Posts by sfletcher

26th January – 6th February at Open Eye Gallery.

Ahead of the LOOK Photo Biennial 2022 this summer, our partners Open Eye Gallery have invited the University of Salford to participate in a series of Climate Labs, showcasing research projects on climate change. 

The Labs are an opportunity to consider the images we think of in relation to climate change and to question our social responsibility when it comes to reshaping this visual narrative. The Labs are organised into 5 themes: energy, materials, transport, nature, and food. Partners are invited to take over the gallery to show work in progress and talk through ideas, with a view to making academic research more understandable.

From 26 January to 6 February the theme is Energy and the University of Salford is delighted to present the exhibition Are You Living Comfortably? by McCoy Wynne.

Exhibition Dates: 26th January – 6th February at Open Eye Gallery.

Panel Discussion (online): Friday 28th January 10.30 – 11.30 – Book free tickets here!

McCoy Wynne were selected as Artists in Residence at Energy House from an open call in late 2020. During 2021, the artists regularly visited Energy House – a unique research facility on campus housing the world’s first full-sized, two bedroom, brick built terraced house – built inside an environmentally controllable chamber which can replicate snow, rain, temperature, and other conditions. Observing and recording a research project into energy-efficiency retrofitting, the artists have produced a body of work that explores the facilities, experiments and tests taking place – showing processes not normally visible to the public. Making images that combine the latest scientific research with the familiarity of our own homes, the project also importantly highlights small changes that we can all make to reduce energy waste.

The exhibition Are You Living Comfortably? presents the finished artworks, both as photographs and as an ‘advertising’ brochure, alongside documentary photography including that of the construction of Energy House 2, due to open in early Spring 2022. We are also delighted to present a new poem in response to Energy House by Professor Jackie Kay, poet, novelist and former Chancellor, and Writer in Residence at the University of Salford. Following the exhibition, the artworks will be on display on campus as part of the University Art Collection.

In addition both the artists and Dr Richard Fitton will be participating in an online panel discussion: Energy House: Are You Living Comfortably? on Fri 28th Jan, 10.30 – 11.30 (Energy House: Are You Living Comfortably? Tickets, Fri 28 Jan 2022 at 10:30 | Eventbrite)

The event will ask how can artists, scientists, agencies, and politicians come together to support individuals and communities living in Victorian housing stock to become more energy efficient? The panel includes: Steve Rotherham, Metro Mayor, Liverpool City Region; Stephanie Wynne and Steve McCoy, Photographers in Residence, Energy House; Dr Richard Fitton, Reader in Energy Performance of Buildings, Energy House, University of Salford; Jon Hutchinson, Programme Director, Groundwork Cheshire, Lancashire, Merseyside. Moderated by Sarah Fisher, Director, Open Eye Gallery.

Ahead of the exhibition’s launch, our Curator Lindsay Taylor caught up with Stephanie Wynne, Steve McCoy, and Dr. Richard Fitton to discuss this unique collaboration and the experimental approach to the residency, using photographic practices to translate the important research undertaken through Energy House, and hear plans for the newly constructed Energy House 2 project.

Socially Engaged Photographer in Residence – what will I be doing?

During my residency I will be working with groups of young people in Salford to provide access to the collection. As part of this process, we will be thinking critically about why University of Salford Art Collection exists and what is its purpose?

We will ask questions, starting with:

· How are the collections are used, managed and cared for?

· Who they are for?

· What stories can they tell?

· How can we think differently about the collections?

And

· Why are we collecting these items anyway?

· Whose voice will we hear?

· And who is left silent?

· Which history will be told?

A member of one of the groups I have been working told me ‘I’m not interested in art but would be if it made sense to me – the way its presented is like a barrier and I don’t know about art.’ What can we do to get rid of, or reduce these barriers for our audiences? Where do they come from? How are they created? I will speak more about the inspiring and insightful groups I am working with in my next post.

Over the past couple of months, I have been busy researching the collection and helping with the art store move. It has been such a treat to get to spend time getting to know the collections and to have special time to think about the work. Now that we have moved into the new art store, physical access to the collection is greatly improved and as the digitisation project develops, the collections will become much more accessible digitally as well.

