The Rea Garden have been invited to hold an exhibition based on the project space at The Solihull Arts Complex.  The exhibition will be part documentation part archive and visual history of the subtle and more pronounced changes of the space over the past 3 years. It is also a document of the creative process and the artwork, some of which has been re-situated in the gallery.  The exhibition is a brief history of the site so far…….

Artists taking part in the exhibition -

Arlene Burnett, Paul Newman, Leon Trimble, Jamie Fowkes, Helen Grundy, Anne Guest, Project Pigeon, The Family, Hannah Hull, Claudia Borgna, Brigid Mc Leer and current artist in residence at The Rea Garden Graham Dunning.

‘A Site of No Special Interest: A brief history so far of The Rea Garden artist project space’

Private View: Thursday 9th September  6.00 – 7.30 pm

Open: Thursday 9th September – Saturday 9th October 2010

Solihull Arts Complex G1 Exhibition Space

Homer Road, Solihull. B91 3RG.

0121 704 8349. artsideas@solihull.gov.uk

www.sollihull.gov.uk/gallery

photograph by Graham Dunning

Just a quick reminder that Graham Dunning and The Lombard Method will be hosting the collaborative workshop and networking event for artists working in sound and improvising experimental musicians this Friday and Saturday.

Friday 20th August: Collecting sounds and exploring The Rea Garden.
Saturday 21st August: Workshop and networking event at The Lombard Method.

Full details can be found on Graham’s blog http://grahamdunningreagarden.wordpress.com/

photograph courtesy of Graham Dunning

I’m loving turning up to the site each week to find up what Graham’s getting been up to, from turning up to find him playing the pan found in the shed with bows, to recording the sounds whilst digging, there is always something interesting taking place.

On the day of the St. Patrick’s Parade this year, a man turned up at the site who had lived on Milk Street (the road parallel to Floodgate Street) as a child. He told me stories of the site during the war when he lived locally. One thing he mentioned was the site had been the home to a rag and bone man who was named Bubba by local children and his horse – whose name he had forgotten.

So today was really exciting, whilst digging some more, about 18 inches into the ground, Graham came across what appears to be part of a horses harness which presumably belonged to the aforementioned horse.

If anyone knows any more about the rag and bone man and his horse, or any other histories of the site we would love to hear them.

photograph by Graham Dunning

We were unaware of the site’s connection with the music industry until Hannah Hull researched the history of the plot back to the 1950′s when the warehouse was built. Then whilst digging for foundations she came across broken shards of shellac. These were confirmed as pieces of broken 10″ records by current artist in residence Graham Dunning. Over the last few weeks, Graham has been excavating the site in search for more areas of buried shellac. Last week Graham took samples back to Manachester and in his studio began to capture sounds from the records with a stylus,  it’s a really exciting start to the residency. Graham has created a new blog in addition to his usual one for the residency, which has a sample of the sounds recorded.

To hear the sample and to follow his progress go to http://grahamdunningreagarden.wordpress.com/

Shellac Shards - Graham Dunning

We would like to welcome our fourth ‘artist in residence’ to The Rea Garden. Graham Dunning, will be joining us at the site on Friday 25th June 2010. Graham is a Manchester based artist whose work deals primarily with sound. For 3 months Graham will be with us each week creating new works in response to the space. One of Graham’s intentions is to produce works which use the shards of shellac which are buried in the ground of the site. These were discovered by Hannah Hull when she was researching the site during her residency and found the site was once occupied by Philips Records in the 1960′s.  As always the site is open each Friday, and visitors are welcome to drop in, meet Graham and see how his residency progresses.

The ‘Set’, originally uploaded by the rea garden.

Saturday saw Brigid Mc Leer perform her piece One + One (The Reading) at The Rea Garden. During the day Brigid read all the proper nouns from ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce. The piece turned the garden into a tranquil and hypnotic space for over 7 hours.
Just after 7pm Brigid completed her performance and with that came the end of her residency.
It is sad to see each artist leave as they make a huge impact on the project, ourselves, and the site itself.

We are pleased to announce that the third artist residency is under way here at The Rea Garden.  Artist Brigid Mc Leer has been working down at the site since April in preparation for her ‘durational performance’  ‘One + One (The reading)’. Whilst resident Brigid will be laying a miniature railway track at the site which will be used a camera track. ‘One + One (The reading )’ is inspired by numerous sources, one being Jean Luc Godard’s film ‘Le Mepris’  – a film about the making of a film of Homer’s Odyssey.  In the opening sequence of  ‘Le Mepris’ we see a woman reading, Mc Leers piece will reference this shot, however during the durational performance Brigid will be reading text from James Joyce’s Ulysses.  Ulysses based on the Odyssey, gives an account of a day in the life of Leopold Bloom  in Dublin, June 16th 1904. Mc Leer’s states that Ulysses ‘is also being read to speak to the surrounding context of Digbeth’s immigrant Irish  community’. The reading which is open to the public on Saturday 19th June from 12 will be filmed using the tracking system.

Brigid has been writing about her work and plans for the residency, for more information click here

Applications for the final ‘artist in residence’ opportunity of this current cycle are now being accepted.  A ten week residency at The Rea Garden starting July 2010, an artist fee and materials budget are available. Full details of the residency and how to apply are on the opportunties page of this site.

Only a few days until Claudia Borgna’s first public showing of her work created at The Rea Garden. To keep us warm on Friday evening there will be a small bonfire, mulled cider, hot chocolate rum and not forgetting our trusted wood burner.

Friday 6pm – 9pm, all welcome.

The Rea Garden is also open Friday 12th , Sat 13th and Sunday 14th 11am – 4pm for Claudia’s interim show.

The Rea Garden is now host to the second of four artist residencies over a 12 month period.  Claudia Borgna, is now residing at the site and will be with us throughout January, February and March 2010.

Claudia’s  work ‘entails the investigation of what she calls the “evolution of landscape”, a process started and effected by modern life-styles and consumerism. Her installations are the materialization of an ongoing observation and questioning of how the “plastic” and the natural realms interact with one another and thereby come to create new ephemeral orders’.

Throughout her residency Claudia expects to create a series of installations from recycled plastic bags, which will be temporary and evolving over the next 10 weeks. There will be an opportunity to meet Claudia,  each Friday at The Rea Garden, where she will be on site along with Behind Closed Doors and Ian England of Project Pigeon.

Claudia’s residency will have two public openings, giving the audience the opportunity to see the work transform during her residency. The first private viewing takes place on Friday 12th February 6 – 9pm. From that point the installation will remain in situ, and available to view until Sunday 14th February @ 4pm.

The second of the private viewings takes place at the end of Claudia’s residency – Thursday 11th March 2010, 6pm – 9pm.  The work will continue to be on view for a further two weeks.

i- Park Connecticut

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