Jeff Coombs Projects is currently involved in a series of 24 hour exhibitions at Islington Mill, Salford.
http://mill24.blogspot.com/
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Friday, 22 January 2010
My Town: Sophie Coombs' Manchester. By Millie Ross
Wimbledon College of Fine Art graduate Sophie Coombs moved up to Manchester to study Fine Art Sculpture and found herself quickly immersed in a vibrant scene of active young artists, making exhibitions, events happen, with some help from their local community. Sophie, a curator and artist herself, seems to e at he helm of this movement. We asked her what makes Manchester home.
Where do you live? Manchester
Where do you work? I'm a student at MMU [Manchester Metropolitan University] studying Fine Art Sculpture and I curate shows in empty spaces throughout Manchester.
What are you working on? Currently working on Mill24 a series of 24 hour art events and an exhibition at Islington Mill in Salford. Along with making artificial natural environments for my degree. i'm working on creating a range of Tracy Islands before and after Thunderbirds.
How do you get around (bus, train bike, car?) Walking.
Your favourite gallery? Castlefield is a great space but the Whitworth has put on some pretty ace exhibitions. I wasn't sure I would be able to see a Gregor Schnider in England.
Where’s the best place to shop? Oldham Street.
Best place for a good coffee? China Town. Have a bubble tea.
Best place to see some nature? The peak district isn't far on the train, go there and that is real countryside.
Favorite piece of street/public art near you… Turning the Place Over by Richard Wilson in Liverpool, I know it's not Manchester but nothing tops that.
The view from your bedroom is… More terraced houses, like in Coronation Street.
The view from you workplace/studio is…My studio is in the basement. if I look up, merky glass.
Favorite late night haunt…Keko Moku, good cocktails.
Where do you go for music? Your Mama's Cookin for some proper dancing.
How does the city influence your art? I see everything two dimensionally, so it's just a backdrop which happens to have very tall buildings and highrise train tracks. It's great, it's bleak, it feels really victorian but also utopian. The combination of architecture is mad. Sometimes it feels really safe and sometimes really dodgy and scary. My works is always about my personal confusion in situations and the inability to understand, finding it funny and frustrating. I guess that's what Manchester is to me, familiar but also totally alien. That's what happens when you downsize from London I guess.
Strongest or most unusual memory? Going to Asda in Hulme at 3 in the morning, being so scared and running home through wasteland being followed by a stray dog.
Your favourite discovery? The basement of the Righton building at MMU.
Name a song that best sums up how you feel about your town. Harry Nilsson- Coconut. "It's too cold to go out at the moment, if I do go out I want a cocktail."
Name an artwork that you feel represents your town. Anything by Daniel Pickles.
See Sophie's jotta portfolio here
And her curating blog Jeff Coombs Projects here
published on Thursday, 21 January
Where do you live? Manchester
Where do you work? I'm a student at MMU [Manchester Metropolitan University] studying Fine Art Sculpture and I curate shows in empty spaces throughout Manchester.
What are you working on? Currently working on Mill24 a series of 24 hour art events and an exhibition at Islington Mill in Salford. Along with making artificial natural environments for my degree. i'm working on creating a range of Tracy Islands before and after Thunderbirds.
How do you get around (bus, train bike, car?) Walking.
Your favourite gallery? Castlefield is a great space but the Whitworth has put on some pretty ace exhibitions. I wasn't sure I would be able to see a Gregor Schnider in England.
Where’s the best place to shop? Oldham Street.
Best place for a good coffee? China Town. Have a bubble tea.
Best place to see some nature? The peak district isn't far on the train, go there and that is real countryside.
Favorite piece of street/public art near you… Turning the Place Over by Richard Wilson in Liverpool, I know it's not Manchester but nothing tops that.
The view from your bedroom is… More terraced houses, like in Coronation Street.
The view from you workplace/studio is…My studio is in the basement. if I look up, merky glass.
Favorite late night haunt…Keko Moku, good cocktails.
Where do you go for music? Your Mama's Cookin for some proper dancing.
How does the city influence your art? I see everything two dimensionally, so it's just a backdrop which happens to have very tall buildings and highrise train tracks. It's great, it's bleak, it feels really victorian but also utopian. The combination of architecture is mad. Sometimes it feels really safe and sometimes really dodgy and scary. My works is always about my personal confusion in situations and the inability to understand, finding it funny and frustrating. I guess that's what Manchester is to me, familiar but also totally alien. That's what happens when you downsize from London I guess.
Strongest or most unusual memory? Going to Asda in Hulme at 3 in the morning, being so scared and running home through wasteland being followed by a stray dog.
Your favourite discovery? The basement of the Righton building at MMU.
Name a song that best sums up how you feel about your town. Harry Nilsson- Coconut. "It's too cold to go out at the moment, if I do go out I want a cocktail."
Name an artwork that you feel represents your town. Anything by Daniel Pickles.
