TOWNER Eastbourne What’s On Autumn & Winter 2020

#EastbourneALIVE Gallery One Art, Life and Us: Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie and the Towner Collection

19 September 2020 to 16 May 2021 Free Admission

Art, Life and Us guides the visitor on a journey that reflects on and embraces our place in this changing world, exploring themes of nature, the body and the meaning and cycles of life. Works from Towner’s Collection intertwine with new artworks and interventions by the artists including ceramics and objects arranged to imitate the artists’ personal collections and a moving image installation comprising woodland materials Neo Naturist Cabaret Artistes at Rest, 1992 set amongst painted wall murals. © The Artists, photo: Wilf Rogers Collection artists include Phelan Gibb, Leon Underwood, Paule Vezelay, Joy Christine Binnie and Jennifer Binnie Griffith, Sir Alfred James Munnings, have a long-standing connection with Harold Mockford, Duncan Grant, Henri the Eastbourne area and grew up in Gaudier-Brzeska and Chris Drury. Wannock. They spent formative years attending Eastbourne College of Art and Design which firmly established their identities as artists.

They have both developed a strong connection to the rural and downland landscape that has influenced their work in performance art, pottery (Christine) and painting (Jennifer). Along with Wilma Johnson, the sisters are founding members of The Neo Naturists, a performance art collective which evolved in the early Christine Binnie and Jennifer Binnie on the 1980s in London. South Downs, photo: Rosie Powell

#ArtLifeUs Studio One, Gallery Two & Gallery Three Towner International

6 October 2020 to 10 January 2021 Free Admission

Sherko Abbas, Ayo Akingbade, Jonathan Baldock, Paul Becker, Maeve Brennan, Adam Chodzko, Julia Crabtree and William Evans, Benedict Drew, Rita Evans, Marianne Fahmy, Mu-Tien Tammy Ho, Ian Land, Alexi Marshall, Stuart Middleton, Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Ryan Orme, Joe Packer, Mohammed Sami, Arpita Shah, Jack Shearing, Omar Vega Macotela, Carla Wright

Towner International is a new biennial exhibition of contemporary art featuring British and International artists. Artists were selected through an open call process by Towner’s Offsite and Exhibitions Curator Noelle Collins along with guest judges Polly Staple (Director of Collection, British Art, ) and Turner Prize nominated artist Mike Nelson.

The exhibition is an exploration of how artistic communities are recording and responding to the Benedict Drew, still from The Bad Feel Loops, 2019 economic, political, cultural and © The Artist. Courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery, London environmental changes that are unfolding across the world today. These themes are examined through a wide range of media including photography, moving image, sculpture, installation, ceramics, painting and print.

The Brewers Award of £10,000, sponsored by Brewers Decorator Centres, will be awarded to one of the exhibiting artists along with mentoring from the Towner team.

Ayo Akingbade, still from Dear Babylon, 2019 © The Artist #TownerInternational Online Film London Jarman Award 2020 Touring Programme

Thursday 5 November, online from 12.00pm Free

Project Art Works, Illuminating The Wilderness, Film Still, 2019, © PAW

The Film London Jarman Award Project Art Works will discuss their celebrates the most exciting artists recent film Illuminating the Wilderness working in moving image in the (2019) directed by Kate Adams and UK. This year’s shortlisted artists Tim Corrigan, and filmed on location are Michelle Williams Gamaker, with Ben Rivers, Margaret Salmon Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, and neurodiverse artists and makers, Jenn Nkiru, Project Art Works, families and carers. The film follows Larissa Sansour, and Andrea Luka the investigation of a remote Scottish Zimmerman. glen over several days and reveals the pleasures and challenges of Art and film lovers can watch full- neurodiverse responses to nature length works by all shortlisted and shared experience. artists during a special online screening on Thursday 5 November. Please register for these events Towner’s Director Joe Hill will host at townereastbourne.org.uk an online conversation with Project Art Works at 6pm. Gallery Three Margaret Mellis: Modernist Constructs

