AER Conversations at Chelsea College of Arts

Tuesday 23 April | 1pm until 2pm | Chelsea College of Arts, Red Room

This event is open to all UAL current students and staff. A live stream will be available and a link will be sent out prior to the event. Please select your ticket accordingly.

To coincide with the Art for the Environment exhibition at GroundWork Gallery (16 March – 8 June 2024), celebrating the 2023 AER residencies, Art for the Environment – Conversations at UAL offer a platform for generative encounters in which ideas and experiences are exchanged between exhibiting artists and former AER residents. Building on shared experiences, common lines of enquiry and resonances in practice and research, new and past residents come together to reflect on the impact and legacy of their practices and to reflect on their creative role in envisioning a world of tomorrow.

This series of conversations is curated by Camilla Palestra (Centre for Sustainable Fashion) and organised in collaboration with UAL's Post-Grad Community.

In conversation:

Sophie Anna Gibbings* (2023 AER resident, Domaine de Boisbuchet, FRANCE) with Pat Naldi* (2016 AER resident, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK)  

Lucy Jane MacAllister Dukes (2023 AER resident, GroundWork Gallery, UK) with Carly Breame (2022 AER resident, Mahler & Lewitt Studios, ITALY) 

Moderated by Veronica Sekules, GroundWork Gallery

Biographies

Sophie Anna Gibbings was born in Santa Barbara, California (1994) where she spent the first 18 years of her life. She received her BFA in photography from Lesley University College of Art and Design in 2016 (Formally The Art Institute of Boston). She recently earned her MA in Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins. Sophie was shortlisted for the University of The Arts, London Maison/0 This Earth Award. She is also a recipient of the University of The Arts, London Art for the Environment Residency Program (AER) at Domaine de Boisbuchet, France. Most recent exhibitions include Meant to Fade, Laneway Gallery, Cork, IE, Impermanent, Safehouse Gallery, London and Dance for the Sky, Slash Arts Gallery Houseboat, London. She also recently completed a residency at Joya: arte + ecologíca, Spain. Sophie is based in the UK. 

http://www.sophieannagibbings.com/ 

Pat Naldi (2016 AER resident, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK)  

Pat Naldi is an artist and Lecturer in MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins from which she also holds a PhD. 

Addressing the geopolitical, environmental, socio‐spatial, and ideological construction and operation of urban/rural landscapes, Pat works with video, installation, live-events, photography, and writing. She was awarded the 2016 AER residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park which contributed to her book chapter 'Managing Arcadia: From the King's Cross Estate to the Bretton Estate' published in 'British Art and the Environment: Changes, Challenges, and Responses Since the Industrial Revolution', Routledge 2021 

Lucy Jane MacAllister Dukes (2023 AER resident, GroundWork Gallery, UK) 

Lucy Dukes is a transdisciplinary artist and philosopher based in the UK. She gained her BSc in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method from LSE (1st class hons, 2015-18), completed the Royal Drawing School Intensive (2019), then got her MA in Art & Science at Central Saint Martins, UAL (1st class hons, 2020-22). She has exhibited work, completed residencies and run workshops across the U.K. and Europe, from Dartington and Chelsea College, to Berlin and Athens. Lucy has taught on courses at CSM and ZHdK and collaborated with scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the Iskratch Lab, QMUL and the Biophysical Sciences Institute. 

The artist grew up drawing in her mother’s studio, which they still share. Lucy works site-specifically experimenting and collaborating across disciplines and species, with artists, scientists and more-than-humans. Recently she was awarded the AER Art for the Environment Residency with Groundwork Gallery and exhibited her work (detail shown above) in The Ground Beneath Our Feet. 

Carly Breame (2022 AER resident, Mahler & Lewitt Studios, ITALY) 

Carly Breame, a Yorkshire-based material designer, ceramist and advocate for environmental integrity. As an MA Material Futures Graduate, she integrates research with craftsmanship to create everyday objects, promoting sustainable production practices. Her 'off the menu' project, in collaboration with a Margate-based restaurant, addresses ceramic production's environmental impact, using unconventional materials like fish bones and wine bottle glass as alternatives for ceramic materials. 

Carly's Mahler & LeWitt Studios residency in Umbria focused on representing Spoleto's material culture through dining tableware. Exploring the region's geological landscape, she repurposed discarded clay from a Marsciano quarry and collaborated with a local vineyard to develop unique glazes. The ongoing project includes wine jugs and plates for a Michelin-starred Umbrian restaurant and collaborating vineyards, aiming to capture Umbria's essence, cultural history, and promote lower environmental impact. 

Veronica Sekules is an environmentalist, curator, writer and educator. She founded the education and learning department at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, and has experience working as a consultant on numerous national and international projects. She is widely published in both art and education fields. From 2016 she became founding director of GroundWork Gallery in King’s Lynn, the gallery exclusively dedicated to showing and connecting art and the environment. 

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Chelsea College of Art & Design, 16 John Islip Street, London, United Kingdom