Curator’s Choice offers a survey of the University Curator’s research and current preoccupations.
This term, Curator’s Choice has a particular focus on circus, fairground and carnivalesque imagery. Participating artists including: Glasgow-based painter Sharon Thomas, MA Creative Practice graduating photographer Mel Dewey, graduating performance artist Liliana Robins, and narrative artist and lecturer Garry Barker, among others.
The Curator's Choice exhibitions are on display at our Blenheim Walk building by appointment only. Please contact Catriona McAra, University Curator, to make an appointment at catriona.mcara@leeds-art.ac.uk or 0113 202 8263.
Currently Exhibiting
Sharon Thomas
Sharon Thomas is a Glasgow-based painter. She studied at The Glasgow School of Art, and then at the New York Academy of Art for her MFA. Thomas is particularly interested in the re-gendering of art historical formats and in the troubling of traditional gendered roles.
Image: Sharon Thomas, Dame's Banquet Coffee Morning Series, 2008. Water colour. Image courtesy of the artist.
Coming Soon
Mel Dewey
Mel Dewey is an artist photographer, graduating with a distinction in MA Creative Practice from Leeds Arts University. Dewey has produced a photographic series titled ‘A Different World’ based around the pop-up environments of fairgrounds. Growing up in the seaside town of Scarborough these exciting, yet almost forbidden areas were freely accessible, providing her with opportunities of freedom and self-expression. This body of work has been driven by a desire to capture these nostalgic memories by revisiting a number of fairgrounds in Scarborough and Leeds.
meldeweyphotography.wordpress.com
Image: Mel Dewey, Fire Glow, Dodgems, Leeds Valentine Fair, 2016. Camera Lomo Sardina kit camera. Film Kodak Colour Plus200. Bold Setting, long exposure approx. 20 seconds.
Liliana Robins
Liliana Robins is a performance artist who recently graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Leeds Arts University. Her work draws on her upbringing in the circus and investigates the relationship between contemporary circus imagery and the visual arts.
Exhibition event: Wednesday 1 November 1pm & 3pm
Free but booking required, extremely limited seats.
- Click here to book your place on the 1pm performance
- Click here to book your place on the 3pm performance
Image: Liliana Robins, Sweet, 2017. Installation, film still. Image courtesy of the artist.
Gary Barker
Garry Barker is a narrative artist and Lecturer in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. Last year, he exhibited When the Past Overhauls the Present, You Will Forget That You Can't Remember. His latest installation, Piscean Promises (2017), develops "glocal" concerns into the effects of the Anthropocene. The epic scale and gutted bodies flip the traditional ceramic craft into vessels that can convey politicised messages.
Image: Garry Barker, Piscean Promises, 2017. Ceramic installation.
Eve Hindle
Eve Hindle is a sculptor who is graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Leeds Arts University. Using the grammar of minimalism, she deploys the industrial materials of concrete and resin, and experiments with processes of casting, welding, and polishing in order to create illusions of weightlessness and transparency.
Image: Eve Hindle, Gaps Islands, 2017. Resin, concrete.
Recently Exhibited
Don Porritt
Don Porritt is a mini retrospective exhibition by Silversmith and Leeds Arts University alumni Don Porritt. Don studied and taught at the University during the Harry Thubron era in the 1950s and 60s and the display explores the influence of the revolutionary Basic Design course, both during, and after his time as a student and tutor at Leeds Arts University.
Image: Flowing Water, Silver, 2016. Image courtesy of the artist.
- 01 July - 31 December 2017
- Blenheim Walk Building, Leeds Arts University (by appointment only)