'With These Walls We Are Shaped', WCS, Private View.
Here are some images from the private view of the exhibition, 'With These Walls We Are Shaped', held at Wolstenholme Creative Space as part of the Independents Liverpool Biennial. More details about the exhibition and images of the work that I showed can be found in the blog entry beneath.

Photographs Courtesy of Junichiro Iwase.

Artist Credits in order from top to bottom: Michael Coombs (UK), Andrew Brookfield (UK), Junichiro Iwase (Canada), Henrietta Simson (UK), Carol Ramsay (UK), Claire Freeman and Kate Fallon-Cousins (UK), Ulrike Oeter (Germany), Su-Chen Hung (Taiwan/USA), Cait Walker and Robin Heap (UK).

Interventions for 'With These Walls We Are Shaped' WCS

For this exhibition I submitted a proposal to make new site-specific work that would build on the work I had carried out at Tito's, a four week residency in a derelict bakery.

As previously discussed, I have apprehensions about the speed at which regeneration is taking place. It seems to me that the existing city fabric is being systematically destroyed and removed in aspiration of a uniform space of consumption where sensory deprivation is inherent. In light of this I was particularly interested in Wolstenholme Creative Space’s change of use from a textile factory into an art space.

Ultimately, I wanted to challenge how this space of indeterminacy may be perceived, drawing on the importance of such a site with regard to the memories it encapsulates, acknowledging the lives lived within. Utilising the fact WCS is not just a plain, one-surface, white gallery, I proposed to focus my work on the imperfections of the space as a counter attack on the modernist dream; a sharp look at the reality of faceless existence.

Here are images of the six pieces that I made throughout the building:

Untitled (White Stickers)

                                                               

Untitled (Green Beads)



Untitled (Gold Pins)



Untitled (Green Felt)

Untitled (Orange Thread)

Untitled (Goldfinger, Green Thread, Copper Flake)

Through this tactile work I hope that I have transformed the space in a way that will encourage interaction and confront how people respond to such a building. Utilising understated techniques, I aim to transform the overlooked and make it precious. The experience of making the work on site, in response to the building was important and has been an interesting challenge.

As my work is small in nature and often subtle, there is an element of surprise on discovering the small scale interventions that have taken place around the building. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to show my work as it exists in situ, rather than displaying documentation of work created elsewhere. It has been interesting to observe how people interact with the work upon discovery and also how it sometimes gets overlooked.



Wolstenholme Creative Space:
With These Walls We Are Touched
I have been selected to take part in an exhibition in Liverpool as part of the Biennial Independents show. Here is the flyer:

The gallery's second installment for the Biennial Programme invites 14 established artists selected by open submission: to create site-specific work within the gallery's crumbling walls.

Artist(s) Michael Coombs (UK), Henrietta Simson (UK), Su-Chen Hung (Taiwan/USA), Andrew Brookfield (UK), Junichrio Iwase (Canada), Ulrike Oeter (Germany), Cait Walker and Robin Heap (UK), Carol Ramsay (UK), Hannah Wiles (UK), Claire Freeman (UK) and Kate Fallon-Cousins (UK)

This exhibition will showcase the artists' varying concepts and reactions to such a unique environment. They explore being touched by both the walls of the places and environments we inhabit, as well as the walls and structures we create within our awareness in relation to others, feelings and communication.

PRIVATE VIEW: Wednesday, 27th October 6.30pm.
Thursday, October 28 at 11:00am - November 28 at 5:00pm

I am registered on the Liverpool Independents website here: http://www.independentsbiennial.org/2010artists/1123-wiles-hannah

MA Show 2010 in Images 
Here are some images of the MA Show Part 1 which I exhibited in, alongside MA Fine Art, MA Three Dimensional Design and MA Visual Culture students.

                                             Pitikasem Nilavongse

                              Frances Blythe

                                             Sarah Redfern

                              Victoria Mykytiuk

                              Jo McGonigal and Sarah Redfern

                              Eileen O Rourke

                                             Maire Byrne-Gascon

We also had a cabinet of preparatory work which was left unlabelled. I included the two photographs that can be seen bottom right.



MA Show 2010
Here are some images of the work that I exhibited as part of my MA Show. I created two new site-specific pieces and also showed the Monotony(Bench) series.

For the first intervention I wanted to draw attention to the large crack in the pavement just outside the Holden Gallery, where the MA Show took place.Continuing to think around nature versus the urban environment I initially came up with the idea to fill the crack with a bright green cement that I was going to mix myself using food colouring or a water based paint. I like how this references the fact that our cities are constructed from cement; a concrete lid upon the natural world. I would have also been interested to see how this surface changed colour and began to weather over a period of time.

As this piece was going to become part of the MA Show I decided it would be best to ask permission so as not to get the university into trouble. This however proved difficult and has highlighted the problems involved in getting permission from the council to do such an intervention. There appears to be no sliding scale in the application procedure with the same 30 page document having to be completed whether you want to build a house or more simply fill a crack with cement.

In the end I came up with a different solution that still represents my ideas. Instead of cement I have used aqua gravel. I like how striking the green looks.

Inside the Holden Gallery I had noticed that one-third of the way in there is a crack in the floorboards that zig-zags across the width of the gallery floor. For my second intervention I filled this crack with a fine green sand. This second piece of work clearly links with the themes of the pavement piece above. I heard a few people who were observing it say that it reminded them of moss growing in between paving stones which I was pleased to hear.

And I also presented the Monotony(Bench) series as 8xA4 photographs on a vertical line.

MA Show
My MA Show opens this Thursday 30th Oct at the Holden Gallery 6-8pm.

A diverse, exhibition of work by postgraduate students of the Faculty of Art and Design.

Exhibition One The Holden Gallery

30th September - 7th October

Includes work by MA Fine Art, MA Textiles, MA Three Dimensional Design and MA Visual Culture students. Private View: 30th September 6-8pm

Didsbury Arts Festival
I took part in Didsbury Arts Festival which aims to reflect the talent and diversity of Didsbury. It includes an eclectic programme ranging from Visual Arts exhibitions and workshops, Classical Concerts, Comedy, Dance workshops, Arts demonstrations and Readings by local authors and poets. With more than 80 events in over 40 venues across Didsbury the festival has an audience of more than 5000.

The full programme and more information about the festival can be found here: http://www.didsburyartsfestival.com/

I exhibited my 'Tito's' series in Didsbury Life alongside two photographers, Anita Farkas and Pam Smith. Here are some photographs from the preview:

Here is the extract from the programme:
"Three artists will show work at this well known Burton Road venue. Pam Smith (Hidden Colours), '....looking at these old bathroom tiles they are shiny black. A slight turn of the head and beautiful colours appear in the cracked glaze.' Hannah Wiles (Tito's), '....hopes to confront how people respond to neglected sites through the means of transforming them in a way that encourages interaction.' Anita Farkas (Twenty Photos), '...a beautiful selection of a tender view of life, produced with great delicacy, care and with eyes for beauty everywhere and seeing beyond the obvious. Spend some time with her on this magic journey.'"

It was a really great opportunity for me to show this work to an audience. People seemed to like the photographs just as compositions but became very interested when they realised that I had actually intervened in the space. It was also interesting to see the photographs framed and mounted so that they took on another level beyond simple documentation becoming works of art works in themselves.