Bideford Black Next Generation - open untl 13th November

Bideford Black: The Next Generation

Nine new art commissions for Burton Art Gallery

We are receiving some fantastic comments about the exhibition -  it really is important to see these works.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation is the outcome of a year during which nine artists from across the UK pushed Bideford Black pigment to its physical limits and asked what the material might mean today. Below is an itroduction to the artworks, but experiencing them is invaluable. The works, as a collection, can be read individually or as a joint narrative. 

The film presented by Liberty Smith reviews the research process behind the works. Thirty minutes of footage captures a year and underpins the exhibition.

ATOI 

 

Two arresting works from Cornwall-based artist duo ATOI are the result of re-introducing Bideford Black pigment into charged scenarios, similar to those which have formed, unformed and transformed it across millennia. Expect to see dirt and diamonds.

Coerce Course 2015 plasterboard, Bideford Black
photo Julian Smith

Black Diamond 2015 Bideford Black
photo Julian Smith

Tabatha Andrews

Imposing cast paper forms by Devon-based artist Tabatha Andrews reach out directly to the senses. Her huge wall assemblage reverses perspective and seeks to visualise the invisible seam of Bideford Black running underneath the North Devon landscape.

Tool 2015 pebble found on Bideford Bay used to burnish the drawing 
photo Julian Smith

Sedimentary Memory 2015 Bideford Black, shellac and paper
photos Julian Smith

Luce Choules

Artist Luce Choules explored both physical and emotional geography through her experimental fieldwork. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Luce has developed Seam, a choreographed exhibition for Bideford Black: The Next Generation. Expect it to change during the exhibtion period. 

 C-type print reverse mounted on Perspex, hand-cut Giclee prints 384 fragments 

photos Julian Smith

Corinne Felgate

Collapsing man-made and natural environments, artist Corinne Felgate has created a selection of site-specific poems and an installation in a traditional museum cabinet. The latter is comprised of a series of fossil-like sculptures, which have been meticulously moulded and cast from paraphernalia from cosmetic  industries which formerly used Bideford Black.

A Truce with Time 2015 

Plaster casts and poems

(Title refers to Mary Stella Edwards’ book of poems) 

photos Julian Smith

Neville Gabie, Joan Gabie, Ian Cook

Prompted by Bideford Black, and using a shared sketchbook, artists Neville Gabie and Joan Gabie conducted a ‘dialogue of ideas’ with Cultural Geographer Ian Cook (University of Exeter). Together, the three explored the physical, social and geological significance of Bideford Black, presenting several films of studio drawings and artefacts discovered and created along the way.

Bideford Black suit Neville Gabie 

photo Julian Smith

Cabinet of Curiosities (several items)

Cut down yard broom for drawing purposes, pieces of Bideford Black 

photo by Julian Smith

 

DUST

A set of five films made using Bideford Black. Edition of 3+1 artists proof 

photo Julian Smith

Littlewhitehead 

Glaswegian artists Craig Little and Blake Whitehead - were intrigued by the environmental processes that formed Bideford Black. Ever-elusive, the Scottish duo kept their work under tight wraps during its development. They made LP records with the pigment, casting it and playing it. They battled with it to make it give up the secret of its uniqueness – to share its voice. Listen to the experimental sound recordings of their raw data – and their surprising conclusion.

Bideford black reminded us of 3 million years. 

There is nothing quick about the formation of sound 2015 Audio, text

photo Julian Smith

 Lizzie Ridout

Lizzie Ridout has set Bideford Black within a new taxonomy - or story - of the colour of Bideford Black. Incorporating her research into the subject, the Cornwall-based artist has created a printed publication, pieces of which audience members will be able to take away. She foraged the Burton archive, gathering tones and marks from the collection to present in a different, delicate way in the gallery.

A Polychromy in Black 2015

Set of nine photopolymer printed tones presented on wall and as a stack

Series of collaged prints

photo by Julian Smith

Sam Treadaway

Sam Treadaway is exhibiting a scent-based work. A Clearing is the result of a re-imagining of the origin of the Bideford Black material - Tree Fern forests of the Carboniferous period - via the medium of smell. Subtle variations of this scent composition, based on accords of wood, green, earth and petrichor (produced in collaboration with Clare Rees, Library of Fragrance), and inspired by visits to Bristol Botanic Garden and Kew Gardens, London, are transmitted, via stainless steel drums brimming with Bideford Black, into the gallery space.

