Phoenix, my studio home for the past 18 years, is celebrating 30 years in 2026 with an exhibition of its members’ work. I am pleased to show Foraminifera II, created during residencies at Interface, Connemara and Watts Gallery, Surrey.
Phoenix Artspace, 10-14 Waterloo Place, Brighton BN2 9NB
Dates: 11 July – 13 September, Wednesday-Sunday 12-5pm
Preview 10 July, 6 – 8pm. Speeches at 7 with BSL interpretation by Dr Sue MacLaine
In June 2023 I investigated the geology and ecology of Connemara. I discovered a beach where every grain of sand is the fossil of a single-celled organism that lived mostly on the mud of the ocean bed between 640 and 540 million years ago. When they die, billions of their calcium skeletons, bearing many chambers and holes, and not visible to the naked eye, wash ashore to form this unusual sand. This is such a rare occurrence that Dogs Bay beach is the only one composed of foraminifera in the northern hemisphere. The body of work I created is called Foraminifera.
The results were exhibited at Wexford Arts Centre in February – March 2024 and from July-November 2024 at Watts Gallery. In addition to the work I made for Wexford, I created two site specific pieces for the nook in Limnerslease, which formerly contained Mary Watts’ gesso decoration, and for the stunning Watts Cemetery Chapel. Foraminifera II was created specifically for an alcove in the chapel.
“Phoenix Art Space is home to more than 100 studios and artists, and this exhibition features the work of 85 of them. It functions as a snapshot, a moment in time in the flow of our history and our future. What you will find is a joyous display of human creativity, encompassing painting, sculpture, film, photography, textiles, writing, ceramics, and everything in between.
Beyond the Studio is the keystone in a year of celebrations to mark the 30 years since the organisation became a charity in 1995, with a mission to support artists and present art to public audiences.
The exhibition title recognises that, while the studio is the starting point for each artist and maker, community is also built in the stairwells and corridors, where creativity is nurtured by chance meetings and conversations. It recognises that what artists imagine and create in their individual studios reaches the world through exhibitions, screenings, community outreach and engagement, teaching, and much more.
At its heart, this exhibition becomes, like our annual open studios event, a site where multiple voices and ideas converge in one place over a period of time. These are also gathered through a publication accompanying the exhibition, where all participating artists have contributed 100-word personal histories of their time at Phoenix.
If the exhibition is the present and the 100-word histories connect the past to the present, what might the future hold?
Like the mythical bird reflected in its name, Phoenix Art Space has risen anew many times in its 30-year history. Three decades of freedom and constraint, ambition, hope and imagination. It retains at its core a mission to nurture artistic talent and, going forward, to ensure that a diverse range of voices is present across all that we do.”
Laurence Hill, Curator
This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of John Varah (1959 – 2026), who, with others, brought this organisation into being. His tenacity, vitality and creative ingenuity exemplify the spirit of Phoenix.
He is much missed.
