Artist Talks at the CollectConnect Retrospective

We launched the CollectConnect Retrospective with an opening party last week at Kensington and Chelsea College gallery where artists of all ages joined together to celebrate 6 years of inclusive art. With 25 exhibitions, 1200 artists and a whole gallery full of artworks it was a major effort to prepare this exhibition, and we hope the artists and visitors enjoyed both the art and meeting each other. The nature of our exhibitions and projects mean that many artists never meet each other, they are merely artworks and reputations in cyberspace. There were many London artists in attendance, Sharon Read and Jill Hedges endured the long trek from Northampton but Eskild Beck once again came the furthest from his hometown of Aabenraa in Denmark.

Catherine Wynne-Paton visited the gallery before the opening party to record some footage of the exhibition and to interview Alban, Bryan and Dean about the CollectConnect project. You can find a brief snippet of their conversation here - https://vimeo.com/194180116

Chapbooks

The exhibition isn't over yet!
Join us on Tuesday 6th Dec from 5.30 - 8pm at Kensington and Chelsea College Gallery (Hortensia Rd, London, SW10 0QS) for an evening of Artists Talks. Bryan Benge, Stuart Simler, Alban Low and Dean Reddick will be talking about the CollectConnect projects and their adventures in public art. There will also be an introduction about how to publish a chapbook and readings from published authors Kevin Acott, Peter S Smith, Carmel Blackie, Maartens Lourens (Poetry WTF?!), Lucy Furlong and Stella Tripp.

Look forward to seeing you.

On The Map exhibition

On The Map Exhibition

Welcome to the On The Map exhibition from CollectConnect artists. Earlier this year publisher Sampson Low Ltd commissioned 12 new maps from a group of exciting contemporary artists. Each map was designed to be printed as an A3 fold out sheet with 4 supporting pages on it's reverse side.



The Sunbury Dice Game
Alban Low and Harvey Wells

There is an inherent beauty in maps, like the Dwell book that proceeded this exhibition maps are a 2 dimensional rendering of a 3 dimensional form. They are often interpretations of the real world in a graphic light with motifs and lines that help us find anything from roads to windmills.

Artists are natural observers and organisers who like categorise through visual means. This map exhibition gives us the chance to see the world around us through the eyes of 14 artists from around the UK.

The artists were asked to consider 3 criteria.
Their map should be set in the real world, somewhere in the UK.
That it should include a route which could be walked.
The walking of the map shouldn't cost more than £10 (train fares, entrance to museums, lunch)

Sampson Low Ltd have printed them all in colour at an A5 (21x14.8cm) size with an A3 fold out map incorporated. They will be selling the maps at an affordable £2 (+ Postage and Packing) so that anyone can try one of these artist's walks or frame them on their wall.

The artists are -

Bill Mudge
Melanie Ezra and Rose Davies
Bryan Benge
Robert Good
Peter S Smith
Dean Reddick
Tahira Mandarino
Alban Low and Harvey Wells
Phillip Cribb
Stuart Simler
Jill Hedges
Glyn Walton

The exhibition runs from 14th April to 10th May 2015
Private View - 23rd April, 6.30-8.30pm
at
The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery
The Walled Garden, Thames Street
Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 6AB
http://www.sunburyembroidery.co.uk/index.htm

All welcome. We hope you can find your way there.
If not, I'll draw you a map!

AL.

We would especially like to thank Robert Shaw, Barbara Robertson, Tahira Mandarino at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery. Also Spelthorne Borough Council for their support of the exhibition.

Stuart Simler - Trojan Horse

Stuart Simler  - Trojan Horse

Welcome to the Dwell exhibition and book. For a whole month we will be taking each artist's page and transforming it into a 3 dimensional dwelling. Each one of these small sculptures will be exhibited in public on the London streets.



Stuart Simler

Today we've got our very own Odysseus exhibiting his sculpture for the dwell exhibition. Stuart Simler's Trojan Horse even has its own address, No.7 St Michael's Alley, behind the Crosse Keys pub in the City of London. Stuart Simler is one of the founding members of our modest collective, and is a great believer and practitioner of our 'Art for all' philosophy. This isn't the only collaborative project he's a part of, Stuart is also integral to the Sunbury Working Artists group , including painters, potters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and textile artists who got together this time last year. Their flourishing creativity flows from their studios beside the river in Sunbury-upon-Thames.

Stuart Simler  - Trojan Horse

We are indebted to Stuart for his overall creativity and exciting 'can do' attitude at CollectConnect but even more so for this Dwell exhibition. Dean Reddick cites Stuart's excellent 'Cardboard City' exhibition along London's Southbank  as one of the influences on this public art trail of tiny dwellings. In fact both referenced the spiralling housing costs in London and further afield as themes in their exhibition introductions.

