Episode 24 - Abigail Hampsey

05/20/24 • 68 min

Liminal Gallery Podcast host, Louise Fitzjohn, speaks with contemporary artist Abigail Hampsey, to coincide with her solo exhibition ‘Walking in Limestone Country’ in Liminal Gallery's Main Space, in Margate. Having returned to the land of her youth on the edge of the greenbelt between Lancaster, the Lake District and West Yorkshire, this new body of work is an exploration of landscape, a retrieval of place and a recording of the relationships formed within them.

With a sense of homecoming, Hampsey's brushstrokes become a conduit for the deep-rooted connections she holds with these terrains. "Walking in limestone country" serves as both an ode to landscape and an exploration of personal history. Through an interplay of colours and textures, Hampsey channels her intricate relationship with her surroundings, bringing together notions of memory, nostalgia, and discovery.

Her canvases resonate with the echoes of childhood tales and folklore, now tinged with the sobering realisation of environmental fragility and societal change. What once sparkled with youthful wonder is now imbued with a bittersweet patina of loss and reflection. As a metaphor for the transition from childhood to adulthood, memory to the present, "Walking in Limestone Country" utilises the landscape as a powerful symbol.

Abigail Hampsey is a working class painter, maker, storyteller and imaginer. Born in Lancashire (1996) She received her BA in Fine art from Newcastle University (2019) and her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (2022). Hampsey’s work has been exhibited throughout the UK, Including WORKPLACE Gallery, London, The Holden Gallery, Manchester and Gallagher and Turner, Newcastle, amongst others.

Hampsey was the recipient of The Basil H.Alkazzi Scholarship Award in painting at the Royal College of Art (2020-22) and has been shortlisted for multiple awards such as the Beep Painting Biennale and the Jacksons Art Prize (2023). As well as this, Hampsey is a Painting Tutor at Newcastle University, A Baker, Farm Hand, Barista and the newest member of the Contemporary British Painting Collective (2023).

Visit the Online Viewing Room here:

https://www.liminal-gallery.com/abigail-hampsey-walking-in-limestone-country

With original music by Lorenzo Bonari.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Visit the Online Viewing Room here:

https://www.liminal-gallery.com/abigail-hampsey-walking-in-limestone-country

With original music by Lorenzo Bonari.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Episode 23 - Louise Frances Smith

Liminal Gallery Podcast host, Louise Fitzjohn, speaks with contemporary artist Louise Frances Smith, to coincide with her solo exhibition ' ‘It gathered here’ in The Cupboard at Liminal Gallery in Margate. The exhibition presents a series of site specific sculptures, playing with scale, the organic, body-like forms appear to be engulfing the small space, growing, crawling and spreading around the walls - posing the question of what the repercussions of human intervention is on our fragile coastal ecosystems, hiding behind the door of The Cupboard.

The sculptures in ‘It gathered here’ are created from seaweed collected by the artist from Margate beaches - specifically wireweed seaweed (Sargassum Muticum) which was thought to have been introduced to the coastline in the 1970s to bolster the failing ‘native’ oyster industry. The ‘invasive’ and ‘non-native’ species is now thriving due to climate change and can smother light and oxygen from species that live beneath the surface of the water. Smith has used this abundant wireweed seaweed to create a bioplastic, mixed with fabric and found plastic for an experimental material to create the works. The inspiration for the sculptural forms comes from epibiosis, which is the close interaction between two different organisms, the host organism providing an environment for the other which is attached to its living surface.

The Cupboard is Liminal Gallery’s second exhibition space, tiny but sleek it is exclusively available to artists living and working in Thanet. Smith will use this space to showcase a new body of work, employing natural local resources to comment on the fragility of Kent’s coastlines and the anthropogenic impact it is enduring.

