Professional Skills
Title of Exhibition: Brick Walls + Glass Ceilings
Date and time: 4- 9 July 2022
Location: Wilson Road Camberwell College of Arts (1 Wilson Road, London SE5 8LU)
Brief about the exhibition
This was a very stressful point in my MA experience as a lot of things were happening personally that I cannot divulge. I intended to showcase new work because I had shown all my works in previous exhibitions up until this point. I then set out to start an ambitious piece. Looking back now there was no way I could start and finish in time. But at the time I was so hell-bent on putting my best foot forward with new work, and you can imagine how bad I felt when I had some days to go and I was nowhere close to ready. With the help and advice of my tutors, kate and Sarah who have been an immense help in my journey I was shown two of my unit's earlier works, Who I am and the traveler’s head. I decided to be creative with the showcase and utilized the space of the Wilson to create a mini stage that people can interact with. It was so beautiful
The Haven
Title of exhibition: Haven
Date: September 29 - October 7
Location: Aylmer Hall, Aylmer road E11 3AD
Brief About the Exhibition
HAVEN is the inaugural exhibition of STEINGOLD CONTEMPORARY that brings together 14 prominent contemporary artists working in the UK today. The unique setting is Aylmer Hall - a beautifully refurbished mission hall that is the new home of Nest Design which will open its workspace to the public during the exhibition.
‘Haven’ is a word that has great power - one that we all respond to, but in different ways; a place of safety or refuge, whether physical or psychological, amongst a community or in solitude. The exhibiting artists express what ‘haven’ means to them and how it resonates through their art practice. Though their experiences and interpretations might be diverse, there is an inextricable link woven through them - and through all of us. At some point in our lives, we have all needed a haven.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Elizabeth Abel, Yemi Awosile, Ditte Blohm, Nicole Douglas-Morris, Tonye Ekine, Olly Fathers, Chris Hagan, Ross Head, Beatrice Hassel-McCosh, Barbora Klaska, Studio Lenca, Paul Majek, Mada Vicassiau, Maddie Yuille
Experience
I was asked to partake in a unique exhibition which had me flustered for a while because I was not sure my work was on that scale yet, A curator from Sotheby was starting a new venture and was curating an experience with other new and on the rising artist around London. This was a very interesting experience because it was different from the shows, I had done in Camberwell, with colleagues, or with the degree show. I had to send in a proposal of my work and why the work I had fit the team. It was also exciting having a conversation with the curator and understanding her mind and vision of what she was trying to achieve.
The event was also where I experimented with my poem, and I saw the reception it had from people and colleagues during the show. I was only going to show the traveler's head as my single piece, however during the last minute we had an artist whose work was not ready on time, and I was asked to showcase my work. This was very exciting as I had always wanted to see how my work resonated with artists and individuals, I knew nothing about, and their feedback was a good crit I was looking forward to. The show was a success for me, I sold two of my pieces, each in a new home and I also started understanding the dynamics between curator and artist. I met a few collectors who followed me on Instagram and awaiting my next group or solo show. I also built a good relationship with the curator as I have been invited by her and a couple of her colleagues to work on a few shows next year. The most important light for me was meeting fellow artists and having an intimate dinner, which allow me to find out people's journeys and stories, from Olly to Studio Lenca to Beatrice and Mada who sells a majority of her work to interior designers. As a result, I have been able to go for 2 studio visits to Olly and Beatrice studios and I will be visiting Mada studio and studio Lenca studio before the end of the year.
This exhibition also made me realize how much work I need to put in but also the deliberate effort I need to make on how my work is shown or perceived and how that affects my total practice. I decided that I needed to find a studio before the end of term and earnestly start my work.
Title of Exhibition: Church / Factory
Date and time: 4 – 9 November
Location: Copeland Gallery
Brief about the exhibition
It was a very interesting, intense, and exciting time leading up to the final MA degree show, from the proposal curation, the interaction with curators, and the negotiation that had to go on in order for us to collectively put on a good show. Understanding the dichotomy happening with moving large pieces, adapting to changes that were made in order to accommodate the entire MA pathway, and going through the necessary training on health, safety and packaging with Craig that had to be taken into practice during this exhibition. All this and more were just some of the field experiences learned in the process.
Studio Practise.
I intend to spend the first couple of months working on my practice away from the outside world and building a body of work. I intend to do a lot of drawings and paintings. I will try to make more economical sizes for my work as I have learned from storing and transporting artwork can be very expensive if you work on a large scale. Marie and I have been working on ideas to do a collaborative piece together, due to the intense nature of school and unit 3, we were not able to start the process only discuss the idea of what we feel we could achieve and how the piece will work. It's been very interesting building a relationship with colleagues that you admire and looking at how you both can come together to create a very unique and captivating piece. This is not made possible as we will be getting a studio together in south London. After a couple of 2 intense weeks and studio visits, we have found a community of artists and people that we like and are very excited to start working. The studio has a great community of young budding artists and a couple of group shows every year from the general collective. We might also have a third colleague join us in the studio Dan He from painting. I intend to work part-time to support myself to live my dream as an artist I need to be able to leave and pay bills. I intend to remain in London as a practicing artist, even though I am uncertain of what the future holds or the right pathway to be on a lot of people have answers on how to remain and practice in terms of work, but no one knows how to stay as an artist. I believe this is just another exciting part of my journey and looking forward to giving a whole year wholeheartedly to making work and refining my practice. I will want to attempt a couple of group shows and a solo show. The solo show is really for me to see and test out the ideas in my head curate with the right setting and immersive elements and see how it goes from there. This is very important and dear to me and it’s a project I really want to get done next year.
Others
Pandora, Yifei Sun (Roy) and I are also going to be working together in creating an exhibition in China with a couple of tours planned for 2023/2024. The most important thing for me right now is creating work that allows me to keep the conversation going. As one thing that happened at the haven show was art curators and some gallery representatives requesting to visit my studio which I intend to honor once I have settled in.