AIR

Artists from each English regions and Wales are responsible for steering AIR’s programmes and development, leading the research and campaigns and representing artists’ issues and concerns to others.

Chris Brown – is an artist and co-founder of the Cardiff-based artist-run organisation Contemporary Temporary Artspace and its gallery base, g39, that works closely with artists, curators, writers and arts organisations to build up a strong network of support and advocacy across Wales, and has an increasing focus on the country’s relationship with the rest of the world. Chris Brown is also a founder member of the NAN Advisory Group.
www.g39.org

David Cotterrell – a London-based artist and Professor in Fine Art and Leverhulme Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. Over the past fifteen years, his work has been commissioned and exhibited extensively in Europe, North America and the Far East. He has been a consultant to strategic master plans, cultural and public art policy for urban regeneration, healthcare and growth areas. His research has been supported by national and regional government and by independent foundations and charities. A Fellow of the RSA, he was selected for Solar Associates Artists programme in 2009.
www.cotterrell.com

Rob Kesseler – is a visual artist and Professor of Ceramic Art & Design at Central St Martins College of Art & Design. Collaborating with scientists, his work inhabits a territory where design, fine art and applied art overlap. He is currently working with molecular biologists at the Gulbenkian Science Institute in Portugal. From 2001-2004 he was NESTA Fellow at Kew, in 2007 he was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society and in 2009 Fellow of the RSA. He exhibits internationally and in 2007 his books; Pollen, the hidden sexuality of flowers, written with Dr Madeline Harley and Seeds, time capsules of life, with Wolfgang Stuppy, Kew, were awarded gold medals at the Independent Publishers Awards in New York. In 2010 Rob Kesseler Up Close, a monograph of his work was published by Papadakis.
www.robkesseler.co.uk

Elpida Hazdi-Vasileva – based in South East England. With a practice that encompasses commissions and fellowships, national and international residences, she has developed a respected and high-quality reputation for producing ambitious and complex works in sculpture and installation. Since graduating from Royal College of Art in 1998, she has exhibited internationally including the 51st Venice Biennale; Swiss Embassy and World Bank, Macedonia; L'H du Siege, France; Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Dublin. She has taken part in European residency programmes including Gloucester Cathedral, ArtSway, Irish Museum of Modern Art and Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship. Public art commissions include 'We Are Shadows', Unit2, London; 'Life Cycle', Bristol; 'Re|Sort', Fabrica Gallery, Brighton; 'Ambush', The New Forest. She is a member of Artsway’s Associate Artists programme.
www.elpihv.co.uk

Mitra Memarzia – is a West Midlands-based artist exhibiting internationally. Through a PhD in theory and practice in fine art, she has specialist knowledge of identity, displacement and representation and of the Middle East and women. Mitra directs her creative practices towards creating inspirational dialogue and exchange, working in collaboration with a broad range of individuals and organisations. Her main passion as an artist is to make work in unexpected places. She is Associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, running the Professional Practice module, Coventry University and Birmingham City University on fine art and design BA and MA courses. She is a Board member of a-n and member of the West Midlands consortium CPDI - Consciously Promoting Disruptive Innovation.
www.memarzia.org

Stephen Palmer – is an artist and Editorial Production Manager for a-n The Artists Information Company. His work is exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally and is in private collections in the UK, Canada and Denmark, and public collections in the UK. He is a member of the Northern Print board of Directors and is represented by independent gallery Vane in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he is based.
www.stephenpalmer.org.uk

Claudia Pilsl – is an Austrian artist based in Bristol, who shows nationally and internationally. Recent solo shows are 'One two infinity' at Bend in the River in Gainsborough, 'Latent Space' at ROOM in Bristol, 'Space Encounters' at Landesmuseum in Linz, 'Zwischenr'ume' at the Galerie im Bürgerhaus in Neunkirchen and 'Aperture' at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth. She has undertaken various commissions and residencies, for instance in New York and Rome. She has been awarded major fellowships by Arts Council Austria and Arts City of Bremen.
www.claudiapilsl.com

Dr Paul Scott – is a Cumbrian-based artist, author, educator and curator who is well known for his research into the graphic development of ceramic surfaces and for artwork which 'blurs the boundaries between fine art and design'. Exhibitions, residencies, projects, teaching and commissions have taken place in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA, and Vietnam. He has instigated and led several innovative collaborative artistic projects bringing together museums, research centres, universities, and the ceramics industry. His work is in a number of museum collections around the world. He has been Vice Chair of a-n’s Board since 2000.
www.cumbrianblues.com Blog: http://web.me.com/cumbrianblues

Sally Sheinman – is an American who grew up on a dairy farm on the Canadian border and worked on Wall Street before training as an artist. She holds a BA from the State University of New York at Albany and undertook postgraduate studies at Hunter College, New York City. Sally has exhibited widely throughout Britain, producing touring exhibitions and temporary and permanent public commissions, working independently and in collaboration with organisations including Arts Council England, BBC and the NHS. Her work has featured on Radio 4 Women's Hour and PM. She has lived in Britain for the last 25 years and currently works in Northampton. Although she is a painter, Sally’s work pushes the practice of painting into new territories: it is often three-dimensional, has multiple components and relies on the contributions of others to complete its meaning.
www.sallysheinman.co.uk

Erika Tan – is an artist, curator from UK and Singapore, her work has evolved from an interest in anthropology and moving image, often informed by specific cultural, geographical or physical contexts. A contributor to a-n’s 2005-06 Future forecast research enquiry, her work is shown nationally and internationally. She took part in the Solar Associates Artists Leaders programme in 2009.

Helen Thomas – is a painter based in West Yorkshire working through exhibitions and projects. Co-founding member and moderator of arts hub http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arts_hub which supports and promotes the visual arts connecting over 150 artists and organisations in and around the Wakefield area. Facilitates participatory workshops. Co-ordinated the Big Draw event 'Scrawl of Sound' at Westgate Studios in October 2009 and co-founded Wakefield SketchCrawl in 2010.
www.toastedorange.co.uk

Caroline Wright – living in Suffolk, she works across live and visual art whilst also lecturing at postgraduate level at Norwich University College of the Arts where she also contributes regularly to the professional development programme. She has acted as mentor to emerging artists within Suffolk and has been a board member of Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery. She has shown across the UK and Europe in galleries, festivals and site specific locations, undertaking residencies in Japan, Ireland and USA. Her work explores human communication, looking at the philosophical and physical aspects of information exchange and recent shows have included the Worcester Open, performances at The Junction, Cambridge and Latitude Festival. Current projects include a two year Cultural Olympiad project with the collective LACE produced by London-based Artsadmin and two Arts Council England funded projects - respond/reply - a drawing and writing research project with two artists and a poet and a career development programme with Tate Modern curator Ben Borthwick. She is a member of Wysing Arts and an Escalator artist.
www.carolinewright.com

First published: a-n.co.uk September 2005. Updated June 2010