Tour of Working Class Movement Library - Tuesday 16th August

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For those of you who haven’t been to the Working Class Movement library on Chapel Street I urge you to go for two reasons. Firstly for the brilliant story about how it was formed and how it ended up located across from the University. Secondly to learn something about the history of the working people, your history this is the history of my parents and grandparents and there parents. It also houses some of the best collections of social literature that I have seen. 

I had a great tour of the collection by Lynette Cawthra the manager of the library, I was privileged to spend time in the Thomas Paine room where there is the largest collection of his writings in the UK  a gift from a prominent collector. I have been trying to track down the original pamphlet “Common Sense” for some time now and there it was (this is the pamphlet that was banned as it was so incendiary and sparked the American revolution to throw out the Brits)  I saw rooms and rooms of peace pamphlets, books on socialism, warfare, nuclear disarmament, I could quite easily have sat in any of the rooms and have my reading material for the next 50 years ! 

There is also a great ceramic collection in one of the back rooms, containing many commemorative plates, tankards and jugs, sparking ideas for possible pieces for my WW1 Fighting resistance project. What struck me was the creation of a collection that was formed by two individuals with a passion for books on working class history, and the foresight to protect this. How much of our history is white washed or green washed, hidden from us or re-written to support the ruling classes. This library is a beacon for the common man and a start point for what I believe to be a great adventure.

For more information on the Working Class Movement Library please click here:
http://www.wcml.org.uk/

Arthur Gardiner (CO) my new personal hero - 22nd September 2016

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This morning I managed to grab breakfast at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and find time to finish the book I have been reading on Conscientious Objectors (CO’s) in Huddersfield by Cyril Pearce. It is a truly illuminating book focusing on one communities support and the reasons behind the large proportion of CO’s in that area.

What it made me realise is that at the turn of the century the “workers” were extremely well connected and supported through different organisations, political and religious parties, social clubs, unions and trade guilds, something that I feel that we have lost over the last forty years. The overriding feeling was of the bravery in face of the weight of a nation, peers and propaganda to stand up and say that you would not fight! My new Hero is Arthur Gardiner who point blank refused conscription on the grounds that he did not want to murder a fellow worker in Germany:

“ I am 26 years of age and I work as a wool and cotton dyer. I cannot conscientiously undertake combatant or non combatant military service. For a number of years I have devoted my time and energy, both publicly and privately to the economic and moral uplift of humanity. I am opposed to all forms of militarism. I believe it to be a detriment to the welfare of all nations “

Arthur Gardiner at his tribunal.

The problem being that conscription was brought in with The Military Service Act of 1916 to compel single men between the ages of 18 and 40 to some form of military service. This became law on the 27^th January my birthday! next year I turn 40 and will be celebrating the fact that I will no longer be deemed fit for military service due to my age!...maybe I have to wait till 41? 




more informaton Cyril Pearce and the Pearce register of Conscientious Objectors here :
http://www.1914.org/news/cos/


more information on Arthur Gardiner here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s6fbd

Pilkingtons Lancastrian Pottery Society talk at Salford Museum and Art Gallery 17th September

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On Saturday 17^th September I attended a talk at Salford Museum and Art Gallery about Pilkington Tiles the talk was from Barry and Angela who are from the Lancastrian Pottery Society. The talk centered around the formation of the company from the 4 brothers who owned the coal company and discovered the clay deposits in the Pendleton Fault. Their first thought was to build a brick factory but they found out that the clay was unsuitable for this from an expert who suggested it could be used to create tiles and there was at the time a huge demand for ceramic tiles.

 The story for me got interesting when the brothers approached a Mr. William Burton who was well respected and currently employed at Wedgewood. The brothers courted Burton and he was finally released from Wedgewood in 1891.  William Burton was a Ceramic chemist and came with quite a reputation, he was responsible and sole master of Pilikington tiles, free to hire whomever he wished, many of whom he poached from the many Potteries of Stoke and Stafford, much to other companies disapproval!

 The company grew on this mans vision, his dazzling exhibitions and showmanship and spirit, he was also a great advocate for workers rights and pioneered many of today's practises of health and safety especially with regard ventilation and the use of lead in many of the enamel paints used in the potteries. 

  William Burton also employed many great artists both male and female and fostered an extremely creative and exciting environment to work in one such Artist was John Forsyth who created some beautiful tile pieces and fine examples of lustre ware, he also created the Peace vase that is on display dedicated to the end of the First World War. Forsyth also created an extraordinary vision of 6 massive tile panels celebrating the history of Ceramics that went on display in the Liverpool Museum. This tile piece was one of the only artworks to survive the bombings of WWII.

 Salford Museum and Art Gallery managed to secure the companies Archive when the company sadly went into receivership in 2010 when its overdraft ad loans were called in.  I will be accessing this in the coming weeks and look forward to finding out more about this great local employer and the people who worked there.

