Tipping Point by CAMP
7th - 28th January 2023
Open Wed-Sat 12:30-5:30pm
Private view: Friday 6th 5:30-7:30pm
Free entry
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CAMP have partnered with Studio KIND. in Braunton, North Devon, to invite CAMP members to take part in ‘Tipping Point’ a group exhibition of CAMP members at Studio KIND. in January 2023.
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Environmentally, politically, and culturally; we are being confronted with the precarious nature of our existence and a need for change more than ever. From political divides and war, to global pandemics and the climate emergency, the delicate balance of the status quo is being pulled into ever sharper focus over the past few years, and whilst the world feels it’s becoming more and more polarised, our norm is becoming increasingly scrutinised. Do we attempt to preserve what was, or disrupt existing systems?
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As always, artists are at the forefront of societal reaction to cultural phenomena and themes of balance and imbalance, permanence and ephemerality, chance and provocation provide new ways of exploring the tipping points that we face, as we head into 2023.
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In this small group exhibition, CAMP members are invited to respond to some of these challenges, no matter how big or small, in this exciting new collaboration.
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Head to the CAMP website to find out about their membership and how to apply.
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Find out more about the artists and their work:
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Anna Logan
Anna Logan is an artist and illustrator based at CAST, in Cornwall. Logan’s work begins with a sensory connection to place and a process of collecting natural materials from the landscape, particularly spaces that have a tension between human extraction and natural elements.
‘The Last Stag’ is based on the Kennall Vale Nature Reserve, Ponsanooth; the remains of a 19th century gun powder factory. Logan was fascinated by the site’s history of gunpowder production and the natural energy that runs through the valley; historically harnessed to make gunpowder and speculatively could in the future be harnessed as a site of renewable hydro-power. The forests near the site of the old gunpowder mills was reputedly the site of the last sighting of a wild stag in England. The stag explodes and then reforms in an endless loop, speaking to the loops of hope and despair proffered by those in power’s unwillingness to act to avert climate disaster.
Charlotte Squire
Charlotte Squire’s practice utilises drawing, painting and making, using natures resources for materials. Drawing on an earlier career of designing and making garments, Squire makes textile figures and experimental wearable pieces for performance. Recently, Squire’s focus has moved to an exploration of human interconnections with the natural world as concerns of climate change and sustainability gain increasing urgency.
The ‘Seed Head Stilt Walker’ came into being after the observation that an agapanthus, or peace lily, came into bloom last year in March rather than July, a full four months earlier than it should have; an indicator of the irregular weather patterns that are creating havoc with growing seasons and plant lifecycles. Interested in ritual figures used in folk rites for
seasonal change, spirit figures in mask & costume evoke a magic realism of an older culture needing to be recalled as the natural world struggles with our careless treatment of it.
Christina (Tina) Kutter
Christina Kutter explores themes of movement, agency, transformation, and tensions between opposing forces. To these she often weaves references to physical, cultural, political or speculative landscapes, possible futures and imagined narratives. Collecting lost and discarded ephemera and relics of human endeavour, Kutter enjoys investigating the physical and conceptual properties of these accumulations and exploring their potential either to inform or become artefacts.
“Forth an Syns” translates from Cornish as The Saints' Way and is an archive of images and poetry included in the installation which shares this title and also comprises “Everyman: steamrollered” by the relentless drip-feed of apocalyptic warnings and existential crises that lately saturates the media and our public discourse; “St Breock Downs: conversations” between artists and writers in response to “Everyman” in the landscape, and “Men Gurta: transference”, a large-scale digital photograph.
Daniel Fountain
Daniel Fountain's artistic practice explores themes of marginality and queerness. It often
utilises methods historically associated with textiles to subvert traditional notions of gender
and sexuality.
‘Mixed Signals’ appropriates traditional iconography associated with international maritime signal flags and subverts them from a queer and trans perspective. Signal flags are traditionally used by vessels at sea to communicate messages to other vessels and are particularly used during times of emergency and crisis. In small, rural, and non-urban locations, many LGBTQ+ people can feel disconnected and isolated from their kin, so this series is a shout, a rallying cry, to connect and communicate with others. The title ‘Mixed Signals’ refers to the idiom used to explain a situation where a message may have a mixed or contradictory meaning. This relates to the ways in which these spaces may be presented as welcoming but may prove to be hostile environments. The flags utilise methods of queer abstraction to explore questions of embodiment, relationality, gender, and sexuality in a nuanced and open-ended way.