One thing we have been discussing as a team is how different versions of artworks can really change how you view them. What we have found interesting is that one way of looking doesn’t necessarily give more meaning than another. We might have one experience of seeing an artwork in real life, and a different experience viewing a high-resolution professional image of the same artwork – sometimes these images can show us details about the work that we just can’t see with the naked eye. So I will be thinking about this as I share the artworks with the groups I am working with, and I will make sure we can explore both ways of looking.

The next stage of my research is to think about how the art collection might resonate with the people we want to share it with.

As I have been getting to know groups in Salford, a local Youth Worker, Martyn Shaw told me that according to an independent poll, the top three issues for Young People in Salford are domestic abuse, child poverty and covid-19. In Manchester the top issues are University fees and environmental issues. How can an art collection help in addressing issues like these?

Taking these questions in to consideration, while I have been researching the art collection I have taken ‘environment’ as a theme. I found myself very drawn to artworks involving water, but I am thinking about this theme broadly, is in terms of the physical environments in which we inhabit, the way they make us feel, and how we can make them work better for us, society and the planet.

The artworks that have really inspired me so far are In Limbo, by Mandy Payne, Forget Mermaids, by Sarah Hardacre, Homage to the Rain, by Antony Barkworth-Knight and City DNA Salford/Manchester, by Lu Xinjian.

I’ll share more about how we will be sharing these and other artworks with the brilliant groups of young people I am working with, next time.

As part of UK Disability History Month, we’ve taken some time to reflect on our practices and consider how to better embed accessibility and inclusion into the core of our future work – with guidance from excellent resources such as Shape Arts and the University’s own Inclusive Communications Toolkit.

The team is committed to both increasing the diversity of artists represented in our collection and making sure our programme is more accessible to audiences, and one way we’re achieving this is through working with leading organisations such as Vital Capacities – with whom we co-commissioned video work [sound of subtitles] by Seo Hye Lee in July 2021. To launch our ‘featured partner’ blog series, Graduate Associate Rowan has taken a closer look at their work and current exhibition REVERBERATION.

Vital Capacities provides an accessible platform for digital residencies. Established by videoclub during the first UK lockdown, and designed in conjunction with artists, digital inclusion specialist, Sarah Pickthall, and website designer, Oli Pyle, Vital Capacities serves as a purpose-built platform for artists to explore and make work, and for audiences to engage with that work.

While over the course of the pandemic, the internet has become a tool of connection for so many, and digital alternatives to in-person events have become the norm, it is easy to forget that accessibility is just as important online as it is in person. By embracing the possibilities of the digital, Vital Capacities reflects the opportunities provided by a physical residency: skill sharing, new contacts, critical development, and space, in a genuinely accessible way.

Vital Capacity’s current exhibition REVERBERATION showcases their four latest artists-in-residence, Nadine Mckenzie, …kruse, Siphenathi Mayekiso, and Rebekah Ubuntu. The thoughtful and complex work, ranging from …kruse interactive word drawings, to Siphenathi Mayekiso’s video piece rooted in poetic movement storytelling, explores the intersections of identity, experience, memory, and movement.

Thinking about the work in this exhibition, particularly with the wider context of UK Disability History Month in mind, the work seems to reflect on the ways in which we communicate; how do we communicate an emotion? A sense of something?

In …kruse’s Stumpsoft to Hungerdream, the artist uses cloud software to remix their own writing on their experience of and relationship with walks. The resulting word drawings conjure images, emotions, and relay a sense of the artist’s own experiences, despite the invented language.

Similarly, through movement, both Siphenathi Mayekiso and Nadine Mckenzie explore the incongruence between how they are perceived and their own experiences within society. The use of movement to explore these inner dialogues in both cases makes for emotive communication of something very personal.

This exploration of what it means to communicate, despite difference, and across barriers, echoes back to the previous exhibition INTERTWINED in July 2021 – featuring our  to our co-commission [sound of subtitles], 2021, by Seo Hye Lee – Still viewable here.

