Spurn National Nature Reserve greets new Artist in Residence
Monday 21st May 2012
Sketch of Spurn lighthouse - Credit Alice Fox
Artist Alice Fox is the Artist in Residence for 2012 at Spurn National Nature Reserve in East Yorkshire. Alice is working on a new body of work inspired by this unique and fragile landscape. This will be exhibited in an unusual on-site exhibition in Spurn’s old lighthouse. The exhibition will be open during the weekend of 21-23rd September, 11am – 5pm. Following the residency exhibition the work will tour galleries in the region through 2013.
Alice recently graduated with a first class degree in Contemporary Surface Design and Textiles. She grew up just over the waters of the Humber in Grimsby and had a previous career in nature conservation, working for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as an Otters & Rivers Project Officer. This residency is her first public project as a solo artist. This is an opportunity to take her work to new audiences, both during her time at Spurn and through the exhibition tour, which runs from October through into 2013. Alice’s residency is supported by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, by the National Lottery, through Arts Council England and by EYevents.
Over a six-month period Alice will be recording her experience of Spurn, a remote and ever changing spit of land that protrudes into the mouth of the Humber estuary on the coast of East Yorkshire. Wide horizons, windswept beaches, an abundance of migrating birds and other wildlife, fascinating patterns in mud and sand as the tide constantly ebbs and flows: these are all elements that make Spurn the special place that it is. Alice will be using the old lighthouse as an on-site studio base and this heritage building will form the location for the exhibition weekend. Visitors will be encouraged to walk the 3.5 mile peninsular to take in the exhibition as part of their experience of Spurn. Be aware that the road can be impassable as storms and tides mean that the peninsula is at constant risk from being breached by the sea.
Alice’s work combines the textural qualities of textile and printmaking processes, including rust prints, naturally sourced mark making, embossing and collagraph printmaking. She builds up layers of print and stitch to make contemplative artworks that form an embodiment of a certain location. Bringing found objects into her work, she employs them in various print techniques. Texture is all-important. The use of stitch as mark making in print and as added texture forms a common element running through her work.
Alice Fox says: “I have an intense interest in the natural world and in the detail of organic things. Spurn provides so many possibilities for developing my work. I’m very excited about being able to focus on this special location and to then take something of the experience of Spurn to other audiences through the gallery tour next year.”
Alice will be documenting the project at:
http://spurnpointartistinresidence.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/SpurnPointArtistInResidence2012
https://twitter.com/#!/alicefoxartist
Tagged with: Events & Shows, Photography & The Arts, Artist in Residency, Spurn National Nature Reserve