the University’s collection of prints linked to the Manchester Print Workshop, which was run out of the University during the 1980s. The collection holds an edition of ‘A Letter from Mrs Gould’, produced in response to challenging socioeconomic conditions in Manchester and across the UK in the early 1980s. In 1981 Elstein received an unsolicited note signed by an S.Gould, reading:

“Woman needs work urgently – cleaning & domestic work – housekeeping – gardening – handywoman – will do work of any description – hours to suit you – at a rate you can afford….”

Using found papers and materials, Elstein attempted to piece together the circumstances of Gould’s precarious situation: The twenty screen-printed layers include newspaper clippings from the time, netting from a bag of oranges (with a price tag of 50p – showing rising food prices) as well as the envelope in which the letter was received. Elstein intended the final image as a reminder of the dignity, grace and tenacity of “all women involved in real communication”. Both the letter and print make up the collection object.

In the 1980s an arts council funded project transformed her designs into pneumatic artworks which toured internationally as the UK entry for the Singapore Arts Festival, fabricated in collaboration with Terry Scales at Manchester Art and Technology Workshop. She tells me they went missing in Singapore and she hasn’t seen the work since. Titled ‘Mandarah’ it contained three panels of life size figures inserted into the structure, surrounded by sun burst designs depicting Morning, Noon and Evening – a print of ‘Noon’ was then shown as part of the 1986 Bradford Print Biennale. The audience could walk through this and view the colour as the natural light enveloped the structure.

From 1993-1996, Elstein undertook an MA in Art as Environment at Manchester Metropolitan University (now Manchester School of Art) enriching an interest in landscape and environment as both subject and medium for her practice. Her site-specific 1997 sculpture ‘Tangents or a Load of Rope’, at Wimpole Hall Gardens in Cambridgeshire, connected this interest with her research into accessible environments and empathy in design, develop through her MA research. The work, made up of ropes, tensioned wires and metal rings structured and planted into the ground, was an interactive installation designed to become ‘a meeting place and a focus for looking, listening and conversation’ – grass would continue to grow through the sculpture and people would be encouraged to explore it. Elstein says, “I did not work with the manipulation of mass, which traditionally denotes permanence and certainty. Instead, I considered open form, demarcated space, displayed volumes, nodal points and changing perspectives.” The work is documented in the video ‘Tangents: A Mindscape in a Landscape’, made by Maureen Kendal; visitors play amongst the rope, some climbing around or plaiting the ropes, others finding quiet contemplation. The sculpture is presented in contrast to the then new development of Castlefield, Manchester. 

Elstein’s advocacy for accessibility in design and creativity was motivated by personal experience – in 1985 her son Paul was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis “I was witness to the supreme creativity with which he adapted to physical disability from 1985 until his death in 1998.” Paul’s story is inspirational for Cecile’s wider practice, with those who supported him honoured through her portrait series, ‘Paul’s People’. I’m struck by how generous Cecile is in her practice, and the deeply personal nature of her work. She tells me her work simply reflects her life experiences, her practice is a series of observations of what’s happening around her and that the reason for making a particular work at a particular may not truly be known until some time later, with works taking on new meanings in new contexts. For her, the creative process is about a capturing the essence of a moment, whether through observation or introspection.

Such an example is the Sisyphus Suite (1978-80), a visualisation of Albert Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus in 8 prints. Cecile tells me she initially made these works in a period of upheaval, after arriving in Manchester having relocated several times. For her they were a means to engage the creative process during this period of transition. In the first print, she writes: ‘Clarity arises from the knowledge of that moment when a relationship with something other than that which might be perceived in the outer world, is realised, the moment when the inner world might manifest itself through the medium of ink and paper.’ We discuss how relevant Camus’ Sisyphus became for many during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how she found herself returning to that message.

Cecile Elstein’s practice merges the personal with the universal and taps into the essence of why artists produce work. For her, it’s an instinctive act to capture and document, and then revisit these moments in new contexts and from new perspectives. In Cecile’s own words, ‘sometimes the true meaning of a work doesn’t become clear until much, much later’ …

Cecile Elstein is a printmaker, sculptor and environmental artist based in Didsbury South Manchester.

https://www.cecileelstein.com/

In addition to Cecile’s work The University of Salford Art Collection holds works by a number of artists associated with the Manchester Print Workshop, founded by Kip Gresham in Manchester in 1975, moving to the University of Salford after a few years – where it ran until the mid 1980s.