Seo Hye Lee’s video work, applying her own captions to archive footage pottery and craft films, explores how the way in which we communicate sound through closed captioning can vary the meaning and impact of the footage – and discovers a ‘found poetry’ in subtitling texts. The work in REVERBERATION expands on these notions of what it means to communicate, and how we perceive our experiences, the experiences of others, and the world around us.

These contemplations on communication cast a spotlight on the important work Vital Capacities is doing. In making a platform with a holistic approach to accessibility at its core, Vital Capacities centers inclusive communication for both artists and audiences – for example providing audio transcripts and image descriptions – in both the website and the artwork generated from the residents themselves.

Vital Capacities serves as a prime example of good practice, and how accessibility can be ingrained into a creative programme. As we reflect on our own practices and programme for the year ahead, we see Vital Capacities as a benchmark of what inclusivity can be.

As part of our ongoing digitisation project, last week we began photographing the works in the Collection to make more of our artwork accessible online. One of the first pieces we recorded during this process was Ma Qiusha’s Fog Series.

At a glance, the series of panels appear monochromatic; a dark background interrupted only by thin white lines. Even in person, any further details are subtle. When captured through photography, however, the intricacies of this work are beautifully illuminated. Created using lace curtains, Ma Qiusha uses these as a stencil to apply dark paint to the surface. The white lines, which at first appear almost like contrails, inscribed into the surface of the work, in fact, are the gaps between the paint, revealing the pale foundation underneath.

These fine details emerge in the digital photographs of the work, exposing the subtle patterns of the lace curtains. The delicate, and familiar domestic patterns are intriguing. With the high resolution of the digital images, I am drawn to zoom in and inspect the details, the way the pattern is preserved in the work’s surface, only to be interrupted by the sharp white gaps of the paper. The harsh white and delicate darks juxtaposing each other.

The ideas behind Ma Qiusha’s work are echoed in these contrasts as she explores the suppressed emotions experienced by many of her generation, as they seek to balance familial duties with a wish for personal freedom.

With thanks to Museums Photography North West.

December 2021

The University of Salford Art Collection team are offering two temporary paid roles, part-funded by the Advantage Fund. Please note, two roles are offered, however, candidates may wish to apply for both as a combined role. Please indicate on your application which role(s) you are applying for.

Key information:

– Two opportunities for two students to work together – or one combined role
– Deadline EXTENDED to: 19/12/21
– Anticipated start date: January 2022
– Full application information on the Unitemps portal

About the opportunity:

The Curatorial Assistant and Project/Marketing Assistant will support the “Albert Adams In Context” project – an exhibition and symposium celebrating our Albert Adams Archive. Adams was an artist of African/Indian heritage, and the University holds one of the largest existing collections of his work. The symposium, inspired by Adam’s work and themes, will focus on art, culture and Black history with invited experts in the field. It is set to take place in Spring 2022.

Find out more about Albert Adams and the archive/collection here.

The Curatorial role involves: research and writing about the artist, his work, and related topics; assisting exhibition curation and installation, liaising with invited speakers, and general support/involvement in the symposium.

The Project/Marketing role involves: Producing online content (including social media content, accessible formats, and posters/graphics); project promotion and communication, general support/involvement in the symposium, and evaluation.

Eligibility & applications:

– This opportunity is only available to current University of Salford students.
– Please indicate which course and level you are studying.
– Application is by CV and a brief covering letter.
– Applicants should demonstrate a clear interest in visual art, cultural studies, Black history, and/or related areas.

For full eligibility information, job description, and person specification/criteria, and to apply:
please visit the UNITEMPS portal

Application deadline: 19/12/2021
Expected start date: January 2022
Pay: £10ph for approximately 75 hours
Note: The roles average around 5-6 hours per week, or 10 full days in total over 2-3 months. We will require flexible working around key delivery dates e.g. symposium week. Exact dates and working patterns will be agreed with the successful candidate(s).

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to reduce barriers to the role.

Further information:

The Albert Adams In Context symposium is led by art historian Dr Alice Correia, in collaboration with the University of Salford Art Collection. With generous support from the Paul Mellon Centre and the Advantage Fund. Full dates and details will be announced soon (subject to change due to national covid measures).

