We are so excited to be exhibiting Every Other Seat in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The seats featured are reimagined by artists and local students, inspired by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on artists and performers. Below are the details of the different seats, which are currently featured in the ex-Dorothy Perkins window at the Roebuck Centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme from Tues 16 February to Sat 24 April.
Images taken by Ben Farr
‘Emergence’
by Amy Louise Davis
Amy aims to challenge yet take inspiration from traditional embroidery methodologies and processes. As Covid-19 continues to thrive, people continue to miss the spaces and experiences; a simple trip to the theatre is now feared to not ever be the same again.
Davis has repurposed the functional aspect of a theatre experience (the chair which is sat on) to sculpturally portray the domineering and controlling qualities of Covid-19. The “emergence” growing from the chair suggests how the virus continues to dictate over and force communities out of the spaces that they may have previously taken for granted.
About the Artist
Playful, tactile and organic are just some of the many words which define Davis’ work and practice. Graduating from the Embroidery BA (Hons) course from the Manchester School of Art in 2013, she has adapted an experimental approach as an artist and embroiderer whose main focus revolves around seeking out the potentials in the broadest of materials, as a way to challenge traditional preconceptions of existing textiles.
“Whilst it’s not all about the conventional needle and thread, embroidery to me has become more about material exploration and the transitioning between 3D sculpture and 2D surface pattern.”
‘New/Old Memory’
by Kornelia Herms
Recollecting a good memory of a place, an exhibition, film or play, creates a heart-warming feeling. It often happens while looking at an image. For too many of us now, it may seem that all we can do is to recollect good old memories, while creating new ones has been placed on hold. A growing number of unused seats could be seen as growing number of lost memories. Can we still choose to create new memories whilst our ability to adapt to changes is being challenged?
A continual interest in finding new ways of exploring drawing, text and installation, and its use as a bridge between art and design, is visible in Herms’ work.
About the artist
Herms graduated with 1st class Hons in Fine Arts, Staffordshire University, 2014. An actively organizing and exhibiting artist and currently one of the directors of Dust Rising. Exhibitions include Dust Rising 2017-2019, Wirksworth, Festival Art and Architecture trail, 2014, AirSpace Gallery Studio Artists shows 2014 – 2017, Stoke Art Map, Dust in Potteries Museum, New Vic Theatre, Every Other Seat by Dust Rising and recently Windows of Wonder by Appetite. Herms believes that the exploration of various art disciplines brought together has the potential to strengthen rich foundations for the future of the arts.
Learn more here.
‘Hecuba’s Seat’
by Dawn Jutton
High up on the façade of the Regent theatre Dionysis, God of duality, theatre and wine, watches over Piccadilly as the dust settles in a half empty theatre. On stage he remembers Hecuba pulled from the fires of Troy, and celebrates her demise into the Bacchanalian rituals played out in front of him.
In a remixing and re-imagining of Euripedes’ Greek tragedies, Dawn Jutton’s chair is a metaphor for these times when, as our towns and cities await the re-opening of theatres, galleries and museums.
Whatever story that is left to tell will be told from ‘what was’ and not ‘what is’.
About the Artist
Dawn Jutton. Studied Crewe & Alsager College (MMU) 1976-79, Univ. of Wolverhampton 1990-92, Staffordshire University 2001-03. Exhibitions/commissions; DUST Rising 2017-2021; Eleven Oranges, Ingestre Orangery 2020; PoArtry, Newhampton Arts Centre, 2019 & 2020; Older Women Rock the Potteries, 2017; Mr. Turner comes to Lichfield, Lichfield Cathedral, 2017.
Dawn is a multi-faceted visual artist and Staffordshire based creative professional with a long career locally in photography, education and community arts, and has authored e-learning material for industry and BBC Bitesize.
She has exhibited widely across the region and often collaborates with other artists and poets to create sitespecific responsives. Dawn has exhibited as an associate artist with DUST since 2017.
Learn more here.
Untitled
by Laura Wilshaw
Laura has created a chair that showcases her theatre photography whilst also highlights the importance of theatre to her and to many passionate about all things theatrical. This project brought a sense of joy but also loss as in the currently climate the arts have been forced to adapt which has meant live performances have been put on hold.
The images on the chair are an accumulation of shots taken from drama rehearsals at Staffs University whilst under taking her masters and shots from Stoke On Trent Repertory Theatre to which she was allowed access (following the latest government guidelines).
