Talk
FROM THE KITCHEN TABLE | Symposium
2 Nov 2018
Event times
10:00am - 16:00pm
Cost of entry
Free to students and staff
All others £5
Address
- New Dover Road
- Canterbury
England - CT1 3AN
- United Kingdom
This symposium will bring together various aspects of the Drew Gallery Projects 1984-90, unpicking and addressing issues and legacies of these ground breaking exhibitions which have a continuing contemporary relevance.
About
Coinciding with the FROM THE KITCHEN TABLE | Drew Gallery Projects 1984-90 exhibition at the Herbert Read Gallery, this symposium will bring together various aspects of the Drew Gallery Projects 1984-90, unpicking and addressing issues and legacies of these ground breaking exhibitions which have a continuing contemporary relevance.
The symposium will begin with a screening of the highly acclaimed 1985 film ‘Almost Out’ by Jayne Parker. The speakers will include Karen Di Franco, who will speak about archives, digital collections and feminist art practices. Kay Watson will address the issues and influences of small organisations in the 70s and 80s and Katharine Meynell will explore film and feminism then and now. The event will be chaired by Professor Terry Perk, Head of Fine Art and Photography, UCA with contributions from participating artists, Sandra Drew and exhibition curator, Judith Carlton.
Throughout the 1980s Australian curator Sandra Drew staged a series of ground-breaking exhibitions in locations around Canterbury, inhabiting unusual public sites such as the cathedral crypt, theatres, empty shop units, the bustling high-street and a graveyard; all orchestrated from the epicentre of Sandra’s kitchen table in her family home, under the guise of Drew Gallery Projects.
Drew Gallery Projects existed to support artists in the early stages of their careers, often experimenting with new media and installation, which didn’t resemble what was broadly accepted as ‘sculpture’ at the time (video, found objects, photography, installation, performance and text). Sandra has, until now, remained a significant yet overlooked figure in the history of British Contemporary Art.
The exhibitions across Canterbury, Folkestone and London during 2018-19, their expanded public programme and accompanying publication, celebrates Sandra Drew’s visionary legacy to a whole new generation, a career that has remained modestly observed and yet passionately championed by those artists, students and communities who directly benefited from Drew’s revolutionary curatorial spirit during the 80s and 90s.
Tickets can be purchased here;
TOURING EXHIBITION INFORMATION:
Herbert Read Gallery, UCA Canterbury, CT1 3AN
6 October – 9 November 2018
Private view, Book Launch and Film screening: 5 October 2018, 5-8pm
https://www.uca.ac.uk/galleries/gallery-events/from-the-kitchen-table/
Brewery Tap UCA Project Space, 53 Tontine Street, Folkestone CT20 1JR
16 November - 9 December 2018
Private view and artist talk: 15 November 2018, 5-8pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/254172548617749/
CGP London, Southwark Park, London SE16 2UA
(The Gallery & Dilston Grove)
16 May - 30 June 2019
Private view: 12 May 2019, 3-6pm www.cgplondon.org
EVENTS PROGRAMME:
In Conversation:
Laura Ford and David Mach with Katie McGown
Sidney Cooper Gallery, 22-23 St Peter’s Street, Canterbury CT1 2BQ
18 October 2018, 6-7.30pm
Bonita Ely in Conversation with Jennifer Thatcher
Brewery Tap UCA Project Space, 53 Tontine Street, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1JR
Thursday 15 November, 5-6pm
Private view continues 6-8pm
The new CGP London publication FROM THE KITCHEN TABLE is available for purchase at each exhibition and via CGP London’s website. It features essays by UCA Head of School of Fine Art Dr Terry Perk; artist Sharon Kivland; John Carson, artist and Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University (Art Angel Production Director 1986-91); Thalia Allington-Wood and Edward Chell, artist and Reader in Fine Art at UCA Canterbury. An insightful collection of 40 Artists Voices are included in the publication; providing participating artists’ testimonies throughout this invigorating period of contemporary art.
For more information, additional images or to arrange an interview with Sandra Drew please contact: Georgie Scott, Project Co-ordinator: georgina.scott@uca.ac.uk
Find out more about the Drew Gallery Projects archive here
This project has been generously supported by the University for the Creative Arts; Arts Council England; Kent County Council; The Henry Moore Foundation; Canterbury Festival; LUX; CGP London; Southwark Council; Sidney Cooper Gallery and Whitstable Biennale.