For further information, contact Stephanie Fletcher, Assistant Curator, at artcollection@salford.ac.uk

Hi, I’m Rowan Pritchard and I’m excited to be joining the University of Salford Art Collection team as the new Graduate Associate. Having graduated from the University of Salford BA (Hons) Fine Art course this summer, I’m coming to the team with a passion for contemporary fine art, and I am delighted to be working and developing my skill set in this field, and in the vibrant creative community of Salford itself.

Joining the team at the beginning of November, my first few weeks coincided with the outset of the new store move, relocating the entire Collection to the new purpose-built store. I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding experience to kick start my work with the Art Collection – allowing me a real insight into the ‘behind the scenes’ of what working with a collection entails. Being part of this move has allowed me to gain a sense of the full scale of the Collection itself, and I’m excited to explore more of what the Collection has to offer and the different ways we can engage with it. Getting stuck straight in, it’s been interesting to begin considering the broader responsibilities of the Collection; How do we exist as part of the University? How do we serve our wider community?

I come to the Art Collection team with a background as an artist, however, during my undergraduate studies I also discovered my passion for curatorial projects, particularly as lockdown limited opportunities to exhibit traditionally. This included hosting an international open call, a digital exhibition exploring information saturation, and investigating the potential of 3D design to create bespoke artistic environments.

Now, working with the Art Collection on-site, I’m excited to gain a deeper understanding of all aspects of working alongside the collection team, and the invaluable practical experience of working with a museum collection.

As a recent graduate, bringing with me this new perspective, part of my role includes thinking about engagement; how we can support current students, and broaden the possibilities of engagement with the Collection itself. Over the past few weeks, I have also been considering our social responsibilities as a collection, and how we embed accessibility, inclusion, and environmental best practices at the core of what we do.

Outside of my role with the Collection I maintain my own artist practice and am in the process of navigating the art world as a graduate. My most recent work focuses on the positive potential of queerness and has been featured as part of TSDAPs New Graduates Catalogue, the 2021 Salford Open online, and Short Supply’s ‘Made It 2021’ Graduate Showcase, where I was honoured to be awarded the Curators Choice Award.

Looking forward to 2022, with the extension of our You Belong Here exhibition until the 19^th of June, the relaunch of the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, as well as the ongoing digitisation project, and many more projects in the works, I am excited about the year to come and to be a part of the team that is making it all happen.

Rowan Pritchard
December 2021

To celebrate #NationalTreeWeek, artist Lowri Evans reflects on recent project Leaving, a participatory public event which took place under three trees in Salford during Autumn 2021.  Read more about Leaving here. All photography by MA Socially Engaged Photography graduate Joseph Lee.

Leaving (a study of Autumn)

It went from light to dark.

It wasn’t a quick service. To work out what to write on a leaf, you need to understand through careful inquiry, what exactly you want to let go of,

In a rec ground, under a beech tree, on a dry day, with rain at the end,

In an orchard, under a quince tree, on a dry day, with damp mist,

On a uni campus, under a weeping willow tree, with freezing feet.

The trees rustled and waved, the leaves danced and fell, there were always a few leaves in my hair. There were ladybirds in my typewriter. A dog.

Eighteen conversations,

I liked the connections and turning points.

It was hard not to think about autumn, with the orange everywhere, the change in the air, as I heard about turning points.

There was quietness too, holy somehow. Some time, in the time. The shhhh of the trees.

I liked the way people talked about the trees, how fond they were of them, how much they walked by or watched them, what they got out of them.

I liked how happy the people were to get a leaf. I hope they liked being listened to.

Lowri Evans
December 2021

Each month, we will be catching up with artists we’ve been working with. This month, we catch up with Babs Smith, who was part of our 2020/21 Graduate Scholars Programme.

Hi Babs. Firstly, can you tell us a bit about your practice?

I am concerned with the translation of visceral human experiences as a means of understanding and learning from each other’s perspective. What does each subject reveal as it is explored in a different medium? Ideas form an object imbued with time, life, and emotion, our physical response to sound questioning – how does this manifest and translate to inform and deepen our understanding of seeing the unseen? 
The medium is dictated by ideas in an on-line/offline process including VR print and 3d Perspex. Collaboration with artists cross disciplinary is key, questioning assumptions, deepening research opportunities, and facilitating thinking through making. 

