We are delighted to invite you to the launch of this year’s BCN Artists in Residence group exhibition at The Wolverhampton School of Art taking place on Thursday 11 April. Featuring the work of 2023-24 artists in residence Sarah Byrne, Dale Hipkiss, Shannel James, Quennie Lim and Zara Masood, the exhibition shares a culmination of the work made and research, conversations and activities that took place during their residencies.
Held in partnership between Multistory and The Wolverhampton School of Art and initiated as part of Multistory’s BCN artist development programme, the residencies provide funding, time, a studio and critical support for five emerging Black Country artists each year. The exhibition features work in progress produced during the programme, which aims to provide a space for experimentation and testing out new ideas and ways of making.
Join us for the opening event and a day of talks from the artists on Thursday 11 April. Artist talks will commence at 2pm, with each artist sharing from their residency and practice, followed by a Q&A led by Jess Piette (Multistory) and Euripides Altintzoglou (The Wolverhampton School of Art) and roundtable discussion. After this, we invite you to stay and view the exhibition and celebrate with us! Refreshments will be provided. The exhibition will be open to visitors between 5-8pm, and you don’t need to attend the talks in order to join us for the opening.
Timings:
Talks and Q&A: 2-5pm
Free, booking essential.
Book hereExhibition opening: 5-8pm
Drop in.
Exhibition dates: 12 – 26 March, Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm. Accessible via the Wolverhampton School of Art main entrance.
Access:
The event and exhibition will take place in the Lecture Hall and foyer spaces of The Wolverhampton School of Art, all of which are ground floor spaces with wheelchair access.
If you have any access requirements you would like us to be aware of, please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected] or by calling / texting +44 7922 571832.
Artist Bios
Sarah Byrne
Sarah Byrne works with textile and print-based responses to family photography. Her current research positions traditional wool-craft within a contemporary art practice, and aligns the slow processes of craft-making with its historical connection to recovery and comfort. Learning of craft’s rich history, and the many instances where its tactile comfort had formed a parallel to loss, felt particularly poignant after discovering this connection first hand. This research encouraged me to introduce textiles to my practice for the first time. Prior to this, my practice formed an autobiographical exploration of photographs from my childhood. Today I continue to be led by family snapshots, however with my practice now in dialogue with my father. As I learn and develop new skills in spinning, weaving, and dyeing, I position the resulting materials in response to my dad’s photographs, previously unseen and discovered posthumously. Dad’s photograph’s guide my process. Connections are created through colour, space for memory and narrative is carved out, and my connection to our relationship is maintained.
Dale Hipkiss
Dale Hipkiss grew up in Tipton. Wasn’t sure what to do with his life (understandable at 18) Worked on a farm when he was 19. Realised he hated how isolated he was. Went to Art school at 21, also worked on small holdings over the summer holidays. Arts education has combined with his need to study the environment first hand. Dale now works as one part of Hipkiss and Graney, based in south Birmingham, delivering art projects and events centred around community and ecology. His allotment allows him the space to explore a working connection to land. Dale grows wheat further afield and uses it as a method to reasearch the wider implications of farming. People from the Black country during its industrial past would take working holidays to hop farms over the summer with their families. He sees parallels with his own history and need to connect to land. The narratives around farming must shift dramatically if we are to have a resilient food network in the coming years, this will affect our identity and the stories we tell about the land.
Quennie Lim
I was born in the Philippines. Moved to West Bromwich, England. Primary School in West Bromwich. Secondary School in Wednesbury. Sixth Form in Wednesbury. University in London. Love for the arts – out of the institution. For the most part. Starting University in London was the catalyst for me opening up to Art in its different capacities from going in and out of different spaces.I saw that the white walls can be filled to its very brim with so much colour but yet I question its capacity to reflect and champion the vastness that is held in real life. I chose to explore photography for the first time. I chose to understand the relationship between my body and movement for the first time. London was the city where I had experienced many of my firsts as an artist. Through listening, seeing, experiencing what is shown. I began to navigate my identity and the lens I have of my surroundings, their relation to each other and my relation to them in wider capacities. I thank the Global Majority Artists and Academics that have influenced my interest in exploring my identity, migration, and relationships. Graduated. I’m back home. West Bromwich.
Shannel James
My creative practice combines sustainable craft, cultural fusion, and storytelling to explore the heritage of British vintage furniture and traditional African textiles. Through restoration and textiles, I breathe life into forgotten tales to explore contrasting cultures, identity, representation, difference, diversity, empathy and depth of human experience. Initially I had been exploring restoration, textiles and storytelling as separate disciplines, but since the start of 2023 I’ve been blending the three together creating unique pieces for a number of exhibitions. This has allowed me to develop the concept of a restoration/textile’s hybrid, used as a platform to convey stories through poetry in meaningful ways with integrity and compassion. I’m still at the early stages of developing my artistic practice, however I’ve found consciousness, connection and purpose within this new way of working and would love to develop it further with this opportunity and try to reach new audiences to continue these very important conversations around shared heritage and representation.
Zara Masood
Zara Masood is a British-Pakistani artist and writer based in the West Midlands. Their practice draws from lived experience creating links between the personal as political. It explores the themes of identity, South Asian diaspora and second generation-ness. They draw on theories of hybridity and the ‘Third Space’ to investigate Otherness and belonging. Zara’s works with writing, food and material to play with these themes and create space for introspective dialogue about identity.
Blast Creative Network
Multistory’s BCN artist development programme offers artists in Sandwell and the wider Black Country a free annual programme of talks, workshops and social events and is a space for mutual support and knowledge sharing. It was set up to provide artists in the local area opportunities for critical engagement and collaboration outside of formal arts education.
Location
The Wolverhampton School of Art
Ring Rd
Wolverhampton
WV1 1NT