With this seat she hopes to show not only the joy of live performances as seen in the rehearsal shots and also the adaptations theatres have put in place in preparation for their long awaited return.
About the artist
Laura is a local photographer educated primarily in schools within Newcastle and the surrounding areas. Her journey into photography started at Newcastle College and then she went on to complete a BA Honours degree and a Masters degree, both at Staffordshire University.
‘Safe and Sound’
by Debbie Doodar
Debbie Doodar (aka MsDMeanar/Deborah Rogers) leads on a costume and sound work with a performative element that explores the issues of social distancing and its potential impact on the arts, particularly participatory arts, performance and theatre audiences.
A crinoline costume stretches out a metre from the chair to keep viewers at the minimum masked distance we are supposed to be keeping from others to stay safe. The crinoline is made from traditional materials used in theatre.
Movement and closeness to the chair triggers the sound of birdsong representing the territorial elements we are being encouraged to take on during the epidemic.
About the Artist
Made in Wolverhampton. Developed in the West Midlands, Stoke on Trent & Derby. Studied Fine Art at Staffordshire University 1990 & Derby University 2021
Recent Exhibitions & Residencies: Bang! Spode 2014, Bang! Rochdale 2018, Printworks in Stoke 2015, Trading Love 2015, Smallprint 2016 , Dust/ Dust Rising 2018-2020, Winter Wastelands 2020, Here and Now 2021.
Deborah Rogers AKA MsDMeanar and Debbie Doodar and co-founder of The Cultural Sisters is an artist that uses a range of different materials and characters to make artwork. She has been working creatively in Stoke since arriving to study Fine Art at Staffs University in 1987. She often works in collaboration with strangers and creates interactive work and projects that encourage engagement in the arts. She has just completed an MA in Fine Art at Derby University and is presently on the AA2A (Artists Access 2 Academia) scheme at Derby Uni.
Learn more here.
‘The Captains Seat – Charon the Ferry Man’
by Peter R. Smith
This is a journey into a spherical whirlwind of the inner soul wherein be an art of soundless music, essences of a theatrical within the glistening of one’s eye who shares within a passage of the Captain’s Chair. Time has stopped the heart of both the lover and the creator, is this end of time?
The chair wishes to share a symphony of hidden voices via tensions within cords, echoes of motion within a glimmer of rhythm and to share faint words of love within a confidential circle.
The chair has been created through a montage of debris and material familiar to all, the echoes of childhood and adulthood shared within echoes of moments. Familiar forms share stories of life, whisperings of memories maybe gone or maybe starting afresh.
About the Artist
The artist The Smith exhibits his art via a variety of types platforms and locations throughout Britain and Abroad. In 2014 ‘Smith’ was part of a curation team that set up an art exhibition called ‘Journeys, Pathways and Track Plans’ at Spode, Stoke-on-Trent, creating the opportunity for 18 artists to exhibited with funding from the Arts Council.
Smith is interested in the significances between artificial life and temporal life to all that lives and dies. What is existence when money and greed control so much This artist fashions a form of rebirth through surrogate bodies such as chairs, doors, glass window frames and boxes, casting where of in menial exploitation of clays, cement, silicone, wax and even chocolate that become the new us.
Untitled
by James Dudley-Ward
The unforeseen discovery of a dressmaker’s dummy in a charity shop and the addition of a stool and tutu enables James Dudley–Ward to make a clear reference to ballet as one of the many art forms/practices that exist and are too easily taken for granted. As a painter/maker in the fine arts James responds to and appreciates the intense expression he finds in ballet through movement, poses, spatial relationships, set design and lighting. Ballet, like most art forms, aspires to achieve an intensity and a clarity of expression to impress and move us. We need to feed off that passion in our lives and look forward in these lockdown times to again being able to experience and nurture the living world of the arts.
About the Artist
James Dudley-Ward b. Bedford, UK. Studied at Luton School of Art 1964-67, Falmouth School of Art 1968-71, Chelsea School of Art 1972-74. Studied cabinet making at Rycotewood College, Thame, Oxon. 1976-77. Exhibitions; Northern Young Contemporaries, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester 1973, New Young Contemporaries, Serpentine Gallery, London 1974, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London 1980, Hereford Museum and Art Gallery 1986, Mayor’s Parlour Gallery, Hereford 1991 and 1994, Gloucester Museum and Art Gallery 1993, Birmingham Pastel Society annually 1993-2013, being awarded the Exhibition Prize in 1994 and 2010, Percy Thomas Architectural Practice, Bristol 1993, elected Associate Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 2004, exhibiting member of the Stoke-on-Trent Contemporary Artists group, (SoT ART), 2008 to the present, Twelve Year Retrospective Exhibition at the 116 Gallery Stoke-on-Trent in 2016, participated in Dust and Dust Rising exhibitions from 2017 until the present.
