Oscar Newcombe (with Ginny Reddick) - Flight exhibition

Oscar Newcombe

Welcome to the Flight exhibition, a selection of artists’ mobiles celebrating Dagenham’s history of aviation and its transmigratory population. Eleven artists and eleven writers explore this multi-layered theme during March and April at the Pink Tardis Gallery, Heathway Shopping Centre, Dagenham. 

Stare through the Pink Tardis window and marvel at these suspended sculptures, prototypes, and conceptual clouds. If you can't see the exhibition in person then don't worry, we'll be featuring all seventeen artworks here on the website. Every artwork has its very own dedicated writer, and we'll publish their responses here throughout March and April 2026.

We launch the Flight exhibition with a new CollectConnect artist, Oscar Newcombe. His rotating wooden panel reflects the duality of Dagenham's history. On one side we look up to the skies to see Hardy Amies' costume design for 2001: A Space Odyssey. On the flipside we look down to discover the Dagenham Idol, a Bronze Age wooden statue found in marshland on the north bank of the River Thames in 1922. It is an artwork of aspirations and dreams, fitting for a young artist with a bright future ahead of him.

Our writer today is Ginny Reddick, read her response below.

Oscar Newcombe

There you are,

You went so far,

Now there’s miles in your eyes, and a moon.

Look at you,

The one who flew,

Who heard star songs and orbital tunes.

What did you say?

I missed that, come again,

To the birdsong, the green and the blue.

Do you remember Major Tom

Who strayed too far and stayed too long?

Come back to the green and the blue.

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Oscar Newcombe is a multidisciplined artist who will be studying on the Foundation course at Kingston School of Art (Kingston University) in 2026.

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. She has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

 

S J Fowler (with Ginny Reddick) - Sets, Series and Ensembles

S J Fowler

Welcome to Sets, Series and Ensembles, an exhibition of art in public places. Accompanying each public art placement is a 'First Response' for you to read here on the website. As artists and writers we are constantly collecting ideas, objects, themes, and sentiments. We are often searching for the connections and narratives that help us understand both our lives and our art. 

S J Fowler's clutch of cuddly critters are on the loose! Two Collect Connect regulars join forces this morning to deal with the fluffy little creatures. The five soft toys were last seen in a procession along the edge of a pond. Each one has a fading message written on their bellies. Ginny Reddick finds the words to help us make sense of this latest ensemble.

S J Fowler

Still Waters

Here we go

Orderly

Slow.

 

No one could know

The hashed out

Harsh half meaning.

Un-whole ideas

and broken portmanteau.

The lonely fragments

Underneath.

 

So come together.

Run deep.

 

Here we go.

Orderly.

Slow.

S J Fowler

SJ Fowler a poet, writer and performer working in the literary, modernist and avant-garde traditions. He has published ten collections of poetry, over twenty publications of limited edition poetry, art and collaborative works and been commissioned by Tate Modern, BBC Radio 3, The British Council, Tate Britain, Liverpool Biennial and Wellcome Collection amongst others for texts, performances and installations. www.stevenjfowler.com/

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. She has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson - Translocation and Dislocation (words by Ginny Reddick)

Welcome to the Translocation and Dislocation exhibition, a selection of eclectic artworks that have been placed or screened beyond the tradition gallery walls. Alongside the art, you can read written works by our First Responders. We will choose a different location for each artwork, the art might be placed in a complementary location (to add to the narrative) or juxtaposed against a competing backdrop to create new meaning.

Particles fly through the dark skies in Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson's film Before Religion. It is the time of magic, myths and stories passed down through generations. We find ourselves mesmerised by the patterns and movement. These ancient feelings still pulse under the surface of our modern lives. Our First Responder is Ginny Reddick, who is searching for the spaces in between.

Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson

First Responder: Ginny Reddick

The Spaces In Between

There’s magic in the spaces in between.

There’s this one, there’s that one

And the difference.

But as you go along

you lose, this and that and them.

Again 

And again

And before you know it you’re rushing through a tunnel in the dark with nowhere to stop and nothing to hang on to

Stop!

We play

the final bar

of the final minuet,

the f sharp fades.

The grey lady says

I feel so…contained.

We don’t laugh.

We hold a silence.

(beat)

For a moment, we are the thing to hang them on.

The spaces in between.

