Posts in Highlights Category

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

Inspiring exchange between visual arts in the UK and Hong Kong
26th September – 9th October 2022

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 is a programme designed to encourage meaningful cultural exchange and to forge enduring partnerships between the UK and Hong Kong’s visual arts sectors.

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 builds on the success of the pilot festival in 2020. Working within a distributed leadership framework, 9 UK visual arts organisations have developed partnerships with 9 Hong Kong organisations, to create unique projects that encourage exchange between more than 43 artists, and over 160 students, in and from each place. This culminates publicly in an online festival from 26th September until 9th October 2022, curated and shaped by and with the partners.

We are delighted to announce the partnerships and artists are:

• Backlit Gallery (Nottingham) with HART: Millie Quick (UK), Nicholas Wong (HK), Tom Ireland (UK) 
• BOM (Birmingham) with Videotage: Ama Dogbe (UK) and Yarli Alison (HK) 
• Castlefield Gallery (Manchester) with Hong Kong Arts Centre: Omid Asadi (UK) and Karen Yu (HK), Kelly Jane Jones (UK) and Lazarus Chan (HK), John Powell Jones (UK) and Kong Kee (HK)  
• Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange (Penzance) with 1983: staff and students from Falmouth University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong  

• Open Eye Gallery, (Liverpool) and Redeye, The Photography Network with WMA: Anna Sellen (UK), Emma Lambert (UK), Lucy Saggers (UK), Seongsu Kim (UK), Melanie King (UK), Johannes Pretorius (UK), Joseph LEUNG Mong Sum (HK), Edwin CHUK Yin Man (HK), Andrew FONG Hin Nam (HK), Samson WONG Pak Hang (HK), Terry Ng (HK), Fion HUNG Chin Yan (HK), Iris Sham (HK) 

• Open School East (Margate) with Rooftop Institute: Hicham Gardarf (UK) and Morgan Wong (HK) 
• QUAD (Derby) with Blindspot Gallery: Seema Mattu (UK) and Eason Tsang Ka Wai (HK) 
• University of Salford Art Collection with 1a space: Clara and Gum @ C & G Artpartment (UK) and Mark Chung (HK) 

• University of Salford Art Collection with Per.Platform: Nicola Dale (UK) and Florence Lam (HK) with Chan Tze Woon (HK) and Darren Nixon (UK) 

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 is organised by Open Eye Gallery and University of Salford Art Collection with support from Arts Council England. 

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 contemplates how the visual arts sector can continue to be outward facing and international whilst considering the future of our planet and the need to reduce our impact on it.   Taking learning from the Covid pandemic, none of the participants have travelled to the UK or Hong Kong, instead the partners and the artists have used their creativity and ingenuity to collaborate meaningfully – from live performance with digital exchange, to postal exchange to working together in gaming or other digital environments.   

The Online Festival will include the nine new projects  as well as events, presentations and creative research that reflects the genuine collaborations between artists and supported by partner organisations.  A symposium will bring together partners, artists and external speakers to explore, investigate, and consider how remote working can, and does, lead to meaningful and sustainable partnerships, and cultural exchange. 

Peer to Peer: UK/HK 2022 has been developed by Sarah Fisher, Open Eye Gallery and Lindsay Taylor, University of Salford Art Collection, with contributions from Ying Kwok, independent curator, Hong Kong. 

peertopeerexchange.org

#PeertoPeerUKHK 

Socially Engaged Photographer Gwen Riley Jones discusses Salford Youth Council’s visit to the University of Salford Art Collection’s new store and Theirs, Yours, Ours: queer and non-binary perspectives on identity, currently on exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery until 30 September 2022.

In preparation for their visit to the art store, members of the youth council selected works that they would like to view, and why, from the online catalogue.

Harley, Member of Young Parliament for Salford, selected Happy Cat by Kip Gresham, 1981 because ‘it strikes the line of being indiscernibly abstract and being a mysterious image. It has the pansexual flag colours on it.’

