Within These Walls – Reflection of Exhibition

Us, The artists involved in ‘Within These Walls’. (L-R) Victoria Morris, Lydia Jackson, Charlotte Robinson, Cherelle Khan, myself (Paige Howard) and Rebecca Smith.

‘Within These Walls’ exhibition was a great experience, with it being the first exhibition that myself and the other artists in the group organised the whole event from scratch. Finding the venue, naming the exhibition, creating the poster and advertising the event was something that I myself had not done before so I now have experience for future self organised exhibitions. Not only this but this exhibition gave opportunity and experience in invigilating. It was interesting to see people come to see the gallery throughout the days it was run.

‘Vie’ (Exhibition that ran in March at ACG studios) was seen as a practice leading up to this exhibition, so therefore as a group we took the theme and concept put into ‘Vie’  and expanded them to develop and create new artwork. once in APG we view the space and as a group all decided on where each piece of artwork looked/ worked best in the space. We curated this the exhibition to be interesting with a variety of work that all linked together following the theme of life (the physical and mental aspects) but in the same manner was completely different to the other artists in the groups work.

On the 28th April 2016 we held our opening night. Unfortunately we had bad weather but this did not stop us from enjoying the night. We provided free refreshments and snacks.The turnout was more than I could have asked for with about 50 people throughout the evening. The exhibition received overall positive feedback and congratulations on how well curated the show was with its interesting variety of work from each artist and good use of space. People seemed to like that each artist had artwork in more than one space in the gallery, so this encouraged family and friends to venture around the gallery constantly. On top of all this I did receive some constructive criticism. With the piece I showed it was suggested to me that the work maybe to cryptic, however that being said I wanted people to view my work and be able to interpret it in their on way.

As a group we have already mentioned that we would like to exhibit again sometime in the future.

Fragile

Front Door

Untitled, Under the Surface, The Foundations

Home is where the gnomes are

Paige Howard

Lydia Jackson

Cherelle Khan

Victoria Morris

Charlotte Robinson

Rebecca Smith

(IMAGES MY OWN PHOTOS)

Within These Walls – Video

Video courtesy of Lydia Jackson. Within These Walls exhibition – Documentation.

Within These Walls – Documentation

Within These walls exhibition at APG gallery, Sheffield, week residence run from April 26th – 3rd May, 2016. Work featuring myself (Paige Howard), Lydia Jackson, Cherelle Khan, Victoria Morris, Charlotte Robinson and Rebecca Smith.

We curated this exhibition so each artist was able to display their artwork in multiple places as we all had 2-3 piece of work each. This enabled us to experiment with the space and as a group decide what artwork worked best in certain places around the gallery.

Room 1

Room 2

Hallway

APG Works Before the exhibition.

Image is my own Photo. Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, Room 1 Panoramic. Myself and 5 other artists exhibiting work.

Image is my own Photo. Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, Room 2 Panoramic. Myself and 5 other artists exhibiting work.

Image is my own Photo. Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, Hallway Panoramic. Myself and 5 other artists exhibiting work.

Image is my own photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, ‘Front Door’, 2016, Acrylic Paint, L- 30 inches – H – 85.5 inches.

Image is my own Photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, ‘Home is where the gnomes are’, 2015, series of eight, Plaster gnome(s), L-4 inches H – 8.5 inches, hand drawn illustration painted (Acrylic) over the top.

Image is my own Photo, APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, (Left – right) ‘Untitled’, ‘Under the surface’, ‘The Foundations’, 2016, Plaster of Paris gnome(s) (‘The Foundations’, Plaster of Paris and sand), L- 4.5 inches H – 7 inches, (‘Untitled’, hand drawn illustration painted (Acrylic) over the top), (‘Under the surface’, hand drawn illustration painted (watercolour) over the top).

Image is my own Photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, DISPLAY ‘Fragile’ series of eight Cyanotypes, 2016 ‘Fragile’ series of 7 gnomes.

Image is my own Photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, ‘Fragile’, 2016, Series of eight Cyanotypes, A5 scale mounted on mountboard A4. Fine liner illustration drawn over the top.

Image is my own Photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, ‘Fragile’, 2016, Series of seven gnomes, Plaster of Paris,  L- 4.5 inches H – 7 inches, Painted (Acrylic) gold and white.

