On Art & the Environment: Nine Minutes with Hayley Skipper, Curator of Jerwood Open Forest.
- Nov 11, 2016
- 5 min read
Now in its second edition, Jerwood Open Forest is an artist-centred initiative established by Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Forestry Commission England. The 2016 exhibition examines art in the environment and its potential to facilitate experimentation and engagement. The show is a distillation of five selected projects, which have been explored throughout a six-month period of research, development and mentoring.
Rebecca Beinart, Magz Hall, Keith Harrison, David Rickard and David Turley have expanded upon their original proposals to produce new bodies of work spanning installation, film, ceramics and performance. Whilst projects are diverse in terms of process and materials, they are united by themes such as loss, legacy and transformation.
Jerwood Open Forest seeks to contribute to a national conversation about how contemporary visual artists engage with the environment today, and debates around critical practice and art in the public realm. The exhibition builds upon the impact of the 2014 initiative, which saw two major new commissions realised including Hrafn: Conversations with Odin composed by Chris Watson and produced by Iain Pate along with spherical sculpture Cosmos by artist duo Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt).
As part of Jerwood Open Forest, one of the five artists exhibiting at Jerwood Space, London this November will be selected for a major new £30,000 commission to be realised next year in their proposed Forestry Commission England location.
After Nyne spent Nine Minutes with curator Hayley Skipper during preparation for the show. At a time when environmental concerns are in a precarious position, we were interested to talk about how art and the environment fuel each other.
Hayley, tell us about the collaboration between Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Forestry Commission England.
At Forestry Commission England we believe that woods and forests are vital places for contemporary artists to engage with, to make and present new work. We have been creating and supporting Forest Art Works across the Public Forest Estate since 1968 and this summer we signed a new four year Memorandum of Understanding with Arts Council England. This agreement underscores our commitment to supporting artists creating high-quality, ambitious work that breaks new ground for both artists and audiences.
Jerwood Open Forest is one of our flagship programmes. We co-founded this unique initiative with Jerwood Charitable Foundation in order to support artists to develop their practice, potentially realising an ambitious public project for the first time, in response to the Public Forest Estate. The Jerwood Visual Arts programme includes a range of transformative opportunities across artforms for artists at key early stages in their careers. It is a pleasure to collaborate closely with such a creative and innovative partner and it is fantastic to see the breadth of work that has been inspired by the England’s woods and forests in the exhibition.
Our Forest Art Works programme reaches new arts audiences and inspires new audiences to engage with woods and forests. This supports our core purpose to connect people with trees and supports England’s woods and forests through attracting new and repeat visitors. Through partnership working we help support delivery of Arts Council England’s 10 year strategy to deliver great art and culture for everyone; as we reach new audiences, in areas of low engagement.
Tel us about the research and development period on the project and what it consisted of
The R&D phase is a very collaborative process that centres on the advice and support each artist might need to develop their work. It is a supported period of six months during which the five participating artists each have access to all the expertise, advice and knowledge that they might need to develop their seed of an idea for a major new work into a fully detailed, costed proposal for a £30,000 commission. I work closely with the artists to connect their research interests with the right locations across the country and expertise from Forestry Commission England staff.
We also organise a series of workshops, involving all of the artists, where we look at key questions related to developing public work. These are supported by artists and arts professionals sharing really in-depth insight from their own experience. This is complemented by tailored individual support and professional advice relating to all aspects of each artist’s proposal.
All of the participating artists also gain a great deal from sharing their own insight and experience with each other and we all learn a lot from working with them all too as each is an expert in their own field. It really is a team approach, with everyone learning from each other as we explore the boundaries of what might be possible.
The exhibition, and associated events programme, includes a really wide range of materials and processes from painting and sculpture, to video, text, sound and performance. Each of the participating artists is selected on the merit of their own individual proposal, however in the group show there are a number of recurring themes, the processes of time, loss, legacy and transformation connect to all of their exhibits in different ways, so it does feel like a very strong, but diverse, group exhibition.
How does the initiative contribute to a national conversation about how contemporary visual arts engage with the environment?
By drawing attention to England’s woods and forests through this initiative, the national open call and the practices and responses of the five participating artists, we are providing a vital space for a conversation around how contemporary visual arts engage with the environment today. We are completely open about what form, temporary, permanent, touring or site-specific, and material proposed works might take. In this way, Jerwood Open Forest provides a unique opportunity for artists to lead this conversation.
From a curatorial perspective how did you approach curating the works in a gallery context, as opposed a forest. What has to be taken into consideration?
All of the artists are showing new work. Their installations have been developed for the exhibition at Jerwood Space as a result of their R&D and the development of their proposals. First and foremost I curate the exhibition as a series of experiences, each of the artists’ work stands alone as a material encounter in the gallery space. As the visitors journey through the exhibition, the practices of the each artist are revealed as are a range of different perspectives on England’s woods and forests. The wider interpretation materials, a series of films, reading area and catalogue essays by Dr Joy Sleeman and Professor Hayden Lorimer, provide both depth and detail about the artists’ research and proposals and a wider contextual view of artists’ responses to the environment.
What has been the impact of the 2014 Jerwood Open Forest initiative on participating artists?
For both commissioned artists, collaborative duo Semiconductor who realised their first ever public sculpture, and Chris Watson and producer Iain Pate, Jerwood Open Forest extended their artistic practices into new areas and enabled them to make new public work, at scale, that connected public audiences. This experience had a terrific impact on their careers and the development of their practice.
For further details about Jerwood Open Forest please visit: jerwoodopenforest.org
For further information about the Jerwood Visual Arts programme please visit: jerwoodvisualarts.org or follow Jerwood Visual Arts on Twitter: @JerwoodJVA #JOF16
Jerwood Open Forest
Until 11 December 2016
Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN
Mon–Fri from 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun from 10am–3pm
Free
Nearest Tube: Southwark, London Bridge or Borough
Image: David Rickard, Returnings, 2016
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