Corona Diaries
It feels like a long time ago that the country was told that we were only allowed to leave our homes for exercise and essential shopping. Ebor Studio Mill shut its doors to members on the 24th of March until the 15th of June. We have been taking a look back over just some of what our studio holders got up to during this time – and they got up to A LOT.
Angela Tait
Ceramicist and print artist Angela Tait has documented her experience through lockdown by creating a vessel every day for the duration The COVID Clay Diary. For this project, she has thrown ninety vessels over ninety days. We are excited to show this work online from Gallery Frank in November. The COVID Clay Diary was featured on Curator Space and Dwell Time websites.
Angela has also been working with long-term collaborator Ian Clegg to create a work for our billboard which will be shown in the coming months.
Links
The COVID Clay Diary Video
Curator Space Article
Dwell Time Press Article
Angela Tait
Attic Studios
Kara Lyons
Sculptor Kara Lyons has written an opinion article published in The Morning Star A Monumental Task Has To Be Achieved. The article comes as a response to the recent attention put on public statues. She draws on her industry experience to outline the areas in which the current process in place to erect public sculpture could be improved upon to ensure diverse representation for new public monuments.
Kara has also been working on a series of drawings both before and during lockdown culminating in Drollerie, an exhibition in Gallery Frank.
Sophie Cooper
Sound artist and new member Sophie Cooper, has been performing improvisational noise sets for The Old Police House on their Twitch platform and has presented Tor FM for The Neon Hospice on digital radio.
She has also created Duvet Day, a video, as part of Tor Festival on the topic of creating work in isolation.
Lindsey James
Fashion designer and creative director of Violet Flamingo clothing label Lindsey James maintained engagement with her clients by doing social media broadcasts from her bedroom called Lindseys Lockdown. The broadcasts included everything from information on how she started Violet Flamingo to a history of kimonos – after she recently attended a course on the subject at London College of Fashion.
Due to a lot of bridalwear business being cancelled, Lindsey focused on creating new ready-to-wear items including smaller accessories for Christmas gift ideas. She has built a new Etsy store so she can operate online as well as continuing fortnightly Facebook live events.
“Even if we are at home this festive season, we all deserve to feel fancy!”
Natalie Sharp
Musician, costume maker, skin decorator, performer, natural provocateur and new Ebor Studio member Natalie Sharp performed a live video as her performance alter-ego Lone Taxidermist for Live and Solo at the Bowlo. The video was simulcast across the social media channels of Backbone, an Australian Youth Arts Organisation.
Natalie has also been working on a project for Aerial Festival called Marra! - a series of short films, the result of a residency with Arial Festival, that reflect on life as a fist generation immigrant in small town Cumbria. The films premiered on the 26th September.
As part of Supersonic (Sofasonic) Festival, Natalie provided Rainbow Face Makeup Tutorial. Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival have awarded her a hcmf COVID-19 Commission along with five other Northwest artists.
Links
Live and Solo at the Bowlo
Marra!
HCMF COVID 19 Commissions
Lone Texidermist
Alison Cooper
Musician Alison Cooper worked with Tor Festival in April providing them with a jam session and interviews about the fairytale folk of Magpahi, her performance alter-ego. The content was shown on the Tod Cast Twitch platform and is now available on Youtube.
Martha Lyons Haywood
Sculptor Martha Lyons Haywood created two works on our billboard which maintained our public programme between March and June. The works were in response to and showing support for national and global social media movements. Martha will be studying her MA at the Iceland University of the Arts starting in September 2020, we wish her luck and send our love.
Links
Martha Lyons Haywood
Mary Naylor
Painter Mary Naylor has joined us this September, we are very excited to welcome her in to our community.
Mary has her work displayed in Yakamama in Todmorden. She has recently started selling prints through her website and is available for portrait and mural commissions on request.
Links
Mary Naylor
Bob France & Maryanne Royle
Photographer Bob France and intermedia artist Maryanne Royle have been collaborating on a new printing method using digital and analogue techniques. The duo plan to research further in to this method to produce a body of work in the future.
Rahela Khan
Print artist and new Ebor Studio Member Rahela Khan has completed her MA at the University of Bolton in the Autumn. Like many art students, there has not been a final degree show this year, however, we are delighted to have provided Rahela with the use of Gallery Frank to exhibit her work.
Links
Rahela Khan
Jack-Victor Westerdale
Furniture designer Jack-Victor Westerdale spent lockdown in London where he worked on projects at Décor Arts gilding workshop. One project, shown below, is a floral design on a gilded decorative panel for a palatial house in Japan.
Maryanne Royle
Intermedia artist Maryanne Royle started working on figure making, a new medium for her. She plans to make a scene including several characters in a collaborative project with sound collective 6a6y for an exhibition in Gallery Frank in 2021.
Ivon Haywood
Furniture maker, Ivon Haywood has designed and built a printing press for artist use at Ebor. The press will present new opportunity for all our artists to create work or run workshops.
Ivon has also built a bike over lockdown, teaching himself how to rust metal. He is planning to recreate one of his most successful furniture pieces, a copper fronted circular cabinet.
Links
Ivon Haywood
Matt Quick
Sound artist Matt Quick has been spending his lockdown walking in the hills surrounding Ebor Studio, there he has collected sounds which he has used to make Deer Bark which he released using his pseudonym Gibbon on Bandcamp.
Matt has also been experimenting with circuit bending, a process that alters the function of effect pedals, and developing his live performance set-up.
Links
Gibbon
Paul Haywood
Painter, Paul Haywood, has been working on Guns to Goods, a project in partnership with charity CHARISMA and Great Manchester Police creating art objects and products from reclaimed metal from confiscated guns.
Paul has also been working on his paintings.
Cheryl Beswick
Cheryl Beswick has missed doing her usual craft classes, or Crafternoons, in person. She has spent her time crocheting rainbows for her fellow keyworkers, facilitating a zoom workshop of how to make worry dolls and making rainbow mobiles with fellow craftaholics.
Links
Cheryl Beswick
We admire the resilience and adaptability of all the creative practitioners here at Ebor Studio and could not be more grateful for our close-knit community at this time. In fact, even since writing this account, our members have been instigating and getting involved with loads of new and exciting projects which we can’t wait to tell you about. We hope you have enjoyed meeting our residents and learning a bit about them – the tip of the iceberg really – and we want to thank you for your continued interest and support in our artist-led organisation.