See Sophie's jotta portfolio here
And her curating blog Jeff Coombs Projects here
published on Thursday, 21 January
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Monday, 26 October 2009
James Nicholas
James Nicholas will be doing a performance for Portal
Seminar Two : Triangle of U / Kwakwaka'wakw
Turf Transportation / Death of Grass
Kwakwaka'wakw are a tribe in Northern America who still perform Potlatch.
Triangle of U is a theory of wheat cross breading.
http://jammienicholas.com/
Seminar Two : Triangle of U / Kwakwaka'wakw
Turf Transportation / Death of Grass
Kwakwaka'wakw are a tribe in Northern America who still perform Potlatch.
Triangle of U is a theory of wheat cross breading.
http://jammienicholas.com/
PORTAL
PORTAL
Private view: 29.10.09 6-8pm
Exhibition: 30.10.09- 05.11.09 12-4 pm
A group of London based artists studying at Central St Martins and University of Westminster primarily working with video, projection, performance; time based, and technology based mediums. The shop space will become a temporary screening room/stage for work exploring a range of different themes and concerns, transposed from an established cosmopolitan and creative hub to somewhere with an exciting and vibrant up and coming arts scene.
THE JEFF COOMBS PROJECTS aim is to utilise empty retail and office spaces for Manchester based art projects and events. Artists are invited to take part in creating site-specific artworks that also relate to their current practice. JCP’s encourages artists to work together on projects to create a new found aesthetic inspired by Manchester’s creative community and understand their own work better through the communications with others.
The exhibition space has moved from the Karen Millen unit to the Old Gant unit.
This will be the last exhibition in the current Jeff Coombs Projects series.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Barnaby Lambert
Return (2009)
I brought a six kilogram slab of Sculptors Clay. I took it back to the raw clay soil of Epping Forest near my family home, and I returned it to the earth.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Jeff Coombs Projects location change.
'Surrogate' will be the last show that is being shown in the Karen Millen unit. I will update you shortly on the venue for the last exhibition 'Portal'. You won't have to go too far though as it will still be in the Triangle.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Article from jotta
Jeff Coombs Project
By Millie Ross published on Monday, 12 October
Manchester Metropolitan University student and curator Sophie Coombs, under the moniker of Jeff Coombs Projects, utilises empty retail and office spaces around Manchester, encouragng site-specific work from artists and in turn creating a new found aesthetic inspired by Manchester’s creative community. We ask her about co-curating the recent jotta show Space Within.
Could you briefly describe the common thread in the work of the three manchester artists, and why you curated them together with the jotta artists?
I'm very good friends with all of the Manchester artists, so I know all their work very well. They all have a wonderful ability of sourcing and working with found objects. That, combined with beautifully positioning and lighting, makes the pieces appear almost filmic and it becomes a complete experience. All of the Manchester artists work completely personifies them, I suppose by working with people you don't know you get a pre-concieved idea of how they are through the work they make. Then when you get to know the artists you have a completely different outlook on the work and you see how it relates to them, it's like being let in on a secret. The whole event was a quite a social experiment. I always think that art is based on a form of communication between the artist and the viewer, but rather than this lasting a couple of minutes, for me it was for a week.
What interesting elements did you note in the way the artists worked together in the space? Did they work well together, was their a communal/collaborative feel?
I realised that I had unintentionally put together a show that was all men. Once I had acknowledged that, I realised there was also a lot of wood used in the works - in very different ways. The London artists were using more bought wood, whilst the Manchester artist were sourcing a lot of their wood from skips. I suppose these similarities in medium meant there was a lot of sharing of tools and helping each other out, which would not have necessarily ocurred if it was a mix of video and painting etc. They all got on really well, I left the artists often to just get on with their pieces, so the London artists really had to communicate with each other and the Manchester artists if they needed to source material in town.
What glitches, if any, were encountered?
Opening and closing times are annoying because you have to stick to shopping hours. Also, as it is a family shopping centre there were a few shocked responses to the Fuck Machine. This meant that I had to turn it around so that you could only read 'IT'S MAGIC' instead of 'THE FAMOUS FUCK MACHINE!' (but to be honest I think that it added to the piece).
http://jeffcoombsprojects.blogspot.com/
By Millie Ross published on Monday, 12 October
Manchester Metropolitan University student and curator Sophie Coombs, under the moniker of Jeff Coombs Projects, utilises empty retail and office spaces around Manchester, encouragng site-specific work from artists and in turn creating a new found aesthetic inspired by Manchester’s creative community. We ask her about co-curating the recent jotta show Space Within.
Could you briefly describe the common thread in the work of the three manchester artists, and why you curated them together with the jotta artists?
I'm very good friends with all of the Manchester artists, so I know all their work very well. They all have a wonderful ability of sourcing and working with found objects. That, combined with beautifully positioning and lighting, makes the pieces appear almost filmic and it becomes a complete experience. All of the Manchester artists work completely personifies them, I suppose by working with people you don't know you get a pre-concieved idea of how they are through the work they make. Then when you get to know the artists you have a completely different outlook on the work and you see how it relates to them, it's like being let in on a secret. The whole event was a quite a social experiment. I always think that art is based on a form of communication between the artist and the viewer, but rather than this lasting a couple of minutes, for me it was for a week.