Kim Reddick

We've placed Stuart's Trojan Horse right in the middle of the City, not Troy of course but London's fortified financial district. Here in London we've been under more than a 10 year siege although not one with ancient Greeks camping outside our gates. The IRA activities of the 1980's have now given way to a new threat from further shores, and Police sentries permanently line the battlements of the capital's Square Mile. We had our fair share of unusual looks from tourists and Rozzers alike but we also had a secret weapon when placing Stuart Simler's dwelling on the streets. For who could suspect our cherubic helper Kim Reddick of any skullduggerous activity.

Don't forget to have a look at the next Collect Connect project, 'The Art of Caring' exhibition at The Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames. The theme is Caring/Care and it is FREE to enter.

 

To buy the Dwell Book for £6 then follow this LINK

AL.

Dwell book published by Sampson Low Ltd

The latest publication from CollectConnect artists is being released in February 2015 by Sampson Low Ltd. London based artist and art therapist Dean Reddick has brought together artists from around the world to publish a book of 30 practical Nets. Each black and white page is easy to photocopy and ready for all ages to build themselves. The Nets are graded with completion times and building tips. A magical book about 2D plans with the potential to become 3D dwellings that can be adapted and coloured by the reader.

Dwell: A book of Nets
Published February 2015
ISBN 978-1-910578-00-1
64 pages A4 Softback
Author – Various Artists
SLB0008

Click on the BUY NOW button below to buy
Dwell: A book of Nets for £6 (UK addresses only +£1.60 Postage and Packing)

Authors
Alban Low Scrunchy Shed
Beth Davis Hofbauer Castle in the Sky
Bryan Benge City Scape
Catherine Wynne-Paton Raft at Sea
Dean Reddick Shelter One and TreeHouse
Eleanor Bedlow Container
Ella Klenner & Fausto House by the Wild Sea
Eve Allsop Home
Gavin Blackhurst 46 Malbet Park
Helen Hunt Thoreau’s Room
Holly Daniels Fairy Dwelling
Jane Hellings Shipping Container
Jay Snelling Pyramid
Jessamy Low Ocelot Villa
J Masson Abri
Keziah Reddick Dream dwelling
Kim Reddick Crates
Lisa Howes Flat Pack
Malc Dow Escape Dwelling
Melanie Ezra Caer Hecsagon
Mike Russell Negated Obstacle
Natalie Low Dwellow Submarine
Nick Gammons Castle
Rajaa Khalife Paixao Confessions of an artist
Sabatin Bascoban The Caravan
Sara Lerota Table as a place..
Steve DT The Sistene Chapel
Stuart Simler Trojan Horse
Tamara Jelaca Little house in Prairie

Getting Ready for FAB Fridge

Dean Reddick and magnets

Submissions are now closed for FAB Fridge 2014.
We're just downloading and logging in the last few entries and I think we'll top 300 mark.
This will be the second largest Contemporary Magnetic Art Exhibition ever, so very excited about the event itself.
It's not all about quantity and this year has seen a swathe of exciting new artists join our rank with some truly inspiring artwork. Of course it goes without saying that we couldn't do this without some of our old hands too, whose devotion to the cause is uplifting.

Over the next week we'll be updating our artist lists with names and links. Then getting the images ready for the printers in 32 image sheets. These are turned into magnets and shipped back to us in May, all ready to cut up and prepared for the streets of Bath.

Over the next month we will be writing about some of our CollectConnect artists, so please keep dipping in and out.

On the 24th May we will be meeting at Bath Rail Station at 11.30am. We will then be walking around Bath placing magnets on metallic surfaces.


Francesca Albini - Chips

Follow us on Twitter - @collectconnect and @albanart
or hashtag #fab14 where we'll be posting some photos of the magnets.

Hopefully we'll be stopping for a spot of lunch and doing just what one of our new artists Francesca Albini has drawn.

Alban, Dean, Stuart and Bryan.

Stuart Simler & Tete de Alencar - Finale

As you might have guessed this is our last entry to the Cardboard City exhibition.

The Tate Modern, London

The final doors on our Social Advent calendar have been opened. It has been a long road and we fittingly pay tribute to the man behind this intervention and introduce another new face to the fray.

Tete de Alencar's door &
the Golden Hinde
 

First we open Tete de Alencar's submission beside the Golden Hinde, which was the galleon of Sir Francis Drake. Then we reveal our final Social Advent outside London's Cathedral of Modern Art. Housed in the old Bankside Power Station it is a great example of how to change a redundant space into a gallery. Here at CollectConnect we are adept at doing just this, finding and transforming public spaces, often I might add without millionaire backers.   
 

