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  Nine Lives

  Celebrating its first anniversary, Studio Manifold is a collective of nine RCA graduates who have discovered that there is strength in numbers. By Teleri Lloyd-Jones

   

  ‘Can you tell we haven’t discussed this before?’ Ian McIntyre interjects as he and some of his fellow Manifold artists get into a debate. Studio Manifold, a collective of nine, celebrated its first birthday last December, and I’m hearing all about the year that followed their graduation. The question is a simple one: are they going to have a group show of their work? The answers include a hopeful yes, a perhaps, and definitely a no. Turns out it’s not so simple. In fact, for some questions there may be nine different responses.

  Manifold is made up of graduates from the Ceramics & Glass MA of 2010 at the Royal College of Art: Zachary Eastwood-Bloom, Hanne Enemark, Amy Hughes, Sun Ae Kim, Bethan Lloyd Worthington, Ellie Doney, Hanne Mannheimer, Ian McIntyre and Matthew Raw. Although they may be connected most (but by no means all) of the time by the materials they use, the work is broad and sprawling. From McIntyre’s poetic investigations into ceramics industrialisation to Hughes’s lop-sided urns; from Mannheimer’s eerie sculptures incorporating found objects to Eastwood-Bloom’s polished digital-fetish furniture.

  As their title suggests, Manifold finds much of its strength in its moments of difference and many layers of knowledge. ‘That’s what’s good about us. We’re quite significantly different and you get to see the vastly diverse ways that people think. We’re all on separate paths,’ says Eastwood-Bloom. And McIntyre continues: ‘My work is well out of the realm of art but I particularly use Sun Ae and Amy’s investigations into glazes, while Zach is quite key in terms of model-making and mould making. Matt, the more conceptual stuff.’ And on it goes. Underneath the East London arches, in this one studio space, many different approaches and styles converge. Individually they compete for the same opportunities and funding, so it’s a surprise to hear that the only real moments of tension they’ll confess to stem from the kiln queue – an artistic version of the clichéd bathroom queue. Raw is rightly practical (‘That’s the nature of the game that we’re involved in. If you’re going to get annoyed now then you’ll be screwed in five years time’), while Eastwood-Bloom is a little more sentimental (‘Anyone’s success is everyone’s success really’).

  They forged this bond in the intensity of their final terms at the RCA: the year group ‘seemed more of a level playing field, there wasn’t an established star,’ explains Raw. After graduation, they set out together to look for a space in which they could all work – no mean feat. Hughes happened on a series of studios under the tracks of the new East London Line in Dalston, but the waiting list was a year, so they didn’t hold their collective breath. Then some printmakers who’d already moved in discovered the damp curled their paper, and made a quick exit – and lucky Manifold were waiting in the wings. And here we find them today, with Ryan Gander working next door and friend-of-the-studio James Rigler further down the row.

  The next fortuitous turn came during the hunt for equipment and furniture. Hughes discovered a school being torn down in Northampton and found herself running around with a batch of post-it notes, claiming anything she could think up a use for: ‘We even took the whiteboard and the markers! Anything that wasn’t nailed down.’ Liberating this haul of kilns, tables and stools kept up the momentum of the studio’s set up. And it turns out the advantages of salvage aren’t just economic but aesthetic, as Lloyd Worthington muses: ‘It was quite funny that it came from a school – it still had the soft institutional feel to it.’ ‘So that we didn’t get withdrawal symptoms,’ Doney adds with a chuckle.

  A more specific institutional connection continues with the occasional more recent RCA graduate working in the studio. There have been various comings and goings of the Manifold family this year, as Raw did a residency at Denmark’s International Ceramic Research Centre, Hughes visited Sweden and Doney went to Japan – in fact, before their portrait photo shoot, the last time they’d all been together physically in one space was in January. With some empty seats in the studio, Manifold allow friends to sub-let. So, as well as RCA alumni Makiko Nakamura they’ve recently welcomed Brighton graduate Katy Spragg and puppet-maker and fine-art fabricator Matt Jackson. This flow of makers and artists passing through the studio keeps everyone on their toes, adds new skills to the group as well as helping to pay the bills.

