Tetley associate artist 2021-22

the programme

“Tetley's Associate Artists' Programme (TAAP) is a year-long development opportunity for four artists living, working or based in Leeds”..

“Artists receive: group TAAP sessions, documentation, a public-facing showcase, marketing and funding application support, time in our artists’ studio and a £1,500 budget to be spent on mentoring, studio visits, production and workshops”’.

(text source tetley website)

the year

The programme was punctuated with regular meetings which offered my fellow artists and I the chance to give updates on progress, offer support and field ideas. I know that we all really appreciated the discursive moments as a group, for many artists who work much of the time in solitude these opportunities can become rarified.

we shared periods in the residency room and other areas in the Tetley for making and project work. this luxury of time spent in the building responding, thinking and making for days at a time: intersected with studio visits and chats with tetley director, Bryony Bond and Exhibitions and Artist Development Curator, Georgia Taylor Aguilar were for me highlights.

over the course of the year the building was surrounded by major building works, the views out the window were in constant flux and full of industrial activities, a grinding soundscape, often causing the tetley to shake. It was impossible to ignore and within my making an added dynamism and rough edged fluidity showed through.

During an occupation of the residency room in oct 2021 I was lucky enough to be invited to allow in a camera crew who were visiting to collect footage for the first of a new serial online culture show commissioned by the Sunday Times. the segment within the programme (which profiles the tetley and the Yorkshire sculpture park) is at 12:40 on the counter if you follow the link provided.

open studio and showcase

in April 2022 I presented an open studio in the residency room as well as a showcase of new works developed during the taap year in the ‘city workshop’ space at the tetley.