Ollie, Young Mayor of Salford selected Matthew Houlding, New Olympia Building 5, 2012 because – it’s confusing – reminds me of a Rubix cube. 

During the visit the group discussed the artworks and the thoughts they provoked. Amber said, we were having a really interesting talk last week about this monkey on a tightrope – ‘you can only really go one way if you have lack of opportunities, you are stuck on this path and it’s like you are trying to fall off the path because you feel like its not for you sometimes, but you are stuck on it’.

Henrique selected Louise Giavonelli, Collar IV, 2016, and after initially viewing the painting online, was surprised about the size of the painting when he saw it, ‘you would expect that it would be a lot bigger’.

I asked Henrique if the scale of the painting changed the way he felt about it.

‘A bit different now that its smaller, I feel that now that its small, its probably trying to go for a meaning of like, it might be small but it still has meaning and impact and stuff, it still has a mystery around it, like yeah, I think that’s what its trying to go for, even though its small, and its really confusing it still has a mystery and that’s the thing, no matter how small or big, that’s part of life trying to find out the meaning of it.‘

The group also visited Theirs, Yours, Ours: queer and non-binary perspectives on identity, currently on exhibition in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery until 30 September 2022. When we arrived we spent time looking at the work together and talking about what it meant to us.

Harley: ‘the big floating ball sort of represents chaotic and combating feelings and thoughts, and the chair which is originally green and becoming purple represents someone who is going through thoughts of transitioning, someone transitioning from one gender to another. And because the chair and the ball are the same colour, these chaotic thoughts are related to the thoughts of transitioning.  

Amber: ‘Yeah the chaoticness that being human is or can be, or the thoughts that can collect when people are questioning.’ 

What do you make of those paintings on the wall, behind the chair? Harley: ‘I feel the blue and orange one could be a similar theme of transition. Amber: ‘half and half’.

Amber – can I talk about that one [SHARP – Dancing with Elvis] because its all dark and then the last two photos are light cos I’m guessing its older and looks like a retro film, I’m guessing its like the darkness of the past and going to the lightness of now and like fighting for the future in rights and progressiveness.  

They are in a closet, or they are trapped in something…

…so they are trapped inside their own home if they don’t feel safe or anything.

Harley: ‘maybe their home represents their body’.

The University of Salford Art Collection with strategic partners Castlefield Gallery are pleased to announce the names of the 2022/3 cohort of Graduate Scholars. They are: 

Suraj Adekola (MA Fine Art) 

Aidan Doyle (BA Photography)  

Joe Fowler (BA Creative Music Technology) 

Alfie Lane (BA Fine Art) 

Jacob Longcake (BA Fine Art) 

Laura Socas (BA Fine Art) 

Now in its ninth year, the Graduate Scholarship programme provides a bespoke programme of professional development and real world experiences for a small number of students in the first year after graduation, with one place also offered to an MA student.  Each award is different and tailored to the needs and ambitions of the individual.

Founder of the programme, and Curator of the University Art Collection, Lindsay Taylor says:  

Each year it gets harder to select the final candidates – this year was no exception – the quality of applications was very high indeed. This year we selected 6 artists who we feel we can collectively support.  Alongside the cash award and the professional development, coaching and mentoring offered by Castlefield Gallery we are also offering Alfie, Jacob and Laura a studio space at Islington Mill, Hot Bed Press and Paradise Works respectively.  Aidan will participate in the Lightbox Programme run by Redeye, the Photography Network.  Suraj and Joe will benefit from the networks developed through the programme. 

I’m also delighted that Laura and Alfie’s awards have been made possible through a generous donation from the Lady Monica Cockfield Memorial Trust.  

I would like to congratulate the 6 selected artists and look forward to seeing their professional careers take off over the next 12 months.

