Women Artists of the North East Library at Workplace, Gateshead

Throughout the Great Exhibition of the North 2018 Women Artists of the North East Library are resident at Workplace Foundation in Gateshead and available to the public as an evolving exhibition, library, and platform for events and discussions. Works by Phyllis Christopher, Tess Denman-Cleaver, Kate Liston and Harriet Sutcliffe are also exhibited in the gallery.

The project aims to use the premise of presenting artists work as an opportunity to explore the act of building such a library;

In what ways do artists make work in relation to, or with, other artists?

How can a library of women artists associated with a region, exist for a community?

How do we find our role models?

Can archival strategies contribute to intergenerational conversations and art making?

I enjoyed looking at the range of material included in the library, and appreciated how the gallery has been set up so as to encourage visitors to spend time with the items and choose their own path through the contents, rather than being presented with a selection of texts pinned to a wall.

It was as I was flicking trough one of the publications that I came across the following text by Lydia Davis that really resonates with me.