You were selected to be one of 6 Graduate Scholars for 2020/21. How has this programme been for you? What reflections do you have on your time on the programme, now that it’s coming to a close?

The scheme has provided a professional network of artists and curators, working in collaboration on and off the course has been both enriching and challenging, Co-Art provides a demanding environment where both artists explore new territory whilst combining skills and knowledge. No two collaborations are the same. 

Understanding institutions and galleries as an extension of my work and that curating is an art, has meant I’ve looked at the outcome differently. 

I bought VR kit, and a PC, as a way of working without limitations during lockdown, this provided an infinite studio and a new way of making in 3d this was both rewarding and challenging and is a permanent resource in my practice. 

As part of the programme, the University will be acquiring some of your work. Have you thought about what you want to give to the collection, and how this might represent your practice? What does it mean to you to have your work in a collection?

I am proposing a piece of work made in VR painting, exhibited in Augmented Reality. It explores the Anthropocene visualizing sound as man’s footprint on the earth. The work is a Co-Art, WIP piece made with a local musician. 

This represents my practice, my love of movement, technology in art and collaboration. Having this work in the collection means a lot to me personally as I am fond of Salford, it has been my second home for 4 years. Also, the experience of curating and maintaining this type of work will benefit my practice and provide a firm ground for future works. 

How has your work developed over the last 12 months? What are you currently working on / researching, etc.? What’s next for you?

Talking to Mentors and Councilors helped me to understand that my practice was driven by ideas and not process alone, an important revelation for me. Discussing my work with curators has helped me to focus on outcomes such as increasing the scale of my work.  

I am completing a commission for Smart DCC, a company that manages data from smart meters. The sculpture uses a Starling murmuration as a metaphor for the expansion and contraction of energy in the UK, made in Dichroic Perspex.  

Applying for funding is a priority and, with my mentor, developing my practice as a professional artist.

Babs Smith is an Artist based at Ebor Studios, Littleborough. She was the winner of a Graduate Scholarship on the University of Salford Art Collection Graduate Scholarship Scheme in conjunction with Castlefield Gallery Manchester. She was Winner of the People’s Choice Award at Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival. She was selected for the Neo Print Prize and the Salford Open in 2018 and has been recently nominated for a Create Art & Design Award UOS. Babs has shown work alongside the Acquired Exhibition at Salford Museum & Art Gallery and in the Superlative Artistry of Japan where her work is currently housed at Salford Museum. Her work is in the Salford Museum and Art Gallery Collection and the Salford Universities Collection. Babs has undertaken a number of public commissions and has her work housed at the National Outdoor Centre, North Wales and the Autism and Criminal Justice System, Salford. She is currently developing projects with DCC Data in Manchester and Manchester based musician Holly Phelps.

https://www.babssmithart.co.uk/ @babssmithart

Take part:
Leaving – A study of Autumn by Lowri Evans

Tues 9^th November, 2-5pm, Eccles Recreation ground
(near the Church Street entrance)
Weds 10^th Nov, 2-5pm, Ordsall Hall
(in the grounds)
Thurs 11^th Nov, 2-5pm, University of Salford campus
(at the willow tree, near Newton Building)
Just drop in

Throughout late Summer and Autumn, artist Lowri Evans has been exploring the trees of Salford – meeting with enthusiasts and experts alike along the way. Reflecting on cycles of life, death, and the act of letting go, her new project Leaving asks what we can learn from nature – and what wisdom we might share with each other.

Get involved! 

You are invited to drop by and meet Lowri under three trees in Salford and let go of something – big or small, come rain or shine. These exchanges will be transformed into artworks as part of her commission for the University of Salford Art Collection and Salford Museum & Art Gallery – part of the city-wide Rediscovering Salford project.

Free, no booking necessary, suitable for all & wheelchair accessible. Hot tea served!

Please note: event will go ahead whatever the weather – unless torrential/extreme. Wrap up warm & waterproof if you plan to pop by. Check our social media for updates!