Dialogues Through Time
Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event? Chapter One,
Cooper Gallery
This exhibition included works by Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alexis Hunter and Monica Ross, three of the women with whom I have been ‘in dialogue,’ during the last few years: http://annebeanarchive.com/2015-night-chant/
The presence of particular works of theirs in the exhibition, which have been resonant for me over decades, enabled me to continue these dialogues with an added layer. This chance inclusion of works that were especially evocative for me re-opened early conversations with Rose on the divided self, discussions on feminism and the erotic with Alexis and engagements with Monica on human rights and freedom of thought ‘unmindful of bounds.’
The catalogue entry for the exhibition reads:
Anne Bean will present three new works from her ongoing series of works exploring her relationships with five of her artist contemporaries who recently passed away. Bean intends for these works to be a ‘femage,’ with rather than for these five women, with whom, over time, she had discussed art/life strategies and negotiations. Three of these artists, Alexis Hunter, Rose Finn-Kelcey and Monica Ross are featured in Of Other Spaces and their works will be in dialogue with Bean’s new sculptural installations. In addition, Bean will premiere a new live performance at the 12-Hour Action Group on Saturday 3 December, REACH.
In the performance, REACH, I wrote the entire poem of Hadewijch, a 13th-century poet and mystic, in mirror writing on hand mirrors and gave them to the audience with a torch each so that the poem could be re-created as combined projected reflections on the walls and ceiling.
“All things
are too small
to hold me,
I am so vast
In the Infinite
I reach
for the Uncreated
I have
touched it,
it undoes me
wider than wide
Everything else
Is too narrow
You know this well,
you who are also there”
This performance continued the dialogues with women across times in both the physical and metaphysical sense of reflection, mirroring, projecting, collaborating and responding – reaching for the uncreated.
Dialogues Through Time
Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event? Chapter One,
Cooper Gallery
This exhibition included works by Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alexis Hunter and Monica Ross, three of the women with whom I have been ‘in dialogue,’ during the last few years: http://annebeanarchive.com/2015-night-chant/
The presence of particular works of theirs in the exhibition, which have been resonant for me over decades, enabled me to continue these dialogues with an added layer. This chance inclusion of works that were especially evocative for me re-opened early conversations with Rose on the divided self, discussions on feminism and the erotic with Alexis and engagements with Monica on human rights and freedom of thought ‘unmindful of bounds.’
The catalogue entry for the exhibition reads:
Anne Bean will present three new works from her ongoing series of works exploring her relationships with five of her artist contemporaries who recently passed away. Bean intends for these works to be a ‘femage,’ with rather than for these five women, with whom, over time, she had discussed art/life strategies and negotiations. Three of these artists, Alexis Hunter, Rose Finn-Kelcey and Monica Ross are featured in Of Other Spaces and their works will be in dialogue with Bean’s new sculptural installations. In addition, Bean will premiere a new live performance at the 12-Hour Action Group on Saturday 3 December, REACH.
In the performance, REACH, I wrote the entire poem of Hadewijch, a 13th-century poet and mystic, in mirror writing on hand mirrors and gave them to the audience with a torch each so that the poem could be re-created as combined projected reflections on the walls and ceiling.
“All things
are too small
to hold me,
I am so vast
In the Infinite
I reach
for the Uncreated
I have
touched it,
it undoes me
wider than wide
Everything else
Is too narrow
You know this well,
you who are also there”
This performance continued the dialogues with women across times in both the physical and metaphysical sense of reflection, mirroring, projecting, collaborating and responding – reaching for the uncreated.
PS Hull
P. S. (Paul Sue/Post Script)
An exhibition of artworks and other materials from the estates of Paul Burwell and Sue Arrowsmith with a range of performances relating to their unique spirits.
During the year of Hull City Of Culture, not a part of any official programme, PS was put on by a group of artists to acknowledge 2 artists who strongly contributed to the life and culture of Hull.
Contributions from Anne Bean, Richard Wilson, Yol , Shaun Caton, Phil Wilson, Jo Millet, Rob Gawthrop, Kaffe Mathews, Dave Ellis, Lee Merril, Jez Riley French, Sohail Khan, Ansuman Biswas, Luke Poot, Espen Jensen, Helmut Lemke, Chris Gladwyn, Fergus Kelly, Miyako Narita,
Paul Burwell came to Hull in 2000 after purchasing the Kingston Rowing Club in Oak Road Playing Fields which he settled and used as a studio space until his untimely death in 2007. The art events he organised there are slowly achieving a legendary status in the oral history of Hull’s cultural heritage. With his feet firmly planted in the shifting sands of free improvisation – he was a drummer and founder member of the London Musician’s Collective – over the years he collaborated with poets, writers, musicians, performance artists, sculptors, film and video makers, dancers, instrument makers, pyrotechnicians, firemen, lecturers, librarians, students… and us.
In 2010 Sue Arrowsmith came seeking refuge having just been evicted from her home in London. She first made a reputation as a conceptual artist, in the 1970s making drawings and photographic works – reputedly one of the first artists to print directly onto canvas. One of her works was included in ‘Conceptual Art in Britain 1964-1979,’ last year at Tate Britain. Following a severe illness in the late 1980s, she carried on making work, but moved on to collages (many included materials collected from the mud of the Thames), wall hangings, wood carvings and decorative drums. Her early photographic work is with the Anthony Reynolds Gallery in London. Sue was actively involved in the Kingston Growing Club and its work to preserve the Burwell Oaks. She died in 2014.