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Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson is a visual contemporary artist of Polish origin. She moved from Poland to study art at The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University. After graduating in 1996 in Painting and Mixed Media, Tomaszewska-Nelson settled in Brixton, London, where she has a studio. Predominantly a painter, Tomaszewska-Nelson also works with video, photography, performance, land-art, installation and sound, always seeking a language best suited for the subject matter.
http://www.aniatn.space/

Ginny Reddick is an educator, musician and long time supporter of Collect Connect and its many ventures. Ginny lives in East London with her family.

Marcia Teusink - Translocation Dislocation (words by Ginny Reddick)

Today's art work is a video from artist Marcia Teusink. This is Marcia's first time exhibiting with us at Collect Connect and we are very pleased to welcome her.

Marcia Teusink is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores climate change, collapsing environments and regrowth through painting, mixed media, video and installation. 

Marcia's original video of collapsing landscapes in reverse 

http://www.marciateusink.com/uncertain-edges.html

has been projected onto a coat with the zip going up and down. Thanks to Collect Connect stalwart and friend Chris Brown for help with the projection and production.

First Responder: Ginny Reddick

Big Mummy

I wrapped your perfect sleep

Inside my coat.

I was Big Mummy,

Your rock against the weather.

Even then you pushed your way through 

To feel the rain upon your face.

Look now.

You swaddle what you love.

You wrap the world.

You hold it close against the odds.

Has it finished?

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Marcia Teusink is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores climate change, collapsing environments and regrowth through painting, video, mixed media sculpture and installation. Teusink has exhibited in the UK, the USA and Europe, including recent exhibitions at 195 Mare Street (London), Territory Expo (Barreiro, Portugal), Rome Botanical Gardens (Italy), St Augustine's Tower (London), and Dawe's Twineworks with a commissioned installation for the Od Arts Festival (Somerset, UK). She frequently collaborates with other artists, including an ongoing collaboration with London-based Ground Collective and the international group The Prezent. Teusink has attended artists residencies at Kala Art Institute (CA, USA), The Studios at MASSMoCA (MA, USA), PADA Studios/SLUICE (Barreiro, Portugal) and Unit 1 Gallery-Workshop (London). She works out of her studio in Stamford Hill, London.

http://www.marciateusink.com/about.html

Ginny Reddick is an educator, musician and long time supporter of Collect Connect and its many ventures. Ginny lives in East London with her family.

Alertism - Susie Mendelsson

Welcome to the Alertism exhibition, featuring artistic and literary works that were inspired by the Emergency Alert test message that was sent to people with a mobile device on Sunday 23rd April at 3pm.

We start the exhibition with the work of Susie Mendelsson, who creates artworks using wood paper wire and recycled materials to create her darkly humorous sculptures. Susie's First Responder is Ginny Reddick.

Susie Mendelsson 

First Responder: Ginny Reddick

It's OK in here 

you know.

Sunshine yellow

Inside and out.

And if I hold my head

Just so

I don't need to know

Too quiet dawns

Or swift goodbyes.

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Susan Mendelsson was born at Hackney, London and educated at the Manchester Metropolitan University, gaining a B.A. (hons.) in Graphic Design. She then took a Teaching Diploma in Art from at University of Haifa, Israel and an M.A. in Fine Art from Coventry University. A figurative artist who has been influenced by the German expressionists as well as medieval art and works mainly in paint and mixed media. In her Suffolk studio she creates the most amazing 3D figures and characters often made from found objects. https://susiemendelsson.co.uk/

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. She has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Bill Mudge & Ginny Reddick - Urban Bonsais Real and Imagined

Our Urban Bonsai today comes from Bill Mudge with words from Ginny Reddick.

Photographer Bill Mudge has been embedded in the creative industries for all of his working life. Starting his journey as a session musician playing piano and organ on London's vibrant jazz scene. He is now one of the go-to photographers for artists, makers, and designers who want to translate their work onto the digital page. Working with fledgling and established creatives, growing businesses and world-renowned artists such as Kendra Haste and John Virtue. www.billmudge.co.uk

Ginny lives in Walthamstow with her lovely family. She likes to go for walks in Epping Forest.

survivor 

the grey wave

starts with a path

 

stubborn roots push

at memories

nuthatch, cabbage white

oak and beech

 

a faded leaf

relishes the final rays

and weeks

or days

 

life fights

grey washes

our tree fades

and throws a seed

Lesley Cartwright - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies

Lesley Cartwright

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.