‘Steel Reflections’
by Terry Shave
This work is inspired by a play, ‘The Fight for Shelton Bar’ produced in the mid 1970s that dramatised the demise of a major employer and important industry in the city. The play concerned the closure of the local steel works and the impact this would have on local people and employees. Characters were based on real people and much of the dialogue was taken from interviews conducted with workers at Shelton. This indicates how important theatre and the arts can be as agents for change and social responsibility. Fifty years later and we are seeing the potential demise of the theatres and loss of jobs for the staff and actors because of a pandemic. We must all demand that our culture and the arts are protected for our future. The work is dedicated to Peter Cheeseman, the Director of the play who pioneered “theatre in the round” at the New Vic.
Learn more here.
Untitled
by Katrina and Nadine Wilde
Katrina and Nadine Wilde are textile practitioners, working with print making/dyeing and weaving processes respectively. In this collaborative piece they pay homage not only to the textiles and costume that embody the drama and energy of live performance, but to the collaborative, community effort it takes to bring theatre to life. Costume provides a platform for experimentation, storytelling and elaborate playfulness – it has the power to transport you to another time, another place. Theatre is so much more than just the final show – it is a melting pot of creative practices coming together to create something beautiful, and that feels like something worth holding on to.
About the Artist
Katrina is a textile designer and material facilitator based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. She works with found, foraged, grown and gathered matter and uses plant-based colour as a conduit for communication, curiosity and hopes to help foster deeper relationships with the world around us.
She works with and for people, and uses creative practices, locality and natural colour as a tool to build kinships and community.
Nadine is a designer, maker and hand-weaver. She creates one-of-a-kind handwoven textiles, anchored in ideas around heritage, colour and compositions. Wherever possible she uses natural, repurposed, salvaged and pre-loved yarns. Her work focuses on curating a narrative that translates experiences, ideas and values of craft and nature into woven tapestries.
Learn more here.
Untitled
by Tom Edwards of We are Culla
This chair takes inspiration from live music; with a focus on the technical production and backstage aspects. Auto Visual technology is essential for any large scale live performance and the importance of the backstage crew involved is often unseen and overlooked.
Unplugged jacks, a dropped microphone and a rats nest of wires strewn across the stage are a sculptural reminder of the technology used in performance and a salute to the expertise of those who use it. Together they are the backbone of any live show.
About the Artist
Tom is an Illustrator, Printer and Artist born in Stoke on Trent.
After graduating from Staffs uni, Tom went on to Cofound We are Culla in 2017 – a well established creative organisation based in the city’s Cultural Quarter.
Specialising in fine art printing, large scale mural commissions and project management, Tom’s work can be seen in the public realm throughout the city and further afield.
He also has several years experience as a creative workshop leader teaching screen-printing and graffiti skills to groups of all ages.
‘Red & Gold’
by Joyce Iwaszko
Iwaszko brings a different meaning to that idea of looking during 2020/2021. Whilst we all sit and watch and wait for the pandemic to disappear, or we are all safely vaccinated, artists, theatres and performers are almost trapped in a time warp, looking for an interim way to survive and live. In ‘Red and Gold’ a woman sits alone in the circle, with only shadows to accompany her (all other figures have been painted out). She is socially distanced looking at the past, observing the present, watching and waiting. Iwaszko explores current issues through a combination of painting, mixed media and installation. The painting hanging on the back of the seat evokes a painting hanging in an art gallery, and the image imitates a painting by Mary Cassatt, In the Loge 1878, about whose paintings much has been written in relation to looking, ways of seeing and the gaze.
About the Artist
Joyce Iwaszko b.Belfast, Northern Ireland; studied NULC 1994, Staffordshire University 1997 & 2004, Birmingham University 1998.
Exhibitions/Commissions; Mostyn 21 2005, Middleport Pottery Café Wall Mural 2014, Journeys, Pathways and Track Plans 2014; DUST/DUST Rising 2016-2020.