Image 1: Alfie Lane, Social Sphere (2022), print
Image 2: Jacob Longcake, Untitled (2022), sculpture
Image 3: Joe Fowler, Pilot Exhibition (2021), audio-visual Installation
Image 4: Suraj Adekola, Togetherness I (2022), painting
Image 5: Laura Socas, Shell Compact Mirror (2022), sculpture
Image 6: Aidan Doyle, Toast Rack, Blue (2021), print

Our Albert Adams project curatorial assistant, PhD student Yanxi Wu, reflects on the fascinating challenges and extraordinary discoveries on her first curatorial experience in the UK.

My connection to the Art Collection Team goes back to November 2019 when I first met Lindsay Taylor, the curator of the University of Salford Art Collection at the ‘Art and Design Education: Future Lab’ event in Shanghai. I talked to her about my desire to become a curator and that I was interested in studying in the UK. Despite the global epidemic, I still wanted to begin my doctoral studies at the University of Salford in September 2020. I was delighted when I met Lindsay again, and very happy when I successfully applied for the position of curatorial assistant in the Albert Adams project in 2022.

My role has involved researching and writing about the artist, his works, and related topics; liaising with invited speakers and general support in the preparation and running of the online symposium Albert Adams: In Context on 9 March; joining the anti-racist reading group in the Albert Adams Room on 26 April; contacting Alexandra Mitchell, the archivist of University of Salford, to find Student Union newspapers about South Africa Apartheid and arranging the loan of these to the exhibition; and, assisting exhibition curation and installation in the Clifford Whitworth library on 7 June. In addition, I have created a virtual exhibition about Adams which was made available to the students at an employability event at Media City on 25May; it was also be demonstrated to the Salford City College students and the general public on 10 June at the Cheltenham Scientist Festival 2022.    

I have felt very lucky to be able to curate an exhibition about Albert Adams. I was impressed the first time I saw his work. Delving into the history of the Expressionist Art Movement, South Africa Apartheid, and the biography of Albert Adams broadened my horizons about the way in which art crosses borders.    

In the Albert Adams project, I began to learn how to successfully curate an art exhibition. First, I needed to consider how to select suitable and representative works. After sifting through the university collection of his works, I came up with three themes: The Portrait, The Ape Series and The Prisoner Series. I reached the conclusion during this work that the curator is a bridge linking the artist and the audience. An eye-catching exhibition must have distinct artistic themes, which can trigger social discussion and stimulate people’s thinking. These themes reveal not only Adams’ technical, stylistic, and psychological development, but also his constant resistance to violence, injustice, and repression.  

Second, the process of planning an exhibition is comparable to the creation of a work of art. To arrange the exhibition site, I needed to consider the dialogue between the space and the audience. How are visitors likely to move around the space? How can I use this to control the order in which the works are seen in order to design a narrative? How can I plan to hang artworks with different sizes, frames, and shapes? All these considerations make a big difference in the quality of the exhibition. I also needed to become a translator, taking something which is primarily visual and putting it into words. I feel it is my task to awaken the audience’s interest and emotions towards the themes which were so important to Albert Adams.  

As a PhD student, furthermore, studying the possibility of online exhibitions for transnational cultural promotion, this project has given me an opportunity to explore online platforms. The virtual exhibition of Albert Adams I have designed compensates for the lack of physical space available for the display of Adams’ works. After visiting the physical exhibition, visitors can enter the virtual space to explore further the artist’s works.  

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Art Collection Team (Assistant Curator Stephanie Fletcher, Graduate Associate Rowan Pritchard, Digital Content and Engagement Officer Alistair Small) very much for their support. I am grateful to have had such a remarkable and unforgettable experience.  

Yanxi Wu 

July 2022 

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.

Rediscovering Salford has been a city-wide programme of events, highlighting and celebrating Salford’s green spaces. The programme was inspired by the launch of RHS Bridgewater gardens in May 2021. Over 2020-2022, Rediscovering Salford animated the city with new commissions, exhibitions, workshops and events. To close the project, we gathered together to share and celebrate the project across Salford Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Salford campus and Peel Park. 

