Introducing South Square Gallery’s Curatorial Traineeship Programme

Current Curatorial Trainee Clare Nadal writes

In February 2013 I began my ACE funded Curatorial Traineeship ran by South Square Gallery in partnership with the Hepworth Wakefield. The scheme aims to provide support for an aspiring curator by providing hands-on experience of developing and delivering South Square Gallery’s artistic programme, culminating in the opportunity to research and curate a show in the gallery. The trainee also has chance to undertake a placement with the Collections and Exhibitions team at the Hepworth Wakefield and gain experience of working on contemporary art exhibitions and/or museum collections in an organisation of international significance.

The scheme has been running since 2007 and has a proven success rate with trainees going on to secure employment within the arts sector or pursue further study. Trainee Stephen White secured a full-time job as an Assistant Curator at the Walker Gallery, Liverpool in 2008, whilst Elizabeth Holdsworth, trainee in 2011, has recently been awarded a place at the Royal College of Art to study Critical Writing in Art and Design. Most recent trainee Helen Thackray is soon to begin a job working as Community Programmer at Nottingham Contemporary.

Speaking about her experience of the traineeship, Helen said: “Working amongst the small team of staff and volunteers at South Square Gallery was a unique and hugely rewarding experience. The excellent balance of support and freedom offered by all of my colleagues has allowed me to take on responsibilities and explore my own interests and ideas, whilst always having the cushion of a team of professionals to give me advice and help where ever I needed it.”

“My placement at The Hepworth Wakefield gave the invaluable opportunity to work in a large national gallery. Not only was I able to assist with the installation of exhibitions by artists such as Richard Long and Luke Fowler, I was also taught specific skills such as condition reporting and art handling."

With this in mind, I have taken time to reflect upon my first two months as Curatorial Trainee and the experiences I have gained. Look out for further updates from me in the forthcoming months!

Personal and Geographical Journeying

It was with a mixture of nerves and excitement that I boarded the Cross Country train from Sheffield to Leeds for the first time on the morning of Wednesday 25^th February, a now highly familiar journey. There is a reason I have spoken of ‘Journeying’ in this blog title, for it seems that in the last two months I have undertaken so many different journeys and not just of the physical kind. Commuting to an unfamiliar city each week has become quite the adventure for me, one I have eagerly lapped up, desirous for change and challenges after months of soul destroying job hunting. Finally I have been able to join my fellow graduates in gaining the sought after ‘proper job’ and begin to engage in professional development within curatorial practice, meet other curators and artists, and build networks and contacts.

I am very much enjoying working in a rural gallery setting, being used to predominantly urban arts organisations, and thus it has provided me with the chance to observe the different practices adopted by the two. Escaping to the beautiful rural Thornton once a week has in itself become soul-southing, there is a reason why they call Yorkshire ‘God’s own country’.

One of the greatest things I have found about the traineeship is the level of importance of my role within the organisation. Though this initially seemed daunting, I have found it to be an invaluable experience. For the first time I have had a real key role and responsibility in decision making and managing the artistic programme, and my opinions are always very highly valued and considered. This has helped me to gain confidence to put forward suggestions in a very supportive environment.

I have had the opportunity to meet exhibiting artists David McLeavy, Sally Barker and Stuart Rushworth and discuss their work in detail, and from this produce interpretative materials and articles. This has not only given me the chance to engage with artworks at an in depth critical level, but also develop my writing style, considering issues of tone and audience. From this I have rediscovered my passion for writing, and have now taken responsibility for the South Square blog and am excited about developing ideas for future articles. I am also hoping to take my writing beyond the traineeship and think about blogging regularly and writing articles for local arts publications.

In February I was able to help co-curate the MA Visual Art students from Bradford College’s ‘Work in Progress’ show. From this I learnt about some of the issues involved in curating a group show as well as specific technical skills and theory of picture hanging. Since then I have also been involved with curating David McLeavy’s solo exhibition Villa, a show that in its very nature brings attention to the curatorial process. (See my previous blog for further discussion of this).

I also attended the February meeting of the Yorkshire Curators Group where I was able to meet both institution based and freelance curators from around the region and hear updates from a variety of galleries. As part of the meeting (held at Cartwright Hall) we were given walking tours of the current exhibitions by their respective curators. Being able to hear curators speak about developing shows and the curatorial decisions made was a brilliant opportunity for me. I hope to go to the next group meeting in May!

I am currently on the selection panel for selecting an artist for our summer residency, as well commissioning an artist to develop a body of work at South Square Gallery and the Bronte Parsonage. I have begun to review and update the gallery’s marketing contacts start building a comprehensive database in which to store these. I am excited to be beginning my placement at the Hepworth Wakefield in a few weeks when I shall be assisting with the de-install of the current Alice Channer, Linder and Jessica Jackson Hutchins exhibitions and the install of the new Haroon Mirza exhibition. I am looking forward to working in such a well renowned organisation and gaining new experiences and knowledge.   

