Bankley Studios & Gallery, Bankley Street, Manchester M19 3PP
7 – 22 September 2024

The Blackwater Polytechnic is an imaginary educational institution in Essex, United Kingdom, based in a tangible sixteenth-century barn. The campus’s old-world charm belies its cutting-edge focus on ‘the technology of enchantment’. The local artists who comprise the faculty and present their applied research are highly qualified in hands-on innovation, meeting real-world challenges.

Ben Coode-Adams, Dr Annabel Dover, Sophie Giller, Tilly Hawkins, Sara Impey, Justin Knopp and Professor Freddie Robins are set to unveil a diverse collection of art and artefacts. Each piece holds the potential for immeasurable value and could be the key to unlocking the Secrets of the Universe.

If you want to be INTERESTING then you need to be SPECIFIC. Being SPECIFIC means taking account of your CONTEXT. Only by grounding yourself in your CONTEXT do you become universally INTERESTING.

We are intrigued by the ramifications of the word hoard in its archaeological sense—things of value lumped together in a hole in the ground, often hard to find and then unpick. Our neighbourhoods of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk are littered with them, reflecting the imperilled edginess of our geography. We are the first place where merchants and marauders make landfall. There is opportunity here, along with risk.

As with an ancient hoard of artefacts, it can be hard to disentangle straightforward literal meaning in our presentation. There is no right answer. Better to let the mind and eye soften into poetic associative freedom. There is no need to be distrustful of enjoying sensations and emotions filtered only by our senses. As we are adrenaline junkies for new ways of thinking visually, so we like these chancy visual conversations.

Here at the Polytechnic, we walk the line between collecting and hoarding. We are in thrall to artefacts, both supremely masterfully crafted and improvised, rough and ready. We do not apologise for the density and richness of our presentation. Time is the friend of the thoughtful.

Photography: Ciara Leeming

blackwaterpolytechnic

D-ANGER, 2023
Hand knitted yarn with crocheted mohair suspended from branch

dis-comfort, 2021
hand knitted wool suspended from hand carved cherry wood pole

cou-rage, 2022
hand knitted wool suspended from hand carved cherry wood pole, 1280 × 820 × 70 mm

Photography: Douglas Atfield & Daniel Browne

Part One: The Art Station & The Old Bank, Saxmundham, Suffolk
8 June – 31 August 2024
Part Two: The Old Theatre, Framlingham, Suffolk
6 – 21 July 2024

Part One – from left to right: Freddie Robins, Rebecca Riess, Andrew Omoding, Mikey Cuddihy, Julie Cockburn.

Part One – on left: Freddie Robins, On right: Rosie Edwards.

Part One – from left to right: Woo Jin Joo, John Craske, Abigail Lane.

An exhibition of contemporary textile practice in two parts, co-curated by Freddie Robins and Clare Palmier & Emily Cannell from The Art Station.

Part One exhibiting artists: Rosie Edwards, Woo Jin Joo, Sophie Giller, Feifan Hu, Daisy Collingridge, Andrew Omoding, Jevan Watkins Jones, Freddie Robins, Peter Collingwood, Rebecca Riess, Mikey Cuddihy, Julie Cockburn, Abigail Lane, Srinivas Surti, Annabel Elgar, John Craske, Emily Cannell and William Wallace.

Part Two included a site-specifc installation by Sophie Giller and works by Annabel Elgar, Andrew Omoding, Daisy Collingridge, Freddie Robins, Rebecca Riess, Rosie Edwards, and Woo Jin Joo.

Part Two – site-specific installation: Sophie Giller

Part Two – from left to right: Rebecca Riess, Freddie Robins, Daisy Collingridge, Woo Jin Joo, Rosie Edwards, Sophie Giller.

Thread Count is an eclectic exhibition of artists working with textiles, artists from a broad range of cultural and educational backgrounds who employ the medium for its diverse creative possibilities. The exhibition takes a non-hierarchical stance; some of the artists have a practice dedicated to the medium, committed to their discipline they continuously hone their skill, and others use textiles within a broader practice embracing a range of materials and skills. Some artists are self-taught, disregarding or unaware of accepted rules or construction methods; some are highly trained, using their skills to subvert expectations. A large number of the artists were born or now live and work in East Anglia adding to the rich history of textiles in the region. Although this is often overshadowed by the more visible textile history and industry found in the midlands and north of England.

