standpoint studios

Chairmans Report

Building on our previous year of growth, 2002 - 2003 was a very successful year with a comprehensive education programme in place, both with the newly allocated Dedicated Art Studio, which towards the end of the year won a three year grant from ShOW, and with lectures on professional practice within the gallery programme and the resident artists studios.

Both Nicola Tassie and Rebecca Finney have worked tirelessly on funding applications obtaining just over £30,000 for a variety of activities, using the Dedicated Art Room for the After School Hours Art Club and an extensive programme of summer workshops throughout the summer holidays. We are very grateful for all the help we have received from our growing network of Artist Educators, particularly Neil Irons, Louise Clarke, Ian MacDonald, Tracey Johnston, Karl Bielik, Simon Marsh & Nik Ramage.

A portion of the above funding and input by Standpoints resident artists will be spent on the development of the Art Education Room, improvements to the gallery, office space and the installation of a disabled toilet on the ground floor. Standpoint are also looking towards employing an education officer who will further develop the education programme.

Standpoint’s resident artists participated in 22 sessions with local schools, culminating in a successful exhibition of children's work shown in the gallery. The show was very well attended at both the private view and during the week.

The Gallery has had a full year of exhibitions with eight separate shows throughout the period, with each show in its own way showing the diversity of the contemporary British art scene. Both Michael Taylor and Rebecca Finney have also worked hard at developing Standpoints commitment to gallery based discussions and professional practice seminars, using the shows in the gallery and Mike’s own work as a discussion point.

Standpoint was pleased to announce the first Mark Tanner Award, an annual bursary of £4000 for a sculptor to make both a new body of work and have an opening at Standpoint Gallery. The annual award has been kindly given by Mrs. Prudence Scott in recognition of an artist, sculptor and friend who had one of the first shows at Standpoint, and who sadly after a long illness died in 1997. This annual bursary will be one of the core features of the gallery programme in the coming years and we are indebted to Mrs Scott’s continued support.

Education

Standpoint has had a phenomenally successful year in consolidating its education programme. £33,196 art education grants were awarded to the studio, (£2950 in revenue funding to support our newly established Dedicated Art Studio space, and £30,246 for art projects). A total of 85 art workshop sessions were run, with 459 young people and students attending, 16 schools, colleges and local youth groups took part in projects and 18 artists were employed.

22 sessions of Standpoint’s Schools Education Workshops (funded in kind by Standpoint members) were held over May 2002 and March 2003. 66 pupils from St Monica’s RC School, Whitmore School and Olga Primary School visited Standpoint for a day to work with the resident artists in their studios.

Some of the projects undertaken included: Peter Jones’ painting workshop on the story of the 'Lone Ranger', Nicola Tassie made commemorative ceramic Blue Plaques and Graham Bignell printed up Wild West wanted posters. The number of these sessions is down on previous years due to Abigail Simpson’s maternity leave and resources being diverted to develop the new After School Art Club Project. We hope to be back on termly visits from local schools in the coming year.

Standpoint continued its commitment to professional practice and undergraduate workshop opportunities with visits from 5 colleges (2 from London, 2 national and one overseas). 4 workshop sessions were held with Mike Taylor in Pauper’s Press printing studio and 3 professional practice talks were given by exhibiting artists. In total, 80 undergraduates visited the studios.

Standpoint is very pleased to have secured the confidence and continued support of the Learning Trust’s Schools Action Plus team, who, throughout the year, have funded an After School Hours Art Club at Standpoint for primary school children. The club has been developed by Rebecca Finney with the support of Sue Matthews (Learning Trust) and in consultation with the attending schools’ art teachers, and is designed to provide a real commitment to the development of art skills and art knowledge amongst the local youth community. It also augments schools existing art provision.

The club is held regularly on Tuesday afternoons for 1 hour. 2 artist-educators are employed to work with the same 14 children attending throughout the term. Themes are followed termly with a wide variety of techniques and media covered. June to July 2003 used ‘Nature’ to explore mark making activities. Autumn 2002, Still Life was used as a basis to work with clay, painting and drawing.

From January to April 2003 the class explored self-portraiture with collage, drawing and acrylic painting. June to July 2003, the club made posters to advertise the 7th annual art education exhibition in Standpoint Gallery. Regular links are made with the current exhibitions on display in the gallery with discussions and demonstrations of the ideas on view - where appropriate! The group also visits other local galleries to gain a broader understanding of contemporary art practice. The club has proved extremely popular and successful, with full attendance at every session.

St Monica’s RC School has been our regular client for these sessions, enabling Standpoint to continue its long term commitment to providing arts access to this local school. However, we are keen to increase our partnerships and provide art clubs for other local schools with Whitmore School starting an art club in June 2003. This is the first example of our arts outreach work, which employs local sculptor Neil Irons ot run a Ceramics Art Club on Whitmore School premises. 12 children attended for 6 sessions, funded by ShOW and managed by Standpoint.

