Archive

John Copnall Paintings | 27 September - 1 November 2014

Presenting a selection of works by acclaimed painter John Copnall (1928-2007). Son of sculptor Bainbridge Copnall, John studied painting at the Sir John Cass College before enrolling at the Royal Academy in 1949. Later John became an influential lecturer and for many years taught at the Central School of Art & Design and at the Canterbury College of Art. During this time he continued to exhibit widely having solo shows at the ICA, Ikon gallery Birmingham and De la Warr Pavillion and was elected to The London Group in 1989.

Beyond the View: Reframing the Sunbeam Photographic Collection | 11 July - 22 August 2015

The exhibition provided rare public access to the vast Sunbeam Photographic Collection, and related images by the internationally recognised photographers Tony Ray Jones and John Hinde, and seeks to reconsider, reimagine and reveal both the quality and cultural significance of these exquisite images. The photographs document life in the South East of England from 1917 - 1976 and capture social history through political, civic and ceremonial events.

Ben Rowley | 14 - 18 February 2015

Artist in Residence Ben Rowley will showcase a series of recent 16mm film work including experiments in hand processing film, optical sound, silent film making and adventures in synchronisation. The exhibition will include works produced in response to the John Smith exhibition.

John Smith: A survey of works from 1975-2012 | 15 January - 13 February 2015

John Smith is a British artist who has gained international recognition for his film and video work. With a continuing practice located in the everyday and a playful approach to narrative and the spoken word, Smith subverts the perceived boundaries between documentary and fiction.

Naiza Khan: The Manora Project | 9 October - 9 November

The Manora Project traces Khan's recent engagements with the disrupted landscape of Karachi city and her long-term investigation of the Island of Manora. Making works of art that are at once lyrical and fiercely engaged, Khan stretches the definition of political art by articulating in the richest possible terms the relationship between subjectivity and politics.

Michael Craig-Martin: Alphabet | 22 February - 23 March

Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential British artists of recent decades. He was a key figure for the YBA generation of artists, whom he taught in his capacity as tutor at Goldsmiths College of Art. In his recent series, Alphabet, he has produced 26 screen-prints in which the letters of the alphabet are overlaid with everyday objects such as a book, a glass of water or an umbrella.

From Grimm to Reality: an exploration of imagination and storytelling in contemporary art | January 11 - February 9

Imagination and the tradition of storytelling, more specifically the art of fantasy, fairytales and nursery rhymes is at the centre of this exhibition. From Grimm to Reality showcases key works such as David Hockney’s Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm and Paula Rego’s nursery rhyme etchings alongside Anya Gallaccio’s ever changing Preserve Beauty, Ana Maria Pacheco’s Misfortunes of a Sardine and Susanna Majuri’s fantastical photographic landscapes. The exhibition is full of references to the imagery portrayed in childhood stories and highlights the rich connection between imagination, the familiar and storytelling in contemporary art. Other highlights to the exhibition include Jane Edden’s Ideal Home sculptures and Joel Ely’s Thinking Bear.

Suki Chan: Still Point | 5 October - 3 November

Suki Chan's new work, Still Point, is a film installation about sacred spaces and places of pilgrimage.

"Whilst filming in sacred sites in Jerusalem, I was struck by how some parts of the city have two names, one in Hebrew and the other in Arabic. How one population can 'unsee' another group. How one part of the city is closed off to another group - by borders which are sometimes physical and sometimes psychological."

Still Point transports the audience from the site of humble wooden structures offering refuge along Pilgrims' Way in Northumberland, to contested sacred sites in Jerusalem, and the interior spaces of abandoned Syrian villages in the Golan Heights.

The Thinking line: Defining Drawing | 16 March - 5 April

Using John Berger's categorisations of drawing as observation, communication and exorcism as a framework, this exhibition tracks links between 20th cnetury and contemporary artists.

Hung alongside work from the British Council collection, this exhibition includes work by Canterbury Christ Church University alumni and staff, and significant drawings by artists such as Maggi Hambling, Michael Sandle, David Nash, Euan Uglow, Kennith Armitage and Michael Craig-Martin.

Third Dimension: Sculpture from the British Council Collection | 27 January – 3 March

Of all the artforms in Britain, sculpture has been widely regarded as the most inventive and innovative. Over the decades the pace with which it has evolved to incorporate new materials, new forms and new ideas has been unmatched. This display offers an opportunity to trace key moments from the mid 20th century to today. This exhibition includes work by Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Vong Phaopharit, Tony Cragg, Rebecca Warren, Bruce Maclean and William Tucker

Humphrey Ocean: Now and Then | 27 January – 3 March

Humphrey Ocean returns to the Sidney Cooper Gallery with a handful of key works spanning his time as a student at Canterbury, including a drawing made there in 1973, through to recently completed paintings. During this formative period – when Michael Craig-Martin had been teaching with Tom Watt (Head of Fine Art), Ocean was introduced to tutors such as Geoffrey Rigden and Ian Dury, both recent graduates from the Royal College of Art, all influential. Ocean exhibits five works representing this journey.

