Materiality: provisional states

A contemporary art exhibition inspired by the surroundings of Hestercombe will showcase the work of three artists this autumn/winter.

Sarah Bennett, Megan Calver and Philippa Lawrence have been directly engaged with Hestercombe House and Gardens over three years and the resulting exhibition has developed from these experiences. It features exhibits using a range of media from photography, sculpture to drawing and text.

Collectively interested in issues related to labour and the management of landscape and nature, Materiality: provisional states aims to examine and critique human and non-human centred activity found in Hestercombe’s past and present. The exhibition stems from archival research as well as ‘Disclosures and Dialogues’, a series of dialogue sessions with artists, curators, historians, academics and garden practitioners.

Related events:

Silverpoint workshop with artist Sarah Bennett, Friday 25th January 2019

‘Materiality disclosed’ seminar with artists Sarah Bennett, Megan Calver, Philippa Lawrence, and poet and writer Cherry Smyth, Friday 15th February 2019

Materiality: provisional states runs from 10th November 2018 until 24th February 2019, at Hestercombe Gallery.

About the artists

Sarah Bennett’s practice investigates institutional sites, both historical and contemporary in UK and international settings, employing a range of artistic research methods and material processes including: digital recording, facsimile object making, observational drawing, and embodied actions. She is Head of School of Art and Architecture at Kingston University, and chairs educational events in art schools, universities and arts organisations in Europe and the USA.

Megan Calver’s new work is an iteration of her enquiry into expressions of taste and attitudes to perceived imperfections, first presented in a group show at Hestercombe in 2015. Megan Calver’s approach is process-led and for the past ten years she has focused her site-related investigations throughout the South West of England where collaborations with people and places have grown and taken hold.

After a deep study of the Hestercombe landscape, Philippa Lawrence offers works that ask us to perceive things we may have overlooked or not considered, tracing humankind’s activity in managing an estate and nature. Philippa has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally, including America, Japan, Czech Republic, Canada, Iceland and Australia.