Salford Rediscovered was a celebration of music, films, tours, performances, workshops and a one-time-only appearance of Madam Mort, as created by drag artist Cheddar Gorgeous. A party for anyone and everyone in Salford to enjoy.  

Anthotype workshops

During the event, I held two Anthotype workshops, based at the IGNITION Living Lab in the heart of the University of Salford Campus. I discovered this historic process when collaborating with the IGNITION project and RHS Communities exploring nature-based solutions to climate change. You can read more about my work making anthotypes with the Youth group from Action for Conservation back at Easter here. 

Anthotypes are photographic prints made using plants, in these workshops we used spinach. The spinach is blended down to create a light-sensitive emulsion which is applied to paper in several layers. Once the paper is dry, photographic transparencies, or other objects can be placed on the paper. Next, secure everything in a frame and set out in the sun. No chemicals or harmful substances are used in this process, making it safe, sustainable and climate friendly. 

Once in the sun, the sunlight fades the areas of paper not protected. Where the photograph/object blocks the sunlight, we maintain a rich green colour. When we open the frame, we find a photographic print.

However, this print is not fixed, exposure to sunlight will make the print disappear – reminding us to continually try to reduce impact we have on the planet by choosing sustainable ways to live. It is also a reminder of the power and danger of the sun. We each have a responsibility to change our behaviours to reduce the effects of climate change.

Over 50 people took part, across 2 workshops, and the groups created 30 anthotypes. We used leaves, flower petals, and images from the University of Salford Art Collection, and the Planting for the Planet exhibition showcasing the work created by the young people I worked with from Action for Conservation, currently on display at RHS Bridgewater until 27 August 2022.

Feedback

The best thing about the event, for me, was the range of people taking part and enjoying the process – aged below 10 to over the age of 70. And the feedback from the participants:  

‘I love it! Definitely abandoning chemicals for now and trying this instead…’                 

‘I really enjoyed my dabble. Have had a session with the Grandkids. A) they read how to do sun pics B) they told me what they needed paper etc C) a very enjoyable wander down the canal collecting wild stuff.  

So thanks, it kept 4 of them ranging from 6-16 occupied all of one day and half of the next with a walk. Result ?’ 

‘Thanks for this, looks great. Interesting that some light came through the leaves. 
Need to get some spinach and have a go. What sort of paper would you advise using?’ 

‘I enjoyed it.  I am definitely going to try out some stuff myself at home’ 

How to make anthotypes at home

So for any of you who would like to have a go at plant-based photography at home – here’s how to do it:

What you’ll need:

300g of spinach 

A hand blender 

2 x plastic jug 

1 x funnel 

Coffee filter papers 

A sponge brush 

Acid-free watercolour or cartridge paper 

A clip frame 

Some leaves, flowers or petals – or any other object you wish to use 

Or a photographic transparency – you can create your own using digital transfer film and a home inkjet printer 

Method: 

Step 1: Put the spinach leaves in a large plastic just and blend with a hand blender until you create a smooth liquid 

Step 2: Line the funnel with a coffee filter paper and place on the second jug. Put the spinach liquid in to the second jug and leave to drip (aprox. 30 mins) 

Step 3: Take your filtered spinach liquid and coat your paper. Allow to dry between each coat – either naturally or by carefully using a hairdryer. Coat the paper 3-4 times.  

Step 4: Assemble leaves, petals, photographic transparencies or any other flat objects you choose on the paper. 

Step 5: Secure the paper and the objects in a clip frame and leave out in direct sunlight, ideally outside, but inside a window will also work.  

Step 6: Wait. Depending on how much sun you have the images could develop in a matter of hours, or over a few days. Your image is ready when the uncovered areas of the paper – that you can see, have faded to near white. 

Step 7: Open your frame and reveal your print. 

Note: the print will fade if exposed to direct sunlight. 

Need inspiration?

