Lockdown Pottery
SOUTH SOMERSET SCHOOLS CERAMICS
LOCKDOWN POTTERY
EXHIBITION
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
When will we feast together again?
Lockdown Pottery is a creative ceramics collective set up during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic to learn about life through making with clay.
Originally planned to accompany a sit-down meal by Fairland Collective, the Lockdown Pottery team worked with 150 pupils from six schools in South Somerset to produce ceramic tableware. Although plans for a collective meal had to change, this twine-inspired pottery brings hope of a future feast.
ABOUT
Lockdown Pottery is a creative ceramics collective set up during the 2020 Covid19 pandemic to learn about life through making with clay.
Phil Owen
LONELY SONGS
PHIL OWEN
WORKSHOP
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Sun 30 May, 2 – 4pm
Booking required
Are we singing the same songs?
About a century ago, a group of folklorists travelled through the English countryside, collecting old folksongs from some of the last remaining people who remembered them. Many hundreds of songs were collected and written down in Somerset and Dorset, including in West and East Coker.
Join Phil Owen for a special workshop where you will learn a bit about these songs, the people who sang them, and how we might sing them today. Participants will be invited to learn a few simple songs to sing together. But non-singing participants are very welcome too.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Phil Owen is a singer and writer from North Somerset. His work is informed by a strong interest in the relationships between voice, memory and place.
Dylan Fox
LETTERBOARDS & A-BOARDS II
DYLAN FOX
EXHIBITION
4. St Martins Church, West Coker
13. St Michaels Church, East Coker
9. The Village Cafe, East Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
What’s the story?
Letterboards fuses together extracts from online discussions the artist had with gender diverse people during 2020. The work can be seen as a commentary on our evolving understanding of interaction and the issues this community faces in the wake of a global pandemic. A Boards II feature a range of slogans on one side, with a brief explanation of their impact on gender diverse people on the other. This work evolves daily in response to current gender politics.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dylan Fox explores his experiences of gender transition and wider barriers faced by the trans community. His works often have participatory elements, to initiate a positive dialogue about trans people.
Co-selected with Contains Art
Letterboards was originally commissioned by Big Shop Friday, Milton Keynes, as part of The Elephant Room project, 2020.
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Tania Kovats
DIVERS
TANIA KOVATS
EXHIBITION
10. Cemetery Chapel, East Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
Feeling under water?
Divers is a series of figurative sculptures cast in concrete using wetsuits as moulds. These inverted aquatic figures reflect on our liquid selves and the experience of our own physical boundaries in water.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kovats’ work is an exploration our of the experience of landscape. Most recently, this has focused on the element of water. Her work includes temporary and permanent sculptural works often in the public realm, drawing and writing.
Tim Mills
TERMINAL
TIM MILLS
EXHIBITION
Various locations around both villages and in the Ropewalker magazine
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 24hrs
Can we survive without touch?
Terminal is a series of portraits produced using the website Chat Roulette, a social network connecting strangers around the world through their webcams. Lone figures, captured on camera just before leaving the chat, appear on noticeboards and public spaces. The images reflect the artist’s own experience of negotiating a long-distance relationship, played out through Skype and other video platforms.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tim Mills is a visual artist and curator who uses photography and re-appropriated archive material as a means of intervention. His work is often presented as installations within public and outdoor space.
Co-selected with CAMP
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Anna Chrystal Stephens
UTILITY CLOAK,
PARACORD SHOES,
ANCIENT STYLE and
OUTDOOR INNER-WEAR
ANNA CHRYSTAL STEPHENS
EXHIBITION/WORKSHOP
1. OSR Projects, West Coker
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
Cord-making workshop:
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Sat 29 May, 1-2pm & 3-4pm
Booking required
Could you survive off grid?
The many-pocketed Utility Cloak contains kit objects and camping hacks, with everything from fantasy survival gadgets to fire starting implements. Fabricated with nylon tent material, it explores the viability of nomadic living practices and the tension between survival and leisure. Stephens also presents Paracord Shoes, ancient style and Outdoor Inner-wear, a garment equipped to support women’s survival with items for medicinal, nutritional and other purposes.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anna Chrystal Stephens works with photography, sculpture and action to explore living strategies, sustainability and societies’ changing relationship to the natural environment.
Co-selected with Hardwick Gallery
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Ben Sanderson
STEWED AND SKEWED
BEN SANDERSON
EXHIBITION/WORKSHOP
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
9. The Village Cafe, East Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
Drawing workshop:
2. Dawe’s Twineworks, West Coker
Sat 29 May
Booking required
One lump or two?
These tea cosies are composed from retired paintings, from which the imagery has been cropped, woven and rearranged to transform artworks into functional domestic objects. The process allows for an almost diaristic record of daily thoughts, gestures and interactions to mingle with the past, while the object itself provokes deeper questions about the history and ritualistic nature of tea drinking in Britain.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ben Sanderson works from his studio at CAST in Cornwall. He has exhibited widely, including Cubitt Gallery, London; Tate St Ives, Cornwall; and Guest Projects, London.
Co-selected with CAST
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Petter Yxell
MONOS
PETTER YXELL
Are we alone in or alone with nature?
Monos was imagined as a thatched tetrahedron hermitage to appear during Od Arts Festival on Hardington Moor, a rich island of biodiversity surrounded by agricultural monoculture. The world has changed and the artist, is unfortunately unable to join us from Sweden as planned but will hopefully be with us in the near future.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Petter Yxell combines themes of architecture, urbanism and dwelling with a keen interest in ecology in his work. His process often involves mapping and researching site-specific flora and fauna, and results in sculptural installations or spatial interventions as well as writing.
Co-selected with Obsidian Coast
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Isis Whiteaway
THE GOSSIPMONGER
ISIS WHITEAWAY
EXHIBITION
**Moved to Glebe Field, West Coker (by St Marten of Tour’s Church)
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
What if you can’t get a word in?
A talking sculpture waits for you at the bus stop. He is there for you to sit with if you need to talk – except, he’s not a very good listener. It’s his turn to speak. You don’t need to think, just hear one of the stories he has collected.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Working across sculpture, video and technology. Isis Whiteaway uses everyday objects and happenings to inform her work, exploring popular culture and mundanity with elements of surrealism and humour.
Co-selected with Caraboo Projects
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Laurence Dube-Rushby
'ECOTONE';MAKING SENSE-SENSING MEANING
LAURENCE DUBE-RUSHBY
EXHIBITION
1. OSR Projects, West Coker
Fri 28 – Sun 30 May, 10am – 6pm
Should we resist change?
The artist receives a dress from a friend who passed away. She wears it like armour throughout the Venice Biennale, soaking up experiences. Taking an object out of the home and into vulnerable spaces, the artwork opens up a conversation about our relationships to those who are no longer there.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Laurence Dube-Rushby works in the field of live art and socially-engaged practice. Her current research seeks to unravel the potential for live art as an alternative tool for education.
Co-selected with Aspace Arts
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