Artist - Lesley Cartwright  / Words - Ginny Reddick

Pass On
Old heart, pass on,
Grandfather, Father,
Son,
broken,
pass on
unbroken, pass on
divided and melted, pass on, pass on
sickened, pass on
lessened, pass on
mended and filled and pass on, pass it on. You can borrow its beat Until it's time to pass on. If we're lucky, Grandfather, Father, Son.

Lesley Cartwright's Love Token on a communication box in Walthamstow

Lesley's Love Token lays on this battered box in a quiet residential road in Walthamstow. Waltham Forest is currently the London Borough of Culture and many parts of the Borough are undergoing extensive change with rapid housing development and large scale gentrification. 

Lesley Cartwright was born in Liverpool but later moved to Essex to run a Hostel for homeless teenagers. She made her name in the commercial graphic field and music photography until she developed MS and now paints portraits from her Billericay studio. Cartwright is a multitalented artist who is not bound by genre nor convention. Cartwright has been exhibiting with CollectConnect since the Cardboard City exhibition in 2013.ttps://twitter.com/ley9

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. Although there has been a 9 year hiatus between that exhibition and this one she has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Tracy Boness - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies

Tracy Boness  - #unsettledgallery No.2 (Pipe Crack Site)

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.

Art - Tracy Boness / Words -  Ginny Reddick 

The queen was especially frightening today. “I was promised. Promised. Where is it? Where? Is? It?” Her inflection was nonsensical, her eyes missed some essential human thing and the rage burned erratically. Anything could happen now - to the princess or to one of the others. She clutched the locket tightly. It burned her palm. A talisman against the queen but a vulnerability as well. It was filled with herself. She had loved and was loved. Her mother was long gone but she remained, in her and in the locket.

This latest storm subsided and that night she went to the river alone. (Better on her own terms.) She threw it far and her mind’s eye watched it sink to unknowable depths where it could never be taken from her.

Tracy Boness

Tracy's Love Token resides on a tiny mossy ledge in the aptly named Pipe Crack Site in Bermondsey, part of the #usettledgallery No.2 near London Bridge. The #unsettledgallery, as its name suggests, is an evolving space that we have been populating with art. The London Bridge area is a thoroughfare for thousands of commuters each day. The Tate Modern, White Cube and Jerwood Space are close by, Guy's Hospital sits within its boundary, alongside Europe's tallest building, The Shard. The area has been targeted by 'terrorists'  in the past and people queue in a long line every day outside the Immigration Centre on St Thomas St. It has given us plenty of inspiration already but we hope it will now become a breeding ground for both our own art and other artists too. 

Tracy Boness (b. Canningtown, East London) studied for a BTEC National Diploma in Art & Design at East Ham Community College then a BA Hons Degree Fine Art at West Surrey Institute of Art & Design. She consistently exhibits her work, undertaking commissions and taking part in community based workshops. Painting and drawing are essential to her work practice. Recent black and white drawings take inspiration from 18th Century engravings and botanical drawings of the era. Boness also likes to experiment with new materials, sometimes sewing and layering surfaces to create tactile pieces of work.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/craftylittlehouse100/

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. Although there has been a 9 year hiatus between that exhibition and this one she has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Don't forget to submit to our next exhibition. The Art of Caring is accepting submission until the 7th April 2019. More at http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/p/submit.html

Susie Mendelsson - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies

Susie Mendelsson

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.

Art - Susie Mendelsson / Words Ginny Reddick

Life was hard and grey and pushed together. The days would not make room for her. They jostled and overlapped and squeezed. On and on and on went the days and all that time it was growing. She didn’t know about it. It didn’t ask for anything. It did it all on its own.

Until one time, tired in the moonlight, she saw it. It was red and streaked with silver. It held itself by its own stem and waited for her.

