2019 in review

2019 has been a year of ups and downs personally, socially and creatively. It began with a serious foot injury which meant I was bedridden for a couple of months. During this period I turned to writing as my creative outlet. Over the past few months I have lost touch with this aspect of my practice, but writing regularly is one of my priorities for the forthcoming year.

My understanding of time changed during the months of my recovery and on my return to the studio I referenced this in the watercolour paintings that I made of diaries, calendars and notepaper.

 

Throughout March 2019 Caitlin Merrett King was resident at The NewBridge Project, working closely with studio and associate members to record Group Show, a podcast acting as an informal archive, giving voice to the inner workings of NewBridge, friendships and current collaborations.

Caitlin's podcast became the ideal opportunity for the group of women (see image below) who were involved in the realisation of Bobby Baker's Great and Tiny War, to talk about collaboration and some of the associated issues.

Episode 8
https://thenewbridgeproject.com/events/listen-group-show-caitlin-merrett-king/



The work of marginendeavour (David Foggo and Helen Shaddock in collaboration), has become an increasingly important aspect of my practice. 

We also contributed to Caitlin Merrett King's Group Show podcast (episode 1) with a work titled 'The Back and Forth'.

https://thenewbridgeproject.com/events/listen-group-show-caitlin-merrett-king/

Much of our work in the studio has centered around the idea of an eyesore on a billboard. We produced a number of 'mock ups' for billboards, and are currently working on a life-size billboard to be exhibited in the Spring/Summer.









I was delighted to have my work included in a new publication WordPower: Language as Medium.





As life became more turbulent, drawing became one way in which I tried to deal with what was happening.



In August 2019 David Foggo and I hired the NewBridge Project Space for a small exhibition, Bits and Pieces, featuring some of our solo works as well as one work by marginendeavour. We collaboratively curated the exhibition to emphasise links between individual artworks and our practices.















Working within the grid structure of the Frieze listings page, I set myself the challenge of using coloured hole reinforcers in different ways to fill the blank spaces.













marginendeavour created a new eyesore artwork for the Newcastle University Fine Art Postcard Auction.



marginendeavour continue to work on the life size billboard.




After a few months of creation and development, we launched the marginendeavour website. Please visit it at https://www.marginendeavour.co.uk/

I also updated my own website http://www.helenshaddock.co.uk/

One of my artworks was included in the Gallagher and Turner Open Exhibition 2019.
https://gallagherandturner.co.uk/open-exhibition-2019


Another series involved collaging complementary colours in the blank grid spaces within the Frieze magazine listing pages.









In November marginendeavour and Lesley Guy from TOTALLER joined Theresa Poulton, Jill Tate, and Matt Pickering for a roundtable discussion in which we exchanged ideas and experiences with other artists with a shared interest in working collaboratively and collectively.



My most recent series of drawings has been based on the 26 letters of the alphabet. Each A4 sheet features one letter










As the world counts down to the start of a new decade, I am currently working on a series of number drawings.

I'd like to thank you all for your support throughout the year. 

I look forward to continuing to share my artistic process with you.

May 2020 be filled with creativity.

The back and forth on soundcloud

marginendeavour recently created an audio work in response to Caitlin Merrett King's call for works to be part of a podcast. Our contribution to the podcast is a reflection on our collaborative process and explores the potential of the spoken word; emphasising the rhythmic, layered and repetitive qualities within the narrative.

The audio file can now be listened to via soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/hshaddock/the-back-and-forth

marginendeavour feature on Group Show Series 2 @ The NewBridge Project

Group Show is an art podcast series curated by Caitlin Merrett King covering topics like work, collaboration and criticism.

Series One was conceived of as part of 12o's S/S17 curatorial residency as an exploration into expanded curatorial practice. Each episode includes a mixture of interviews, sound commissions and regular features covering artist-led activity around the UK.

Series Two was produced at The NewBridge Project, Newcastle for the Practice Makes Practice residency in March 2019, and features music, sound pieces and interviews from studio and associate NBP members.

Series 2 episode 1 features an interview with Rebecca Huggan, the Director of NBP, sound pieces by Gobscure and marginendeavour and a chat between Tamara Micner and Yael Roberts who is currently on Collective Studio based at NBP.

David Foggo and Helen Shaddock work collaboratively as marginendeavour to explore our affinities with text and design. Our contribution to the podcast is a reflection on our collaborative process and explores the potential of the spoken word; emphasising the rhythmic, layered and repetitive qualities within the narrative.

Group Show Image by Eva Duerden (12o)

LAUNCH - Friday 26th April

The first episode can be listened on

iTunes

Spotify

and http://www.caitlinmerrettking.co.uk/

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Unintimacy - Friday 26th April - 7pm-12am - The NewBridge Project

Unintimacy

Friday 26th April 2019

7pm-12am

The NewBridge Project

Carliol House, Market Street East, Newcastle, NE1 6NE

The launch event of the latest series of podcasts about collaboration curated by Caitlin Jean Merrett King. Episode 1 features an audio work by marginendeavour, collaborative duo David Foggo and Helen Shaddock

Join us in the foyer of Carliol House for a night of performance, film and music which has been co-produced by various artist through collaboration. These collaborations are made up of partners, friends, lovers and family, formed through both closeness and distance, admiration and mimesis, love and care, desire and lack.

Unintimacy has been co-curated by artists Caitlin Merrett King and Grace Denton. The duo will kick off the evenings events by presenting new experimental performance works made together but remotely between Glasgow, and Newcastle. The event will feature films by Harriet Plewis & Rhodri Davies | Cherry Styles & Laura Robinson | Competition & Sophie Soobramanien | Sophie Chapman & Kerri Jeffris | Alex Sarkisian & Bahar Yürükoğlu | McGilvary/White | Yeah You | Georgia Lucas-Going.

Following the screenings local radge pop band GGAllan Partridge and, NBP house DJs You F***in Wot will play a collaborative DJ set. Dancing is widely encouraged!

Another wunderful evening with team Wunderbar (and Caitlin Merrett-King)

Glasgow-based artist Caitlin Merritt-King is currently doing a residency at the Newbridge Project in which she is wanting to record a new podcast exploring:

- methods of collaboration

- the political nature of working with friends

- friendship as emotional and feminised labour

- how we exercise care and love within art practice.


The podcast is going to serve as an informal archive that will aim to be a useful tool for experimenting for Newbridge now and in the future.

When I saw the 'Call for Ideas' I thought it could be an opportunity for us to share some of the Great & Tiny War experience. I was not necessarily thinking of it as a podcast just about Great & Tiny War, but more about the experience of all of us working together.

So, I arranged for us to meet (well, as many of us as were available), and we spent the evening talk about collaboration, working together, being friends, being women, caring for each other, caring in the art world, the nature of feminine work, Great and Tiny War, Bobby Baker and so on. Caitlin is going to edit the footage and the podcast will be available online in the near future.