Following demand from the local community and ShOW Youth Forum, Standpoint initiated a Summer Holiday Art Activity Programme for July/August 2002. Funding for this came from ShOW, who covered both overheads of the education studio and project costs, (£5520). Partnerships were made with local play and youth groups and 8 workshop sessions for 114 young people were undertaken. The success of this scheme led to a repeat programme for the summer of 2003. Funding from H.V.A., Family Welfare, Queensbridge Trust and UProject (total, £7015) resulted in 17 workshop activities being programmed and 135 young people attending from 8 local youth clubs.

The remit of the Summer Art Workshop Activities is to provide high quality art activities through using professional art materials under instruction from professional artist-educators in a variety of contemporary art practices. The intention is to nurture talent, introduce new skills and provide stimulating, instructive holiday activities in a safe and inspiring environment.

The summer workshops employ 2 artist-educators for a 2 hour session working with a maximum of 14 young people with a youth worker in attendance. A wide variety of art and craft subjects were offered, from: carnival mask making to coil pots, flick books, mono printing, automata sculpture, collage, cartoons etc.

In total, both summers, Standpoint employed 16 artists for a total of 21 workshop sessions. In the development of this programme Standpoint has compiled a database of artist-educators who are affiliated to Standpoint’s education programme. Standpoint acknowledges some of the comments from visiting youth leaders as to the ‘merely occupational’ nature of some workshops on offer and is keen to work with the most imaginative, innovative and challenging art projects so as to maintain the highest standards of art activity.

In general, the 2 summers proved a great success, with the young people showing enthusiasm and focussing their attention throughout the workshop sessions. However, there were some low attendance figures, (2 sessions with only 2 children attending and 6 no shows), proving the difficulty in engaging local groups commitment to actually taking part. The best subscribed sessions were from groups that Standpoint has developed partnerships with, i.e. Apples and Pears Playgroup, Queensbridge Trust. Clearly, more liaising work needs to be done between Standpoint and local youth groups to advertise the project, gain their commitment and meet their needs.

Standpoint continues to hold its annual art education exhibition, ‘We Made This’ in Standpoint Gallery, showing works made during the art and craft workshop sessions by young people during the previous year. Open to the local and general public, the 6th annual exhibition in 2002 was visited by 110 people, the opening of the 7th exhibition in 2003 was hosted by St. Monica’s Art Club members. 87 people attended the private view including friends and family of the young artists. On show were works made by the art club and during schools visits, the highlight being the framed self-portraits. People feasted their eyes and also their tummies with the cakes and sweets on offer! In total, 176 people visited the exhibition which ran for a week.

Development of the Art Club and Summer Holiday Programme has been made possible by the availability of a vacated artist studio at Standpoint. A proposal was made to establish the studio as a permanent art education space for use by the local community. This solves the problem of restricted access to the artists’ own studio spaces for education work due to professional commitments. Grant funding of £20,400 from ShOW was approved in June 2003, covering 3 years of overheads and contributing to the administration for the Dedicated Art Studio (DAS). With this funding, Standpoint is in a position to attract match funding for art projects to run in the space.

The full time availability of DAS means there is a great potential to be developed. The reputation of Standpoint’s education work in the local community is growing (thanks in part to ShOW’s Art Task Group promoting our project) and expressions of interest from a number of funders has been received for a further £36,000 worth of art projects for the coming year (2004). Employment of an education officer to further develop the education policy needs to be considered, as clearly any increase in our education activity is beyond the scope of the existing management and members of Standpoint.

In general, Standpoint continues its policy of open access and opportunities for training. There were 2 open days attended by 201 people; 2 work experience placements and 2 regular weekly pottery evening classes for the local and general public.

Gallery

April 2002-June 2003Standpoints exhibition programme continues to present work that is both challenging and diverse, representing as it does, the complexity and variety that makes up the contemporary British art scene. The programme reinforces Standpoints mission to act as a ‘stepping stone’ for new talent, providing a base from which new work, artists and ideas can be showcased within a supportive, professional environment.

Mark Tanner Award

One of the major developments throughout this period was the instigation and managing of the Mark Tanner Award, an annual bursary of £4000 for a sculptor to make a new body of work, culminating in an exhibition in the gallery. The award was set up to keep alive the memory of an artist whose enthusiasm for the making of art was one of the defining inputs into the early days of the gallery. He was one of the first artists to have shown at Standpoint, and died in 1997 after a long illness. The award is advertised nationally, and in the first year attracted over 100 applicants.

Professional practice programme

Standpoints education programme includes a professional practice element, especially in relationship to the gallery programme. All exhibiting artists are contracted to give at least one talk to an invited audience during the period of their show, (as highlighted in the education report).
As part of this programme, an exhibition of City & Guilds London School of Art 2nd year painting and sculpture students was initiated in June, sponsored by the city company Vedaris. This progreamme is seen as the cross over point between the gallery and education programmes, and fits fully into Standpoints outreach ethos.