Fictional Hybrids, Vera Möller | 25 November - 17 December

Vera Möller was Stour Valley Arts’ artist in residence in King’s Wood in 2009 as part of an Australian Exchange programme between Stour Valley Arts and Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne. Möller’s exhibition Fictional Hybrids is the result of this intensive period of research and her response to the botanically diverse King’s Wood site.

Red List | 30 September - 12 November

The Red List is an exhibition of extraordinary work by artists who explore issues such as invasion, extinction, threat and ownership in their practice. Employing a diverse range of media, process and materials which question our associations with them and the natural world, unusual and exciting dialogues are developed. Artists included in this exhibition include Neeta Madahar, Paul Hazelton, Stephen Melton, Ben Rowley and Richard Barnes.

Painting Beyond the Millenium: Derrick Greaves | 5 - 26 February

Derrick Greaves now in his eighties, is one of the most important British painters of the last half century. Beyond the Millennium presents paintings spanning the last decade to reveal how Greaves continues to work at the height of his powers and take new paths to both surprise and delight. The exhibition emphasises not only the artist’s continuing creativity as a painter, but also the centrality of print-making to his practice as an artist.

Fall out: War and Conflict in the British Council Collection | 2 October – 13 November

Spanning over 90 years of artistic engagement with war and conflict, from Paul Nash's energetic lithographs (1918) produced from his sketches of the front line at Ypres, to Mat Collishaw's Deliverance Daguerreotype's (2008) inspired by reportage images from the 2004 school siege in Beslan, Russia. Fall Out showcases works selected from the British Council collection by winner of the British Council's international competition to find 'The Fifth Curator', Theodor Ringborg.

Janek Schaefer | 10 - 11 May

In April 2009, the pioneering novelist JG Ballard died, leaving a legacy that has inspired generations of creative thinkers.

His central treatise explored what he referred to as 'Inner Space' [rather than outer space]. Sound Artist Janek Schaefer lived a mile from his home.

Sarah Blood | 9 - 23 January

Sarah Blood's work responds to personal experiences such as memory, mortality and the human condition. Her primary medium is light, which is explored through glass, luminous gasses and mixed media to create abstract works that invite association to minimalist sculpture. Blood exhibits widely throughout the world including UK, Europe, Hong Kong, the Arab Emirates and USA. 

Nesting: Andy Baldwin | 14 November - 12 December

Kent artist Andy Baldwin enters into the debate of the mechanics of space in his installation of moving images. He is drawn to the concept of 'home', and the character we project onto our own personal space. Baldwin playfully orchestrates a series of moving images of houses. These exteriors which denote shelter, warmth and privacy, form a viewing system which unfolds the identity of each home, whilst maintaining the boundary of the private threshold and the world within.

Quarries: Edward Burtynski | 18 April – 9th May

This exhibition shows a selection of works from internationally renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky’s ‘Quarry’ series. This stunning series of large scale photographs focuses on the effect of industry on the landscape showing images of quarries from around the world, including Italy, Canada and India. These monumental landscapes hold in them an outstanding beauty and sense of scale.

High Atlas: Billy Childish | 14 March - 7 April

International artist - painter, poet and musician Billy Childish is based in Chatham, Kent. In the spring of 2008 he joined the Band of Historical Hill Walkers on a field trip to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa to "make pinhole photographs, draw and paint the scenes before them - taking time to be present and amazed by the world". This exhibition shows the paintings produced in his Whitstable studio as a direct and imagined response to this experience. Also on display are the notebooks and photographs made on the trip as well as books, woodcuts and recent self portraits.

Spirit of the figure: Hughie o'donoghue | 7 February - 5 March

This exhibition is the first to explore O'Donoghue's ongoing focus on the predicament of the human figure, in drawings and prints spanning twenty-five years. It emphasises the evolution of the artist and the seriousness of his engagement with printmaking. The exhibition will also include several works which have never previously been exhibited.

Animate | 1 November - 13 December

This exhibition explores the development of British animation for Children throughPeter Firmin the work of Bob Godfrey (Roobarb, Henrys Cat, Noah and Nelly, Bunbury Tales) and Peter Firmin (Smallfilms). Historically their work intersects in 1974 with the broadcasting of Roobarb and Bagpuss on the BBC.

Journeys | 13 September - 25 October

With a huge diversity of engineering, imagination, use of material and techniques. ‘Journeys’ is both an engaging and informative selection of sculptural works, drawings and photographs. This exhibition celebrates experience, concept and physical encounter within the works of Diane Maclean, Jeff Lowe and Hamish Black.

Boyd and Evans Photography | 2 - 16 February

Taking on aspects of their earlier work Boyd and Evans have manipulated photographic images, whilst retaining the surreal beauty of their paintings. Photographs have always been an integral part of their practice, capturing ephemeral moments through the camera, assembling paintings with elements from various pictures. However, unlike the artists' paintings, Boyd and Evans' recent photographic series include few people, showing instead expansive landscapes that subtly record evidence of man's activity.