  It is only their first year, but Manifold have been quick to put down local roots. Winning a covetable placement with Creative Learning in Artists’ Studios (CLAS), the group went into the Urswick School in Hackney, and in pairs taught teenage pupils a cross section of processes, from mould-making to transfers. The experience was entirely positive, cementing the belief that their value lies in diversity and flexibility as well as the possibilities for ceramics beyond the cloistered realm of a gallery. Another group project saw Manifold relocate to Stoke-on-Trent for the British Ceramics Biennial. Seven of the group were paired randomly with artists from Airspace, and they then spent three days making collaborative work for the showStick-Up. The final pieces included Lloyd Worthington’s and Anna Francis’s Reliquary, filled with shards they’d excavated from a local site – and also Andrew Branscombe’s deviant tools and machines devised for Mannheimer to make ‘a range of mass-produced failures’. Their Stoke partnerships were drawn out of a hat, but magically satisfied everyone, Lloyd Worthington explains: ‘It was really fun – it worked out as something that tallied with our own practices but at the same time was really different. It made sense and I think a lot us felt that.’

  Apart from obligatory studio meetings – with members often appearing from across the globe via Skype – the whole group rarely get together, and only get a sense of what projects are happening when putting together the intimidatingly long newsletter. Many of Manifold subsidise their practices with teaching or technician positions, but here follows just a handful of what they’ve been up to individually. Raw has been guest artist at Cranbrook Academy of the Arts in Detroit and in the summer, as part of his work with the charity Manchester Aid to Kosovo, built a kiln there. Kim has just began an MPhil at the RCA. Lloyd Worthington is creating a series of installations commissioned for the Bethnal Green Town Hall Hotel. Eastwood-Bloom will be working with choreographers at the English National Ballet Theatre at Sadlers Wells, to produce musically responsive digital backdrops as well as a science-art collaboration for this year’s Cultural Olympiad. And that’s not the half of it.

  In addition to all this, the studio is about to expand by one. We meet just a few weeks before Mannheimer has her first child. She explains that her fellow artists have been creative with the prospective names, ‘Manifold Mannheimer?’ she smiles. ‘My boyfriend really isn’t convinced.’

  In the new year the studio hope to start their first series of talks, with the working title More Than Making. Using the arch next door, the group want to host regular discussions with guest speakers on every aspect of practice – whether it be a guide to residencies, the complexities of production or theories of the hand-made. ‘It’s a different kind of platform, away from the dust,’ says Raw, ‘and inviting people into a clean space. Eventually, I’d really like each one of us to put on a talk, to start tailoring it. We can do that because we’ve got numbers, everyone’s got different skills.’

  If you step back and look at it all – the individual work, educational workshops, talks, collaborations – an ambitious picture builds up, much bigger than the sum of nine graduates’ practice, more promising, more communal and more nurturing. There is safety in numbers of course, but beyond that Studio Manifold have that early sense of infallibility. One feels that failing wouldn’t rock them too much. Not trying, now that would be far worse.

  
  

  Looking back from their first anniversary, the group know that next year will be focused on new bodies of work, while continuing to build on the foundations of the studio. So, what about their long term future? Hughes points out they’ve signed a five-year contract underneath the arches. This comes as an obvious surprise to several around the table. ‘As you can see, Amy’s the one who deals with the practicalities,’ Lloyd Worthington sheepishly covers for the group’s slight embarrassment. That’s a rather huge detail to have fallen between the cracks, but no one minds, because it’s going to be a good five years.

  www.studiomanifold.org

www.studiomanifold.org

mail@studiomanifold.org

This year again, Ceramics and Glass’s Working-In-Progress show @ Royal College of Art attracted a lot of people. Cup-Beaker-Tumbler project with V&A objects for 1st year students, and individual practices and some of Designers Guild and Wallspace Gallery from last year. Research students have their abstracts, images as well as some experimental works. I put only draft abstract and an image I am researching at the moment.