Before making your own, you can visit the Planting for the Planet exhibition at RHS Bridgewater until August 27^th, where you can see the anthotypes created by the young people from Action for Conservation on display alongside a collage of photographs, ‘Our City, Our Nature’ and contributions from communities on taking climate action by greening Greater Manchester. The exhibition demonstrates the importance of plants and nature in creating resilient, healthy and beautiful spaces for people and the planet to coexist.  

Gwen Riley Jones is Socially Engaged Photographer in Residence at the University of Salford Art Collection in partnership with Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool.

Salford Rediscovered was led by the Salford Culture and Place Partnership, the University of Salford, Solid Ground, Salford City Council, Salford Museum and Art Gallery, and RHS Garden Bridgewater. Rediscovering Salford has created fantastic engagement and original commissions with Islington Mill, Paradise Works, START Creative, The Lowry and Walk the Plank. This programme is generously supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as contributions from all the project partners. 

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.

‘Art can help stop climate change because it is so effective in sending a message. It can help people process information, but most importantly it can be understood by everyone no matter who they are or where they come from. With every art piece, you learn something’ – Angélica, Action for Conservation 

The exhibition, Planting for the Planet, currently on display in the Old Potting Shed, RHS Garden Bridgewater includes works co-created by University of Salford Art Collection’s Socially Engaged Artist in Residence, Gwen Riley Jones (a joint post with Open Eye Gallery) and a group of young people from youth environment charity, Action for Conservation.  

The exhibition is developed in partnership with the RHS and IGNITION – an EU-funded project bringing together local government, universities, environmental organisations, businesses and the local community – to find new ways of using plants and nature to protect communities from increased rainfall, flooding and heatwaves. 

During the Easter break, the group met up with Gwen Riley Jones and Rosie Naylor from RHS Communities for a week of peer learning, conversation and photography. They spent time with a broad range of people, from curators to climate experts, artists exploring anger, to a group of older gardeners from the LGBT foundation who have created a Pocket Park.  

Gwen explains more about the week:

We used art and photography to help us to develop our ideas, get to know each other and think about all the different languages we can use to communicate – verbal, visual, kinaesthetic and experiential.  

Walking in gardens and by the river, we thought about flooding sites and what plants can do to reduce the risk. Liling said: ‘By planting more trees and having more green spaces this helps combat flooding, as plants take up lots of the rainwater (especially in Manchester where there’s a lot of rain!) while cleaning the air for us.’ 

On the first day, Muhammed suggested we take part in a debate. So, when we visited University of Salford Art Collection’s new Art Store, after viewing and discussing the works selected by the group we debated: ‘can art help to stop climate change’? Daniel said: ‘I think art can help us solve the climate crisis as it can raise awareness and give people a boost to make a change to their actions and help the earth. Nature can make us more resilient to the effects of climate change as it can help us to prepare for natural disasters.’ In general, the group surmised that art can help to stop climate change, alongside education and systematic change. 

We collaborated in a protest workshop with Short Supply and Pride in Ageing at Manchester Art Gallery, sharing conversations and ideas across generations. Tamar said: ‘We can use nature to make communities more resilient. We can invest in water capturing systems redistributing the H₂O to plants. We can educate more young people as well as create more greenspaces.’ 

We experimented together with plant-based photographic methods including anthotypes – a process of creating a photographic print using just spinach juice or turmeric. The group really liked this process, saying ‘it doesn’t use chemicals, it’s a more natural method. And say for turmeric for example, I don’t really use turmeric, but I probably have it laying around, so I can probably find it in my pantry and have a go at home. It’s also more sustainable than other kinds of photography because it uses all-natural materials.’ 

Gwen will be at the Salford Rediscovered event this Thursday 16^th June, delivering Anthotype workshops between 4.00-5.30pm and 6.30-7.30pm.  

The full programme is now available over on the Eventbrite page, with the full listings of all the afternoon’s activities from curator tours to live DJs. 

If you are planning on joining us on the 16th, please register for free here. 

