Damaris Athene’s interdisciplinary practice examines how digital technology is altering the world around us and affecting how we interact with and perceive our bodies. She interrogates the flattening and perfecting of the digital world through an exploration of corporeal abstraction in painting, sculpture, performance, photography, digital collage, and printmaking, often assembling these mediums into self‐referential installations.
As a facilitator she is interested in getting people to think about art in different ways and to test new approaches to materials. She is fascinated by materiality and the process of making, and likes to give participants the freedom to explore.
My favourite object in the Kettle’s Yard collection is Bird Swallowing a Fish by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska because it took many trips to the House to figure out what it was! It was only through supporting a workshop inspired by this piece that I realised. I think it’s such a simple and powerful sculpture and I love how it’s displayed.
Poetry is Hannah Jane Walker’s primary and core practice, on the page and in performance. Though she also makes work for radio broadcast, the stage, and most recently a non fiction book exploring the value of the trait of sensitivity for Octopus.
The reason she makes work is to ask what it means to be a person, where shame, hope, learning live in us. She writes to find out what she doesn’t know or understand and to try and connect. Before becoming a full time writer Hannah worked for arts organisations as an education officer, and as such each project she undertakes is particularly focussed on who we include and hear and how we engage people. Most recently she has begun collaborating with visual artists to create outdoor site specific visual art poetry installations, with one on Mill Road Cambridge created with artist Jo Chapman, one at Cambridge Biomedical Campus created with artist Anna Brownsted, and one on the side of Durham Library created with residents of HMP Low Newton.
My absolute favourite piece of work in Kettle’s Yard is not a piece of work. It is a sofa in one of the middle upstairs rooms facing an arched window. I used to come to Kettle’s Yard with my grandparents as a kid. When my grandfather died, I came and sat on that sofa and watched the beautiful arch shaped light move across the floorboards for a whole morning and no one moved me on. It was the only space I could bear to think of him in. He knew Jim Ede, he used to come to the house as a student while at Cambridge University. My other favourite piece of work is the lemon on the platter downstairs next to the dining area. It reminds me that it is possible to make the decision daily/ weekly whatever, to bring things into our environment, that are not expensive or flashy, but are vibrant and remind us daily of the sharp beauty of the world, despite everything.
Hilary Cox Condron is a participatory artist – working with people to create art. Social cohesion is at the very heart of her arts practice. Hilary’s practice is inclusive and responsive – using visual art, performance, installations, photography, exhibitions, events and film to engage, develop and share ideas and stories.. She works as a graphic designer, multi media and visual artist – having studied graphic design and illustration, she initially worked in media and PR studios, set up her own design company, and now works collaboratively to produce artwork.
Hilary works with people and has a true commitment to equality, diversity, social inclusion, the environment and place-making through the arts. The Chair of Cambridge United once introduced her as ‘community glue’ – she bring communities together.
Her practice creates and develops a sense of place and identity, builds relationships and vision, connects to the wider community and empowers residents to bring about long term sustainable and positive change.
Hilary Moreton’s practice is based in drawing and printmaking. Hilary uses mark making to explore movement and space. She is interested in map and journeys. She writes: “When I’m walking all I think about is walking. When I’m drawing all I think about is drawing. On paper I am free to move with the grace, precision and speed that I lack in my body.” Hilary’s recent works have been inspired by the organic lines of trees and plants as well as weathered pavements and the built environment around her.
Hidden amongst the plants on the bridge between the cottages this small sculpture is easily missed. You may only spot it on a sunny day when it casts a shadow on the wall. Spherical Construction, like the plants it sits with is dependent on the sun to come alive. Here it floats suspended by an invisible thread, ordered circles within the disorder of the plants. So many of Kettle’s Yard’s objects have secrets that are only revealed in certain conditions. This small piece is quiet until the sun shines and then it sings.
John Cage said ‘Art’s socialised.’ Ian Brownlie is interested in art as social practice – improvisational, collaborative and meaningful.
Ian works with ideas of shared cultural production, looking at what it is in creative action that is common between disciplines and art forms, between the practice and discipline of the artist, the labourer, the scientist, the teacher, the child. For Ian, art requires participation and the sharing of ideas; recognising the value of presenting ideas in order that others can inform and improve upon them, leaving space for personal innovations and adding to collective knowledge. Making art means exploring new ground, sometimes getting lost and celebrating the journey. Ian enjoys working with all ages and abilities.
Ian Browlie is a multimedia artist with a strong participatory practice. Historically, much of his experience is workshop-based in community and informal education (gallery and outdoor) settings. From an initial background in community music, Ian’s practice has developed over the years into work in combined arts.
Ian engages with diverse groups to make work, including those who are underserved by cultural organisations. There is a strong site related aspect to his practice concerned with landscapes, histories, our place within, and what we bring to them.
Ian writes, “I would sum up my work approach as – Keep it simple. Make it fast. Work the edges.”
A favourite object… Really? Where to start?
