HOLD FAST

We must hold fast to our rocks that provide us with joy in times of need.

HOLD FAST, a reflective and optimistic exhibition of work by three female creators, artist Jane Dinmore, multidisciplinary artist Louise Gray and writer/performer Karen McLeod, along with a special culinary collaboration for the opening night by MasterChef winner and judge Steven Wallis.

All three artists will explore the pausing of the mind with responses to the unspoken life through language and colour. Fragments of memory and pieces of conversation spark paintings, drawings, audio, movement and written word. Interruptions and misunderstandings when trying to pause are also themes encountered in all three artist’s work.

Hold fast, be responsible, stay true and you will not only survive the storm, but you will be stronger because you made it through.

ARTISTS & EXHIBITION WORK

Louise Gray is multidisciplinary creative who will be exhibiting various artistic practices with an installation of words, textiles, sound and movements for HOLD FAST. This will include her written practice with the self-published How You Act Has Power. Artworks are collected historical textiles, where more meaning is hand stitched, and the stories of these pieces are overlaid. Louise has collaborated with Danni Spooner and WET MESS to produce a choregraphed performance piece featuring garment designs by Gray and headwear from long-time collaborator Nasir Mazhar. This will be delivered over a spoken word track which features Gray narrating her writing and poems which is one of three bespoke soundtracks produced by Baby of Baby Daddy at Source Talk Records. All three tracks are to be released as a single.

Jane Dinmore is a fine artist and art educator. In this show Jane presents a collection of painting, sculpture and audio exploring fragments of memory. She creates imagined places where the silly hides the serious, where a camp sensibility kicks and wafts. Characters are concealed and morphed into their surroundings. These works fully enjoy the lawlessness of abstraction. In her sound work Jane honours the older female voice in a playful layered piece. These are intriguing poetic recordings that offers a relief from reality. Jane has created a sculptural work that remembers her childhood in a South London greengrocer’s during in the 70s and 80s. Jane Dinmore will be at the gallery during opening hours on the 1st and 2nd of April to meet.

Karen McLeod is a performer and prize-winning novelist. For this exhibition Karen has centred her artwork around her mum, Lily, who is living well, albeit with vascular dementia. "Once I realised Lily was making tens of phone calls a day, I began to save her voicemails. This allowed me to recontextualise them for my short film, ‘Hi Karen!' which is about finding personal space, humour and love within the demanding world of our uncertain relationship." Also exhibited are a series of word-art pieces springing from Karen's diaries, intense periods of automatic writing, and her favourite author's words about mothers.

THE ARTISTS

Louise Gray /@louisegray__ is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice traverses writing, fashion, costume and now sound. Known for her bold use of colour and textiles, Louise’s work challenges notions of the self and the culture we inhabit from a uniquely empowering point of view. Louise was an on-schedule designer at London Fashion Week and has collaborated with numerous artists and designers, including Orpheus and Eurydice at the English National Opera directed by Wayne MacGregor. Louise is currently year one lead academic on the prestigious MA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins. Archive pieces from Louise's London Fashion Week collection GET SOME STUFF are currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee as part of the TARTAN exhibition which includes a year long installation work titled; USE YOUR VOICE. She is currently working on her first book Response not Reaction which will be released in Autumn 2023

Jane Dinmore / @janedinmore is a fine artist represented by Jealous Gallery in London. Her paintings and drawings are an endless dialogue of vivid colour, shape, consciousness and the absurd. Profound nonsense is turned into landscapes, which have an energy and sense of optimism. The work’s comical titles allude to mischief. Recent solo shows have been at Jealous Gallery London and Jane’s work was selected by Grayson Perry for the 2022 RA Summer show.

Karen McLeod / @therealkarenmcleod is an award-winning writer and time-based artist. She is a published author and regularly performs as comic character Barbara Brownskirt, poet-in-residence at the 197 bus stop, Penge. She has had successful runs at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Duckie in London and a variety of literature festivals. Her memoir about flying will be published by Muswell Press in 2024. All her work, whether written, performed or for artwork, encapsulates a fascination with the minutiae of life.

Collaborator Steven Wallis /@mr.stevenwallis is a strategist, taste influencer, creative director and winner of MasterChef UK 2007. His creative, culinary and cultural foresight inspires consumer-centric solutions for food design, innovation and product realisation. Steven’s experience as a chef and taste connoisseur means he’s able to shape product development through tangible thinking on flavours, recipes and ingredients that deliver multi-sensory propositions and experiences. Steven has been called on to collaborate with some of the world’s most esteemed brands

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Copeland Gallery, 133 Copeland Road, London, United Kingdom