Hummadruz was an international group exhibition at Newlyn Art Gallery exploring the overarching and infinite rhythms of nature, folklore and the occult and how they have become a lived system embodied by both artists and communities. The word hummadruz is representative of the unexplained buzzing noise sometimes heard in rural areas - a simile for society’s growing fascination with ritual and folklore. Artefacts loaned by private collections and The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle were displayed alongside key artworks from the 20th century and pieces by artists exploring these themes in a contemporary context. Hummadruz was curated by Field Notes, with thanks to Rupert White of artcornwall.org.
Photos: Steve Tanner, courtesy Newlyn Art GalleryCONTEXT
There is an undeniable magic about much of rural Cornwall, which is both, geographically and culturally, a place on the margins; home to many folk traditions, festivals and stories as well as a
proliferation of mysterious geology that is waiting to be discovered.
Celestial cycles and the slow, steady, ancient beat of time weave their way through the Cornish landscape and the ritual sites of West Penwith. In turn, they become woven into the fabric of
living, rooting our relationship with the mystical and ensuring that aspects of magic and the occult endure in our everyday lives; in the small objects and charms we treasure, the plantwe grow, the phrases we use and the calendars we keep.
These were the starting points for Hummadruz, a project that grew as we began to draw together a wide range of voices, geographies and generations; charting artists’ encounters with spirituality, whether as true believers, researchers or fellow travellers, and began to disover a mutlitude of connectons linking the individual artists; from a direct influence that one has had on another’s practice or life, to a wider impact on a generation’s social and personal politics.
Many of the artworks we selected share a common ground with the objects and tools of magical practitioners they were shown along side, with motifs from nature and the landscape, infinite rhythms and cycles, and ritual and performance visible in both. The artefacts all exist as the physical manifestation of a spiritual requirement, created for a specific purpose and imbued with the magic of their maker or owner. Many of the artworks were made for similar reasons; as part of a process of meditation, mediation and finally, a need for action or creation - influenced by different movements, whether that is folk magic and traditional witchcraft, the Goddess movement and Feminism or a more intimate uninitiated form of spiritualism.
proliferation of mysterious geology that is waiting to be discovered.
Celestial cycles and the slow, steady, ancient beat of time weave their way through the Cornish landscape and the ritual sites of West Penwith. In turn, they become woven into the fabric of
living, rooting our relationship with the mystical and ensuring that aspects of magic and the occult endure in our everyday lives; in the small objects and charms we treasure, the plantwe grow, the phrases we use and the calendars we keep.
These were the starting points for Hummadruz, a project that grew as we began to draw together a wide range of voices, geographies and generations; charting artists’ encounters with spirituality, whether as true believers, researchers or fellow travellers, and began to disover a mutlitude of connectons linking the individual artists; from a direct influence that one has had on another’s practice or life, to a wider impact on a generation’s social and personal politics.
Many of the artworks we selected share a common ground with the objects and tools of magical practitioners they were shown along side, with motifs from nature and the landscape, infinite rhythms and cycles, and ritual and performance visible in both. The artefacts all exist as the physical manifestation of a spiritual requirement, created for a specific purpose and imbued with the magic of their maker or owner. Many of the artworks were made for similar reasons; as part of a process of meditation, mediation and finally, a need for action or creation - influenced by different movements, whether that is folk magic and traditional witchcraft, the Goddess movement and Feminism or a more intimate uninitiated form of spiritualism.
ARTISTS
Hummadruz threw the spotlight on international and local artists both past and present. Many of the works shown referenced the ancient ritual landscape of West Penwith, from Ithell Colquhoun’s Dance of the Nine Opals inspired by the Nine Maidens and painted in her Lamorna studio in 1942 to Lucy Stein’s Penwith: A Libidal Critique painted in response to her move to St Ives in 2015. Invisible threads ran through the exhibition connecting each artist; from a direct influence that one had on another’s practice or life, to a wider impact on a generation’s social and personal politics.
Silke Otto Knapp
Mary Beth Edelson
Jill Smith
Susan Macwilliam
Monica Sjöö
Byzantia Harlow
Lucy Stein
Gitte Villesen
Ithell Colquhuon
Niamh O’Malley
Beth Emily Richards & Ancient Scent Collective
Amy Lawrence
Anne-Marie Watson
Jane Cox & Gemma GaryENGAGEMENT & EVENTS
Two students from Falmouth University volunteered to help with the hanging of the show at Newlyn Gallery, then on Saturday 14th April, 2018, there was a talk and tour of the exhibition with Cat Bagg of Field Notes and Rupert White of ArtCornwall.org.
Rupert also wrote a special essay expanding on the overlaps between art, feminism and witchcraft particularly within the work of Ithell Colquhoun, Mary Beth Edelson, Monica Sjöö, Jill Smith and Gemma Gary. This was made available in print at the exhibition and which can be read online here.
Rupert also wrote a special essay expanding on the overlaps between art, feminism and witchcraft particularly within the work of Ithell Colquhoun, Mary Beth Edelson, Monica Sjöö, Jill Smith and Gemma Gary. This was made available in print at the exhibition and which can be read online here.
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Hummadruz was nearly two years in the development and was supported by a wide range of people, including; Simon Costin and Peter Hewitt of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic; artist Lucy Stein; Gemma Gary and Jane Cox of Troy Books; collector Marcus Williamson, Jeffrey Sherwin, Maggie Parks and Richard Shillitoe; Blair Todd at Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange; and Rupert White, writer and editor in chief of ArtCornwall.org, who provided a breadth of knowledge and depth of support throughout the process.
GET IN TOUCH:
info@fieldnotes.org.ukThe development of this website was supported by Cultivator Cornwall
