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My work is concerned primarily with occupied spaces and the narratives that unfold in them. My drawings of school playing fields, junked underpasses and the like often contain text with the tone of dialogue. Through these glimpses of speech the dilapidated environments come to life in a skint version of enchantment: a tree stump or a broken fence are filled with the meanings of the events that go on around and about them. In my attempts to unearth this unpredictable and fragile process of memory, I use biro drawings, paper interventions, animation, video and text. More recently I have made a series of interventions, films and animations and text that focus on recurring motives that often feature in the work, ditches, unofficial dumps and breached security fences. My series of Pop-Up drawings inhabit the space between two and three dimensions, transforming folded paper into emotive sites for memory and recollection. The films bring to life a series of landscapes that are digitally manipulated, coloured and made to move. Before each scene a title screen announces a name for the landscape, outdoor scenes are then modified to show some minor action in repetitive motion. These subtle movements such as a falling roof or clicking fence humorously draw attention to the miniscule, the enhanced sound of each action dramatizing life’s kinetic force. A recent series of moving image films ‘Severed’ a landscape in peril, coughing up its own blood ‘The Deracinater’ a tree trying to communicate and uproot itself and ‘The Isle’ a whole landscape under threat, heighten the human impact and presence on our landscape, both social and ecological. The work is unassuming, quite often made from simple materials and with seemingly modest aspirations. It is their quotidian qualities, however, that charges them with emotion, not that those emotions are easy to identify. It is not that these works are personal or autobiographical that obscures their emotional content, it is the fact that they are irreducibly, irrevocably unsettling. These sites are the scenes of humiliation as well as innocent play, of rejection and failure as well as fantasy and adventure. 1999/2000 M.A. Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, Grade: Distinction 1996/1999 B.A. Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Grade: 2:1 Solo Shows 2010 tbc Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London 2008 The Short Cut Kings Lynn Art Centre, Norfolk The Invader (Curated by Elena Schmitz) Chapter Gallery, Cardiff Dark Corner Margaret Harvey Gallery, St Albans 2007 The Bridge was a good place to throw stuff off….. Leicester Art Gallery Offsite, Leicester Shreds of Evidence (Curated by Danielle Arnaud) Museum of Garden History, London On The Run and The Passage Wexford Arts Centre / Various Locations in Enniscorthy Per Cent Commission, Ireland Our Place BLOC Space, Sheffield 2006 Pop Up’s and Interventions The National Glass Centre, Sunderland ARTS COUNCIL North East Offices Show and Commission BALTIC centre for contemporary art Launch of Publication, Newcastle Upon Tyne Jerusalem ‘Book Space’ Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax 2004 Hanging Out at the Lamppost The Lowry Residency, Commission and Solo Show, Manchester Floating IP Gallery Plan-chest Show, Manchester 2001 Hoxton Distillery (above the Macbeth) Shoreditch, London Selected Group Shows 2010 Virtually Real (tbc) Cardiff, Manchester, London 2009 Open End Tank TV (online), London Parlourdoor And All Through the House, Group Show, New York The Event Various Venues in Birmingham Project Pigeon - Pictorial (Curated by Alex Lockett and Ian England) Rea Garden, Birmingham In Between the Lines Recent British Drawings (Curated by Jeremy Cooper) Trinity Contemporary, London Le Roman Du Lievre: Marginalia MTS Gallery, Anchorage (also touring to New York and London) Blue Sky (Curated by Nancy J Clemance) Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge Celebration of Earth Day The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California The Kiss of A Lifetime (Curated by Mike Chavez-Dawson) Rogue Project Space, Manchester and other venues tbc The Kiss of a Lifetime (Part 2) Vane (as part of the Print Beinnale) Newcastle Upon Tyne Place, Identity