by Rebecca Ainsworth, Joao Coelho, Gee Collins, Lucy Davies, Jeff Gilgannon, Cate Glasson, North West Miners Heritage Association, Claire Weetman, Angela Wilkinson.
Event space 1, Haydock Street, St Helens, WA10 1DH
Thursday 26th September 2024 18:30-22:00 VIP launch event
Saturday 28th September 11:30-17:30 as part of the SUN STREET SOCIAL PARTY
Other times by appointment.
What does a connected community of ideas look like? What are St Helens artists creating that could grow into thoughtful, beautiful work? “Emergences” showcases the work of nine artists who live and work in the town, highlighting their potential.
Brought together in the space of a fortnight, these artists represent the area’s existing infrastructure and networks. Rebecca Ainsworth, Gee Collins and Claire Weetman, all from Platform Studios, have previously worked with Kindred LCR on plans for a secure future for artists studios amid the Town Centre redevelopment. Angela Wilkinson, also a Platform Studios member, Jeff Gilgannon and Joao Coelho have received support through St Helens Arts in Libraries’ Artists Together programme. Lucy Davies is a recent graduate from the BA (hons) Graphic Design University Centre St Helens; Cate Glasson is a resident glassblower at the creative hub that is The World of Glass; and North West Miners Heritage Association are one of the many active community organisations who connect the arts to the people and stories of St Helens.
Each of the works in the show connect to the title, Emergences. The idea that creative work, like a germinating seed, begins in one form that contains the research, the processes and energy to grow into something bigger. Explore how the artists’ works connect to each other and how the town, its people and resources can create a nurturing environment for creative ideas like this to flourish.
About the venue:
Kindred LCR in partnership with St Helens Borough Council have taken over the old Catapult building on Haydock Street (rounding the corner into Bickerstaffe Street) to create ‘Street and a Half’ (SnA). Event space 1 is a unit that shows the current space and its potential to be part of a new home to help socially-trading organisations (STOs) and makers grow.
Credits:
Venue and funding support: Kindred LCR
Projection mapping and equipment: Focal Studios
Glass blowing facilities and production expertise: Marcin Czepiga and The World of Glass
Exhibition producer: Claire Weetman
Poster and marketing design: Gee Collins
For more information or to book an appointment to see the show, contact Claire.
About the artists:
Rebecca Ainsworth presents a large graphite rubbing taken from the floor of The World of Glass hot glass studio. The image is a trace of the creative process of the glass blowers and transforms a stage in Rebecca’s process of creating paintings into a large-scale drawing that marks the layers, echoes and human imprints on places.
Joao Coelho creates detailed dioramas that capture the rustic, weathered beauty of hidden nooks and the eerie charm of an abandoned alley. Every detail, from the cracked walls to the rusty shutters, tells a story of forgotten urban history in miniature form. Exhibited in this space that is between past and present uses, with its own marks of deterioration and potential Joao wants to connect with others as he develops his creative passion.
Gee Collins is an artist and artworker. They create art with other people, support creative activity, ask lots of questions and listen to people’s answers. With a bit of luck this means creating spaces for justice, challenging and expanding learned ideas of what the world is allowed to look like.
Lucy Davies produced a series of two-colour risograph and lino prints of shop buildings in and around the town centre of St Helens as part of her recent degree show. Some of these shops such as Burchall’s Bakery are well loved and still in use, others wait, frozen in time until they are demolished. Lucy’s printmaking helps us to remember the people and stories behind these locations and to appreciate the interesting features and architecture that surrounds us.
Jeff Gilgannon and Angela Wilkinson are collaborating on a project called “Our Town”, creating amazing images which present the regeneration in a way which engages the local community and attempts to cultivate a positive view of the town, both now and in the future. They aim to showcase the town’s changing places and architecture and its changing population in unique perspectives which creates enthusiasm for the transformation and strengthens community bonds.
Cate Glasson is a glassblower at The World of Glass who was moved by the history of The Wood Pit Disaster in 1878 to create an installation of glass bells that can sound out for every man and boy that perished giving a light filled ringing voice to those whose lives ended prematurely in the dark and horror below ground that day. Each bell is engraved with a person’s name from the NMRS list of lives lost, connecting family names to people who live in the Borough today.
North West Miners Heritage Association and their resident artist Jim Housley create replica Pit Banners that celebrate the heritage and communities of former mining areas in St Helens. These banners are used in place of the, now delicate, originals that reside in archive collections to celebrate and remember the spirit and culture of St Helens past mining communities. NWMHA aspires to become a centre of excellence in the production of these banners.
Claire Weetman presents ‘Constellations of Kindness’ a geodesic dome, pin-pricked with illustrations from the adapted story of Hoshi and the Lucky Stars, about the power of a community working together. Works incorporating storytelling performances are a new avenue for Claire in her varied work as an artist, educator and producer of community-engaged projects.
