MA Week 77 – “Movement” Group Summer show at Left Bank Leeds

 “Movement” Group Summer show at Left Bank Leeds, 12th - 15th July 2017

The highlight of this week was the "Movement" group Summer show at Left Bank Leeds. The opening night, on Wednesday 12th July, was buzzing and it was really lovely to be supported by a number of classmates and other friends who attended during the evening. The show was also open Thursday - Saturday inclusive, 10 am - 4pm, and in total there were over 300 attendees. This is the only annual group show at Left Bank, and it is a prestigious one within the Leeds art scene. Although the gallery space is fairly local to me, the show itself was national and included established artists such as Ian Kirkpatrick (now Leeds-based, work in many national collections), Michelle Harrison (Manchester-based painter, illustrator, has exhibited internationally, artwork on the flyer) and Jelena Lunge (York-based illustrator, has exhibited internationally, work exhibited next to mine). For me, this was my first major step in establishing myself in the Leeds art scene.

 

"Royal/Library" series of prints exhibited at Left Bank Leeds, 12.07.2017

The venue is a former church which is used as a multi-disciplinary arts venue, and this interesting space lent itself well to this kind of show. My prints, "Royal/Library" - series of 4,  were displayed in an alcove, which gave the work its own space and allowed it to “breathe”. This led to an interesting interplay with work in the neighbouring alcoves. There were 4 alcoves on "my" side, which alternated works in colour with works in black and white, and this gave a nice rhythm to the exhibited works. There was also a rhythm to the frame colours - my frames were white, whereas others had gone for black or a mixture. My prints were hung in a series of 4, rather than a quadrant - all the series were hung this way - and they were hung from a batten with string. This hanging technique was used in all the alcoves and gave a consistency and narrative to the works. The rhythm was also reflected across the building, to the works on the opposite wall, which were hung similarly. My own prints, mainly orange and red, were contrasted in the opposite alcove by some lovely illustrations based on the sea, mainly in blue, black and white. As well as the alcove space, the main body of the former church had been divided up using display cabinets. These formed a kind of "zones" within the space and also led to a natural circulation of people.

 

Opening night - visitors viewing my prints (alcove behind settee)

The exhibition was curated by Courtney Spencer, a director at Left Bank, and it was interesting to see how Courtney had ordered my prints. I would have done it slightly differently, and this is one of the joys of having someone else display your work - the other person sees something else in it. The exhibited works covered various genres: paintings, mixed media, sculptures, videos, textiles and even performance pieces - I think mine were the only prints which is gratifying. There was a great deal to take in given the variety of the work, and I am still processing a lot of it in my head. Rather than try to document it all here, I think some of the influences will intuitively work through into my future practice. However, I will mention a couple of particular favourites: “Bookworm”, a tubular sculpture made from books by Sarah Binless, whom I met , and those sea illustrations by Sarah Louise Hawkins.  The curation was excellent and it was great to make contact with Courtney.

Left Bank Leeds, exterior view

Left Bank is a wonderful space and I went back on the Saturday with Michelle, who originally suggested I apply for the show. It was good to see the show when it was a little quieter and there was more space and time to take it in. I can feel the space luring me back and I would like to volunteer there, perhaps to do some invigilation, when the MA is over.

Having work in the show felt unbelievable, a real achievement, and it takes my work to the next level. It was exciting for me to see it to see it displayed alongside other artists' work, forming a dialogue, and this led to an emerging sense of myself forming a dialogue with other artists. The show was over all too quickly but I will definitely apply next year.