 In Equal Measure 2015 Scent accords, etched glass bottles

photo Julian Smith

A Clearing 2015 Dimensions variable. 

Scent accords, etched stainless steel drums, pallet, stretchwrap, Bideford Black, diffusers

photo Julian Smith

Film-maker Liberty Smith documented the Bideford Black: The Next Generation project from start to finish, as the eleven artists researched and created their work in studios and on location. Liberty’s film previews exclusively at the Bideford Black: The Next Generation exhibition.

A trailer for Liberty’s film and the exhibition is available on YouTube

Bideford Black: The Next Generation is a Burton Art Gallery project managed in association with Flow Contemporary Arts and Claire Gulliver. It is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

We are grateful for the support of the Friends of the Burton Art Gallery and Museum.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation

Exhibition

Opens 3 October 2015

Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, Devon, EX39 2QQ

Free

T: 01237 471455

E: burtonartgallery@torridge.gov.uk 

ARTIST’S WEBSITES:

www.corinnefelgate.com

http://www.samtreadaway.com/

www.nevillegabie.com

http://www.newexpressions.org/Neville-Gabie-and-Joan-Gabie/New-Expression-Artists/

https://lucechoules.wordpress.com

www.tabathaandrews.co.uk

www.lizzieridout.com

www.atoiarts.org

www.littlewhitehead.com

http://www.islandsandrivers.com/our-films/     (Liberty Smith)

Finally! we're almost ready to launch the artworks & film - the outcome of a one-year journey for all involved

Dirt & diamonds, scents & sounds…….the Bideford Black Next Generation exhibition offers a fresh perspective on this enduring material. These artists have created distinctive new works for future generations to enjoy. If you haven’t already done so, catch the film trailer here.

The full film will be shown in the gallery, sharing a record of the artists research, a privileged glimpse of how artists work.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation

Burton Art Gallery and Museum

2pm on 3rd October – runs until 13 November 

© Tabatha Andrews: Sketch for Sedimentary Drawing 2015 (detail): A4 paper and Bideford Black

Expect to see, hear, touch, smell something different – videos, sounds, scents, sculptures, cosmetics and witty feminist poetry about Bideford Black

This exhibition at the Burton gallery provides a surprising take on a traditional material. Eleven artists and a film-maker have created new artworks using this unique black coal - and some of the works will join the gallery’s permanent collection for future generations to explore, providing a legacy for the art of today.

 

Valued for its silky texture and pitch black hue, Bideford Black pigment has historically been used by artists, industries and the military. In next month’s exhibition, a new generation of artists and users ask questions about past and present uses of this dark resource.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation presents a range of sensory, physical, emotional and abstract encounters with Bideford Black pigment – a dark, sticky substance found in the North Devon landscape. The exhibition is the culmination of a year of exploring and making – a year in which the artists and film-maker pushed Bideford Black to its physical limits and thought about what the material might mean today.

For the first time ever, The Burton has specially commissioned the artworks for Bideford Black: The Next Generation, and many of the works will become a new permanent part of the gallery’s collection.

A taste of what is being shown:

·       ATOI – a large triptych featuring traces of a Mixed Martial Arts fight with Bideford Black pigment and a synthetic diamond made from Bideford Black

·       Tabatha Andrews – a large, textural wall assemblage made from cast paper forms made with Bideford Black

·       Luce Choules – a shifting installation of documentary photographs of the geology of Greencliff

·       Corinne Felgate – a fossil-like wall-based installation and a prototype Bideford Black mascara

·       Neville and Joan Gabie and Prof Ian Cook – a poetic, five-screen film installation, a shared sketchbook and found objects

·       LittleWhitehead – a puzzling sound work resulting from the artists’ experiments with LP records made from Bideford Black

·       Lizzie Ridout – Printed publications and exquisite tonal works based on the artists’ research into The Burton’s collections

·       Sam Treadaway – A scent-based work evoking the prehistoric plant-based origins of Bideford Black.

A documentary film – previewing exclusively at the exhibition – captures the nine artists as they experiment with Bideford Black pigment and make their artworks. Made over the course of a year by creative film-maker Liberty Smith, the film offers a unique and beautiful record of these 21st century encounters with Bideford Black pigment. Liberty went to school in North Devon, close to where Bideford Black is found in its raw state.

