Took a trip with the collective to visit the People Powered Press, Shipley. Run by Oli Bentley, who visited our MA cohort last autumn to give a talk about his graphic design work and community letterpress projects.
Oli was busy with the local Saltaire Arts Trail, so we were limited to a talk and look around, but seeing the press in real life (it’s huge!) and talking through some of the possibilities it offers was inspirational. Additionally seeing the Salt Works studios, which Oli runs as a shared studio with other artists, was useful in providing a working model of this kind of collorative space.
We took the opportunity to visit the Arts Trail ourselves, which again gave us so much inspiration regarding was in which art can ‘happen’ in a community. As emerging artists this is a model that is accessible and affordable. Lincoln offers a similar trail, but we could see the benefit of having a smaller footprint for the trail as shown here and so, lincoln may benefit from involving local businesses and building/homeowners to reign the current trail in a bit.
Salts Mill, home of one of the largest collections of Hockney works, as well as changing exhibits and museums tracing the history of cloth production in Saltaire. Additionally it is now the home of the Peace Museum, which was also worth a visit and gave me much food for thought regarding the use of textiles in political art.
I particularly enjoyed the Life Goes On exhibition by Ian Beesley and how he showed finished photographs alongside proofs and notes. This worked well as a visual document of the history of the mill and surrounding industries effectively invoking the people who worked there.
A favourite Hockney, made from a drawing faxed from his California studio to Salts Mill, and then pieced together for exhibition, is still housed here. Pacific Surf (1990) demonstrates the artists fascination with new technology for sharing and even creating his art. Evident more recently in his digitally produced iPad drawings in 20 Flowers and Some Bigger Pictures, an exhibition also housed at Salts Mill.
I was glad to make the trip together as a collective. Taking inspirational field trips as a group is so useful to enable critique and discussion to happen. CC was particularly inspired as a painter to see the Hockney collection, I enjoyed the history of cloth production shown through art and museum exhibits, and JB gained a lot from the political stories told through the Peace Museum. I think trips and visits of this kind are one of the more valuable aspects of being a collective, even with our differing artistic approaches, it helps to see something through anothers viewpoint.