South West Autumn art blitz

Plymouth Art Weekender: Intercity 16

Crammed in so much art of late, I can do little more than list it.

B-SIDE

Went to the fabulous b-side festival on the Isle of Portland in Dorset on 16th September as part of an artist development day – The Crucible, which was co-organised by OSR Projects  and Six Projects. The b-side team laid on a bus and we had a whirlwind tour of some of the sites on Portland. Highlights for me included The Sonic Anomaly Sideshow by Lee Berwick at the Verne High Battery, Elaine Fisher’s Para(meter) at The Weather Station (lovely use of long-playing records to evoke geology/walking/distance) and Unseen and Unheard Things by Debbie Adele Cooper at St George’s Church (a perfect meeting of site and subject, even though the work, on conscientious objectors, originated at Dartmoor Prison). We spent the late afternoon in wide-ranging discussions on everything from audience engagement to networking, and finished up with a communal dinner at the Drill Hall.

PLYMOUTH ART WEEKENDER 

Another multi-site festival of visual art, Plymouth Art Weekender took place over 23rd, 24th and 25th September. I visited eight amazing shows in one day, but highlights were BimBam in Selbst by architects/sculptors Winter and Hoerbelt at KARST, Low Profile’s Impromptu at the Athenaeum, the ever-inventive Phil Magee at HQ and the tiny living room show of Holly Knowles with his amazing algorithmic drawings. A recent graduate of Plymouth University, his work goes from strength to strength.

EXETER PHOENIX

Back home in Exeter, Beth Emily Richards staged a performance lecture to accompany her Gallery 333 installation, called No such event took place.  A re-enactment of documentary material from the supposed visit of Michael Jackson to Exeter City Football Ground in 2002, it was unexpected and very entertaining. Later in the month, an artists' moving image screening to accompany the Exeter Contemporary Open included work by Anne-Marie Creamer,  Nick Jordan, Naomi Frears and

Dorine van Meel alongside a manic, brutal and extraordinary film by Thomas Yeomans that left me reeling for days afterwards.

MARVIN GAYE CHETWYND 

Finally, a wonderful talk by Marvin Gaye Chetwynd at Exeter School of Art. Like many people I struggle a little with her work, but understanding the sense of fun that drives it, and hearing from the warm and engaging woman behind it, took me a step closer to appreciating the reasons for her critical acclaim.