HELEN HARDMAN at THE WEST HOUSE

Those of you whom have looked at my PROJECTS page recently may have noticed something exciting…

Indeed I am very excited to announce that I will be having a solo exhibition!  The West House, Dundee will play host to my prints as of next week.  This is also the first exhibition as part of Any. And. Or.  

Kicking off Degree Show season in style the PREVIEW will be on Thursday 16th May 2013, at approx 7pm (TBC).

Continues Friday 17th May 2013 Mon-Fri 8am-midnight, Sat-Sun 9am-midnight.

All are welcome to attend!

Event FACEBOOK

This exhibition culminates a year of planning (on my part): On a degree show high I first suggested a show of my prints at TWH last summer, recently after they opened.  Since they were still too new at the time and the paint was barely dry on the walls we didn’t proceed with anything until I was introduced to Andy Rice whilst working with Paul at the VRC.  After hearing my tale he agreed that exhibitions of new and local artists’ work was the plan all along, and several months later here we are!

Since The West House will be looking for new work to hang after my show closes, this would be an excellent opportunity for any soon to be graduates, local Dundee artists and budding curators.

Hope to see you there!

ANY AND OR

Travelling so much has not left me much time to do anything art related recently, but I thought it would be nice to update you with the plans for ANY AND OR.  We have a date!

11-24 JULY 2013.  COBURG HOUSE GALLERY, LEITH, EDINBURGH.
Ana HINE.  Helen HARDMAN.  Katy MEEHAN.  
Sekai MACHACHE. Layla Rose COWAN.  Tatiana DER PARTOGH.

We are thoroughly immersed in planning, developing and designing this exhibition and are starting to create things like websites/blogs/social media.  The idea is to create a platform for each of us to work from in the future whilst maintaining our places in a collective, so we’re taking it pretty seriously!

Though there is not much to see yet, here is the new BLOG.  This will be up to speed as soon as possible with our graphics in place.  Add it to your favourites, for soon it will be!

PRINT PREVIEW

A few highlights from the Printed Matter:::::/Print Process exhibition preview on Thursday.

A print focused exhibition was always an incredibly exciting prospect, but to see it for real truly made the point of how varied and free the print medium can be.  No two pieces were the same, and with a range of ancient and modern techniques on show this exhibition was as interesting as it was educational.  Not to mention beautifully executed!  Sean and Ellis worked a miracle and transformed the Bradshaw space from ordinary animation corridor to professional gallery.  All in all a great evening.

Printed Matter:::::/Print Process is open in the Bradshaw Gallery at DJCAD Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 10:30am-4:30pm until 16/3/13.  I know I am biased but if you manage to see any student curated exhibition in the next few weeks then this should be it: different, professional, traditional.

I am delighted and very excited to announce that some of my degree show prints will be included in the upcoming exhibition “Printed Matter:::::/Print Process.”  Organised by Sean Scott – a 4th year Illustration student at DJCAD with whom I worked for the Edgar Schmitz “Sindanao” opening – the exhibition aims to bring together a whole variety of artists and designers who work closely with print in their practice.  The result will be an eclectic mix of styles and techniques, demonstrating the incredible versatility of print in all its processes on an international scale; Sean has received submissions from Scotland, England and even Canada!

I have submitted the following:

You may see one, you may see all three!  Either way this promises to be not only a fantastic exhibition but an opportunity to find yourself sharing a space with processes you may not have seen before.  And the only way to truly engage with prints is to see them face-to-face, stick your nose up against them and get a sense of the physical presence of ink on paper.  I find this so with all prints but particularly mine – they just don’t compare on a computer screen.

Printed Matter:::::/Print Process opens for preview at DJCAD this Thursday 22nd February 2013 and will run for a month.

As the first major print-related shindig I have been involved in since graduating you can expect lots more on this over the next couple of weeks!  In the meantime keep an eye on the Printed Matter:::::/Print Process blog.

ANY AND OR

For the past few weeks a group of ladies and myself have been working towards an exhibition proposal.  On Saturday we found out that we have our gallery!  So our plans are to go ahead, and next June we will be the proprietors, if only for a week or two, of the Coburg House Studio Gallery in Leith, Edinburgh.

That’s all you’re getting for now!  But expect press releases and starlights in the new year.

So, Degree Show is done.  I’ve spoken to a few people and we all agree that we’re in a weird limbo between relaxing and not knowing what to do with ourselves.  Having worked so intensely for so long, it’s difficult to simply stop.  Anyway – here is what my show looks like! All pieces for sale, drop me a line at helenhardman107@hotmail.com.

Ta-daaaah!  Now off to Newcastle and home for a few days.

Documentation of the early stages in the curation of the Portraits for the Future exhibition in the Bradshaw Space at DoJ.  Portraits for the Future is an exposition of work from the inaugural V&A at Dundee Masterclass, hosted by Calum Colvin at the McManus Art Gallery and Museum in November 2011.

Also involved in the curation of the exhibition was Sofia Khan, whose blog you can read here: http://sofiakhanfineart.blogspot.co.uk/

This opportunity was made available to us through our involvement with the DJCAD Student Curatorial Team, and proved to be an invaluable experience of the decision making process of curation.

V&A Dundee: http://vandaatdundee.com/your-future/news-and-events/category/15/

DJCAD Exhibitions@http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/exhibitions/