Plymouth Art Weekender is a three-day city-wide festival that celebrates Plymouth, its people and the visual arts, promoting the city as an exciting contemporary art destination. Under our leadership as Programme Coordinators in 2018, The Weekender hosted 140 projects, events and exhibitions across 63 venues, 22 of which actively engaged local communities in the development or delivery of the projects, and showcased the work of 300+ artists to an audience of over 24,000. For this fourth iteration of the festival, we commissioned three temporary public art works and a writen review.
Hydrosapien, Laura Denning, photo Rod GonzalezCONTEXT
The Plymouth Art Weekender is an artist-led event developed by Visual Arts Plymouth a largely voluntary organisation of independent artists and arts professionals from a range of visual arts and culture organisations across the city, who work together to connect grassroots activity with a larger city-wide cultural plan and vision.
COMMISSIONS
In 2018 we commissioned three new works for The Weekender. Plymouth based Laura Denning, who wowed audiences with her independent project Benthic Caress at 2017's Weekender, was selected for our Local Engagement Commission. Go Happen, who have previously developed intriguing journeying works for the Fal River Festival, Inland Art Festival and Stockholm International Fringe Festival, took on the Open Brief. Cornwall based Bridgette Ashton, best known for her work with caves, follies and grottoes including the poetic and poignant Lost Cave Requiem, was selected for The History Commission, in partnership with The Box, Plymouth.
Worth’s Folly & The Secret Caves, Bridgette Ashton
ENGAGEMENT
Laura Denning’s work Hydrosapien was a collaboration with members of the D/deaf community who came together to form a signing choir, deaf signsong star Fletch, and voice artists Iris Garrelfs and Joseph Kohlmaier. Workshops and rehearsals with pupils from Eggbuckland Community School Hearing Support Unit, Eggbuckland Vale Primary School, High View School, Efford, Upton Cross Primary, Liskaerd, and members of Plymouth Deaf Association, resulted in the 70 strong community choir who performed the work at Plymouth Guildhall and on Barbican Wharf during the Weekender.
Bridgette Ashton’s works, exploring of R.N Worth’s 1887 discovery of the Cattedown Caves and Paleolithic remains in Plymouth, resulted in a range of different engagement. She worked with Jan Freedman, Curator of Natural History at The Box, to provide access to bones found in the Cattedown Caves to the Atheneum Art Society for a special drawing workshop. She also organised two clandestine minibus excursions, transporting participants to the secret site of the caves for her own ‘rambling tour of its unsettled history’.
Go Happen’s work The Long Way, was developed with the input of members of the local community who shared their stories of travel and adventure. The artists held open sessions at Union Corner to record peoples stories as well as working with pupils from Plymouth School of Creative Arts. The performance elements of the work were developed with Annabie Daly and Nivana Jade, and the boat was lent by Blagdons Boatyard.
In addition to the direct engagement of the artists with various community groups, a series of workshops was organised with High View and Prince Rock primary schools. In sessions led by Laura Hopes, Erin Bailey and Gem Smith, pupils were encouraged to make their own creative responses to the commisions by Bridgette Ashton and Go Happen. The resulting works were displayed at the Plymouth’s Atheneum Club for the duration of the Weekender.
Bridgette Ashton’s works, exploring of R.N Worth’s 1887 discovery of the Cattedown Caves and Paleolithic remains in Plymouth, resulted in a range of different engagement. She worked with Jan Freedman, Curator of Natural History at The Box, to provide access to bones found in the Cattedown Caves to the Atheneum Art Society for a special drawing workshop. She also organised two clandestine minibus excursions, transporting participants to the secret site of the caves for her own ‘rambling tour of its unsettled history’.
Go Happen’s work The Long Way, was developed with the input of members of the local community who shared their stories of travel and adventure. The artists held open sessions at Union Corner to record peoples stories as well as working with pupils from Plymouth School of Creative Arts. The performance elements of the work were developed with Annabie Daly and Nivana Jade, and the boat was lent by Blagdons Boatyard.
In addition to the direct engagement of the artists with various community groups, a series of workshops was organised with High View and Prince Rock primary schools. In sessions led by Laura Hopes, Erin Bailey and Gem Smith, pupils were encouraged to make their own creative responses to the commisions by Bridgette Ashton and Go Happen. The resulting works were displayed at the Plymouth’s Atheneum Club for the duration of the Weekender.
EVENTS
Most of the events that take place as part of The Weekender are self organised by artists in unusual locations across the city, this could be anything from a shop or abandoned building to a local park or area along the waterfront. Here is a small selection of the exhibitions, workshops, performances and parties that took place in 2018, with all images courtesy of photographer Rod Gonzalez.
Caroline Place
Cafe Concrete
Imperfect Orchestra & Shannon Watson
Laura Denning
Elena Brake
Alan Qualtrough
Antigoni Pasidi
Frances Kelly
Loci
Bridgette Ashton
Rhys Morgan
Union Street Party
Erin Bailey and Katy Richardson
Manifest It
Imperfect Orchestra & Shannon Watson
Go Happen
Flo Brooks
YEA Plymouth
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Plymouth Art Weekender was coordinated by Visual Arts Plymouth and funded through the city wide Horizon project, a collaborative programme developed between Visual Arts Plymouth, KARST, Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth City Council and University of Plymouth. The two-year programme of visual contemporary arts was funded through Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence fund and supported by Plymouth Culture.
In 2018, Plymouth Art Weekender partnered with The Box, Plymouth to produce The History Commission, which was awarded to Bridgette Ashton, and with the Horizon Community Engagement Fund for the Local Engagement Commision, which was awarded to Laura Denning.
In 2018, Plymouth Art Weekender partnered with The Box, Plymouth to produce The History Commission, which was awarded to Bridgette Ashton, and with the Horizon Community Engagement Fund for the Local Engagement Commision, which was awarded to Laura Denning.
GET IN TOUCH:
info@fieldnotes.org.ukThe development of this website was supported by Cultivator Cornwall