Image is my own Photo. APG Gallery, Within These Walls Exhibition, 2016, DISPLAY – shows scale of artwork, Visitor viewing ‘Fragile’ series’ (Cyanotypes and gnomes).

 

Crit – (27th April 2026)

(PRESENTED FROM WITHIN THESE WALLS, APG GALLERY – SHOWED ‘FRONT DOOR’,  ‘FRAGILE'(CYANOTYPE), ‘FRAGILE’ (GNOME) AND ‘HOME IS WHERE THE GNOMES ARE’)

RESPONSE TO WORK:

• ‘Front Door’ as a piece would not work on its own, no meaning comes across – cryptic. (I do not mind this as i want people to interpret it their own way).
• Like how all the piece work together as a whole, well presented
• Work is hung well and exhibition is well curated
• Cathartic work – making
• ‘Front Door’ – not sure where it is placed in the gallery works, not sure if it lets the viewer in

RESEARCH:

• Ai Weiwei – broken / breaking vase
• Artist- man with clay and puts in water and clay dissolves

COMMENTS:

• ‘Fragile’ (gnomes) – interested in the breaking aspect, however this aspect seems to be missing – too cryptic?
• ‘Fragile’ (gnomes)- seems like a stage is missing
• Phrase “Behind closed doors”- possible title
• Film breaking process
• Figure out how to destroy/ distort gnome in other ways

 

Within These Walls – Advertising the exhibition

As a group of six artists, to get word around about our exhibition that will be held at APG Works, Sheffield on Tuesday 26th April- Tuesday 3rd May, we decided to use social media. We created a blog especially for the exhibition, an Instagram account where photos of work is posted by each artist running up to and during the exhibition, and finally we advertised the exhibition by an event on Facebook open to the public. These three forms of social media provided us a suitable platform to add information about the exhibition and give an insight into what artwork we will be showing.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/withinthesewalls2016/

Blog: https://withinthesewallssite.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1049119358467886/

Not only did we advertise the exhibition via social media, but we also placed posters we created advertising the exhibition around Sheffield Hallam University’s campus. We printed one hundred posters A5 in scale to hang up and hand out. As well as this we payed to have a large A1 poster to be printed and hung outside our exhibition venue, APG Works gallery.

Image is my own Photo, Large A1 poster hung outside APG Gallery, The venue for Within These Walls exhibition.

 

Within These Walls – Preparation/ Planning (Event Organisation)

As part of the Creative Art Practice module we have to organise a second exhibition, only this time it would be self organised and in smaller groups instead of the full course exhibiting (The Ripple Effect). Myself and 5 other student (Lydia Jackson, Cherelle Khan, Victoria Morris, Charlotte Robinson and Rebecca Smith) decided it would be interesting to put on an exhibition together as all of our artwork relates to similar themes that each of us explore in our practice.

We began planning this exhibition by looking around different venues we felt may be suitable for hosting our exhibition, we wanted a white wall gallery space.

• APG Works
• Gallery 35
• Theatre Delicatessen (art cafe on the moor, sheffield)
• cafes

We eventually decide the APG Works was the venue for us as it a white wall gallery with a house’s characteristics as it has old fireplaces, a hallway, two rooms and a staircase.

 

One of the first stages of this exhibition was naming it. As a group we gathered mid February 2016 to discuss this topic. We wanted something that would reflect all of our practices and concepts we explore in our artwork as well as reflecting the overall theme of life and death. We discussed many quotes, words and Phrases before we settled on what we believed to be the perfect name for our show.

• ‘The world is a stage but the play is badly cast’ – Oscar Wilde
• ‘Art should comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable’ – Ceasar Cruise
• Within These Walls
• Vie

 

We  then set up a social media platform form mid February 2016 to create interest around the exhibition. This included having a Blog, a Facebook event and an Instagram (post photos leading up to the event and the event). Everything on these media sites gave a taste of what to expect but didn’t give away what would be shown.

 

The poster was created on the 4th April 2016 using Photoshop. We didn’t want to create it too soon and have it around as the audience may loose interest having to wait. As a background we used a photo of a wall which shows plaster crumbling away to reveal brick. This image seemed perfect in suiting our them and name. The poster shows all relevant information needed, our names, where the exhibition will be held and when, opening times and weblinks.

