Two new art exhibitions have been opened at a popular Cumbrian venue.
Upfront, in Hutton-in-the-Forest, is using its theatre for the art installations and the exhibitions feature work by Debby Akan and Gary Power, who both like at Sockbridge.
As well as the exhibitions, a special event will take place on February 26. Debby and Gary’s daughter Phoebe Power is a poet ad will perform Christl with Gary – a 20-minute performance that brings together poetry and sculpture.
Elaine Parkinson, of Upfront, said: “We are delighted to be opening our 2022 season with two stunning exhibitions and are looking forward to the special event.”
Debby’s Thinking in Colour brings together her paintings and woodcut prints.
She said: “Fragments of experience from everyday activities, walking and taking photographs and sketching in my semi- rural home environment inform the work.
“Patterns and motifs from woven and printed textiles are also a source of inspiration and summon up memories of my childhood in Borneo.
“I’m trying to find an equivalent for these diverse experiences from past, present and imagined futures. The process of painting is the catalyst that brings them all together and enables them to come to life in a new form.
“I hope that viewers will become part of the process of realising the eventual meanings and contexts for the paintings through their own personal interpretations and responses.”
Gary is a visual artist, working across a variety of media, particularly in sculpture, where he has carried out a number of large- scale commissions.
His work was selected for the Trinity Buoys Drawing Prize (2018) and most recently for the RA Summer Exhibition (2021) where one of his Tintotems was displayed.
Tintotem Parade is a group of sculptures that often reference architectural motifs and images typically found and commemorated in the traditional public monument.
However, rather than celebrate notable people or military victories they instead revise and examine this convention in a playful critique of the hubris often associated with their grandeur.
This alternative collection of counter-monuments while still using plinths, the pedestal, different kinds of columns and towers are not for example made of stone or bronze, but stacks of discarded tins, transformed by colour to celebrate the value of upcycling.
Atop each of the sculptures are displays of transformed, but familiar objects, such as teapots, toy soldiers, figurines, bowls, or distorted watering cans. Instead of a monument to a singular hero, these symbols suggest what other totemic objects, events and new ideas we may now share, revere, fear, or contemplate.
Christl, on February 26, tells the story of n Austrian post-war migrant to the UK. Through a ritualistic process of commemoration, our work explores how we might amplify marginalised voices from the past through an engagement with family history across three generations.
To book tickets for Chistl, which runs from 6pm to 8pm, visit https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/upfrontartslimited/t-dykgoa