Gwen’s anthotype workshop is delivered in partnership with RHS Garden Bridgewater & Ignition and is part of LOOK Festival 2022 with Open Eye Gallery.

Salford Rediscovered is a celebratory closing party to mark the end of the Rediscovering Salford project, a city-wide programme of events which highlight and celebrate Salford’s green spaces – inspired by the launch of RHS Bridgewater gardens.  

From 2020 – 2022, Rediscovering Salford animated the city with new commissions, exhibitions, workshops and events. As it comes to a close, we will gather to share and celebrate with a bang across Salford Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Salford campus, and Peel Park. The event will include visual art, music, films, tours, performances and more. From an exclusive appearance of ‘Madam Mort’ as created by drag artist Cheddar Gorgeous, to mouth-watering street food from GRUB, and to family-friendly workshops, this is a party for anyone and everyone. Families can enjoy workshops and fun-for-all performances from 4:00-6:30 across The Crescent with receptions, live music and a growing ‘party vibe’ from 7:00 onwards.

After all the trials and tribulations of the last few years, we can’t wait to celebrate with everyone involved in making Rediscovering Salford such a vibrant project. We do hope you can join us as we celebrate in style on the 16th.

The full programme is now available over on the Eventbrite page, with the full listings of all the afternoon’s activities from curators tours to live DJs.

If you are planning on joining us on the 16th, please register for free here.

Ahead of the 16th, we still have two final events in the Rediscovering Salford programme:

Salford Rediscovered is led by the Salford Culture and Place Partnership, the University of Salford, Solid Ground, Salford City Council, Salford Museum and Art Gallery, and RHS Garden Bridgewater. Rediscovering Salford has created fantastic engagement and original commissions with Islington Mill, Paradise Works, START Creative, The Lowry and Walk the Plank. This programme is generously supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as contributions from all the project partners.

Homage to the Rain by Antony Barkworth-Knight will be on display at RHS Garden Bridgewater from 27 May 2022 as part of new exhibition Planting for the Planet – alongside new work by local youth environment groups.

Gwen Riley Jones – Socially Engaged Photographer in Residence at the University of Salford Art Collection – has teamed up with RHS communities and youth environment charity Action for Conservation to create new artworks to demonstrate the essential relationship between people and plants to create climate resilient communities. 

A group of young people from Action for Conservation worked with Gwen to produce new pieces of artwork using experimental printmaking and photography techniques. They also visited the Collection’s new campus store to see a range of works up close, and to consider how art and visual media might help communicate environmental issues.

Alongside their own work, the group selected Homage to the Rain from the collection to add to the RHS display. The artwork was originally co-commissioned for the University of Salford Art Collection with Quays Culture, and the film premiered at Lightwaves Festival, Salford Quays, in December 2019. 

Homage to the Rain celebrates rain around the globe and explores how we react to it and how it changes our lives. Including video clips from every world continent, the film was produced via an online open call for contributors to send mobile phone clips of local rainfall. The short looped film is set to an original score by musicians Rob Turner (of Manchester jazz group Gogo Penguin), Sam Healey and Conor Miller.

“Through the prism of the phenomena of rainfall we will see how people are living around the world in 2019; what are our homes like? What environments do we live in? Our clothes, our culture, our surrounding landscape, our way of life. How is this transformed when it rains?” – Rebecca Rae-Evans, digital strategist for Homage to the Rain.  

The group of young people from Action for Conservation viewed the film and Mariam said, “I chose Antony Barkworth Knight’s Homage to the Rain, I like it because people are kind of hiding from the rain, it just shows you that people do not like rain, even though it’s very beneficial for them, they do not like it.”

The exhibition, Planting for the Planet, opens later this month at RHS Garden Bridgewater and runs throughout the summer. Find out more about the exhibition here.

The exhibition is developed in partnership with the RHS and IGNITION – an EU-funded project bringing together local government, universities, environmental organisations, businesses and the local community to find new ways of using plants and nature to protect communities from increased rainfall, flooding and heatwaves.