COMMISSIONS
The Art House commissioned artists to create new work for Artwalk, to be showcased in venues and at events across Wakefield City Centre throughout the 2021-22.
You can find out more about the artists, the commissions and read interviews with the artists below.
Saima Kaur: Small Acts of Kindness
Saima Kaur is a textile artist specialising in hand embroidery, based in Hebden Bridge. Kaur’s work is influenced by the symbolism and aesthetics of Indian folk art. She uses a mix of threads and paint on cotton fabric to create wall hangings or framed artworks which beautifully tell stories of people and places, both real and imagined.
Small Acts of Kindness is a new textile work which brings together stories collected through a series of engagement sessions led by Saima Kaur in 2022.
Malgorzata Dawidek: A NET OF EMOTIONS
Malgorzata Dawidek is an artist, writer, and researcher whose multi-disciplinary practice explores art, literature, the study of humans, and medical aspects. Dawidek’s practice focuses on conflicts between the condition of the human body and language.
A NET OF EMOTIONS is a new light installation investigating the conflict between human feelings and the attempt to verbally express their meaning. The project addresses core questions concerning aspects of cultural inclusion, to ensure that people are seen, heard and valued, through the power of language. The artist shares the idea that there are no borders in experiencing emotions, but there are often language limitations in expressing them
Find out about the full commission >
Malgorzata Dawidek Q&A here >
Lucie MacGregor: Footnotes
Footnotes is a new installation by Lucie MacGregor created following a series of collaborative workshops with local people in The Ridings, October 2021.
Using and interacting with a collection of viewfinders and spotting devices, participants identified and documented markings, objects and textures they found in the landscape of Wakefield City Centre. These findings have been translated by MacGregor into a map, offering a new way to see the city.
Find out about the full commission>
Lucie MacGregor Q&A here >
Fiona Grady: Meeting Points
Fiona Grady is a contemporary artist known for her window and wall based installations, geometric prints and public commissions. Grady creates installations that respond to each new location, her colourful geometric pieces interacting with the surrounding architecture to transform the spaces into which they are placed.
Her new piece, Meeting Points, commissioned by Artwalk Wakefield, is inspired by the architecture of the site and stained glass windows in the nearby Cathedral. Composed of translucent coloured vinyl, the installation casts colourful shadows in daylight and creates an ambient glow at night.
Find out about the full commission>
Beth Morgan: A Walk In Wakefield
Walking is an important part of the creative process for Beth Morgan, whose art practice is a response to the experience of being in nature. When out walking, Morgan immerses herself in the natural environment, taking notes and making quick sketches in her “field journal”. Back in the studio, these notes and sketches prompt memories and feelings that inspire her paintings.
This mural, A Walk in Wakefield, commissioned by Artwalk Wakefield reflects on the artist’s memories of walking through the varied natural landscapes around Wakefield.
Helen Thomas: Dandelions and Double Yellows and…
Since autumn 2020 Helen Thomas has painted and sketched urban wild plants in corners of car parks, by path edges and on sites awaiting development in Wakefield for her most recent project Dandelions & Double Yellows.
This Artwalk commission ‘Dandelions and Double Yellows and…’ offers a glimpse behind the scenes of Helen’s working process. The publication features a specially commissioned text by Dr Judith Tucker, and is illustrated with Helen’s paintings and photographs.
Hannah Whitfield and Zoë Carlon: Parts
Hannah and Zoë are artists, from Wakefield, who have worked collaboratively for the first time on this commission.
They have made paintings and sculptures in response to the varying environments and objects they encountered when walking around Wakefield city centre and the surrounding areas. Choosing to focus on the edges of the city, where residential meets industrial, and public meets private, they have responded intuitively to form, materiality, texture and colour to create a series of works in dialogue.
Find out more about the full commission>
Mohammad Barrangi: On The Path To Happiness
Mohammad Barrangi is an illustrator and printmaker originally from Iran, now based in the UK. Barrangi’s work combines Persian calligraphy, storytelling, text, and touches of humour. He makes work in a range of different sizes using handmade traditional calligraphy pens and a blend of mark-making styles.
The inspiration for this mural, 'On The Path To Happiness' comes from Barrangi’s lived experience of immigration and the welcome he received in Wakefield from organisations such as Wakefield Cathedral and The Art House.
Find out about the full commission more >
Ranya Abdulateef: Honouring Our Refuse Collectors
Artist Ranya Abdulateef is honouring our local refuse collectors in a new textile art work exhibited in the atrium case at Wakefield One.
The piece has been created through the use of some recycled fabric and various textile techniques such as quilting, hand embroidery and printing, incorporating personal stories of the workers.
Find out more about the full commission>
Ranya Abddulateef Q & A here >
Spectrum People, led by Dawn and Adrian: Art in Recovery
Spectrum People, Dawn Bland and Adrian Atkinson have lead a series of Art Groups throughout Summer 2021 at The Art House.
Participants were supported and invited to create in response to their recovery journeys, overcoming barriers from a range of issues including childhood trauma, on-going mental health difficulties, addiction, social isolation and more.
The inspiration for this group came from Dawn Bland, one of Spectrum People's beneficiaries, who works tirelessly within the local community to raise awareness of mental health difficulties and offer support through her own lived experiences.
Find out more about the full commission>
Dawn Bland Q & A here >