CONFLUENCE is a group exhibition of new paintings and sculpture by ten Sheffield-based contemporary artists: Richard Bartle, Anthony Bennett, Al Daw, Paul Evans, Seiko Kinoshita, Mandy Payne, Sarah Villeneau, Joanna Whittle, Myfanwy Williams and Sean Williams. This excellent ‘compilation album’ samples some of the best and most interesting contemporary painting and sculpture that is currently being produced in Sheffield.
This modest northern city has always punched well above its weight creatively, having nurtured numerous international artists such as Paul Morrison and Ryan Mosely – here is your chance to catch a glimpse of some of the other artists that are currently gathering national and international acclaim. Curated by Matt Roberts, the exhibition features strong themes of landscape, edgelands and urban decay, tempered by powerful and inventive abstraction. The work on display is also connected by the artists’ common interests in hands-on, skilful, ‘making practices’, a reflection of Sheffield’s growing definition as the ‘City of Makers’.
Confluence is supported by The University of Sheffield Regional Engagement and Partnerships team and forms part of Making Ways, a programme supported by Sheffield Culture Consortium through Arts Council England to showcase, celebrate and develop the exceptional contemporary visual art produced in the city.
CONFLUENCE Herrick Gallery, 93 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 7NQ. 15th – 26th October 2018
herrickgallery.com/confluence/
About The Artists
Richard Bartle is a multi-media artist living and working between Sheffield and Istanbul. He has exhibited widely including significant solo exhibitions at museum level galleries, non-profit art spaces, and commercial galleries in London. He has attended several international artists residencies, exhibited at a number of regional and international biennials, and received significant Arts Council funding throughout his career. Bartle has also screened work at Copenhagen and Jhilava documentary film festivals. He is currently on a residency in Istanbul continuing on from a solo exhibition there earlier this year.
Anthony Bennett is a multidisciplinary artist, noted for his sculptural works and creative collaborations. In 2011, he co-conceived the acclaimed ‘Festival of the Mind’ with Professor Vanessa Toulmin, founder of The National Fairground and Circus Archive, at The University of Sheffield, the fourth exposition of which took place September 2018. In 2013, his exhibition ‘Swarfhorse’, www.swarfhorse.co.uk , was presented at The Millennium Galleries Sheffield. Ongoing projects include: ‘Gaiamycota’ – www.gaiamycota.org, ‘The Gene Genie’, ‘Deadkidsfingers’ – www.anthonybennettsculpture.co.uk/deadkidsfingers, and ‘Metamycota’.
Al Daw Merging the high with the low, the every day with the exceptional, Daw creates paintings that explore the condition of contemporary visual culture. His work has been exhibited extensively in exhibitions such as The Impossible Heap Galerie8 London, The Santorini Bienalle, 2012, Paper at PAG gallery, 2011 among others. Daw also co-founded Bethlehem Boys Club with fellow Artist Pete Bennett in December 2013, which features prominent outsider, and established Artists such as Billy Childish & Jimmy Cauty, with exhibitions at F Gallery, Stoke Newington and Core Arts, Hackney. Daw’s work has been featured in publications such as Cut & Paste: 21st Century Collage and 100 Ideas that Changed Art (Lawrence King Publishing) and numerous online publications such as Dazed and Confused, Creative Review, Vice and Spindle & Pop.
Paul Evans is based at Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards include the Eyestorm Gallery Award for painting. His work has featured in a number of publications including & Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition by Michael Petry, published by Thames and Hudson 2013.
Seiko Kinoshita is a Japanese artist based at Yorkshire Artspace. She has exhibited her installations widely at Galleries & Museums and produced public art for Sheffield Central Library, Sheffield NHS Hospitals, Redwoods Centre- Shrewsbury NHS, and The Silk Mill, Derby. She has recently been awarded an Arts Council Grant to tour her collaborative work with scientist Dr Nate Adams over the next 2 years.
Mandy Payne is a painter/ printmaker. She has been selected for the John Moores Painting Prize twice and was a prizewinner in 2014. She has regularly shown in the RA Summer Exhibition and in 2016 and 2017 exhibited in China. She recently completed a 2-year Fellowship in Stone Lithography at Leicester Print Workshop, receiving awards from the Arts Council and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation.
Sarah Villeneau is a ceramic artist based at Yorkshire Artspace in Sheffield. A member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and Design Nation, Sarah has received numerous awards from Arts Council England and AN the Artist Information Company, not least of which is the competitive new “Developing Your Creative Practice” award to create new work. She completed an MA in Studio Ceramics in 2014 and exhibits her work across the UK.
Joanna Whittle is a painter who has shown nationally and internationally in both solo and group exhibitions including: Exit Art (New York); Agnews, Clapham Art Gallery, Keith Talent and Collyer Bristow Galleries (London); Jerwood Dance House and The Jugg Art Foundation (Suffolk). She has undertaken a number of public commissions, most recently for Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust and is currently exhibiting at the Walker Art Gallery as a selected artist for the John Moores Painting Prize 2018.
Myfanwy Williams is an abstract artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally in London (Discerning Eye, 2013, 2014, and the Menier Gallery, 2017); Birmingham (at the RBSA Gallery where she received an Award this year); Athens (Municipal Gallery of Piraeus, 2016, 2018 and Platforms, 2017, 2018) and Paris (Galerie Metanoia 2014, 2015, 2017, where she was awarded the Monte Dei Fiori Prize in 2016). She exhibits her paintings in Sheffield galleries and elsewhere in Yorkshire.
Sean Williams is based at Bloc Studios in Sheffield. He has been a member of the Contemporary Painting Group for three years. Recent exhibitions include ‘Contemporary Masters from Britain’ at Tianjin Academy of Fine Art, China, and ‘Testcard P’ at The Crypt, St Marylebone Parish Church, London. His painting ‘Our Bloody Hell’ has been selected for exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art in Connecticut next year.
About Matt Roberts
Matt Roberts is a curator and art consultant with over 14 year’s experience of artists’ professional development support and exhibition management. He has worked in India, Israel, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, as well as lecturing at various universities and institutions across the UK. Having founded both the Matt Roberts Arts project space and the Salon Art Prize, he has mentored or offered one-to-one support to over 1000 artists, and has contributed critical writing to a-n, Axis, and Guardian Cultural Professionals on a regular basis.
About Making Ways
Making Ways is an ambitious three-year project that will demonstrate, celebrate and develop exceptional contemporary visual art produced in Sheffield. Between 2016 and 2019, the Sheffield Culture Consortium will coordinate a visual art programme that forms a legacy of Sheffield’s Year of Making, revealing artistic talent in year one and taking talented individual artists to the next level in years two and three. Making Ways will stimulate and support the development of artistic talent and leadership by building the profile of the artistic community, brokering relationships with business and industry and developing a living economy that will stimulate and support growth. Making Ways is funded by Arts Council England, Sheffield City Council, The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University.