and Memory Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries Eastern Open 09 Kings Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk TESTCARD (Curated by Projeckt) Online Project, London ANIMATED Wysing Arts Centre, Bourn, Nr Cambridge 2008 AQUA Art Fair with Danielle Arnaud, Miami, USA LE60 Lumen Eclipse, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Time is Love (Curated by Kisito Assangni) Octobre Gallery, Paris Inside-Out (Curated by Lotte Juul Petersen) Wysing Arts Centre, Bourn, Nr Cambridge The Golden Record (Curated by Mel Brimfield) Collective Gallery, Edinburgh Stop Watch RSA Arts and Ecology/Animate Projects Commission, Various Venues (see website link for details) Visions of the Nunnery The Nunnery, London Tatton Park Biennial 2008 (Curated by Parabola) Tatton Park, Knutsford, Nr Manchester Margate Rocks Margate, Kent Eastern Open 08 Kings Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk (prize winner) 2007 ISOBAR (Curated by Gaia Persico) Fieldgate Gallery, London Bolwick 4 Bolwick Hall, Nr Norwich Creekside Open APT Gallery, London Harry Smith Anthology Alt.Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne Merdre! Pendu Gallery, New York, USA Art Video Västerås, Sweden Snow Domes The National Glass Centre, Sunderland 2006 Too Much Freedom! Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA One Love, The Footbal Art Prize The Lowry, Manchester EXPO Sonic Arts Cornerhouse and Victoria Baths, Manchester Visions of the Nunnery The Nunnery, London Paper Cuts Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery and Various Venues Another Product Cornerhouse, Manchester Jerusalem Dean Clough Gallery, Halifax London Art Fair Work curated by Danielle Arnaud and Pryle Behrman 2005 Artsway Open Artsway, Sway, The New Forest Emergency 2 Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth Perspectives 2005 Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast Future Landscape Shrewsbury Art Gallery, Shrewsbury 2004 La Petit Paysage Independent, Liverpool Biennial 04 'Bad Kids' Warrington City Art Gallery, Collins Gallery, Margaret Harvey Gallery I am a Curator (Curated by Per Huttner) Chisenhale Gallery, London 2003 Keith Talent Gallery Drawing Show, London Prospects Drawing Prize 2003 The Truman Brewery, London 2002 May it Return in Spades Bart Wells Institute, London Blinc G39 Gallery, Cardiff 2001 Sparwasser HQ (Z-Bar Cinema), Berlin, Germany If the wind changes you'll stay like that Mafuji Gallery, London 2000 Mostyn Open 11 Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno (prize winner) Perspectives 2000 Ormeah Baths Gallery, Belfast Dilated Pupils V.T.O. Gallery, Bethnal Green, London Becks Futures Student Prize ICA, London Uptight Outasight Plus Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany Exit 24hrs Chisenhale Gallery, London Publications, Collections and Reviews 2010 Pop Up’s and Drawings Publication published by Marmalade and Wysing Arts Centre Drawings on Paper Work acquired by Professor Timothey Dwight Woolsey, Texas State University 2009 Between the lines Recent British Drawings Publication Curated by Jeremy Cooper with an essay by Catherine Lampert 2008 The Invader Guardian Exhibition Previewed by Jessica Lack The Invader Metro Newspaper Exhibition Previewed by David Trigg The Golden Record reviewed in The Times, The Herald, The Scotsman and the Metro Newspapers Tatton Park Biennial 2008 Catalogue Published by Parabola with an essay by Sally O’Reilly Three Artists Views Engage Publication 22 2007 Shreds of Evidence Guardian Exhibition Previewed by Jessica Lack ISOBAR Publication by Gaia Persico and Angela Kingston Shreds of Evidence Publication Published by Parabola with an essay by Lisa Le Feuvre 2006 Our Place BALTIC/Creative Partnerships Residency Publication The Lowry Work acquired for the Professional Footballers Association Collection 2004 Hanging Out at the Lamppost Metro Newspaper Exhibition Preview I am a Curator Publication by Per Huttner Mag Collection Work acquired by Paul Wilson for the Mag Collection Bunk Publication Commission for Bunk 2002 Mined Publication Commission for Tank Magazine Awards and Commissions 2009 Arts Council England Funding for Artistic Development and Research 2008 Enquire Commission Urban Origami for Kettles Yard, Ruskin Gallery and Wysing