The project is also on social media:

Blog: http://bidefordblack.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @burtonartgaller  #Bidefordblack

Facebook: www.facebook.com/The-Burton-Art-Gallery-Museum

Warren Collum, Exhibitions and Collections Officer said: “Bideford Black: The Next Generation is all about linking the industrial heritage of Bideford and its local pigment with contemporary artists’ research and ideas. This exhibition will confound audiences’ expectations about what this black earth pigment can do. It’s almost as if we’d been working with a group of alchemists, scientists and magicians for a year!”

Carolyn Black of Flow Contemporary Arts, who co-produced the project with arts consultant Claire Gulliver, said: “Since that first day in 2014 when we met all of the artists and viewed the seam together, until this launch, we’ve been fascinated by how the artists ideas have evolved from the first expressions of interest. Biddiblack, as locally known, really has been stretched to its limits. We’re delighted that many of these artworks will be joining the Burton’s collection permanently.

Phil Gibby, Area Director, South West, Arts Council England, said: “This is an exciting exhibition of work by some outstanding artists and with a very special local connection. In the south west we’re justly proud of both our artists and our local heritage; this project brings both sides together in a new and surprising way and I’m delighted that we’re supporting it.”  

Venue Contact Details:
THE BURTON ART GALLERY & MUSEUM, Kingsley Road, Bideford EX39 2QQ
(e) burtonartgallery@torridge.gov.uk   (t) 01237 471455 (w) www.burtonartgallery.co.uk

Opens 2pm on 3 October – runs until 13 November

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday, 10am - 4pm.

Sunday 10.30am - 4pm.

Associated Events:

Talk and Tour, 3 October, 2pm
Carolyn Black, Claire Gulliver, Project Managers and Warren Collum, Exhibition and Collections Officer, opens the exhibition with an informal talk at the Preview.

Monotyping using Bideford Black with Grizel Luttman-Johnson
Saturday 24 October 10am-4pm
Making one-off prints by drawing on paper laid over plates inked with Bideford Black pigment in an oil based medium.

Glamour and intrigue at Greencliff

ATOI and Anita Bolton unveil the Bideford Black synthetic diamond. Photo: Claire Gulliver

At times it felt like being an extra in a James Bond film. This week offered the first glimpses of a unique synthetic diamond made entirely from Bideford Black. Conceived by artist duo ATOI and created with the help of a specialist manufacturer, the diamond was delivered in person to Burton Art Gallery, Bideford as part of a surreal and surprising Wednesday.

Taking the Bideford Black synthetic diamond to Greencliff. Photo: ATOI

A day that began with excitement, anticipation and thank-you flowers for the manufacturer and sponsor of ATOI (whose company name will be revealed shortly), became bizarre and fantastic as the artists and diamond manufacturer decided to take the diamond to Greencliff on the North Devon coast, where the raw Bideford Black pigment is found.

High heels were swapped for borrowed walking boots as artists, diamond manufacturers and suited entourage formed an odd procession, snaking through the fields to Greencliff in a strange rite of pilgrimage and returning to source.

ATOI with the diamond at Greencliff. Photo: Claire Gulliver

ATOI's synthetic diamond made from Bideford Black will be one of the works on show as part of the Bideford Black: The Next Generation exhibition at Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, Devon. Produced by  Flow Contemporary Arts in association with Claire Gulliver.

Exhibition opens 3 October.


Posted by Claire Gulliver

Bideford Black: The Next Generation - the trailer

Bideford Black: The Next Generation exhibition

3^rd October to 13^th November 2015

Bideford Black: The Next Generation - watch the trailer now to get a taste of what is coming to the Burton Art Gallery this autumn.

On Saturday October 3^rd the Burton Gallery in Bideford, Devon, opens its doors to a veritable mine of newly commissioned artworks, all responding to the local pigment known as Bideford Black. Be prepared to awaken all of your senses – sound, scent and touch are all present to provide a rich encounter with this black, sticky stuff found in the nearby landscape.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation is the outcome of a year of research and making, during which nine artists from across the UK pushed Bideford Black pigment to its physical limits and thought about what the material might mean today. This natural material has historically been used in industry, and by artists to draw, paint and print with.

This eclectic exhibition represents the Next Generation of artists to use Bideford Black, and offers a 21st century response to a pigment that took millions of years to evolve. These new artworks are made using a myriad of materials – pastels, paper, film, scents, sounds and machines. What they share in common is that they all reflect upon, or are made with, Bideford Black pigment.

