Swings & Roundabouts Press Release
A select group of 19 second year students studying BA (Hons) Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth are delighted to be presenting their work in an exhibition at Slades Park. This show will begin with an opening on Thursday 8th December at 1-2:30 and continue to run daily between 10am-4pm until Sunday 11th December at: Slades Park, Ensbury Avenue, BH104EP.
Inspired by the many aspects of Slades Park; community, nature, historical background and much more, this group of students have spent time studying and finding their personal interests within the space to create their own diverse pieces of work. Alongside this, organisations such as Active Dorset and the Parks Foundation have further proven themselves as rich sources of inspiration, taking into account the activities that take place there and seeing how community truly is at the core of Slades Park. Therefore, allowing the community to view the inspired artworks brings more people to experience the park and join the community, whilst also bringing an audience to see the work on display. The artwork will be a variety of mediums; painting, video, textiles, sculpture and more and these will all reflect each artist’s personal interests within the park.
This exhibition will kick off with a fantastic opening event located at the Pavilion, the central hub of the park on Thursday 8th December at 1-2:30. Work will be presented both inside the Pavilion and also scattered around the park. This allows for everyone that attends to be able to witness the beautiful nature of the park, the community hub of the Pavillion and all of the amazing art that is located between. This allows for a daytime stroll through the park, accompanied by viewing some artworks along the way. The exhibition includes work from a log wood carving in the park’s pond to furniture that has been reimagined; so make sure to come along to see it all!
Aime Cahill - ‘You Can Sit On Me’ 1.5 x 1.5 meters, 6mm pink polyethylene rope, soft plastic waste
Sculptural work crocheted from over 1000 meters of rope and filled with hundreds of reused and recycled carrier bags. This work looks at the connection humans have with nature and their monumental effect on the environment. Sit back and look out over the park on this net of human plastic waste and try to reconnect yourself with the environment.
Emily Bazley - 'Untitled' wood, branches and windchime
Is it possible that each doorway is a portal? Or is it just a hole in a wall? By exploring the idea of portals this piece aims to create a sense of an adventure. This piece was designed to be interactive so viewers can journey through or around. This artwork questions the ideas of community and aims to bring people together.
Emily O’Hara - 'Harmony' 145cm x 125cm, oil, acrylic and mixed media on canvas
This multi-media piece creates an analogy between human communities and plant symbiosis, whilst exploring ideas of utopia conveyed through beading and gold. The collaged composition, patchwork style shapes and stitching allude to ideas of togetherness whilst the hanging canvas itself pays homage to tapestries and their social history. Making work with the hand is an integral element to the artists work and helps to create organic forms linking back to nature.
- 'Growth' 60cm x 60cm - Oil and acrylic on canvas
This painting explores the similarities between plants and humans, specifically how we grow just like organisms found in nature. The composition connotes ideas of meditation and photosynthesis, linking both physical and mental growth. Through making the figure still greater comparisons can be made between humans and organisms such as trees which can be seen to be in a constant meditative state whilst also growing and communicating.
Faderera Wahab -'Àtúnbí' 114cm x 184cm, fabric, acrylic paint, print making, marker, beads, watercolor
Using lace curtains as a figurative window allowing the viewer to peep into the room that is her mind, Faderera uses sleep, and the lack of it, as an exploration of the innermost self, and questions the idea that our most important thoughts come to us in the later hours of the night, when we are alone. Floral motifs and hidden lettering come together to create a dreamlike composition.
Georgia Clement -'Untitled' wood from Slades Park
Loosely inspired by ‘Ophelia’ by John Everett Millais, Georgia has recreated a female figure out of wood from the park. Giving viewers the opportunity to watch as she is overtaken by nature and the pond she rests in. Therefor removing Georgia’s ability to control the final outcome, this aims to symbolise the lack of control many women face over their own bodies in various places across the world.
Jack Stratton -'Untitled' Oil Paint on paper
Jack's goal for this artwork was to showcase the parts of the park which are often overlooked. Such as the small flowers and berries in the park. He also wanted to focus on the theme of the changing of a season. All the flower/ plant paintings are based on images he took when visiting the area in early October and he thought it would be interesting to showcase how different the colours were then as opposed to now.