23 January to 11 April 2021 Free Admission

In 1939, aware of impending war, The strength of Mellis’ work lies in her the artists Margaret Mellis and her confident and relentless exploration husband relocated of colour and form both on canvas from London to St Ives in . and through her re-appropriation Their move would become a significant of objects. Modernist Constructs catalyst in the formation of The introduces and reveals Mellis’ artistic St Ives School, which also included accomplishments, whilst aligning , her within the British Modernist and Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, movement. who had followed them to St Ives. The school is heavily aligned with the story of British , with many of the artists becoming well-known. Margaret Mellis however remains largely overlooked.

This exhibition draws from Mellis’ extensive repertoire of work, spanning her career and illuminating the breadth of her practice and underlying narratives: it brings together her early experiments in collage under the guidance of Ben Nicholson and in the 1940s, the vibrant abstracts of the 1950s and 1960s (reminiscent to those of her friend and contemporary ) and the contemplative, yet playful driftwood constructions that dominated the final twenty years of her practice.

Margaret Mellis, Fisherman, 1990–1991 © The Artist’s Estate, photo: The Redfern Gallery Gallery Two Melissa Gordon: Liquid Gestures

30 January to 11 April 2021 Free Admission

Melissa Gordon is an artist, curator In recent works, a grid, mesh or and writer, whose practice is concerned chain-link fence is the first image with the body, gesture, and painting, silkscreened directly onto the canvas, viewed through the lens of feminism. creating a framework that plays host Liquid Gestures is a solo exhibition to an array of intriguing references. featuring large-scale paintings that Photographs and texts relating to her further her examination of modern art research are then painted or printed histories, ideas of authorship, and the onto the surface, while outlines and appropriation of certain ‘gestures’. silhouettes of painting tools, clothing and domestic objects slip over and under colourful swathes of paint. Traversing between figuration and abstraction, these brushstrokes and pools of colour have been re-painted and reproduced from the incidental mark making on Gordon’s studio wall with an almost forensic examination of gesture.

Gordon invites us to consider the significance and influence of artists such as Janet Sobel in relation to the drip painting and Dada poet Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven in relation to the readymade. Their contributions to art history have been eclipsed in a culture of gender inequality that is noticeably persistent even today.

Melissa Gordon, Female Readymade (Broom, Empty Calendar, Mabel’s painting, Net, Rope, Chain, Test canvas), 2020, © The Artist Join In

During this unusual period our Learning Team has been developing new ways to make together with our local and national audiences.

We’re working with artists to design packs of art materials and activity sheets, which are delivered through our community partners to households in Eastbourne and East Sussex. Lothar Götz, Dance Diagonal, 2019, photo: Eva Eastman Additionally, our Instagram Live Making Workshops series is available Dates Extended to view on our website. Lothar Götz: The Arts In Mind group with artist Dance Diagonal Mandy Wax continues to meet online and we are looking forward to Now extended until May 2021, don’t welcoming back participants to our miss Dance Diagonal, Lothar Götz’s Open Ended sessions when it is safe large-scale, geometric artwork which to do so. has transformed the gallery exterior. Götz, a German artist based in the In October we have two special weeks UK, was chosen from over 60 artists of free live activities in the building. through an open call for the Brewers Towner Commission, a painting Christine Binnie and Jennifer Binnie commission to mark Towner’s 10th Anniversary in the current building. 13 to 18 October, 12 to 4pm This is the first time an artist has been Studio Two commissioned to create an artwork at scale for Towner’s exterior. The sisters will use the space to share their daily routines and practices: Save the Date to make work, plan projects, practice music and perform yoga as if it were John Nash: their regular artist studio. Each day The Landscape of Love and Solace the space will be open for the public to see and talk to the artists. 1 May to 26 September 2021 Tickets on sale now Rita Evans Towner Eastbourne and Compton 27, 29 and 31 October Verney Art Gallery and Park Studio Two are pleased to present the most comprehensive major exhibition of We will be hosting Towner work in over 50 years by John Nash, International artist Rita Evans one of the most versatile and prolific to share activities with families. artists of the 20th century.