The Penultimate door

Tete de Alencar studied in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before moving over to these fair shores. She studied in Wales (Coleg Menai), Liverpool (John Moore's University) and finally in London (Central St Martins). As a truly international artist she has exhibited worldwide and draws her inspiration from complex social issues embedded in contemporary society.

Tete de Alencar -
'OCD and the Silver Spoon dialogue!'

She is a perfect fit for the Cardboard City Exhibition with her playful ideas that experiment with what is revealed and in turn, what is concealed.

“What you see is never what you are going to get…the real work is usually hidden and sacred in a container - a disguise to protect the real art piece, transforming it into an enigma.  It’s an ancestral magic, an ancient tactic...they will have to be aware that breaking the spell and revealing what is inside, involves a kind of death of the piece and transforms it into ordinary gold…”

Stuart Simler

The final door belongs to Stuart Simler who has devised and organised this exhibition. All the artists we have spoken to over the past month would like pass on their thanks and Christmas wishes to him. He is a man who feels passionately about the themes behind the Cardboard City and the ethos that we at CollectConnect are so proud of. During the final planning stages the Southwark Police Force advised us against this exhibition but Stuart was undeterred and he wrote us,

Stuart Simler - ‘Outside Looking In’

"I do think though that this particular project theme encompasses many of the mission objectives of collect connect and instead of giving into these fears created by government democracy come propaganda we do what we set out to do, which is to highlight these fears and share them with everyone"

We were suitably galvanised.

Thank you for visiting these pages over the past month and being a part of the exhibition even if you have been unable to see the artwork in situ.

Now for a little break from blogging and exhibiting. We'll be open again for business in the New Year where we'll be revisiting our first ever street-art exhibition, the one and only FAB Fridge.

We have been awarded one of the coveted curatorial platforms at the Fringe Arts Bath Festival in May 2014. It will be an open submission with 500 spaces up for grabs so get involved -
FAB FRIDGE Call out

Have a wonderful Christmas from all of us at CollectConnect,
Bryan, Dean, Alban and Stuart.

AL.

Stuart Simler - The Storm Within

Door #16 with Bankside Pier and
Cannon St Station in background.

The whole Cardboard City project has been a wonderful opportunity to regularly get off my sofa and out into London's swirling masses. I've been able to get to know the current work of new artists and old friends alike. Today is a chance to take stock of the artist who has devised and executed this intervention. The idea has been gestating since our first official CollectConnect show in September 2012 but has really come to life in the past 3 months under the cavalier direction of Stuart Simler.
 
As well as being one of CollectConnect's long suffering guardians, Stuart is also a high profile Arts facilitator working on diverse projects for clients like The British Council and the Kew Botanical Gardens. Over a cup of coffee in the Royal Festival Hall he told me a little about what is behind door number 16,


The 16th Door - Cardboard City Exhibition

'Horizon' is a response to the maelstrom we often find ourselves living in - sure, there are the times when all feels peaceful but more and more it seems that someone is trying to push us into a corner of social conformity. Something that is quantifiable is more easy to manage and put a statistic behind when really everything is changing daily, the weather, the skyline, the economy and more importantly our perception of all the above and more. This ever shifting landscape can often seem daunting and offer little in the way of support or security.



Stuart Simler - Horizon

Stuart is one of only a handful of abstract artists who works on these type of projects with us. It is a brave choice when the public (and I admit to being one) expects information to be cut up into bite size pieces with an easily digestible message to bounce on the palate.

Who knows what is on the horizon for our society tomorrow but I would bet my life on an another Cardboard City door opening.

I was able to meet up with CollectConnect's Dean Reddick yesterday on the Southbank, who informed me that his Books of Nets will be coming out in March or April 2014 with contributions invited from artists. More information to follow here on the CollectConnect blog.

AL.

Cardboard City Advent - First Artwork Released!!

The first day of the month sees the official release of our first Christmas Advent Artwork!

The first release - somewhere near the Millennium Eye. (details below)

Congratulations and thank you to all of the artists who have contributed your creative interpretations of the Cardboard City brief to this all inclusive open air exhibition!

We have successfully begun to release the artworks into our society - but this wasn't quite as straight forward as we first thought it would be…

…Having informed Southwark Police of our all embracing community intentions we received a very curt and stern warning of the potential repercussions of our proposed actions. These included; possible arrest for littering, for causing a bomb scare and subsequent evacuations of local schools/businesses, which we would be held accountable with payment for costs incurred….The list goes on!

With this warning in mind and with the even stronger purpose for our inclusive message to be shared with the wider community we set upon re-designing our 'cardboard city' boxes to fulfil our mission statements whilst maintaining the peace, if only until the last minute Christmas shoppers run between the Southbank and shopping heaven on the other side of the river.