David McLeavy: Building a Show Home

Image by David McLeavy

On a bitterly cold morning in March, I braved the snow and made my first trip to S1 Studios to meet Sheffield based artist David McLeavy and find out what he has planned for his solo show Villa that opens at South Square Gallery next month.

Villa takes as its point of departure the notion of the holiday or show home, the title derived from Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s utopian ‘machine for living, the Villa Savoye in France. The show continually references Le Corbusier’s Villa as David too creates a domestic environment in the countryside, this time that of the fields and valleys of Thornton.

Although highly influenced by the work of the European Modernist architects and furniture makers, his inspirations also lie much closer to home. As I walk into his studio I immediately spy a copy of the John Lewis home and furniture catalogue which he is quick to refer me to when telling me his aims.

David’s interest in blurring the boundaries between gallery and living space was piqued by visiting the 2012 Arts Council British Modern Remade exhibition held in the refurbished show flats at Sheffield’s Park Hill estate. In their aesthetic beauty, behind which lie deep seated flaws, the Park Hill flats embody something of the allure and horror of European Modernism, which so interests David.

As he says to me, “the show flats at Park Hill are highly attractive to the viewer, yet almost immediately you start to notice the practical problems of living there, such as of where the kettle can go or where to hang out your laundry”. As with Le Corbusier, Park Hill’s utopian vision of ‘streets in the sky’ soon comes crashing down.

South Square Gallery’s history as a series of stonemasons’ cottages makes it the perfect space for David to explore ideas of interacting with the domestic space further. Unlike the homogenous ‘white cube’ gallery, South Square retains original stone fireplaces, wooden ceiling beams and  windows looking out on the beautiful Thornton countryside, all architectural features, David wants to celebrate in his exhibition. 

  

The gallery also possesses a tradition of attracting artists to produce work engaging with their experience and interaction of being in the gallery space. David refers me to Dominic Mason, whose 2012 residency at South Square involved him living in the gallery space, something that clearly fascinates David.

The long held conflict in design between individualism and mass production is an important concern to David. Many of the items to be presented in the show home take the appearance of mass produced items, referencing the popular ‘flat pack’ furniture of stores such as IKEA. However David has actually tirelessly built them in the workshop himself.

Studio View 1

 Likewise, he has transformed the beautiful sourced pastel vases into sculptures in their own right, decorating them with intricate parts from household objects such as chopping boards.

Studio View 2

David closely engages with the performance based nature of consumerism. In his studio sits a shelf of bright colourful shirts. The exhibition will feature guest performers carrying out the mundane task of regimentally folding these shirts. This is not merely a reference to the domestic interior but also to the retail world. David refers me to shops of startling aesthetic beauty, such as Abercrombie and Fitch, where we are constantly confronted with glamorous retail assistants monotonously folding clothes into exact piles. Like the show home, the retail world draws us in to its apparent perfection. However, just as swiftly is the façade shattered: as we pick up a shirt to examine it closer and carelessly return it to the pile, so we break the spell of the fragile beauty of this retail art form.

Studio View 3

Whilst creating a model show home, David nonetheless self-consciously questions the very ideology he is buying into. As he says to me, the show home is one that implies a certain social class and hierarchy from the decorative accessories and ornamentation on display. David’s intention is to playful question this hierarchy in curating the show. “Imagine placing Heat magazine next to Le Corbusier’s Toward an Architecture” he muses to me.

Further questioning of this will gradually appear through the various redecorations the show will receive as Visual Arts students from local colleges are invited to participate in re-curating the show. Control is taken out of the hands of the artist, creating a new exhibition, whilst self-consciously drawing attention to the curatorial process.

Villa is open to the public from 6 April until 26 May 2013.

What Happens at South Square?

Do you know what happens at South Square? Here are ten facts about us.

1. Our mission is to promote and support communities and artists in cultural creativity, participation and appreciation

2.  South Square was founded in 1982 and is home to: 10 artists, 3 galleries, a vegetarian cafe and a frame maker

3. We are home to the Thornton Antiquarian Society Archive and manage the Project Stone

4. The structure of South Square consists of: a Board of Volunteer Trustees, two part time employees and a growing team of volunteers

5.  We train curators for the future through our year-long Curatorial Trainee Programme

7.  We hold seven exhibitions of emerging contemporary artists in our Main Gallery, ten art exhibitions in our Meeting Room Gallery and an ever changing programme of exhibitions and events in our Community Art Room each year

8.  We deliver arts workshops for the community, for artists, for families and for all

9.  We are housed in a Grade II listed building comprising of nineteenth century stone masons' cottages

10. We have a delightful Sculpture Garden at the back of South Square where we curate an annual exhibition of contemporary art, specifically commissioned for the space

So come and see us or contact us at info@southsquarecentre.co.uk for more information. 
You can also follow us on Facebook, visit our website and join our mailing list.