Public Engagement – Winter Sculpture Park.

This ambitious exhibition curated by Gallery No.32 on public access land in Bexley, South East London has now drawn to a close and the work is being removed from the site. The install back in February was challenged by the arrival of Storm Eunice that blew some of the works over even before the show had opened, but the sun shone brightly for the opening event on the 26th offering an uplifting afternoon for the artists, their friends, families and many more.

More than 40 works were sited in an orchard and on open grassland that had once been landfill. Artists were from London and the South as well as much further North and at different stages of their careers. All were excited to have this tremendous opportunity to site their work outdoors free of charge and with the support of the curators ,Meg Stuart and Kieran Idle of Gallery No.32, who worked hard to promote the show through social media and produced an online catalogue on their website.

The work shown was hugely varied in approach, materials used and issues tackled. It was great to have time as artists to engage with each other. Some of us had met during the challenges of the install and the WhatsApp group chat was useful for communication and support. The Gallery No.32 strap line is “Promoting creative exchange” and that extends to between the artists involved as well as between the gallery and the public. Two sets of artists talks were organised which enabled us to present the ideas behind our work to a live audience, many of whom were fellow artists. It was great to have responses and feedback and so good not to be on Zoom.

As well as the artists’ walks and talks, there was a school visit of Year 10s from Newham who toured the show and took part in a workshop run by Ema Mano Epps using clay. These events were attended by a sympathetic audience and most of the feedback was positive throughout the show. However, the space is completely accessible to anybody and someone was intent on destruction. Several pieces of work were pulled over before the opening, but after Storm Eunice…….Then one was burnt down just before the first set of talks and in broad daylight. The tallest of my structures finally succumbed with only a week to go. It had been pulled so hard as to break the welds on the steel mesh, buckling in its middle. This was the sort of public engagement we’d known was possible but hadn’t expected to the extent that it had happened. Thankfully no one appears to have got hurt.