Louise Frances Smith lives and works in Ramsgate, Kent. Her practice spans sculpture, installation and works on paper. Working with an array of materials including clay, seaweed and bioplastic, Smith creates highly textured surfaces to bring attention to the patterns and textures created by nature, magnifying micro details alongside man-made interventions. By collecting materials from her local coastline to use as materials in her work, Smith’s works are conceptually and physically linked to her local landscape where she takes her inspiration.

Last year Smith was selected as a finalist for The Ingram Prize 2023, exhibiting at Pavilion Gallery, Cromwell Place. Early in 2023 she received an Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant to create a new body of work which was exhibited at Collect Open 2023, Somerset House. Smith later exhibited this work at The Margate School.

In 2022 Smith received DYCP Arts Council England funding which led to her first solo show at Joseph Wales Gallery ‘HOLDFAST, experiments in seaweed, chalk & clay’. Other recent group exhibitions include - ‘The Wild Collective’, collaborative exhibition between Thrown Contemporary & Metafleur at Omved Gardens, London; ‘Despatch’, Work Show Grow Mail Art Collaboration, New Forest Heritage Centre, and ‘ING Discerning Eye 2021’, Mall Galleries, London. Louise Frances Smith graduated from CityLit with a Ceramics Diploma in 2019 and from Kingston University with a BA (Hons) Fine Art degree in 2009.

Visit the Online Viewing Room here:

https://www.liminal-gallery.com/louise-frances-smith-it-gathered-here

With original music by Lorenzo Bonari.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Episode 25 - Lucy Lyons

Liminal Gallery Podcast host, Louise Fitzjohn, speaks with contemporary artist Lucy Lyons, to coincide with her solo exhibition ‘Seven and a half’ in Liminal Gallery's The Cupboard, in Margate. This exhibition provides a unique realm where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, offering a glimpse into the intricate workings of the human mind.

Between the 7th and 8th floor of the Martin-Flemmer building is a small hidden doorway through which you can enter the mind of John Malkovich. At the back of Liminal Gallery is a small doorway, a different kind of portal through which you can step into the world inside the mind of Lucy Lyons.

The Cupboard serves as an intimate space, providing a journey into the depths of Lucy Lyons' creative psyche. Through collage and drawing, Lucy Lyons constructs a rich narrative, drawing inspiration from the surrealist and symbolist movements, Carl Jung's texts and her own subconscious to unearth layers of meaning and symbolism. Her intricate composite drawings, meticulously layered, evoke a sense of immersion and introspection.

The Cupboard is Liminal Gallery’s second exhibition space, tiny but sleek it is exclusively available to artists living and working in Thanet. Lyons will use this space to showcase a new body of work, evoking an interplay of images, thoughts, and feelings, reflecting the tumultuous times we live in and offering a glimpse into the artist's inner world.

Dr. Lucy Lyons is a multidisciplinary artist known for her explorations of memory, identity, and the subconscious through drawing, collage, and installation. She holds a PhD from Sheffield Hallam University, and an MMAA from the Medical Artists’ Association of Great Britain. Additionally, she earned an MA in Fine Art from the City & Guilds of London Art School and a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design from Norwich School of Art.

She has had solo exhibitions at the Hunterian Museum London, Medical Museion Copenhagen, Fábrica de Braço de Prata Lisbon and Panum Institute Copenhagen. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions and performances internationally, exploring the intersections of art, science, and life.

Lyons has undertaken several residencies, including at Latvijas Kultūras akadēmijas teātra māja in Riga, Latvia, and Larose Osler Medical Library A-I-R at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She has contributed to various publications and articles, delving into topics such as art, medicine, and embodiment.

Currently, Lucy Lyons serves as the Lead Tutor for SSC Anatomy and Art at UCL Medical School. Her contributions to the field of art have been recognised with awards such as being long-listed for the SOLO Award in 2018 and winning the British Council Darwin Now Award in 2009.

Visit the Online Viewing Room here:

https://www.liminal-gallery.com/lucy-lyons-seven-and-a-half

With original music by Lorenzo Bonari.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.