From Sunday 27th November – Thursday 1st December, Today’s Specials will be running DESIGN BAZAAR – a one stop Christmas shop taking place at the famous Portobello Road’s Central Gallery. With an excellent selection from exceptional designers – both established and new – the shop will sell Print, Jewellery, Textiles, Fashion, Products, Gifts and Homeware, with an antique cafe by Lowry and Baker serving food and Christmas treats! Open from 12 pm – 9 pm daily!

ART POP-UP SHOP

“LONDON CALLING”
FUNDRAISER
2 DAYㄴ ONLY
(December 10,11, 2011)

£99 each
ALL original & framed works

THE LONDON EMERGING ART SCENE HITS CALIFORNIA

A group of 29 talented emerging Contemporary British Artists from Londonʼs
Debut Contemporary will set foot in California to showcase at The Orange
County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA). They have been selected by the
curators for this unique exhibition, where they will show as an artist collective,
representing the pre-eminent art trends in Britain today.

In preparation for the show, Debut Contemporary is hosting a fundraiser, for which all
artists have created 1 original piece to be sold at the 1-day pop-up shop on
Westbourne Grove. The proceeds go towards artwork shipping expenses. Enjoy what
you see, and think about your friends & family who would love to have an original
piece of artwork. Any additional donations are welcome. The artist will thank you for
your invaluable support.

Find out more on their other fundraising platforms:

http://www.indiegogo.com/London-Artists-land-in-the-OC-USA

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LondonCalifornia

The roster of artists reads like a whoʼs who of the young, UK art scene. Selected by
OCCCA Executive Directors and Curators, the flavour is undeniably British. It centres
around the culture and vibrancy of the London and LA scenes. Presenting cutting-
edge artwork since 1980, the non-profit corporation, OCCCA, acts as a catalyst for
self-organised initiatives with a keen focus on social engagement, intellectual and
cultural exchange and endeavours to produce a forward-thinking intellectual
framework.

List of exhibiting Artists:
Abigail Box, Agnetha Sjogren, Alyona Larinova, Azadeh Fatehrad, Beth Nicholas,
Carlos Burgos, Chantal Powell, Darren MacPherson, Katerina Stavrou, Katerina
James, Kimi Wylde, Henry Wood, Joe Cruz, Lloyd Durling, Lyndsay Martin, Masa
Suzuki, Nicola Anthony, Rachel Noble, Rosie Emerson, Robert West, Senghye Yang,
Silvia Krupinska, Sylvia Morgado, Sun Ae Kim, Tinsel Edwards, Tahnee Lonsdale,
Twinkle Troughton, Victoria Heald, Vikram Kushwah

Perhaps the most exciting aspect about this collective is that in our climate of limited art
funding, the artists have taken it upon themselves to promote and raise the profile of the
London Art scene overseas. They are working collaboratively to come up with creative
solutions, opposing the diminution of diversity in art, and extending the reach of UK arts:
Fundraising to get as many of the talented artists to LA as possible, to be true
ambassadors of the London art scene. They are empowering themselves to create their
own opportunities. Find out more on their fundraising platforms:

http://www.indiegogo.com/London-Artists-land-in-the-OC-USA

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LondonCalifornia

Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) www.occca.org
is an artist operated California non-profit corporation dedicated to the pursuit of
professional excellence and freedom of expression in the arts, since it’s inception in
1980.

Debut Contemporary www.debutcontemporary.com
is the only professional development and career empowerment platform of its kind in
the UK and follows on from the success of founders, husband and wife duo, Samir
Ceric and Zoe Knight. It is an innovative platform aimed at talented and ambitious
artists interested and eager to turn their art practice into a successful career and a
viable business, located in the heart of Londonʼs notoriously stylish and bohemian
Notting Hill district.

For further information or high-resolution images please contact Debut Contemporary Associate Director, Sophia
sophia@debutcontemporary.com

Supported by Fluff PR, London

December 21 – Jan 12th, 2012

Opening Reception: Janurary 7th, 2012. 6pm to 10pm

http://www.occca.org

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art showcases emerging British artists represented by the London Gallery, Debut Contemporary, located in Notting Hill.