Within These Walls promotional video

For ‘Within These Walls’, as a group of six artists and students we decided to try and gain some fund raising to go towards our exhibition to help pay for the venue and snacks for our opening night. This video was created by Rebecca Smith. It showcases some of the artwork created by each of the each artists who will be displaying in the exhibition. It is a great way to promote the exhibition, as well as ourselves as artists.

 

Within These Walls, 2016

I am going to be exhibiting work with 5 other artists in our exhibition, ‘Within These Walls’ which will be held at APG Works.Featuring artist are myself (Paige Howard), Lydia Jackson, Cherelle Khan, Victoria Morris, Charlotte Robinson and Rebecca Smith. Artwork following the themes of life, thoughts and belonging are the topic for the exhibition. We have a week residency at APG Works from the 26th of April to the 3rd of May 2016. Opening night is the 28th of April.

https://withinthesewallssite.wordpress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/withinthesewalls2016/

Curatorial Statement

GROUP CURATORIAL STATEMENT

(WRITTEN AS A GROUP BY ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN WITHIN THESE WALLS, Paige Howard, Lydia Jackson, Cherelle Khan, Victoria Morris, Charlotte Robinson and Rebecca Smith.)

Within These Walls – 27^th-2^nd May

Six artists displaying work around the theme of everyday life, thought and emotion. The exhibition explores how we as humans perceive the world around us and deal with personal existence and identity. Concepts range from in and around the home, to dealing with psychological process and reflection. Each artist uses their artwork to tackle the concept separately, coming together in the creation of this summer exhibition running in line with the Art Sheffield Festival.

The exhibition culminates a year of development and hard work from these local independent artists.

 

Paige Howard

Inspired by the home and home life, Paige Howard has been exploring the concept of the spaces we live in and call home (as individuals). What it is about the space that is beyond a closed door that separates public and private, being interested in how emotion can be altered both mentally and physically between a door separating the two. She focuses on her own person as inspiration.

paigenh95.wordpress.com

Lydia Jackson

Dying is inevitable but when you fear it, it becomes one of life’s greatest hurdles. In her artwork, Lydia Jackson conveys her feelings towards the thought of dying and a hope that life doesn’t just end completely. Finding it difficult to explain such feelings towards her fear of death, She defines it as, “a void, a feeling of unexplained nothingness” comparing it to space; an infinite unknown. Such feelings have been particularly difficult to express as a visual art so Lydia has found the use of text within her work allows a much deeper process of thought, a way to express a particular attitude. Using her thoughts as the text she allows herself to be confronted with the anxiety directly, this focus becomes a way of contentment.

lydiajackson96.wordpress.com

Cherelle Khan

Cherelle khan has been looking into body art. She has used her experiences of wanting to change her image to make it beautiful and enhance the beauty of the human body. Her series of body art portrays what she views as making people and herself feel more attractive with beautiful art work. Its all about feeling beautiful from within.

cherellekhan.wordpress.com

Charlotte Robinson

Charlotte Robinson is an abstract artist, using various types of paint. Charlotte creates paintings which incorporate colour and shape to depth of the surface. Inspiration originally came from multiple locations, as Charlotte replicated by abstract paintings. From this, her practice has gone on to be inspired by these works, to create further abstract paintings which no longer resemble a place; but represent the landscape colours in an abstract form.. The process of making is crucial to consider when viewing Charlotte’s artwork, as paints have been built up, creating a history of layers. Charlotte’s artwork poses the question of when is an artwork finished, as it may be merely a pause being admired.

charlotterobin8.wordpress.com

Victoria Morris

As an artist Victoria focuses on the mysterious and otherworldly as well as cultural and ethnical practices. Being from an English Romany Gypsy family she has knowledge of their ways and rituals, sometimes used in her works and processes. Victoria uses many different techniques and traditional crafts within her work, from pyrography and embroidery to sculpture and illustration. She hopes to create an experience, showing the magic and beauty in things all too often overlooked.

victorialouisemorris666.wordpress.com

Rebecca Smith

Rebecca Smith has been looking into children’s illustration and watercolour painting. She has used her close relationship to her dog Izzy, and farmyard animals at their local farm, Graves Park as inspiration for her story. Her illustrated book looks at the relationship with Oscar the owl, who has lost his hoot, and Izzy who tries her best to help her friend recover it.

www.facebook.com/rebeccasmithillustration