Georgina Grant
While using and reflecting on the hybrid nature of a mixed cultural African - English heritage, Georgina Grant looks at an imaginary future where there is a low-tech approach to earth healing. By de-centering the human and by using concepts of 1st nation people’s knowledge, spiritualism, folklore and myth, is to be a part of nature and not an outsider or an observer and to learn from being nature and not about it.
The ideas and narrative for the work describe the subconscious and an imaginary futuristic place and have focused on the year c2225. We can look back and reflect on a 200 year history of colonialism, industrialism, science and a technological past, but can we predict a future 200 years from now? What futurist story could be told? In ‘Water Ritual c2225’, the staff and sand marks a ritual scene of a celebration of ‘Water’, worshipped as a reverential life-giver.
Janet Sainsbury
Janet Sainsbury is a figurative painter interested in cultural icons and celebrity in the
history of fine art. She focuses on artist’ friendships, partnerships and groups.
In ‘Power Lines’ Sainsbury portrays a key moment in the relationship between Alberto Giacometti and Annette Arm. They met in Switzerland during the war, when Alberto was developing new work that would lead to a breakthrough in his vision and Annette was working as a secretary for the Red Cross. For Annette their relationship opened up the possibility of escape from her family, from a provincial life into a world of art. ‘The Journey’ shows Annette Arm and Alberto Giacometti, husband and wife, side by side. The power balance in their relationship is about to change. Here, Alberto is near the end of his life and his death represents a tipping point for Annette; her status will change significantly from model to curator. She will become the caretaker of his estate and dedicate the rest of her life to cataloguing, preserving and honouring his legacy.
John Baldwin
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John Baldwin’s practice explores the relationship between postmodern discourse, the unwanted, the unknown and the synergy, defining the interaction of elements that, when combined, produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
‘A Good Day?’ is a performance piece performed by the artist, using a wheelchair and a violin bow. The non-melodic music resonates a sound that marks the ever-changing perspective of disability and access within the arts, with a hidden element that refers to time. The work is a product of Baldwin’s investigation into the neurological movement in art and science, exploring neurological feedback loops to amplify creativity and stimulate the minds of both artists and non-artists as they become part of the work.
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Libby Brooks
Libby Brooks is a sculptor interested in the systems and cycles of life, from underground fungi networks through to the visceral qualities of bones, tendons, skin and fibrous matter - the boundaries between inside and outside become blurred.
‘Taking turns (2022)’ presents a collection of 80 small plaster casts presented together, each small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. Brooks is drawn to the patterns on the ground; the single, well-trodden and winding paths that animals make across the fields. She is interested in the richness of the surface; this layer where tracks are left, traces of other lives are found, leaves and animals rot to become soil, rain beats down, gales blow, sun bakes, earthworms and insects burrow. Seeing a flock of sheep as her co-collaborators; unwittingly seeking fresh grass, they create these tiny moulds; plaster is poured and their steps preserved like little fossils.
QUIETBRITISHACCENT
QUIETBRITISHACCENT use currency, language and the act of discovery to look into
ideas of value and historical milestones.
‘All The King’s Horses’ was developed around the theme of reconstruction; putting a broken British penny back together again, creating something new rather than preserving the status quo. Britain has been pulled apart in various ways in recent years and, being optimists, we still believe the country can be reconstructed, as long as it looks to the future and not to the past. Here, a 1966 penny has been placed back together again, but in a way which echoes a splintered Union Flag, held together by glue. The reference to the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme also brings to mind our new King’s own reconstruction project; the royal family.
Yolanta Gawlik
Yolanta Gawlik’s practice explores nature and the theme of vulnerability, spirituality and the subject of life and death; particularly occupied by the endangerment of bees and other pollinators, and the rapid loss of trees and the natural habitat.
In ‘Life and Death of Bees: The Harmony’ and ‘Life and Death of Bees: The Decline’, Gawlik presents two opposing embroidered monks’ habits (who were traditional beekeepers). ‘The Harmony’ shows happy and healthy bees in their natural habitat, and ‘The Decline’ shows the bees in distress due to all the environmental threats and disasters that are happening now. With the threat to their survival, human life as we know it is in danger.
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