Doorways - introducing our artists! #3

This is the third in a series of blog posts introducing our artists for Doorways (in no particular order). Today we introduce Emma Gregory & Sarah Gregory, Ash van Dyck, Caroline Watson, Stella Tripp, Joss Williams and Abigail Charlesworth.

Remember, we'll be on the top two floors of 7 New Bond Street Place, Bath from 26th May to 10th June.

Emma Gregory and Sarah Gregory

Sarah Gregory and Emma Gregory are mother and daughter, living and working in
the Bath area. They have worked in collaboration before, although they also exhibit
independently.

Sarah’s practice is centred on words and images, how they relate and carry meaning and words themselves as images.  Her work has ranged from installations to calligraphy but mainly she is a printmaker and writer working from her studio in Bradford on Avon.  Emma works in a range of media, which include print, assemblage, installations, text and sculpture. Recent collaborations with students, scientists and other artists in relation to specific sites and archives have resulted in a practice that explores organic matter and loss. She teaches at Bath College, also leading two year-long courses for Spike Print Studios in Bristol. She is a visiting lecturer on the MA courses at UCLan and UWE and writes for Printmaking Today.

Their piece for 'Doorways' is called 'Sardines'. It's a freestanding sculpture made from an old wendy house, but the (safe) internal space it enclosed is gone. It's a striking piece, evoking memories of childhood, but also lamenting the transition into adulthood, with the complex emotional resonance that implies.

If you want to find out more about Emma's work, visit www.glasswaxandpencil.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter @emmagregory5  or Instagram @emmagregorymakes

Ash van Dyck

Ash is an interdisciplinary artist with an interest in a wide variety of subjects and artistic methods, including printmaking, photography, graphics, drawing, collage, audio and video editing and more.  

His piece in 'Doorways' is a fascinating photograph of a cave in Tenerife. Ash's work shows old doors propped up at the entrance to a cave beneath the road in Santa Cruz, Tenerife - though cave dwelling is not unusual on this volcanic the island, it is in such an urban setting. The space appears to be a refuge for homeless people, raising questions in the viewer about safety, privacy and shelter.

Find out more about Ash's work at www.ashnomad.wixsite.com/ashvandyck or follow him on Twitter @SledgDesigns  or Instagram @ashvandyck

Caroline Watson

Caroline's work is inspired by memory, dreams and childhood and coloured by an interest in history, folklore and science. Her work explores imagination and takes her - and us - on a journey into the infinite world and weird spaces of the psyche. Her recent work includes a number of constructions using materials such as recycled wood and fabric, which play with scale and are akin to architectural vessels. They allude to and contain elements of soul houses, tombs, fairy tale huts, confessional booths, anchorite cells, palanquins and portal doors to other realms.

Caroline's stunning piece in 'Doorways' is in two parts. The first, a sculpture called 'Door', is a gateway to an unknown realm. There is a bolt on the outside of the door and it is not certain whether this is to keep something out, or hold something in. It made from all recycled materials; wood, Perspex, brass fixings and fabric. The second is the photograph 'Gremmelin', which shows a being stuck impossibly inside the door.

Find out more about Caroline's practice at www.carolinewatson.co.uk, or follow her on Twitter @caroline0watson or Instagram @carolinewatsonartist

Stella Tripp

Stella's work involves a challenging exploration of what art can do, working completely openly, questioning everything and making connections. For Stella, the process of creating is important: an engagement with the physical sensuality of materials; the challenge of combining real shapes and textures with painted ones: the alchemy of transformation.

A series of Stella's paintings will be featuring in 'Doorways'. These are all works from an ongoing series on the interface - the transitional space or doorway - between structure and chaos. Following initial work, a close look at the painted surfaces sparked a new phase, exploring the process and choreography of mark making, along with relationships and associations of colours, shapes and textures.

Find out more about Stella's work at www.stellatripp.co.uk or follow her on Instagram @stella.tripp

Joss Williams

Joss has been working on a body of work entitled 'Placetime' - as the title suggests, this project is one about place and time. The title is an adaptation from the word spacetime, which in physics refers to theories that considers space and time to be a single, interwoven continuum. Place is space that has been shaped by human experience; it cannot be separated from time and memory. Working in what Joss calls conceptual photography, the work is heavily focussed on the ideas behind the images, not just what is photographed.

Joss' piece for 'Doorways' is an intriguing photograph from this series. The image depicts the doorway from a house that has been demolished. The doorway has been re-placed back into the landscape that it originally stood in, and stands as a symbol to the space where many memories and events are held.

Find out more about Joss' work at www.josswilliams.com

Abigail Charlesworth

Abigail's practice operates in between the modes of sculpture, installation and drawing; as an investigation of material relationships with ourselves and our surroundings, alongside neighbouring elements of the familiar spatial bodies and the new. In the development of the object it reaches what Abi calls an 'island' on a material crossing between the original and the new, prompting questions such as how far can a shape be removed from its context and still make sense? In describing her work, she says 'like a spam email from an unknown user my practice does not have a definitive lesson, but may contain viruses of coincidental relevance'.

For 'Doorways', Abigail will be creating a site-specific installation using a porcelain chain with open links. With it, Abigail will be exploring the concept of being 'locked out', or denied entrance, but offering an exciting play between the fragility of the material and use of the chain.

To find out more about Abigail's work, visit www.abicharlesworth.co.uk or follow her on Instagram @a.chfa

Our next blog will feature more of our wonderful artists! And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @DoorwaysArt2018

Like what you've seen? Make sure you come along to 7 New Bond Street Place between 26th May and 10th June to see these and our other wonderful works.