Creative film-maker Liberty Smith followed the artists for a year as they researched and developed their ideas. Liberty’s film will be part of the exhibition and presents a visually stunning record of these modern encounters with Bideford Black pigment.

Liberty’s film trailer offers tantalizing glimpses of what the full length film and the exhibition will be revealing on the opening weekend.

 

The full list of artists is: Tabatha Andrews (Devon), ATOI (Cornwall), Luce Choules (Essex), Corinne Felgate (London), Neville and Joan Gabie (Gloucestershire) in collaboration with Dr. Ian Cook, Littlewhitehead (Lanarkshire), Lizzie Ridout (Cornwall), Sam Treadaway (Bristol) and Liberty Smith, presently lives and works in London and went to school in Hartland, North Devon.

This Burton Art Gallery and Museum project is produced by Flow Contemporary Arts in association with Claire Gulliver, funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England as well as the Friends of Burton Art Gallery and Museum. We also acknowledge the support of the National Trust for their loan of Bucks Cabin to some of the artists during their investigations.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 3^rd of October and runs until 13^th November. There will be associated workshops and events - for more information and opening times, visit the website: http://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk

Warren Collum, Exhibitions and Collections Officer, Burton Art Gallery and Museum, “This project is really exciting for me as it brings together the two key aspects of the Burton, local heritage and art. The film is integral to the project as a document and as a work of art in its own right. Getting to the point of releasing the trailer is a real milestone providing a fascinating and intriguing insight into what’s to come.”

Download still images here - please be sure to credit Liberty Smith

Venue Contact Details:
THE BURTON ART GALLERY & MUSEUM, Kingsley Road, Bideford EX39 2QQ
(e) burtonartgallery@torridge.gov.uk   (t) 01237 471455 (w) www.burtonartgallery.co.uk

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday, 10am - 4pm.

Sunday 10.30am - 4pm.

FILM TRAILER - coming soon – Bideford Black: Next Generation – opens on Saturday 3rd October 2015

VIEW THE FILM TRAILER FIRST.....

We don’t want to give too much away at this point, but some things will be revealed in our fantastic film trailer, which will be released on 4^th September on YouTube. In it you will get glimpses of the wonderful Devon landscape where Bideford Black pigment is found; see the artists exploring this black stuff in their studios; gain an insight into processes and thinking to prepare you for viewing the show when it opens.

The full list of artists is Tabatha Andrews, ATOI, Luce Choules, Corinne Felgate, Neville and Joan Gabie in collaboration with Dr. Ian Cook, Littlewhitehead, Lizzie Ridout, Sam Treadaway and Liberty Smith.

There will be subtle, sensitive works and big bold works too. We’ve been busy measuring the gallery, mapping out the hang, checking out the tech.

We’ll be posting the link to the film trailer very soon……….the photo here gives you an idea of the size of some of the works.....

Bideford Black: The Next Generation

Exhibition

Opens 3 October to 13^th November 2015

Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, Devon, EX39 2QQ

Free entry

T: 01237 471455

E: burtonartgallery@torridge.gov.uk 

Bideford Black artist Tabatha Andrews at KARST

Among Remote Lost Objects

at KARST

TABATHA ANDREWS - with score by John Matthias sung by Victoria Oruwari
9th - 12th July 2015

PRIVATE VIEW Thursday 9th July 6-8 pm 
7.15pm - Tabatha Andrew in conversation with Victoria Oruwari, John Matthias and Professor Andrew Pickering.

Exhibition runs 10th and 11th July 12-5 pm. The chamber will also be open 12th July 12-5 pm (no performances).

photo credit Liberty Smith in her studio working towards Bideford Black commission 

posted by Carolyn Black

Measuring Tanks & Tablecloths at Plymouth Arts Centre

Tanks & Tablecloths: Chapter Two

In collaboration with Devonport Naval Heritage Centre

Reviewed by Claire Gulliver

Last month I caught up with one of the Bideford Black: The Next Generation artists, Lizzie Ridout, at her Tanks and Tablecloths exhibition at Plymouth Arts Centre.

Tanks and Tablecloths is a long-standing research collaboration between artists Lizzie Ridout and Elizabeth Masterton. Their research examines the parallels between military and domestic spheres. In particular, the artists suggest that the regimentation and control so fundamental to life in the forces is echoed in the work of the home-maker; characterised as it is by regularity and repetition in its efforts to keep the domestic machine running.