More information on the Lancastrian Pottery Society here : http://www.pilkingtons-lancastrian.co.uk/

New work selected for Bankley Open Call 2016

 

Really pleased and excited to have my work selected for Bankley Studio and Gallery Open Call 2016. The Selected work is one of my newer pieces called "Tastes Good Together" Agent Orange 2016.

"Tastes Good Together" Agent orange is a sculptural installation of 5 slip Cast porcelain McDonalds large soft Drinks cups. The porcelain cups were pit-fired using ancient techniques and recycled CHEP lumber pallets.

My practice is rooted in exploring the media delivery of information that the digital age allows and testing the fluidity of material to exploit the inherent resonance of objects. My source material is war & genocide, propaganda, capitalism, consumerism and social conditioning. Information absorbed is filtered through classical elements and then carefully constructed using a museological language to present a new entity. This series of objects was created after reading George Ritzers "The McDonaldisation of Society" a detailed study into the techniques and process's effecting much of today's society from Geo-Politics to Deforestation.

The selection of work and award of prizes will be made by an impressive panel:
Poppy Bowers – Exhibition Curator at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Ann Bukantas - Head of Fine Art at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Katie Rutherford – Director & Curator at Object / A, Manchester
Charlie Booth - Programme Co-ordinator at Redeye Photography Network
Matt Davies - Artist, Winner of Bankley Open Call 2015

Exhibition Private View and Awards Ceremony: 7th October 2016, 6-9pm

Exhibition continues Saturdays and Sundays 12 - 4pm until 22nd October 2016
more info
http://www.bankley.org.uk/

Fighting Resistance WW1 - Artist Residency at Salford Museum and Art Gallery & Working Class Movement Library

I am pleased to announce that I have received Arts Council funding for a new project working with Salford Museum and Art Gallery and the Working Class Movement Library. I will be Artist in Residence as part of an open Network Residency with access to both institutions with the aim of creating a new body of work for public exhibition.

 The project is based on a contemporary artistic response to the World War I centenary looking at Conscientious Objectors, War profiteering, War resistance and Shame Propaganda. I will have access to the Pilkington Tile and Pottery archive which is now part of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery collection.

 As part of this year long project I will be working with Mark Devereux Projects,  and also partnering with Castlfield Galleries New Art Spaces Churchgate House in Bolton where I have a great studio space to work from.

 The exciting thing about the project is that it is research driven and there are no pre-conceptions about the artwork that will be created. This gives me freedom to follow my muse and artistic process, to create a contemporary response to World War I.

Research has started to day with the arrival of two great books, The Pot Book by Edmund De Waal - an A-z guide of over 300 makers, schools and styles throughout history and Comrades in Conscience by Cyril Pearce - The story of an English community's opposition to the Great War.


This blog will be used to document the project as it develops

"Just Do It" I hear America Singing - Selected for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2016

 

I am pleased to announce that I have been longlisted out of over 3,000 entries from artists working in 67 countries worldwide for the ninth Aesthetica Art Prize. The longlist comprises 90 artists working in a range of media, whose selected pieces are published in the AestheticaArt Prize Annual: Future Now 2016.

The piece selected is a pit fired ceramic American Civil War revolver hovering over a nike shoe box.

Inspired by the Walt Whitman poem "I hear America Singing" the artwork references Americas frontier past and optimism of the time, in contrast to the way the West was won and its current political situation and self appointed role policing the world. Just Do It "I hear America singing" uses an ancient pit-firing techniques used by the Native Americans and the industrial process of mould making to create a ceramic revolver, combined with a reclaimed object that symbolises the capitalist/consumerist aspirations of America.

Hosted by Aesthetica Magazine, an international art and culture publication with a global readership of 311,000, the prize is a major annual event for British and international artists.
 

The award presents a platform for creatives to engage with a wider audience through the publication, and it also hosts an exhibition for 10 shortlisted artists at York St Mary’s, York, UK, from 14 April to 29 May. Images of the longlisted works will also be shown on monitors in the gallery.

The book Future Now enables readers to explore the 100 captivating projects from the shortlist and longlist through images and artists’ statements. A series of critical essays also feature, offering contextualisation in mapping current trends in today’s visual culture. We hear from John Keane, Artist and Aesthetica Main Prize Winner in 2015; Sarah Coulson, Curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Vanessa Corby, Senior Lecturer, Fine Art, at York St John University, and Chris Littlewood, Photography Director at Flowers Gallery.

Cherie Federico, Director of the Aesthetica Art Prize says: “We are thrilled with this year’s selection, which offers a window onto cutting-edge practice from around the world. The works explore how we inhabit the earth and engage with some of today’s most pressing topics, from ecological concerns to transitions in urbanisation and developments in technology.”