What interesting elements did you note in the way the artists worked together in the space? Did they work well together, was their a communal/collaborative feel?
I realised that I had unintentionally put together a show that was all men. Once I had acknowledged that, I realised there was also a lot of wood used in the works - in very different ways. The London artists were using more bought wood, whilst the Manchester artist were sourcing a lot of their wood from skips. I suppose these similarities in medium meant there was a lot of sharing of tools and helping each other out, which would not have necessarily ocurred if it was a mix of video and painting etc. They all got on really well, I left the artists often to just get on with their pieces, so the London artists really had to communicate with each other and the Manchester artists if they needed to source material in town.
What glitches, if any, were encountered?
Opening and closing times are annoying because you have to stick to shopping hours. Also, as it is a family shopping centre there were a few shocked responses to the Fuck Machine. This meant that I had to turn it around so that you could only read 'IT'S MAGIC' instead of 'THE FAMOUS FUCK MACHINE!' (but to be honest I think that it added to the piece).
http://jeffcoombsprojects.blogspot.com/
Jotta Curator Ellie Greig reponse to 'Space Within'
Ellie helped curate the show and came to Manchester to see some of the installing
What do you think Manchester has to offer as a cultural city?
From what I have observed form only two visits to Manchester, the genral vibe I get from artist/curator relationship is that there is a huge amount of creative support from both sides. There also seems to be an active encouragement from landlords and organisations, making it fairly easy to occupy unused spaces.
Have you noticed any particular themes in visual aesthetics that are common within Manchester based artists?
I can only comment on artist that I have seen come out of the MMU, but there seems to be a current mode of practise concerned with using what one finds-a very economical approach to use of material. I also observed that O'Sullivan and Pickles both explore themes related to myth and landscape, which is interesting.
What was your initial reaction to the space?
Throughout my time spent curating exhibitions the space its self has nearly always been the very first stage of engagement. The recession has had a huge effect on independent curators and artistic collectives as it has opened up new opportunities to work within unconventional, often free architectural vacant spaces. Each space, from shopping centres, to Victorian warehouses has influenced the approach taken by the curator, artist and spectator. In the case of SPACE WITHIN we constructed an exhibition that 'attacked' the modern interior with materials found in the area and sculptures that disrupted a modern idealism found within buildings like the Triangle. Through the Triangles failure as a commercial consumer hub, we created something that engaged with the environment in which it was shown, as well as offering a fresh approach to the topic of regeneration.
Was it interesting working with an unconventional exhibition space? Do you find that it inspires the artists to push their creativity to produce a more original form of artworks than within an original gallery format?
I think working with found spaces is a challenging experience and there is more risk of the space dominating over the work, rather than support. It does to a degree, dictate what work can be shown in a particular space, and site specific works often work best in 'unconventional' spaces.
What do you think Manchester has to offer as a cultural city?
From what I have observed form only two visits to Manchester, the genral vibe I get from artist/curator relationship is that there is a huge amount of creative support from both sides. There also seems to be an active encouragement from landlords and organisations, making it fairly easy to occupy unused spaces.
Have you noticed any particular themes in visual aesthetics that are common within Manchester based artists?
I can only comment on artist that I have seen come out of the MMU, but there seems to be a current mode of practise concerned with using what one finds-a very economical approach to use of material. I also observed that O'Sullivan and Pickles both explore themes related to myth and landscape, which is interesting.
What was your initial reaction to the space?
Throughout my time spent curating exhibitions the space its self has nearly always been the very first stage of engagement. The recession has had a huge effect on independent curators and artistic collectives as it has opened up new opportunities to work within unconventional, often free architectural vacant spaces. Each space, from shopping centres, to Victorian warehouses has influenced the approach taken by the curator, artist and spectator. In the case of SPACE WITHIN we constructed an exhibition that 'attacked' the modern interior with materials found in the area and sculptures that disrupted a modern idealism found within buildings like the Triangle. Through the Triangles failure as a commercial consumer hub, we created something that engaged with the environment in which it was shown, as well as offering a fresh approach to the topic of regeneration.
Was it interesting working with an unconventional exhibition space? Do you find that it inspires the artists to push their creativity to produce a more original form of artworks than within an original gallery format?
I think working with found spaces is a challenging experience and there is more risk of the space dominating over the work, rather than support. It does to a degree, dictate what work can be shown in a particular space, and site specific works often work best in 'unconventional' spaces.
Lizzy Rose
In my work I am interested in old pictures in books, crumbling monuments, bad taste videos, housing estates, boot fairs, the seaside, charity shops, floristry, and the pathos of film.
In this work I hope to convey the limitlessness of consumerism but to also show how we are connected in what we own and discard.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Katie Hare
Sweet valley monodramas 2, a selection of short dramatic pieces adapted from the sweet valley high series of Young Adult novels. Love, death, comas and bowling.
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