For me these ideas inevitably raise questions about gender and perhaps about futility and necessity, but this exhibition steers clear of these more predictable themes. And while the parallels between military and domestic are not an entirely new subject, Tanks and Tablecloths offers a series of original and surprising dialogues between the two worlds.

Fig. c The Measure of a Man III [Worth His Salt/Test His Mettle] 2015. 350g Plymouth Sound sea salt on brass

Ridout and Masterton explored the extensive archives of Devonport Naval Heritage Centre (DNHC), gaining special permission to integrate historic artefacts alongside their own new works at Plymouth Arts Centre. The contact with the centre’s volunteers and original objects has given Tanks and Tablecloths with a warmth and humanity that complements the pared-down presentation, hovering appealingly somewhere between community history and the white cube.

Underpinning the exhibition is the idea of ‘measurement’, prompted by the artists’ observation that many of the artefacts in the naval archives were concerned with establishing consistency and determining quantity: from mess utensils regulating portion size to systems of recording damage to both personnel and ships. These artefacts form part of the exhibition dialogue.

Ridout and Masterton use the analogy of the mythical Three Fates to explore the way that a person’s life is divided, measured and determined by time: The three deities spinning, measuring and in the end cutting, the thread of life (perhaps like some kind of reverse umbilical clamp). These three fates shape the exhibition. So, in Clotho (The Spinnner) the wool from a standard issue navy pullover is disassembled and spun into rope, while a ball of wool from another naval jumper is wound alongside 940cm of 35mm orthographic film, the content of which (if any) is, for now, unknown.

Fig. f Things That Were, 2015; Things That Are, 2015; Things That Are To Be, 2015. CNC Engraved Traffolyte

In Lachesis (The Allotter) the arbitrary (outside the individual’s control) and fragile nature of life is evoked. The section is anchored by a splendid typewritten label, found with the historic artefact Fig F: Scales: a short piece of old-fashioned museum labelling that reverberates with almost Shakespearean import in this context: ‘This balance is an accurate and expensive instrument. It must be treated with great care’.

A particularly powerful piece in the Lachesis section is Fig c The Measure of a Man III [Worth his Salt/Test His Mettle] (pictured), which comprises the exact quantity of salt in an average man (350g) placed upon a brass plate. Crystallised by the artist directly from Plymouth Sound’s naval waters, the work analyses and reduces life to a quintessence of dust.

Moving into Atropos (The Unturning), the mood becomes more menacing. From the naval collection, huge, brutal cutters for some unimaginable task are immediately jarring and openly suggestive. A ghostly film loop, Quercus Regius: 00:58-01:29 for which the artists blindly (like the Fates) unravelled, measured and cut thread onto light sensitive film, evokes a transmission signal lost; a terminal failure of communication.

From the title of Quercus Regius: 00:58-01:29 we know that the precise measurement of time is as significant here as it is elsewhere in the exhibition: The animated duration of the piece corresponds to that of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak, a warship built in Plymouth’s Devonport docks.

But we don’t know this particular symbolism unless we read the exhibition leaflet. Ridout and Masterton are interested in how you tell a story, or give information, without words. Ridout explains: “We didn’t want captions. We didn’t want people to spend more time reading captions than looking at the art”. It’s the perennial problem for anyone involved in presenting contemporary art.

Belli Dura Despicio (Broadside) is a case in point. This piece comprises a 150 broadside sheets, digitally printed with continuous black lines on 55gsm newsprint. So accustomed are we to a literal and linear way of thinking, that it seems at first a subtle, quiet work; a strangely mute newspaper.

Fig. d Belli Dura Despicio (Broadside) 2015. 29.7km line on 150 broadside sheets. Digital print on 55gsm newsprint

The exhibition leaflet explains that, in its complete edition of 150, Belli Dura Despicio (Broadside) depicts the 29.7km broadside range of HMS Warspite. This is information and not to be confused with meaning. But having it deepened my experience of the work and then liberated me from it by giving me permission to make the leap, like an artist, into a different way of thinking.

Tanks & Tablecloths: Chapter Two, in collaboration with Devonport Naval Heritage Centre, was at Plymouth Arts Centre from 1 May to 13 June 2015.

Lizzie Ridout is one of nine artists and a filmmaker making new work as part of Bideford Black: The Next Generation: an exploration of the rare north Devon pigment, Bideford Black.

Bideford Black: The Next Generation opens at Burton Art Gallery, Bideford, Devon on 3 October 2015.

(written & posted by Claire Gulliver)