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GUEST ARTIST: PHOEBE COLLINGS-JAMES

We are incredibly happy that Phoebe Collings-James has now joined Culford Studios as a Resident Artist and will stay with us for the next few months! We thought the start of this residency was the perfect opportunity to host a talk by Phoebe, where all our members could meet and hear about Phoebe's journey with clay, from the evolution of her art through different mediums, to her international ceramics residencies and solo exhibitions in London and New York.




The talk was followed a few days after by a large scale sculpture workshop, where Phoebe delved into specific hand-building techniques and her approach to large scale sculpture, demonstrated live through the making of a Horsemen.



More about Phoebe Collings-James:


Phoebe Collings-James’ (b.1987 London, UK) works function as “emotional detritus”; speaking of knowledges of feelings, the debris of violence, language, and desire which are inherent to living and surviving within hostile environments. 

 

Her work spans across sculpture, sound, performance and installation, and unpacks the object as subject by giving life and tension to ceramic forms. Colling-James’ musical alias, young nettle, creates sound design for original music productions and is a member of B.O.S.S., a QTIBIPOC sound system based in South London.


Collings-James also runs Mudbelly, a ceramics studio, shop and teaching facility offering free ceramics courses for Black people in London, taught by Black ceramicists.  


Fellowships include summer 2022 incubator resident at The Archie Bray in Helena, Montana at the invitation of Theaster Gates and 2021 Freelands Ceramic Fellow at Camden Arts Centre. 



Collings-James also had their first US institutional show at SculptureCenter, New York this Summer 2024. A new series of ceramic sculptures was exhibited, exploring relationships between heresy, faith, and orthodoxies of church, state, and society. Intensely coloured by iron-rich glazes, slips and various firing techniques, and imprinted with fragments of texts, each of Collings-James’ sculptures elaborates on the position of the heretic as a transmitter of incendiary speech, opposition from within, and ostracisation.


Find out more here:


Thank you again Phoebe, what an inspiring talk and workshop!


Learn more about Phoebe's work: www.phoebecollingsjames.com

And follow on instagram: www.instagram.com/phoebethegorgon





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