The Programme

May/June 2002

Exposure Photographic lightworks
Emily Allchurch & Laura White

Exposure was an exhibition of new works by two London based artists, both making use of mediated photographic imagery and light to create atmospheric works examining notions of the urban experience, simulation and the hyper-real.
Allchurch's series of photographic lightboxes depicted isolated, pedestrian spaces in the city as night falls. Although the images appeared enticing, cast as they were in a silvery 'twilight', they were imbued with a sense of threat or urgency.
Laura White projected photographic imagery over architectural, modelled constructions. With urban and rural landscapes swaying between being places of aspirational opportunity and celebration, and places of danger, the hybrid of the real experience of landscape and one that is artificially constructed.

July/August

‘Golf for Show, Putt for Dough’ Mixed media

Liam Bailey, Jake Clark, Rob Davies, Geraint Evans, Andy Harper, Helen Maurer, Abigail Reynolds & David Spero

Golf has many different forms, the only link between them being the ball and the club. ‘Drive for Show, Putt for Dough’ was a celebration of golf’s diversity. From the pristine green fairways of St. Andrews to the faded concrete windmills of Canvey Island. Its still the same game. The ball has to be hit from an agreed starting point, avoiding certain obstacles, into a hole some distance away. The fewer shots played the better.

This show brought together all these strands to make a significant whole. ‘The incongruity of golf is our currency. It’s our ‘Drive straight down the middle’, our ‘Winter Rules’ and our ‘cheeky birdie with a Mashie Niblick’.

September/October

Bakery of Secrets Sculptural installation
The Mark Tanner Award - Rosie Leventon

Making permanent and semi-permanent sculptural installations for interior and exterior settings, the origins of Leventons work began from an interest in archaeology and its effects on contemporary society. Selecting materials for their meaning, Leventon createed forms that challenge the viewer in unexpected ways, working to create a dialogue between material, form and space.
The Bakery of Secrets' attempted to critique elements in society which she percieved as deliberately secretive, aiming to penetrate the veneer of decorum in order to reveal latent truths. To this end, the artist created five new sculptural pieces, viewed as individual works, yet concieved to create a dialogue with one another through the gallery space and so ultimately seen as one installation.

November/December

Closer Painting
Marcus Harvey Paul Housley Mandy Hudson Merlin James Peter Jones Roger Kelly David Rayson

Many painters in London presently use or reference photography in their work. This exhibition, curated by Peter Jones, presented the work of seven artists as an initial step to examine the way photographs are currently imported, referenced and re-presented in contemporary painting. Although predominantly an exhibition of paintings, related material, such as source material and drawings, was also exhibited.

January/February 2003

The Beautiful & The Useless Assemblage & collage
Claire Brewster and Nik Ramage

The Beautiful and the Useless was about retrieving the discarded, celebrating the unwanted and giving new life to the obselete. Inbetween glossy retail consumption and the rubbish dump, is the netherworld of second-hand. It is in this netherworld that the artists Claire Brewster and Nik Ramage found the inspiration and raw materials for their work, though each artist proceeds to a different conclusion. Claire Brewster composed wall-based collages (some of which are complemented with sound installations); Nik Ramage constructed 3-D 'machines'. However, both aimed to reanimate their finds in order to create new and unexpected things from old and discarded stuff.

February/March

British Estates Painting
Tony McCorry

Throughout his career as an artist, the subject matter that McCorry has explored is that of the urban landscape, expressing autobiographical experiences of growing up on city estates: recalling incidents of loss, violence, anger and frustration. The artist developed this theme by seeking out and documenting new environments which trigger for him these reverberations of memory, whilst refining his technical methods of creating the paintings. The aim of British Estates was to encourage debate on the wider nature of social housing.

March/April

Homeland Painting & Prints
Tom Hammick

Tom Hammicks paintings have been described as the physical creation of spaces for feeling and his increasing reputation as a painter of lyrical, figurative images was consolidated by this body of work. Whether a woman in a gallery, figures in a wood, or the reverie of a little girl in her party dress, Hammicks paintings are depictions of emotional states. The images are imbued with the sense of looking back at older paintings and echoes of Munch's ‘The Voice’, Seurat's ‘Bathers’, Masaccio's ‘Healing the Cripple’ are apparent, but these works are current and the result of a complex interweaving of references, some literal, others psychological.

May

Gathering-in-the-May Sculptural installation
Cathy Ward & Eric Wright

This collaborative duo have over the past 5 years created installations of staged metaphorical woods through which they explore threads of European folk culture and tradition, from original forms through to their mutated, kitsch, contemporary manifestations. Opening on Mayday and running throughout the month, Gathering in the May was a site specific installation that was based on a reinvention of the Maypole, integrating elements from the European Mayday celebration and associated traditional rites. The sculptures, composed from collected paraphenalia and featuring over 2 miles of ribbon, embraced mock Tudor styles and invoked traditional festival mayhem.

July/August

SHIFT Painting
Andy Harper

Andy Harper's work was characterised by repetition and systematic processes, but stops short of excluding individual touch. In a previous series of paintings, Harper used a counter-intuitive technique of brushstrokes to create what appeared to be representational images of grass. Harper's recent works were purely abstract, based on rational and pragmatic principles. Yet the paintings themselves were sensual and engaging; virtuosic rather than perfunctory, visceral rather than mechanical.