Making Space:Sensing Place

In October 2009, along with artist Thurle Wright, I was awarded a Making Space:Sensing Place Fellowship; part of the HAT: Here and There International Exchange Programme, managed by A Fine Line:Cultural Practice. The Fellowship includes residencies with Britto Arts in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Arts Reverie in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, with The V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London and with The Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire. Working and collaborating with artists and craftspeople from the UK, Bangladesh and India, responding to the collections and spaces we encounter and sharing these experiences through a touring exhibition and educational workshops.

This blog, which is still developing and being added to, is a record of my experiences during the MS:SP Fellowship. Steven Follen.
www.stevenfollen.com

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Meeting

We all met at the Harley Gallery today, to catch up and discuss the remaining time of the residencies and the fellowship. Plans covered the exhibition, education workshops and activities in London.
I drove up on Monday night after teaching, arriving very late and after a brief catch up with Tarun, Topan, Lokesh and Barney. We all crashed out getting needed sleep for the busy day to follow. Woke early to glorious sun streaming in the window. Tarun and Tapon have been staying for the month in a wonderful cottage at Blue Barn Farm close to the Welbeck estate, LOkesh has been completing projects in Kutch and only arrived on the 6th, so is still finding his feet and adjusting to the temperatures.

Surrounded by fields, it is quiet and very green here, probably a startling contrast to Dhaka and Ahmedabad.
I went for a walk with Tapon, and talked about his experiences in the UK.

We breakfasted on some indian treats that Lokesh had brought from Ahmedabad. and then off on the short journey to the Harley.
A great oportunity to see Helen Carnacs exhibition ' Taking Time - Craft and the slow revolution, it was good to see some of David Gates wood and metal constructions, the work Hebden Bridge and the wonderful silver jumper unravelling by.

At the meeting we showed work that we had done to date and the collections from our journeys. Each of us talked about our overall responses and possibilitiies for further work. It was great to see what Tarun and Tapon had been doing, the studio space at the Harley is very large and the artists are making full use of it with large paintings.


We discussed aspects of the education programme and touched on possibilities for the exhibitions. The Moc show will run from November 2011 - June 2011 and the Harley, June 2011+ the two shows may be different as further work develops over the period between the opening at the MoC and at the Harley.