When Tees Valley Arts put out an open call for an exhibition in their new gallery at the Palace Hub in Redcar, they were impressed by the quality and range of submissions.
Applications were received from across Europe, but it was two Leeds based artists that were chosen from among eighty applicants to mount solo exhibitions.
The work of the two artists is very different: one exhibition has its roots in history; the other is futuristic. Yet they complement each other in many ways. Both imagine unusual animals, have a rich colour palette and display a strong humorous streak.
Imaginary beasts from past and future face each other. Tanya Bentham’s creatures are taken from mediaeval embroidery, beasts formed from myth and travellers’ stories. Edek Thompson imagines a future when climate change has transformed today’s common animals into half-remembered legends.
Thompson’s exhibition is entitled ‘Teaching children about the colour green’. The illustrations are reminiscent of children’s books from past generations. He told me that children often react by laughing at his work – a dog with webbed feet or pigeon with elongated legs does look funny. Yet maybe this is where evolution might take us in a future where climate change causes sea levels to rise. The Tees Estuary might one day cover the whole of Redcar.
He approaches serious issues with colour and fun. He explains that he ‘paints the apocalypse one dog, pigeon or crow at a time’. Images are both humorous and disturbing. On the 8th February he will be running an ‘Apocalypse Remix’ workshop at the Left Bank in Leeds. Attendees will be supported to create their own Apocalyptic Creature.
Thompson’s process is embedded in his commitment to environmentalism. All his materials are recycled; often scavenged from friends who work in the building and decorating trade. Oddments of paint, signage and scrap board are all put to good use.
Bentham also takes special care when choosing materials for her art. She sets out to make the process and resources as authentically mediaeval as possible; researching the stitchwork of the past and dyeing her own thread, using plants and vegetables. She tells me that the colours on her organic dyed thread last longer than chemical colour.
‘Opus Anglicum’ explores mediaeval embroidery techniques and imagery but adds a modern twist. I loved the skeleton at a birthday party, wearing a paper hat and blowing a whistle. Bentham’s composition ‘The three living and the three dead’ won the prize for innovative use of textiles at the 2022 Fine Art Textiles Awards. Youths in hoodies and jeans stand alongside skeletons in shrouds.
The work on display is all hand-stitched but takes different forms: framed images, banners and samplers. In one display she has worked with illuminated letters, providing an embroidered image to accompany every letter of the alphabet.
Bentham has never formally studied mediaeval embroidery, but her knowledge is second to none. Hours of painstaking research have resulted in perfect technique and exhaustive knowledge. She is working on her third book and is often asked to lecture at Oxford and Leeds universities.
Look out for these accomplished artists around Leeds, or better still, take a trip out to the coast. Redcar is only about ninety minutes away from Leeds by road or rail. There are hourly direct trains from Leeds. Art, sea air, fish and chips followed by the local speciality of a lemon top (whipped ice cream topped with lemon sorbet): what more could you want from a day out?
The Grand Open
The Redcar Palace Hub, 28-29 Esplanade, Redcar TS10 3AE
Exhibition runs until the end of December
Apocalypse Remix workshop
Leftbank, Cardigan Road, Leeds LS6 1LJ
Left Bank (leftbankleeds.org.uk)
Photography by Debbie Rolls.
