Jobs and opps

Jobs and opps Editor Lauren Healey interviews the artists shortlisted for the Liverpool Art Prize about making work, support structures for their practice, and their reasons for basing themselves in the North West.

The Liverpool Art Prize 2011 exhibition opened at Metal, Edge Hill, Liverpool on 6 May, showcasing works by shortlisted artists Brendan Lyons, Bernadette O'Toole, Richard Proffitt and Markus Soukup. Initiated in 2008 by Ian and Minako Jackson of Art in Liverpool, the prize is a legacy from Liverpool's Capital of Culture year. It consists of a two-stage process: an open nomination process that involves the artist community and general public generates a shortlist from which the judges decide the eventual winner.

Ian Jackson believes that the Liverpool Art Prize can help all the artists in different ways. "The prize receives good amount of coverage in the media and certainly within the art world, whilst overall winner also has the opportunity to show work in the Walker Art Gallery which must be a fantastic boost to any artist. There is also a People's Choice prize with cash, which could be used to fund a project." Whilst in previous years, the judges were simply asked 'Who is the best artist?', bearing in mind the artists overall output and career to date, this year the decision is based on the exhibition and how the artists respond to the unique space at Metal. The winner of the prize will be announced on 1 June 2011.

The artists themselves have quite varied practices. Brendan Lyons creates self-supporting structures consisting entirely of paint. Recent works have reproduced urban detritus so that what may appear to be bricks, polythene, sheets of corrugated metal or cardboard, are in fact purely unsupported paint. Underpinning Bernadette O'Toole's work is an investigation of spatial relationships within the context of the empty page or blank canvas. Richard Proffitt works primarily in installation and sculpture, inspired by places, landscapes, objects and cultures that encourage histories to become attached to them. Markus Soukup works with video, 2D and 3D animation as well as sound in the context of installation, exploring his interests in how an object, image or moving image can communicate its content whilst still enabling freedom of interpretation.

What exhibitions, residencies or projects you been involved in which have been particularly relevant to the development of your work?

Richard Proffitt: 'Global Studio' at the Bluecoat, 'Wrong Love' at A Foundation and most recently the solo show 'Saguaro' as part of the 'Bam Bam Bam' series of exhibitions at Wolstenholme Creative Space. These exhibitions in particular have given me opportunities to experiment and try out new ideas. Because of the way I work, often adapting to and making use of unique idiosyncrasies of different spaces, it's been important for me to have the chance to do this and also to then be able to exhibit the work. I took part in a mini-residency over in Berlin's sculpture park as part of Simon Faithfull's Mobile Research Station and that was a really useful experience. I travelled over there without materials, plans, or any idea of what I would make. It was good to spend the week there salvaging materials and just letting things happen. That's become the way I prefer to work. This coming month I'm in a Royal Standard group show at Embassy in Edinburgh where the premise for the show is to make work over a  four day period with materials being sourced there - this should be quite exciting.

Bernadette O'Toole: In 2010 I exhibited in 'Global Studio' at the Bluecoat. It was during the curating of this show and the critical conversations I had with the other exhibiting artists that I began to question the relationship between the paintings themselves and the possibilities within the context of painting and installation. I have produced a significant amount of new work in the last twelve months, this has largely been due to the number of exhibition opportunities I have had, some invitations to exhibit and some I have made happen through my involvement and collaboration with other artists within the city. The work is also finding new audiences both nationally and internationally, most recently The London Art Fair 2011, The Marmite Prize for Painting and being selected by Phillida Barlow for the Creekside Open 2011, with a solo exhibition planned for 2012 in the UK and a group exhibition later this year in Berlin.

Markus Soukup: My work has been shown locally, nationally and internationally during the last couple of years. In February this year I was invited for a residency at DEC labs at Metal in Southend, which was a great time involving not only the production new work, but also having a critical dialogue and meeting interesting practitioners from different fields. An important residency was the invitation to go to the Prisma Forum 2009 in Mexico (Oaxaca and Mexico DF). The forum was centred around dance, performance, video, sound art, cross-disciplinary practice and international dialogue. I also produced new video work as a result of it.