Arts Centre Tatton Park Biennial 08 Commission Tatton Park, Knutsford, Nr Manchester Stop.Watch Animate Projects/RSA Arts and Ecology Commission for Ecologically Inspired Film 2007 Arts Council England Funding for ‘Shreds of Evidence’ Museum of Garden History Residency 2006 50 Drawings in Snowdomes National Glass Centre Commission, Sunderland Arts Council North East Offices Commission and Show Per Cent for Art Commission/Residency Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland 2004 The Lowry Commission and solo show 2003 Bookworks Short listed for Chap Books Series 2002 Middlesborough Art Gallery Short listed for Drawing Residency London Arts Board Artists Bursary Awarded 2001 Mostyn Open 11 First prize award winner 2000 ACAVA First Base prize winner (one year’s free studio) 2010 Chinese Arts Centre/501 Arts Space Artist in Residence, Chongqing, China Artist in Residence Bedford Creative Arts, Bedford Imagine a Film at Wysing Storyboard Workshop at Wysing Arts Centre 2009 Vital Arts Shrink Your World Project Chisenhale Gallery and Vital Arts You’re the Boss Residency, collaboration with Yara El-Sherbini (ongoing) Creative Partnerships Artist in Residence Residency at Colbayns High School, Clacton, in collaboration with Science and Art Teachers Lancaster University Lecture and Tutorials Media Box Project Leader on Digital Project with Disadvantaged Children, WAC 2008 Various Schools in Cheshire Part of Tatton Park Biennial 08, Tatton Park West Suffolk College Lecture and Tutorials, Bury St Edmunds 2007 Bolwick 4 Bolwick Hall Residency and Show, Nr Norwich 2006 The National Glass Centre Artist in Residence, Sunderland Berwick Gymnasium Short listed for Berwick Residency BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Freelance Artist BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art/Creative Partnership Artist in Residence 2005 V&A Museum Digital Artist in Schools Residency ACAVA Dianne Hughes Residency in Schools Lancaster University Lecture and Tutorials V&A Museum Digital Art Workshop Leader 2004 Lowry Art Gallery Drawing Residency with St Thomas Aquinas School Warrington Art Gallery Residency at Young Offenders Institute, Warrington 2003 V&A Museum Digital Art Workshop Leader CITAS Narrative/Image Workshops with refugees, Hammersmith Kings Cross Workshops in Schools for production of Carmen Manchester Metropolitan Lecture and Tutorials on B.A Fine Art 2002 ACAVA Selected for portfolio development and artists talks in schools ACAVA Drawing and Storytelling Workshop with refugees 2001 Hurlingham and Chelsea School Children with Dyslexia 2001 Newcastle University Lecture and Tutorials on B.A and M.A. Fine Art Other Website and Blog Links: www.animateprojects.org/films/by_artist/w/s_woolham www.artcornwall.org/webprojects/scanners_simon_woolam.htm www.darkcorner-simonwoolham.blogspot.com www.daniellearnaud.com/projects/projects-index.html www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio.cfm www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A24030497 www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=12273 www.tank.tv/movie.php?movieID=604 www.blocprojects.co.uk/programme/exhibitions/2007/simon-woolham www.wysingartscentre.org/app/webroot/artists/137 www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/16/art.centrallistings Simon Woolham's streams of consciousness make for very engaging artworks. He doodles his memories and fantasies on paper, often adding little tid-bits of information to guide the viewer through the caverns of his mind: places where he camped as a child, bleak underpasses and school playing fields - the unassuming backdrops against which the drama of his life has been played out. Jessica Lack on ‘The Invader’ at Chapter Gallery, The Guardian August 2008 Woolham’s Poetic interventions take a unique response to archiving by chewing, tearing and twisting paper into elegant sculptures which are then littered among the garden tools on display. On the walls are animations of these sculptures come to life, creating a magical, after-dark impression of the gallery after closing time. Woolham’s exhibition combines playful fantasy with a rigorous investigation of the museums neglected spaces. Jessica Lack on ‘Shreds of Evidence’ at the Museum of Garden History, The Guardian August 2007 |
