REDCAR PALACE PRESENTS

‘Grow and Gather’ 

3rd June – 22nd July 2023 

Grow and Gather is an art exhibition presented by the Redcar Palace, which explores the theme of gardens, allotments, growing and the joy that these spaces and activities can bring. At the heart of this exhibition is a newly commissioned series of photographs by Joanne Coates which pay tribute to growers, cyclists and dog walkers at Zetland Park Allotments in Redcar and the communities that live around them.

Alongside Joanne’s photographic images, we will be displaying ceramic forms that juxtapose traditional making methods with unique approaches to clay by Cardiff based sculptor Márek Líška.

Márek Liska is a sculptor and “avant-gardener” whose work imagines new possibilities for life in the garden. These sculptures seek to describe a balance between organic life and human intervention. In this way, Márek suggests that “material can be cultivated into forms that are not dominated by pure human will, but are collaboratively shaped by the world and its forces.” This can be seen as a metaphor for the life of the gardener generally, where giving up some control is often rewarded with unexpected beauty.

For this exhibition our front gallery space becomes the Village Hall, home to that quintessentially British tradition of the Village Fête where growers compete to show off who has grown the largest marrow, the straightest beans or perhaps the most oddly shaped carrot. This space has been re-imagined for us by Which Craft? Ladies, our resident crafting group who meet in our gallery every Wednesday morning. The central table and felted wall hanging presents some of the work that they have been creating together over the last couple of months. Alongside Which Craft? Ladies, in the Village Hall we are also presenting works from our collection by Linda Ingham and by CJ Reay from Black Lodge Press along with a series of ceramic vessels made especially for this exhibition by Leslie Verrill using clay gathered from Huntcliff in Saltburn.

This space also pays tribute to our late friend Jeni Pringle. Jeni was an artist from Saltburn whose work talks of the beauty and sense of the sacred that she found in everyday objects and acts. Through these drawings, gardening and growing is re-interpreted as an act of care and love for her environment and for those around her. Jeni will be greatly missed but we know that her work will continue to bring joy to many.

Grow and Gather also continues Redcar Palace’s ongoing work with the estate of Margaret and Bill Dawson, two artists from Middlesbrough for whom the act of growing and the act of creation were deeply intertwined. This display builds upon our recent solo exhibition of Bill Dawson’s paintings and includes drawings and paintings by himself and his mother Margaret that talk of their life together in their Linthorpe home.

Redcar Palace is an arts venue on the Redcar seafront which emerged during the pandemic and as a space to rethink how an arts organisation can build relations with the people around it through our exhibitions, workshops and our honesty shop featuring work by over 50 locally based creatives. Tees Valley Arts has now joined the Arts Council National Portfolio programme.

For more information or images contact:

Beth Smith – beth@teesvalleyarts.org.uk

James Beighton – james@teesvalleyarts.org.uk