From 2008 to the Liverpool Biennial in 2010 we (the resident artists of the Bluecoat) organised projects and exhibitions as The Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station (TLSSSS) in the Old Barbershop. As an independent arts collective we did the work voluntarily, but it helped to gain more knowledge and skills, from designing exhibition invites to curating shows and dealing with all the various aspects and problems of running a gallery space. TLSSSS was one of the collectives  that made up The Cooperative during the Biennial 2010.

Why have you chosen to base yourself in Liverpool? What structures are there which have benefited you and your practice?

BO'T: I returned to Liverpool in 2008, the year Liverpool received the City of Culture Award, I decided to stay for both personal and professional reasons. In the same year I was fortunate enough to take on a studio at the Bluecoat and become part of its creative community, exhibiting as part of the Independents during the Liverpool Biennial 2008, and again in 2010 as part of 'The Cooperative' bringing together a number of smaller artists' organisations and studio groups. There was a great atmosphere in the City during this period and a real sense that Liverpool could make an important contribution to the international contemporary art community. It was the perfect opportunity for me to engage with other artists and art organisations.

In 2009 I co founded the Lost Soul and Stranger Service Station with four other artists from Bluecoat (including Markus Soukup). This provided us with a platform to show work, curate exhibitions and collaborate with other artists nationally and internationally, including 'Drawn In' an exhibition exploring the question 'what is drawing?' and showcasing the work of a number of artists work form different studio groups within the city. This project is of particular interest to me, and something I would like to develop and build on critically and through an annual open submission exhibition. The Bluecoat supported this venture by allowing us the use of vacant retail unit, attached to the main Bluecoat building located in the centre of the city, and programming events to coincide with openings in the main gallery attracting greater audience numbers. Sadly we no longer have the use of this space since it has now been let as a retail unit. In the immediate future we will have to rely on pop up spaces if we are to continue to programme, this however presents its own problems, to date we have been entirely un-funded in this venture relying entirely on our own limited resources including money and time and the good will of the Bluecoat.

Brendan Lyons: I returned to Liverpool in 2003 after  ten years living in London. This was originally intended to be an intensive one year stint in my home town to put together a body of new works before returning to the capital. However, I found the life/work balance was much better for me in Liverpool (partly because financial pressures were much less in the North of course) and I was more productive here, and the output of my practice improved too and so I stayed. I actually received more invitations to exhibit in London when I was working in Liverpool than I ever did when I was based in London itself.

MS: I came here to do a Master's in New Media Production and after that I decided to stay. Media and video art were and are seen as significant parts in the art scene here. I think it is a great city with a long history of different people coming and going. This vibe of flux is very characteristic as well as the city's multicultural diversity. In 2007 it was significant for me that I started to get involved in Soundnetwork's activity. Soundnetwork provides a platform to support and connect sound art activity in the Northwest.

Liverpool seems to have quite varied levels of arts organisations, from Tate and the Biennale to artist-led grass roots activity. How does this help North West-based artists, and how do you think changes within this scene (I'm thinking particularly of the closure of A Foundation here) will affect regionally based artists?

RP: The Biennial is a great thing for Liverpool to host but it only comes around every two years. It's the in between time that needs to be constantly worked on to keep things developing, keeping things fresh and exciting. I think the recent run of exhibitions at Wolstenholme Creative Space together with shows at Ceri Hand and The Royal Standard, and now with the Liverpool Art Prize show opening at Metal have helped the creative community wake up from a post-biennial lull.

The closure of A Foundation is a real shame. In terms of Liverpool, A Foundation provided a series of shows that seemed to fit nicely between galleries such as Tate Liverpool and galleries such as The Royal Standard, often showing work that you wouldn't really see in many other places outside of London. It seemed to have a good attitude towards showing contemporary art, it appeared its programme and curatorial style was rarely compromised. I think it's a huge loss for the North West. But with the aforementioned places working hard to put on good shows, and places in Manchester doing the same, along with non-gallery opportunities such as publications and events, the North West can continue to be a good place to be as an artist. It's important that in the wake of the governmental cuts that these continue to exist and find ways to compensate.

