Students exhibit at British Museum’s touring exhibition featuring work by celebrated artists
Work by students at The Northern School of Art is being shown alongside world-renowned artists in an exciting touring exhibition from the British Museum at Hartlepool Art Gallery.
The students’ artworks are displayed amongst pieces from the British Museum collection by Mary Delany, Andy Warhol, Barbara Hepworth and Édouard Manet, as well as some of the most compelling and talented artists working in contemporary drawing, including Charmaine Watkiss, Mary Herbert, Sin Wai Kin and Yinka Shonibare. British Museum Touring Exhibition, Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue, is showing at the town centre gallery until Saturday 24 August 2024.
In this surprising and thought-provoking selection, emerging artists are taking the medium of drawing in new directions. A wide range of techniques and practices are represented, including drawings using make-up on facial wipes by Sin Wai Kin and a drawing made with chalk collected from the White Cliffs of Dover by Josephine Baker.
The artistic responses to some of the works on show created by some of the School’s undergraduate and postgraduate students are being featured to highlight emerging talent in the region and explore the themes of the exhibition, including questions of identity, memory and materiality.
We heard from some of the students who are exhibiting.
Second year BA (Hons) Fine Art student Katie Richardson from Darlington is exhibiting Do I Really Honour And Prioritise My Own Wellbeing? which is a response to Édouard Manet’s Olympia.
Katie said: “Through my practice I am exploring three theoretical concepts, one of these being intertextuality. In the etchings featured in the exhibition I related them to Manet’s etching Olympia. I explored the idea of a modern-day reclining figure and what we tend to do while reclining, this being scrolling on our phones.
“Although you can’t see what she is viewing on her phone, you can understand that due to the semiotics in the pieces, she isn’t enjoying what she sees and it is making her depressed.
“I feel very excited to be included in this exhibition. I am amazed that my work is being shown alongside an etching of Manet’s. Within my practice I use oil paint and focus on realism. Doing etchings was a great way to add to and develop my practice, it also gave me an opportunity to explore alternative mediums.
“After graduation, I plan to do teacher training and use the skills I have developed and learnt, to inspire the next generation of artists.”
Second year BA (Hons) Fine Art student Naomi Fahy, from Sunderland, created her work Masking in response to Mary Herbert’s work A Map of Black Moon.
“Mary’s work deals with the psychological process of creating artwork. She creates suggestions of her experience with her grandma battling dementia, conveying the struggle it’s had on Mary’s mentality,” Naomi explained.
“My work deals with mostly psychological contexts. I chose to use these contexts and the idea of psychological struggles demonstrating my experience of being diagnosed with autism at 16. Even though Mary was at the opening, I was too nervous to talk to her.
“Masking is often used by neurodivergent individuals to appear neurotypical. I wanted to convey the struggle of masking whether consciously or subconsciously. Masking is exhausting and can often lead to burnout and increased mental health issues. The painting is supposed to suggest how we individuals with autism often feel different to the one/multiple masks we have on. The melding together of the layers are suggestive of the difficulty of finding yourself when you become one with the mask/masks.
“I was very fortunate to have been chosen for this exhibition. The idea that my work was with the likes of more famous artists felt very unreal and I’m glad the public are able to view it.
“The exhibition for me personally was very much out of my comfort zone. Having to push myself forward in the world in order to be recognised and asking people to take your photograph so people can put the art to the artist; it’s challenging with chronic social anxiety. I did enjoy that I could talk to a few people and even got a little feedback from people attending the gallery opening. These experiences can and will help me both mentally and physically when presenting to the public in the future.”
Jodie Judge, a second year BA (Hons) Fine Art student originally from London, explained that her work They’ll identify me through the remains was a response to respond to Sin Wai Kin‘s piece What you have gained along the way.
She said: “The reason why I responded to it was its theme of identity and the use of the wipe as the canvas and make-up as the drawing utensils really drew me to it as it’s not what you would normally see, so I felt like it connected to the type of work I wanted to create.
“The work I’ve created as a response to Sin Wai Kin’s work is based on themes of identity with a focus on the objects and the use of them to convey ideas of identity by using found objects as my medium and incorporating collage into the work. Even though the object may be viewed as trash or rubbish it paints a story of me and my life. It has a mixture of items that would be found in my bag and then arranged to show parts of my life and me as a person and would be used to identify me if it was needed.
“I have also included political parts for the background for the canvas. These are all from the Socialist Appeal newspaper which is a workers’ paper that aims to educate the workers and shows the problems that are created under the capitalist system we live under. The point of view I hold shapes my understanding in how the world works and this is why it covers the background of the piece and is the basis for it.
“It was such an amazing achievement for me to be chosen and especially this piece of work being chosen as it’s one of the more meaningful works I’ve done. It’s quite a personal piece which looks into parts of my identity like it’s being shown under microscope which is something I didn’t think would happen but it’s made me embrace it instead of hiding it.
“Being involved has given me a boost in my confidence as an artist and has shown me that the work I create is work that people are interested in and want to learn more about, so it has helped me realise that what I am doing is working and to keep working at it.”
Jodie added: “The fine art degree course that I study at the School is definitely one of the reasons I have been able to get this far. It gives you the right training and education which leads you to getting really good opportunities such as this one. It sets you up to become a professional artist so you can achieve the goals you set.”
Michelle Brown (Mitsi b kral) from Bishop Auckland Durham is studying on The Northern School of Art’s MA Arts Practice course. Her artwork I’m Not Your Problem responded to underlying themes running through the exhibition’s section Self and other.
She said: “Reflecting on incidences of abusive behaviour and the struggles around how we perceive ourselves, my work addresses many of the underlying themes running through the section ‘Self and other’. This compelling depiction illustrates a culmination of internal and external pressures, with the artist ultimately concluding “I’m not your problem, I am me, I am who I want to be. Your perception of that is your problem.
“I am eagerly looking forward to people who visit seeing my work exhibited alongside famous important works of art. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
The British Museum Touring Exhibition, ‘Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue’ at Hartlepool Art Gallery runs until Saturday 24 August. A selection from Hartlepool’s own fine art collection chosen by the gallery’s Young Producers is also on show.
Hartlepool Art Gallery is located in Church Square, Hartlepool, TS24 7EQ. It is open Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am – 5pm and entry is FREE. For more information visit www.culturehartlepool.com/art-gallery
‘Drawing attention: emerging artists in dialogue’ is supported by the Dorset Foundation in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.