We are proud to announce today that after an ongoing programme of digitisation, our online catalogue launches today in beta mode, ready to be browsed and explored – click here to visit.

Our new digital catalogue makes the work in our collection more accessible, useful, and enjoyable for all. The catalogue provides new ways of exploring the work in the collection, allowing you to search directly, browse by medium and collecting strand, and offers selected curations – as well as enjoying a randomly generated selection on the homepage.

Starting with over two hundred entries, the catalogue will be added to and expanded over the coming months, seeing additional artworks and information added, special curations, additional keyword search functionality, and more.

We hope that this new platform increases access to the work in the university collection beyond what has previously been capable, and with this increase, we hope to hear your thoughts and feedback not only about the catalogue itself, but the artworks within the collection, the connections and links between them, and the work we do as a collection team.

Assistant Curator, Stephanie Fletcher, said: “The University art collection exists as a catalyst: for enriching student experience, supporting artist and sector development, piloting cross-discipline collaborations, and working closely with key industry partners – as well as being a resource for enjoyment and inspiration for all. Our work reaches audiences through a range of events, exhibitions, residencies, live projects and more – this online catalogue enables us to broaden and deepen that reach, especially as part of our increased digital offer. We welcome enquiries about potential new collaborations, research, and engagement opportunities”.

Making this new catalogue available for all has been an ongoing project that would not have been made possible without the hard work of freelance Digital Content & Engagement Officer Alistair Small & Art Collection team Graduate Associate Rowan Pritchard; with additional special thanks to: University of Salford Web Manager Mark Sanders, Student Project Assistant Yanxi Wu, Simon Critchley from Museum Photography North West, our partners at Open Eye Gallery, and further University colleagues.

Any feedback? We’d love to hear your thoughts about the new catalogue. Email us here: artcollection.salford.ac.uk or find us on social media.

First feature: Albert Adams

In coming months we’ll feature highlights and themed curations from the catalogue. We launch with a focus on the Albert Adams special collection, to coincide with Albert Adams: In Context and online, half-day symposium taking place on the 9^th of March, 1-5pm. The University holds a significant collection of prints, paintings and studio objects by the South African Expressionist, and this study day allows us to shine a light on the little-known artist, and the significance and legacy of his work. You can browse Albert Adams’ work on the digital catalogue under the ‘Special Collection’ page; the high-quality images allowing an up-close look at the intricacy of his work for the first time.

Coming soon: new art store facility on campus

Coinciding with the digitisation project, the team have also been busy behind the scenes moving the Collection to a brand-new industry-standard artwork storage facility on Peel Park campus. The space brings together the entire collection in one place alongside associated archives, resources, equipment and other materials. A new visitor workspace will allow students, staff and researchers to work more closely with the collection and will be open for bookable visits from late Spring.

Alongside, and as part of the digitisation programme and new store move, the team have also appointed Gwen Riley Jones as Artist-In-Residence for a year with the collection (in partnership with Open Eye Gallery). Gwen will be using socially engaged practice to engage local young people in conversations around art, culture, history, identity and society, using the Collection as inspiration. Read more about Gwen’s work here.

Associate Chief Operating Officer, John McCarthy, said: “The opportunity over the last year to create a single location for our collection, rather than a number of disparate stores across the campus, has allowed us to not only create a space that allows staff, students and visitors to enjoy our collection but it has presented an opportunity to create a dedicated space for workshops about our collection and much more.

“We have also taken the opportunity as we relocated the work to begin a major digitization of our collection allowing us to share with a wider public for their interest and enjoyment.”

Announcing Albert Adams: In Context
Online Symposium | Wed 9^th March, 1 pm – 5 pm | Book Tickets Here

Book now for free tickets to the Albert Adams: In Context symposium, led by Dr. Alice Correia.
Internationally renowned curators, art historians and researchers delve into the context in which Albert Adams lived and worked.

We are delighted to announce the Albert Adams: In Context Symposium will take place on the 9^th of March 2022. Free tickets can now be booked ahead of the half-day, online symposium in which a panel of internationally renowned curators, art historians and researchers shall discuss themes around the life and work of London-based South African expressionist artist Albert Adams (1929-2006).