BO'T: What strikes me about the Liverpool art scene is its strong sense of community and partnership. Organisations from the larger established public galleries to the smaller artist-led spaces and organisations seem to be pulling together to support each other and make things happen from the ground up. For me the lynch pin in this vibrant and diverse cultural mix is the Liverpool Art and Culture blog and the work of it's cultural foot soldiers Ian and Minako Jackson.

MS: I think the closing of A-foundation is obviously a problem as it was not only significant for the Biennial (Bloomberg New Contemporaries etc), but also as important contemporary arts venue and reference point linked up to the international and national art scene. It was a significant coordinate and its closure has an impact already just in terms of psycho-geography within Liverpool.

Regionally based artists often link up with the bigger organisations in different ways (from doing workshops, installing exhibitions, being gallery assistants, administrative or educational workers to actually exhibiting in the gallery spaces of those organisations too). Smaller or more independent organisations (like Royal Standard, Arena, Wolstenholme Studios, Bridewell and Static) are important as they provide studio and gallery spaces, where artists can meet, experiment and develop their work. In general I would say that there is a respectful atmosphere between these different levels not only as a result of interdependence, but as well because of a unique sense of community. Events like the Lightnight support this diversity of arts activity, where everybody can get involved.

How have you or do you support your practice? I'm interested in the 'hidden' aspects such as teaching positions, fellowships and residencies which support financially as well as influencing the work itself. What benefit have these had in terms of career progression and development of your practice?

BO'T: My decision to opt for freelance work, including work as an arts facilitator through the gallery system is a bit of a double-edged sword. It allows for a degree of freedom and flexibility to fit in with my own creative work and research, but little security financially. I view this work as separate to my own practice but largely rewarding in a social context.

BL: To financially support my practice I tend to steer away from areas such as teaching, fellowships and residencies, as I find them too infrequent and unstable, and the whole process of justifying my practice by offering some form 'legacy' as part of any application a little tedious and distracting. I currently have a part-time job at Liverpool University in a role totally unrelated to my practice. It offers me flexible working hours and a basic amount of financial stability and is  five minutes from my studio, which makes it ideal for me - and crucially it allows me to make the work I want to make.

MS: Doing web design, graphic design and workshops. I did some teaching in schools (for instance the Creative Diploma). I hope to be able to do more residencies or find some teaching work. All these different parts of the work have had a good impact as they give insight, experience and understanding of different elements or other important areas.

What importance do you give to the prize for the progression of your career?

RP: It's nice to be nominated and get some recognition for the work I've made and things I've been involved in over the last year or so. I'm thinking of it as another opportunity to create something new, rather than a milestone or a competition. It's good to be showing work along side three other interesting artists. We're all quite different too, so it should be a good, varied show.

BO'T: That remains to be seen! I am very happy to be shortlisted for theLiverpool Art Prize, and grateful for the support and exposure that comes with being shortlisted. Most importantly, I have an opportunity to show new work while forging links with other arts organisations.  The Liverpool Art Prize is growing in reputation, reflecting as it does on the calibre of the work produced by previous nominees and prize-winners and I am pleased to be part of this.

BL: I hope being shortlisted for the prize will introduce my work to new audiences. It's great that the Walker Art Gallery is now also being supportive, by giving an exhibition each year to the winner of the previous year's prize. This helps to give exposure to local artists in a nationally recognised venue.

MS: It's nice that all the different activities and efforts during the last years seem to have made sense and were to some extent recognised. So it encourages me to continue and believe in the work and that there is an audience who is interested.

Links and resources:

Artist strategies (taster) »

Artist strategies - Midwest »

Awards by nomination »

Support schemes »

Artist-led activity »

Curatorial practice »

Artists in empty shops »

Setting up an artist-led space »

Lauren Healey

Lauren Healey is an artist, curator and project manager based in Newcastle. www.laurenhealey.co.uk 

First published: a-n.co.uk May 2011