Sat 25 Oct - Sun 7 Feb
Just Browsing is a group exhibition that allows audiences to browse tactile works of art. The exhibition borrows from the retail area around Bluecoat’s gallery to offer an experience of art that can be touched, worn and bought to take home. Artists in the exhibition use textiles, ceramics, and scent to connect with audiences in a variety of ways.
The exhibition features works and products from artists Bruce Asbestos, Ffion Evans, Garth Gratrix, Ivy Kalungi, Lou Miller, Sufea Mohamad Noor, Lewis Prosser, Ben Saunders, Daniel Sean Kelly, Chester Tenneson, and Carla Wright.
This exhibition is part of our season Felt, which features a programme of exhibitions and events that allow audiences to go beyond looking, but also to touch, wear, hold, and take part, and experience art in new, hands-on ways.
Join us for a first look at the exhibitions and free creative activities in the gallery on Sat 25 Oct from 11am.
About the artists
Welsh artist Ffion Evans presents large wall hangings made from thick layers of fabric, quilting and tufting that invite us to move in close and feel her work. She creates bold work that uses materials and techniques that are traditionally associated with domesticity and femininity, which have often been maligned as inferior to purely visual forms of ‘fine art’.
Essex based Carla Wright invites us to sit on her colourfully glazed ceramic stools. We experience her work not only as visually arresting, but also understand it through our bodies as the stools support our weight. Wright’s practice as a ceramicist is often social, both through how her work engages audiences and also through her ceramics studio, Common Clay, which provides workshops, residencies and social events in Bexhill-on-Sea. In Just Browsing, Wright’s sculptures serve to seat visitors around two large tables to engage with sculptures by Sufea Mohamad Noor, Daniel Sean Kelly, and Ffion Evans.
Sufea Mohamad Noor and Ffion Evans have both presented small scale sculptures to be held in the hand. Mohamad Noor often uses recycled and repurposed materials with visible wear , giving an indication of past owners of the materials that her sculptures are made from.
Daniel Sean Kelly presents objects that subvert fine dining. His surrealist teapots suggest a futile attempt at serving tea, destined to fail by the anxious face cut into the sides of the vessel.
Within the exhibition, T-shirts will be on show and available to buy by Bruce Asbestos, an artist who often blends the lines between high art, popular culture and personal branding. His ‘Hooboo’ and ‘Octopus’ characters were formed as part of a project with the Factory International Schools programme in Manchester and now feature as playful designs that can be bought and worn by visitors. In 2021, Asbestos hosted OK! Cherub!, a series of colourful inflatable sculptures, in the Bluecoat’s courtyard.
Chester Tenneson adds to a sense of playful mischief with his ’T-shirt sculpture performance’ Dance with me / don’t dance with me. A pair of t-shirts that instructs the wearer to take part in a piece of performance art.
Ben Saunders works across illustration, ceramics, and community events. With all his work, he aims to create a space for trans people to feel safe to embrace their body and sexuality, without fear of judgement which so many within the community face. At Bluecoat he presents t-shirts which celebrate trans bodies, which are often come under threat and censorship in public spaces such as galleries. Saunders will also host one of his Queer Pottery Workshops in the gallery in partnership with Homotopia Festival.
The act of trying on, and understanding an artwork through the body is explored further by absurdist basketmaker Lewis Prosser. His mask has been made to be worn by performers and audiences as part of a practice that uses traditional willow weaving to establish meaningful interaction between people, place and culture.
There will also be a film work in the gallery by Ivy Kalungi. In The Hair Shop, the artist has filmed interviews with black women in Belfast speaking about the personal and cultural significance of their hair. The women build a picture of the hair salon as a place that goes beyond personal care, and becomes a significant site of community. Kalungi and her interviewees describe the hair salon as a beacon of culture providing care, community and conversation that ranges from practical advice to politics.