For more information visit The Landscape of Love and Solace has been co-curated by townereastbourne.org.uk/learning Andy Friend, independent curator (Ravilious & Co, 2018) and Sara Cooper, Head of Collections and Exhibitions, Towner Eastbourne. Ravilious Gallery

Towner has one of the largest public collections of work by Eric Ravilious (1903–1942) as well as extensive archive materials. The Ravilious Gallery is a dedicated space presenting changing exhibitions and offering new perspectives on the works of the artist.

The current hang includes many of Ravilious’ Sussex paintings and examples of his ceramic work made for Ravilious Gallery, photo: Rob Harris Wedgwood. Supported by Eastbourne Arts Circle. Visitor Information

Please note that the Collection Library • If you or a member of your household is currently closed to prevent the has symptoms of Covid-19, please do spread of Covid-19. Please check our not visit the gallery. website and social media for updates. • To allow social distancing we will Towner Cinema be limiting the number of visitors allowed into each exhibition space We’re delighted to announce that and also into the building itself. Towner Cinema will be reopening on You may be asked to wait for short 17 October, with reduced capacity and periods during busy times. Covid-safe precautions in place. After a long hiatus, and with film release • On entry, all visitors will be asked dates still uncertain, we’re looking to sanitise hands and we will also forward to being creative with our be taking contact details to support programming and showing a curated NHS Test & Trace. selection of new and recent films, alongside some classic cinema. For up • Visitors are required by government to date information, visit our website guidelines to wear face coverings to and sign up for our cinema newsletter. enter the gallery.

• Cashless payments only please.

• Our cloakroom, sensory space and library remain closed for the time being, but please check our website for updates.

Towner Cinema, photo: Rob Harris Your Visit

Join our Conversation Towner café Visit our website to join our Our spacious top floor café is open, mailing list or contact us at serving delicious snacks and light [email protected] lunches, with reduced capacity @TownerGallery @hello_towner and table service to allow for social distancing. Cashless payments only. Our revised opening hours for September are Wednesday to Sunday Shop 10.00am to 5.00pm Our ground floor shop is open. Cashless payments only please. From 6 October our opening hours are You can also enjoy our online shop Tuesday to Sunday 10.00am to 5.00pm at townereastbourne.org.uk/shop Free postage for purchases over £25 Towner will be closed on 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. Venue Hire Our spaces, including the cinema, Free Admission are available to hire for daytime and evening events. To find out +44 (0) 1323 434 670 more, call +44 (0)1323 434679 or email townereastbourne.org.uk [email protected]

Getting Here Membership Towner Eastbourne, Support our work and enjoy invitations Devonshire Quarter, to private views, free entry to ticketed College Road, exhibitions, and discounts for talks and Eastbourne BN21 4JJ special events as well as in our café and shop. Join now for as little as £35 per We encourage environmentally year at towner.gallery/members friendly transport options. Secure bike racks are available and we are Booking 10 minutes walk from Eastbourne train We recommend booking tickets in station. Visit towner.gallery/carfree advance at townereastbourne.org.uk, or contact us for more information. by calling +44 (0) 1323 434 670 or at the Welcome Desk, unless otherwise Direct trains to Eastbourne from stated. London (1 hr 25 mins), Brighton (35 mins) and from across the South Accessibility East. The 3 (local service) and 12A We have a lift to each floor and a (Brighton) buses stop near the Winter wheelchair can be provided. See our Garden Theatre on Carlisle Road. website or contact us to discuss specific needs. Towner supports the I-GO Pay and Display parking is available at Access All Areas scheme. College Road Car Park. Both Pay and display and free on-street parking is Front cover artwork: Jonathan Baldock, Maske XLI, 2019 also available close to the gallery. There © The Artist. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London is a drop off area (15 mins) and on street parking bays for blue badge holders to Thanks to Devonshire Park Hotel for their ongoing the front of the building. support.