© Sid White-Jones - Promotional image for ‘No Frost at Night’.
*Due to new government guidelines related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the pictured exhibition dates have been updated. No Frost at Night will now run from the 17th - 30th May 2021*
In September last year I began a year long developmental programme with Babylon ARTS named ‘Babylon Young Curators’. The programme has provided me with the opportunity to curate the upcoming exhibition ‘No Frost at Night’ for the Babylon Gallery, which will explore how archival materials can be used to inspire contemporary art.
On the 19th February 2021, Babylon ARTS publicly announced the five artists who will be exhibiting within ‘No Frost at Night’. This full announcement can be read below…
“As the country warms up following the recent cold snap, Babylon ARTS announces the five East-Anglian artists who have each been awarded a commission to produce a brand-new artwork for presentation at the Babylon Gallery later this spring.
© Mari French - Work in Progress image for ‘No Frost at Night’.
The new artworks will be created in response to a historical weather diary written in 1963 by Betty Mann, a lifelong resident of Soham in Cambridgeshire. Some of these artworks will take their inspiration from The Big Freeze, a particularly treacherous weather event which occurred in 1963. Visitors to the exhibition can expect to see variations on the winter landscape with abstract depictions of mist, frost, ice and snow.
Following a successful open-call in December 2020, the five selected artists are:
Amber Lawrence, a sculptor, printmaker and installation artist, who will be creating a sculptural representation of the temperature data recorded by Betty Mann, from each day of the year in 1963.
Eleanor Wood, an artist who is producing a series of contemporary works on paper that respond abstractly to the age and feel of Betty Mann’s weather diary.
Mari French, an abstract painter who will create a series of mixed-media artworks on panel responding to observations of winter through windows.
Mark Tamer, an experimental photographer who will be presenting a series of photographic interpretations from his own diary, which records the vestibular migraine attacks that impact his everyday life.
Simon Nunn, a filmmaker who will be combining archival footage of Soham, showing past time festivities in the village and its surrounding fens landscape, with weather patterns shot digitally.
The exhibition will be curated by Sid White-Jones, as part of the Babylon Young Curators’ programme, in which young, aspiring creatives stage an exhibition with guidance from experienced mentors.
Young Curator, Sid White-Jones explains – “On the surface, Betty Mann’s meticulous weather diary presents its readers with an uninterrupted insight into the weather patterns that were experienced by those living in The Fens in 1963. However, there is far more to be found hidden within its pages and artists Amber, Eleanor, Mari, Mark and Simon will each use their respective mediums to draw out these unique elements from within the historical record.”
*This announcement can also be viewed in the Ely Standard and Spotted In Ely.