Alban and I set about releasing our artists Social Advent messages into the community: 

'On the 1st day of Christmas our cardboard city artist gave us:  'Boxed In' 

Bryan Benge - shares his piece with us:



Boxed In - Bryan Benge

Bryan's current working practice is informed by an investigation into the use of LTM (Long Term Memory), particularly episodic memory/schemata that refer to specific events in time (autobiographical).

My reading is at an early stage but already has introduced me to the concept of MTT ( Mental Time Travel), the ability to mentally project oneself in time to relive past experiences, (or future ones). In somewhat of a paradox It is past experiences/memory that preoccupy me at the present time. MTT is a concept being investigated by Canadian Psychologist Endel Turvig.
 

I think Bryans piece adds an interesting dimension to the original themes, considering how our mind and memory can create its own sense of space or containment. 

 

Keep 'em peel'd for another release tomorrow (Monday 2nd)….

SJS

Cardboard City - Call Out

Deadline Closed at 11pm 15/11/2013

Welcome to a new opportunity and exhibition from artist, educator and curator Stuart Simler. This is the fourth exhibition from CollectConnect and once again a new face brings a fresh perspective on the group exhibition genre. Read all about the exhibition/intervention and call-out below, visit the submit page right for all the details, then quite simply get involved.

 'Cardboard City saw the UK's largest collection of homeless people gather in the underpasses of Waterloo, London. Using whatever they could find to house themselves, individuals created a space that would temporarily house them in the short term. As a result of this and because of one common purpose they had become part of a community. Whether this was a cohesive one, we don't know but it raises the question of community spirit and oneness within societies everywhere and never more so than in the glittering chaos that is our lead up the festive season.'

Artists are asked to respond to the this excerpt above and address the main theme -

Social Advent

and to consider the wider ideas of  

'Community & Society...a sense of Belonging' and '

Cardboard City - a throw away Home'

The artwork will be housed in a makeshift cardboard box and released during the lead up to Christmas starting with the first cluster on the 1st December and then daily up until Christmas Eve, 24th December. The trail will begin somewhere near the site of Cardboard City and lead along the Southbank where the final release of artworks will find fruition at the doors of the Tate Modern

 on Christmas Eve. We will be open the doors of the boxes daily and publish the images on the website and twitter @collectconnect4.

Artwork should be created to the following dimensions: 7 x 7 cm and emailed through to: collectconnect4@gmail.com images no larger than 1MB.

Deadline for entries - Friday 15th November (11pm)

Of course any questions please get in touch with Stuart at the email address above and he will endeavour to help you out.

Future Bound Book and Exhibition

Future Bound -
Lucy Carasco (left) and
Elli Abernethy (right)

After months of hard work by the students at UCA Epsom's Diploma in Art & Design- Foundation Studies and the Pre-U Level Diploma not only is their Final Exhibition on the horizon but this fantastic book. The Future Bound book has now arrived in the Sampson Low Ltd offices and we are very excited about releasing it into the world.

Just like the students who will be graduating to bigger and better things in the months to come, we hope the Future Bound book will do the same in art circles. Heralding the arrival of a new crop of artistic talent on the creative scene.

If you would like to buy a copy then we have 30 first editions available on Amazon, just follow this link - BUY FUTURE BOUND

In due course the publisher will also carry them on their site.
www.sampsonlow.com

If you would like to see who appears in the book itself then visit the Future Bound website -
www.thefuturebound.blogspot.co.uk

Laura Matthews (front)
Alice Firman, Rosie Howe and Elisabeth Lewis (Back)

The students worked together with the 4 artists from CollectConnect - Stuart Simler, Bryan Benge, Alban Low and Dean Reddick. The project was devised to give the students an early experience of working and submitting their work in a professional capacity.

The ISBN for the book is 978-0-9534712-2-5 and this allowed us to attach several students names to the code but not unfortunately all. Laura Matthews provided the excellent front cover image and we chose her and two others, Charlotte Harris and Natasha Skliar-Ward (randomly) to be the book's authors. The back cover artists, Alice Firman, Rosie Howe and Elisabeth Lewis were accredited with illustrator credits. We had to select 3 of the 4 CollectConnect to be editors too, but all have played their part and we are grateful to the work they had done behind the scenes.

Future Bound magnet exhibition

The Final Exhibition of all the students' work with be on Tuesday 4th June, 5-8pm at UCA Epsom.
As well as some of the books to flick through, we'll have the 65 copies for the artists to pick up/take home and an exhibition of all their work. Not your normal exhibit, these will be in the form of 70 magnets on a fridge door. Come and say hello on the day and experience this insightful and original book.

AL.