Susie Medelsson's Love Token on a post at the edge of Epping Forest

Susie's Love Token stands on a post on the path at the edge of Epping Forest.
The Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, bordering London and Essex and is an Ancient Woodland, one of the few left in London. The sculptor Jacob Epstein lived on the edge of the Forest. Nowadays the Forest is used by dog walkers, mountain bikers, horse and pony riders and picnicking friends and families as well as footballers, bird watchers and runners. I like to imagine all the lovers who might have left their own love tokens in the forest over the centuries. The Forest has also had its share of Bad Pennies reaching up to the present day. Take a walk through the Forest and see if you can find a Love Token or a Bad Penny. 

Susan Mendelsson was born at Hackney, London and educated at the Manchester Metropolitan University, gaining a B.A. (hons.) in Graphic Design. She then took a Teaching Diploma in Art from at University of Haifa, Israel and an M.A. in Fine Art from Coventry University. A figurative artist who has been influenced by the German expressionists as well as medieval art and works mainly in paint and mixed media. In her Suffolk studio she creates the most amazing 3D figures and characters often made from found objects.

https://susiemendelsson.co.uk/

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. Although there has been a 9 year hiatus between that exhibition and this one she has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Don't forget to submit to our next exhibition. The Art of Caring is accepting submission until the 7th April 2019. More at http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/p/submit.html

Alban Low - Love Tokens and Bad Pennies

Alban Low at #unsettledgallaery No.10

Does love endure forever? Does a bad penny always turn up? During this Valentine month the artists and writers from CollectConnect explore this flip-sided theme with an exhibition of 32 miniature sculptures. These objects are placed in public places (#unsettledgallery), helping us to remember those who we hold dear - or cast off those who we would rather forget. Every day throughout February we will be featuring one of these tokens/pennies on this website. A writer will also use the art as inspiration to create something new and fresh.

Artist - Alban Low / Words - Ginny Reddick

It seemed like a great way to cut down on workload so of course they bought a load, programmed them with the mission statement and released them at the Monday meeting. People seemed to quite enjoy it – it was something different and of course anything to save time.


They worked well at first, reminding pupils and staff of key points. The DON’T TIP ON YOUR CHAIR message was really helpful and saved valuable minutes. Average progress scores increased by 5%, staff engagement with data improved and messages were transmitted in a fun and effective way.


Then something went wrong. Some said it was IT support (as usual) and others suspected the geography department of programming them to control entire lessons and they’d never been meant for that. The problem was, it got to the stage where you could never quite tell where they’d turn up or what they would say when they got there.


The PROGRESS SCORE reminder turned itself into GROPE ROSES. Teachers just laughed and failed to engage with the development plan. BOOK CHECK alerts were presented as BOK-EH-COCK which failed to convey the gravity of that particular process.


The final straw came during a pop-up inspection when USE THE WINGS turned up to PE, which was expected, with the message WEEING TUSH, which was not. Pupils took advantage of the ensuing chaos and overall an unsatisfactory hour of physical learning was presented to the inspectors.


Their report recommended removal and destruction of the devices as they did not promote the appropriate values. However, they are difficult to catch and seem to be multiplying.

Alban Low

You can see Alban Low's artwork in the Hospital Bridge Road Tunnel beside the River Crane at #unsettledgallery No.10. If you can find it then you can take it home, or perhaps you will leave it for someone else to discover. The River Crane runs through the slim woodland and pasture area of Crane Park in Twickenham. It is managed to encourage wildlife, Marsh Frogs and the scarce water vole breed on the banks of the river. You can also find important industrial archaeology with relics from the Hounslow Gunpowder Works (1760s) at the western end of the park.

Alban Low is involved in many creative projects, these include album artwork, publishing chapbooks, making films, maps, conceptual exhibitions, live performance and good old drawing. He is artist-in-residence at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education at Kingston University and St George's University of London. Low spends his evenings in the jazz clubs of London where he captures the exhilaration of live performances in his sketchbook. On Wednesday evenings he sketches the performers on the radio show A World in London at Resonance FM. This year Alban is working on a walking project about London Musicians from the 1920s-1940s.

http://albanlow.com/

Ginny Reddick is a writer and educator. She was one of the artists who exhibited at the first ever CollectConnect exhibition, Open Fridge, in March 2010. Although there has been a 9 year hiatus between that exhibition and this one she has curated numerous CC projects including the Walthamstow street art favourite HideBird.

Don't forget to submit to our next exhibition. The Art of Caring is accepting submission until the 7th April 2019. More at http://collectconnect.blogspot.com/p/submit.html