Process - AA2A exhibition
An exhibition by Loughborough University’s 2023 AA2A artist residents.
About the exhibition
Meet the Artists event: Tuesday 16 May, 12-2pm
This exhibition brings together four artists selected to take part in the national Artists Access to Art Colleges (AA2A) artist residency scheme in the School of Design and Creative Arts at Loughborough University. The work on display showcases a selection of their diverse projects completed since October 2022.
Fiona Carruthers (Lincoln) works in expanded fields of drawing. Often playing with ideas of material significance, scale, uncertainty and transformation she creates propositions which invite us to think about what it means to be human and what survival might look like.
George Sfougaras (Leicester) makes work concerned with memory, identity, migration and cultural inheritance. The works shown here under the title ‘The Hagiography of the Ordinary’ refer to the importance, and the divine nature of ‘ordinary’ lived moments: The silver is a memory, a symbol, a spiritual and a physical entity, as well as an aesthetic element, its reflective surface multiplying the light cast upon it.
Klara Szafrańska (Nottingham) works with sculpture, video and performance. Drawing from socio-political themes like fetish and kitsch, she links the political and social to the visceral, metaphysical and inner. She looks at how the durability and non-disposability of familiar, pretend-to-be-functional objects lure us in with the promise of forever nourishment.
Natalia Kasprzycka (Stoke-on- Trent) is an artist exploring the themes of circulation and transformation of matter. Using craft skills as research tools, she works in a site-specific way, investigating the idea of ‘place’ through materials, their origins and current context.
During their time at Loughborough, Fiona, George, Klara and Natalia have worked variously within print, ceramics, 3D design and metal and have interacted with a multitude of practitioners and researchers. They have collaboratively designed this exhibition, as part of a process of reflection on the work they have produced and where it might lead them. Multi-disciplinary, participatory artist Leila Houston (Leicester) has also been in residence but does not have work on display.
AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges) provides artists and designer-makers with access to workshops, equipment and expertise in host universities and colleges across the UK, enabling them to develop their work by undertaking research or realising a project. It also aims to benefit students by supporting interaction with practising artists and providing them with information on self-employment, bridging the gap between studying and building a creative career. The artists are in residence until the end of June 2023.
Accessibility
There is step-free access into the exhibition space via a ramp and side door. During opening hours, there will be an invigilator on duty in the gallery. If you require their assistance, then please alert them on arrival by calling to them or waving at them – the entrance to the gallery is fully glazed and the main entrance door should be open.
If you have any specific access requirements then please contact luarts@lboro.ac.uk in advance of your visit and we will do our best to accommodate them.
Facilities
There are toilets located on the ground floor of Martin Hall including an accessible toilet. There is step-free access into this building.
Martin Hall Cafe serves light refreshments and is open from 8.30am to 5pm Mon-Fri. It is located behind the gallery.
There is free car parking on campus (subject to availability on the day) and the nearest car park is Car Park 9. Please report to Security at the main entrance and they will issue a visitors’ pass and direct you to here.
If you are travelling by public transport, you can take the Sprint Bus from Loughborough railway station or the town centre (Ashby Square) and alight at Loughborough College. Cross Epinal Way at the pedestrian crossing and keep going straight ahead to enter campus. This brings you onto Shirley Pearce Square with Martin Hall on the left.