A lemon. The Maitec sculpture. The charred willow object personage called St Edmund. The book, How to Wrap Five Eggs, located in the library. And that’s just for starters.
Jacquie Campbell describes her artistic activity as ‘thinking through making’: working with materials to question the intangible, barely visible and overlooked ‘stuff’ of our surroundings. The microscopic, hidden, invisible and mundane are all of great interest to her.
As an artist facilitator Jacquie enjoys inviting other people into this enquiry, finding ways to work together to understand and reimagine our environment.
Jacquie likes to explore the materials of a place, particularly using our less exercised senses. She is fascinated by what we can find out through touch and texture although she is also drawn to digital techniques. Jacquie feels she may be most excited by the ideas that flow between the physical and digital worlds.
My favourite part of Kettle’s Yard is the dining nook as I imagine some really interesting conversations could start in that tight space.
Jo Miller is an artist, artist facilitator and lecturer in Fine Art, who creates sound and video installations, artworks which can be participatory and frequently using language and text. She also has an interested in Yoga and Mindfulness and how Mindfulness might be incorporated into an artistic practice.
Joshua Bilton is a visual artist making socially engaged artwork through workshops, performance and video. His current research is looking into how ritual, storytelling and myth-making can be used to connect communities to their natural environment. Within his work, Joshua is interested in creating social sculptures and participatory processes that make a collective space for gathering, healing, meditation, quietness and lament.
During the last two years the output of his work has taken the form of participatory performances, that include sound, choreography and audience interaction. These immersive performances have been shown as part of a 6 month residency at the Wellcome Collection, a two-year residency at the Canal and River Trust, a commission for Kettle’s Yard and a series of research workshops at Tate Exchange.
My favourite object is ‘the spiral of stones’. I seem to always come back to that arrangement in the house when looking for workshop inspiration. I’m drawn to the shape of the stones, their sculptural arrangement, reference to walking, gathering and creating a very personal connection to material through touch.
Rose Feather is a picture book maker, illustrator and workshop leader. She likes how stories gather energy as they get passed about, and feels really lucky to be able to make and share stories together with families and young people.
Recently, Rose has been developing picture books with families which then become navigation devices and play prompts for other families visiting galleries and museums. She is trying to figure out how stories can work hard and be useful. Rose is beginning to see how they can raise confidence in new spaces, but she remains curious – what else can a story do?
I am always drawn to the Cornelia Parker’s artwork in Helen Ede’s bedroom, repeated little white marks over and over again on the window pane. I like to feel my gaze travelling from a dot on the glass to a tree outside, then back to another white dot and then out to a bird, and then back to a dot again. The magic in this room takes a bit of leaning in to find, and I really like that.
Kaitlin Ferguson’s arts practice is fairly multi-disciplinary, which means she works across a lot of art mediums whether this be drawing, printmaking, sculpture or participatory projects which involve working with people. Across all the artworks Kaitlin makes, she draws inspiration from the natural world, responding to the environment and issues around climate change.
When working with people for workshops or projects, Kaitlin creates bespoke sessions for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. She support them to develop their confidence in making art and responding to the world around them.
My favourite object in Kettle’s Yard is Fen 1 by Roger Ackling, because I was lucky enough to have Roger as my tutor when I went to art school. He was an amazing man who was full of magic and wonder. His artworks were made by drawing lines onto found wood, using simply a magnifying glass and the sun. This piece makes me happy, because it reminds me of the times I got to spend with Roger and the fascinating stories he would tell.
Kelly Briggs is an artist working at the intersection of art and science. With deep roots in Cambridge, Kelly is inspired by the wealth of scientific research in her home town as well as the awe she feels from being out in nature. Through print, painting and sculpture, Kelly explores the fine balance of nature and our place in it as humans. Through facilitating workshops Kelly aims to inspire others to look deeper and connect to the natural world around them.
I love the rawness of Italo Valeti’s black and white collage works. I spent a lot of time in the house during summer 2019 and their rawness has had a strong influence on me.
Rachel McGivern is a visual artist exploring hands-on processes and everyday materials. Rachel is interested in tactile exploration, play and design. How to learn through creativity or express an idea or emotion through art making. Her practice combines printmaking, drawing, design, ceramics and photography.
My favourite object is the found sculpture of a broom handle without any bristles that sits on the windowsill in the cottage sitting room. Soft worn grey wood, punctured with holes, it is a visually pleasing object, totally obscuring its original purpose, and positioned with as much value as artist-made paintings and sculptures in the room. I like its surprising origins and playful reinterpretation.
Sandra Scott’s practice focuses on the exploration of issues relating to memory, forgetting and loss, through the forms of printmaking and embroidery. The translation of narrative by investigating the power of objects as symbols of memory provides an opportunity for connection with the work. The interrogation and fusion of printmaking and textiles allows the reconstruction of objects which can be translated into triggers of memory.
My favourite room within Kettle’s Yard is Helen’s bedroom. This space for me reflects absence, presence, and peaceful solitude. There is an intangible connection that this room shares with my present work.