Joyce is a fine artist embedded in the creative community in Stoke-on-Trent, she is founder of DUST/DUST Rising 2016/2019; she held the post of Cultural Champion for Hanley 2017-2020 – a voluntary position created in conjunction with the area Cultural Strategy’s legacy commitment to build on partnerships formed during the 2021 City of Culture bid. Joyce has over 25 years of teaching experience in an FE setting. This, and her role as artists’ studios manager at AirSpace Gallery from 2013-2019, has given Joyce experience of managing projects.
Learn more here.
Untitled
by Daniel Southward
Daniel’s response intends to highlight the absolute importance of pushing forward within the arts and creative sectors during this unpredictable climate. The chair represents artists and creatives having a place at the table and making sure our voices are heard.
The signs represent the accumulation and bombardment of often contradicting information we must continue to navigate during these unprecedented times. The shoes represent the need to keep moving and focus on maintaining momentum as we look ahead to the future. Rise up and step forward.
About the Artist
Dan is a multidisciplinary fine artist, currently based in Stoke-on-Trent. Dan has been committed to the arts and creative community in the city since graduating from Staffordshire University, in 2012, with a BA Hons in fine art. Since 2015 Dan has worked for ACAVA, helping to build and manage 43 artist studios located on the former Spode Works site, while continuing to develop his own practice as fine artist and photographer.
Working as a freelance artist, Dan enjoys taking on a various positions, responsibilities and challenges within the creative community.
‘Raft I’
by Sara Penny
The initial concept for ‘Raft I’ stemmed from another project in progress: a transcription in paint of the Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault, 1818-19.
Here, in a theatrical context for ‘Every other Seat’, a raft is used as a metaphor for escape, or more specifically for escapism, insofar as an audience is distracted from reality and ‘transported’ to another place and time through the writer/director’s imagination and inevitably, on the journey, further meanings and philosophies are discovered along the way.
For ‘Raft I’, the artist deconstructed a small antique chair and reconstructed it using the original method of dowel construction, except that through-housing type joints were also incorporated into the work. The diagonal curve is suggestive of a mast and sail rather than appearing overly ‘literal’.
About the Artist
In recent years, the artist exhibited paintings (triptych) at Bethesda Chapel, Hanley and at the Meadows building within the Spode site, Stoke-on-Trent with Dust Rising and has been part of #7 since the group’s inception in 2016 with further exhibitions being scheduled. Previously, work has included a Lecturer in Art & Design role at NULC for 15 years and as a designer in Staffordshire.
‘Chair A’
by Paul Gosling
With the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic and the implementation of 3 Lockdowns we are still witnessing the closure of theatre, cinema and nonessential retail. There has been a significant shift from the physical participation with the entertainment and consumer cultures to the mediated online. This displacement has seen a surge in subscriptions to streaming apps like Amazon and Netflix, creating a mass armchair audience.
Chair A uses boxes, the packaging from received goods selected, ordered and purchased online. Sections of the Amazon logo have been arranged into a random repeat tiled pattern that represents the ‘every other seat’ social distancing for theatre and cinema goers.
About the Artist
Paul Gosling was born in Stoke on Trent, and after leaving school he worked in the ceramics and construction industries. He went on to study at Leek School of Art 1982, B.A. Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University 1985 and M.A. Fine Art at Staffordshire University 1994. Awards include the 5th Stoke Open Major Purchase Prize and the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts 132nd Open Exhibition Award for Painting.
Paul has exhibited widely in the UK, and has been artist in residence at PMAG, The Royal Bolton Hospital and The Royal Sussex County Hospital.
He has over 20 years experience in education and is currently Lecturer in Art and Design at Newcastle College, NSCG.
Untitled
by Amy Foster
This chair represents the peak of social distancing, it highlights the importance of the 2m ruling to keep everyone safe. Covered in moss, this chair also demonstrates the how galleries, museums and theatres have been left behind other business during the pandemic.
Since the last show, this chair has been left behind in my garden as have creative businesses during this difficult time. This chair has been through a slow state of decay. With exhibitions such as this one, we can begin to build the stamina of the arts industry back following the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the Artist
Amy Foster was born in Stoke on Trent then moved as a teenager and grew up in South Yorkshire. She returned to Stoke on Trent to start her BA Hons in Fine Art in 2016.
During her studies, Amy took part in several exhibitions including a key award for a commission with HM Government’s Great Exhibition of the North in NewcastleUpon-Tyne.
Since graduating in 2019, Amy has exhibited in Dust Rising’s September 2019 exhibition, then again for the first iteration of ‘Every Other Seat’ in 2020.
Amy is now a primary school teacher passing on her passion for creativity to the artists of the future.
