Associate Artists

Throughout 2010, members of the Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium (PVAC) appointed an associate artist. The scheme ran for a year and saw each artist negotiate a distinctive brief with their chosen organisation. These exhibitions showcase a selection of work and documentation by them at the time of British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet.

Peter Stiles Solo Exhibition

Venue: Plymouth Arts Centre, Looe Street
Saturday 29 October to Saturday 12 November
10am to 5.30pm Tues to Fri / 10am to 5pm Sat to Sun / Closed Mondays
Admission free

‘Transmitter’ is the third in a series of four exhibitions by local artists from the Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium’s (PVAC) Associates scheme and features work by North Devon-based artist, Peter Stiles.

For his residency at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Peter was asked to spend time studying the work of famous Plymouth artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, who urged art students to study and identify the best features of the Old Masters and incorporate them within their own work.

As part of his research Peter visited collections in and around the Plymouth area. He also read the lectures Reynolds gave at the Royal Academy in London.

Peter then spent time at the Museum creating drawings inspired by the permanent collections. As he carried on with his practice away from the Museum he began to notice that elements from the drawings he’d done were affecting his studio work – with the time he’d spent surveying the natural history collections giving him a new way of painting rocks and clouds, introducing birds into his work and influencing his sculptures.

‘Transmitter’ concentrates on this impact that Peter’s time at the Museum has had on his studio practice and features some of the work that he created after he had spent time studying Sir Joshua Reynolds’ approach to painting and the City’s permanent collections.

Bridgette Ashton Solo Exhibition

Venue: Plymouth Arts Centre, Looe Street
Saturday 19 November to Sunday 4 December
10am to 5.30pm Tues to Fri / 10am to 5pm Sat to Sun / Closed Mondays
Admission free

Bridgette Ashton’s work looks at places and narratives, sometimes real and at other times invented.  Her mostly small-scale objects, drawings and photographs are often flagrantly wistful, celebrating pastiche and melancholy while simultaneously identifying ambiguous networks and relationships.  At times her work retains indications of materiality and process, sometimes alluding to the obsessiveness of the hobbyist.

Over the past year as a PVAC Associate artist she has been developing ideas surrounding redundant or overlooked sites, objects and archives.  Recent works look specifically at two speleologically important (but geographically and historically different) underground caves – one in Margate, Kent and the other in Plymouth, Devon. Neither of the cave locations allow public access and both are in danger of dereliction.

The pieces presented at PAC celebrate the paradox of the replica as visitor attraction and the nostalgia that surrounds it. The scale models and accompanying commemorative guidebooks serve as proposals for unachievable spectaculars.