Hosted by Dr. Alice Correia, the study day will touch on a range of topics from self-portraiture, post-war painting, expressionist printmaking, Black modernism, masculinity and sexuality, and the South African artistic community in London.

Who was Albert Adams?

Having been denied access to formal arts education in South Africa due to apartheid policy, Adams moved to London in 1953 to undertake a scholarship at the Slade School of Art. 

 Much of Adams’ work focused on political oppression and abuse of power, from imprisonment of activist friends and relatives to more recent conflicts and human rights violations in Darfur and Abu Ghraib. Through an ongoing series of self-portraits, Adams also continually explored his own sense of identity. 

Within the Collection, we hold a significant body of Albert Adam’s prints, paintings, and studio objects both purchased and generously donated by Adam’s surviving partner Edward (Ted) Glennon in 2012, with support from the Art Fund.

Read more about Albert and the special collection here.

Speakers Announced:

Confirmed speakers include: Elena Crippa (Tate Britain), Alice Correia (independent art historian), Christine Eyene (University of Central Lancashire), Greg Salter (University of Birmingham) and Allan Walker (University of Salford).

Plus – we will be releasing new poetry written in response to Adam’s work by Professor Jackie Kay CBE, former Chancellor and writer-in-residence at the University of Salford.

Additionally, as part of our ongoing digitisation project, later this month we will be launching our online digital catalogue, making the work in our collection available for all to access online. Ahead of the symposium, we shall be focusing on Adam’s work, showcasing pieces in our collection both as part of the catalogue and on social media. Stay tuned for more information about the digital catalogue launch.

Book your tickets now via Eventbrite to secure your space at the symposium

#AlbertAdamsInContext
#PMCSupports

“This half-day workshop will be an incredible opportunity to learn more about the little-known artist Albert Adams. During his lifetime, Adams’ work was overlooked by the art-world establishment; we will be joined by a group of pre-eminent art historians and curators, who will reflect on the various contexts in which he lived and worked: We’ll discuss Adams’ experience of Apartheid South Africa; his identity as a gay, black man in London during the 1950s and 60s; as well as his engagement with modernist painting and printmaking techniques. We look forward to welcoming everyone for an afternoon of lively and collaborative discussions” – Dr Alice Correia

“We are honoured to hold one of the largest existing archives of Adam’s work, and hope this study day brings his work the wider recognition and audiences it deserves” -Stephanie Fletcher, Assistant Curator, University of Salford Art Collection

The Albert Adams: In Context symposium and exhibition is convened by Dr Alice Correia, in collaboration with the University of Salford Art Collection. 
 

Supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and by a donor funded Salford Advantage Grant. 

The Albert Adams collection is presented by Edward Glennon through the Art Fund.

January’s Artwork of the Month is ‘Wrinkled Texture 027’ (2015) by Wu Chi-Tsung, chosen by our Socially Engaged Photographer-in-Residence, Gwen Riley Jones.

Chi-Tsung is concerned with the poetics of nature and the intersection of traditional art forms and contemporary technology. ‘Wrinkled Texture 027’ re-interprets traditional Chinese landscape painting (Shan Shui).

Exploring the textures of mountain terrains, the flows of rivers and water, or celebrating the quiet beauty found in nature, Shan Shui paintings traditionally offer a subjective view of nature, while demonstrating the artist’s calligraphic skill.

In ‘Wrinkled Texture’, Chi-Tsung takes an innovative approach to Shan Shui, by working with the photographic ‘cyanotype’ technique. Covered in photosensitive solutions, rice paper sheets were folded and reshaped while being exposed to sunlight for thirty minutes. After the paper was washed, the creases, lines and folds were fixed as an abstract image of blue hues and textures, akin to mountain precipices and cliffs. Substituting ink washes and calligraphic lines with experimental photographic techniques, the artist reinterprets the imaginary landscapes of ancient Chinese culture.

This artwork has inspired our artist in residence, Gwen Riley Jones, to use nature and plant based photographic techniques to make images that explore plant-based solutions to climate change. Gwen will work with a group of young people, experimenting using techniques such as anthotypes – a photographic method that uses photosensitive materials from plants, and the chlorophyll process to celebrate the power, beauty and usefulness of plants.