Their roster of artists reads like a who’s who of the young, UK art scene, including Rosie Emerson, Tahnee Lonsdale, and Agnetha Sjogren. Works by these and other collectible artists will be available for sale at OCCCA.

The founders of Debut Contemporary are husband and wife duo, Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight, named by the British press as, “one of UK’s most powerful couples in art and fashion.”

@ the Original Spode Factory, Stoke

The original Spode Factory finally closed its doors in 2008, ending the site’s 249-year association with

one of the foremost names in fine ceramics and industry in the Potteries.

Spode was bought by the Portmeirion Group in 2009, who continue to operate only a few hundred

metres away from the original Spode site.  The Spode Factory, however, remains empty, available

for alternative use as an exhibition and museum space.  In 2011, the British Ceramics Biennial took

place under the vast and undulating ceiling of the Spode China Hall, providing a historically-

appropriate context to the vital dialogue between the work of emerging ceramic artists and local

Stoke industry exhibited in the space.

Outside of the China Hall, the original Spode Factory consists of a 10-acre sprawl of industrial

heritage and reminders of the recession’s legacy: 18th-century mould stores, kiln rooms, design

departments, exhibition halls, decal presses and administration offices, all with their calendars and

clocks synched permanently to 2007.

In November 2011, three artists were invited to spend a week at the original Spode Factory,

responding to the site with reference to a recent Rednile Factory Night at the Historic Wedgwood

Institute in nearby Burslem, a nearly lost and listed building associated with another prestigious

name in the ceramics industry affected by the economic downturn.

The artists were Sun Ae Kim, a ceramic artist, David Booth, sculptor and H C Carr, writer.  They

worked together to weave narrative, site-specific sculptural response and traditional ceramic

techniques into ad hoc interventions around the Spode site in the final week of the British Ceramics

Biennial Festival.  Their work positioned itself as provocative and historically-mindful marginalia at

the exhibition, featuring contemporary ceramic art and industry expositions, gaining the attention of

many visitors and asking them to think more about the redundancy of remnants in the factory,

beyond the exhibition space.

This response was, in part, informed by the artists’ experience in the Historic Wedgwood Factory, a

restricted-access site in a state of considerable disrepair, in which various empty key cupboards

suggested themselves as motifs of closure and access.  Once installed in the Spode Factory, Sun Ae,

David and Holly found themselves confronted with a huge number of discarded multiples, fragments

from years of large-scale production.  Knife handles, old moulds, tea pot lids, record sheets of kiln

temperatures, tester pots and lithographic transfers presented themselves in their thousands;

sometimes in separated small pockets, sometimes in singular enormous piles reaching up to the

rafters.  The pieces they found were always incomplete; a key cupboard with no keys, a found key

with no label to indicate which door it would open in the factory, lids with no pots, handles with no

knifes.  Using the redundant fabric of the factory itself, the artists composed organic sculptures and

fragmented poetic texts to interrupt and redirect the original green walkway painted on the factory

floor.

Sun Ae, David and Holly are very much looking forward to developing their work at the Historic

Wedgwood Institute and the Original Spode Factory in further residencies and future collaborations,

with support from Rednile Projects and the British Ceramics Biennial.

More info:

David Booth, sculptor, www.davidbooth.uk.com
Sun Ae Kim, ceramic artist, www.sunaekim.com
Holly Corfield-Carr, writer, hollycorfieldcarr@gmail.com

Sun Ae is participating the British Ceramic Biennial at the moment, ending 15th Nov. She has been selected for Factory Night and participating ‘Industry meet Fresh exhibitors’ event through the BCB exhibitions as well as getting a great feed backs from viewers.

Top Floor @ Hoxon Square

Sun Ae is recently participating a space in the Hoxon Square. For the current exhibition the space has been humorously divided into four areas: the Drinks Reception, the Collector’s Living Room, the Contemporary Arts Space, and the Artist’s Studio. Her works can be found at the Collector’s Living Room. By appointment only. Please contact lindsayfynn@yahoo.com for more details.