Thread Count presents textiles as a medium for self-expression and communication. Here, the role of textiles is not about its decorative and functional qualities, although these qualities are not to be disregarded. Materials and processes carry meaning, and the presence of skill does not indicate the absence of concept. The artists in Thread Count work with thread, fibre and cloth for many reasons, but there is a strong undercurrent of a desire for creative and physical freedom. This freedom is expressed through the choice of materials, processes and imagery. Working in textiles can give you the freedom to work wherever you want. For the most part, the work is light; it can be folded or rolled up and easily stored or transported. The materials are readily available and can be cheap or even free if you reuse fabric items from around the home. Textiles and textile practitioners still find themselves and their practice undervalued or dismissed because of the medium’s enduring associations with gender and the domestic environment. This exhibition tramples over those preconceptions, evidencing the hard resolve of the soft discipline. Threads count.

Read Material Afterlives, a critical response by Laura Moseley, Assistant Curator of the Women’s Art Collection, University of Cambridge and founder of Common Threads Press.

Read exhibition review by Josh McLoughlin for Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art.

Photography: Douglas Atfield

For more information

Cedric Bardawil, 1-3 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JB
24 July – 10 August 2024

Fire, 2020, hand knitted mohair, nylon, acrylic, polyester and lurex yarn, rosehead steel flat point nails, 170 (H) x 72 (W) x 6 (D) cms
Eye, 2022, hand knitted mohair, nylon, polyester, lurex and wool yarn, rosehead steel flat point nail, 194 (H) x 54 (W) x 6 (D) cms

Comfort Napkin, 2024, Cotton (80%) & linen (20%) woven hem stitched napkin with hand knitted polyester and nylon yarn tail, 50 × 50 cms

The Amber Room, is a programme of exhibitions centred around a dinner, taking place in different locations across London. The aim is for the dinner to become an extension of the exhibition, so that everything on the table, from the napkins to the glassware is made by the exhibiting artists and for sale. Previous Amber Rooms have been hosted by Matt’s Gallery, Reference Point Library in 180 The Strand, at architect Alex Michaelis’ family home in Hammersmith and in a disused office space in Vauxhall. This iteration of The Amber Room is titled Sticking up for Soft and is centred around the notion of softness. The artists exhibiting explore the concept of soft in different ways, whether that be materially, conceptually or formally, the show presents an array of interpretations to the theme. It takes place at Cedric Bardawil in Soho with Collector Dinners held on the 16th, 17th or 18th of July 2024 at 6.30pm. The Amber Room is curated by Rosie Reed.

Exhibiting artists: Nancy Allen, Leo Costelloe, Emma Mackintosh, Anna Perach, Freddie Robins, Alexandra Searle, Sam Bakewell, Lucy Ellerton, Richard Malone, Stephen Polatch, Ro Robertson, Christopher Taylor, Rob Branigan, Lydia Gifford, Jaclyn Pappalardo, Sue Ray, Rosie Reed, Isabelle Young.

Photography: @studioadamson

Exhibition catalogue

theamberroom
cedricbardawil

Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ
11 – 13 July 2024

The second annual Material Engagements Research Cluster (MERC) exhibition: Colour Made Manifest. This exhibition brings together practice-based and material-led academics from the Royal College of Art highlighting the world leading research taking place under the umbrella of the Material Engagements Research Cluster.

The overarching focus, questions and offers to illuminate the paradoxical realm of colour, through research activities exploring how the immaterial notion of colour can be explored and evidenced through a number of materialising projects. It also builds from staff discussions embedded within the MA and PhD group teaching this year prompted by Neil Parkinson and the RCA’s Colour Library Collection.

Through works-in-progress, finished outputs, and an attached event Colour Made Manifest will contextualise research alongside creating a generative space for research activities to happen.

For more information about the RCA Material Engagements Research Cluster