Jade Upward -'Power Lines' Mixed media
Inspired by mental health and staying connected, this work visualises power and phone lines. With aspects of the beautiful park being brought to light, the imperfect lines created by nature, looking at how it impacts our mental health, even through some of our darkest days and how nature can help bring us together as one.
Jessica Wiles -‘Beyond the Boundaries’ 85cm x 40cm x 30cm, Paper, wire and paper mache
This sculptural piece expands on the relations between human and plant biology, branching from the comparable existence of stem cells throughout all organisms. Stem cells are assigned to a specialized function, similarly to how factors in a person’s life evolve them into who they are. The presentation of the work as a modified bouquet alludes to viewing the functioning systems in our bodies with the same beauty as one would a collection of flowers.
Katie Jackson -‘Smaller Doses’ Oil Paint on canvas 150cm x 100cm
Could escapism be the art of creating problems by running away from them? Or just a temporary mental diversion to the comfort and safety of an idealised fantasy world? Using movement as an expression of emotion, this work aims create a euphoric, blissful and enraptured atmosphere, relating to different forms of escapism within the park. This artist is mostly influenced by the impact of the counterculture movement and how it has affected today's younger generation.
KATIE WHITE -'Society's Gaze' Mixed media
The ideas behind the artists work explore the relationship she has developed with herself and how that has positively grown alongside her relationships with her peers. This piece explore ideas surrounding these two morals working in parallel. The portrait style aspects of the piece blending into the graphic creates a visual of this for the viewer. Katie's work commonly adopts aspects such as vibrant colouration and representations of the human form combined with a more modern visual, in this case the skate community.
Libby Reay-Parish -‘Manhill’ Jesmonite and acrylic paint
What happens when manmade versions of nature are put into the natural environment? In this sculptural work, Libby explores human impact on the environment in a way that is completely visual; creating questions of if humans could ever make anything to equal or replace nature’s effortless beauty.
Lorena Cionca -“îți aduci aminte?” MP3 player with headphones
This work involves interviews conducted with the objective of making people recall memories. The title is in Romanian, Lorena Cionca’s primary language, and it translates to “Do you remember?”. This audio work studies how people recall memories in conversations and how subjects like nature or parks are interpreted contrastingly by each person. The artist’s voice provokes the audience to listen inwards.
Molly Dudfield -'Untitled (Bench)' Jesmonite, cardboard, wood and chain
For this piece, Molly was inspired by many aspects of society and how people interact with both the environment and other beings. Furthermore, this project explores the division between the world of design and fine art. Molly invites you to come sit on this interactive art piece and connect with the nature and community at Slades Park.
Olivia Cox -'Distinguishing animalistic nature and Human nature' Mixed media
The artists work consists of a number of painting and photographic pieces that discusses the characteristics that both man and animal possess. Her work consists of three paintings, all using acrylic paint on stretched canvases. As for her photographic work Olivia shows four A3 printed photos mounted on board.
Rinalds Lubgans -‘Rail’ steel, video, bike
Throughout his whole life riding bikes has provided him with an escape of everyday life, however this time it has evolved into something else. There is an argument that art serves no functional purpose and the artist wanted to create something that challenges that. Whether it's art or not he will leave for you to decide.
Shannon Westrup -'bloom', 'flora' & 'eden' 3x 40cm x 30cm, acrylic paint on MDF board
Inspired by social media and nature, this work is a collection of self portraits each creating a narrative looking at surrealism. Using ethereal elements to replace body parts with petite delicate flowers, influenced by a patch of wildflowers in the park.
Tallulah Holmes -'Psychonaut' Mixed media
We as humans are the only species to experience emotions as intensely as we do and it is greatly overwhelming, to the point where your own existence and consciousness leaves you feeling “burnt out”. Through this sculpture, the artist wanted to recreate these emotions and to capture the lust we have for peace; to just merely exist with nature. Inspired by a naturally occurring psychedelic, these mannequins represent the emotional, physical and visual effects of psilocybin.
Will Sipling -'Reclamation' Video
This video piece focuses on the reclamation of slades park through misdirection. The work brings new frames of the park that distort the nature of the area, to reclaim it from the man influenced landscape and mould it into a new nature. Reclamation combines vfx and animation to bring colourful new perspectives to Slades Park.