Throughout February, Collage Collective at Fourth Wall Folkestone provided the opportunity for 15 people to co-work/ collaborate in the space using the medium of collage.
We are delighted to exhibit a large selection of works created during this time.
Throughout this exhibition you will be able to meet artists in the space. They will happily talk to you about their work, their experience and may even be working in the space when you visit.
Artworks will be for sale. With the aim of making art more accessible, we will be using a pay-what-you-can model (recommended donation £10-£100). Thanks to the generosity of all involved, a percentage of sales will also be donated to Fourth Wall Folkestone CIC.
We look forward to seeing you there.
About the artists:
Saphia Bishop
Saphia is a Folkestone based musician/DJ. Whilst not a practised maker, Saphia has dabbled in collage since discovering Kurt Schwitter’s readymades when she was 19.
The Collage Collective residency has been an opportunity for her to explore collaging further and the joy of collaborating with others that the format so readily supports.
Ivanya Daly
Ivanya Daly is a Folkestonian, a mother and a multimedia artist. She wanted to collaborate in the Collective at Fourth Wall Folkestone to share knowledge, creativity, chats, tea, (sometimes cake) and laughs through the dark winter months.
This last month has reignited Ivanya’s desire to complete various unfinished pieces of art that have been languishing, in a dark corner of her studio, for quite a while.
“Collage has freed me up to enjoy creative expression again.”
Sarah Dimech
Sarah Dimech started StudioSVPD in 2013 after graduation from the London College of Communication. As a multidisciplinary artist, designer and maker; StudioSVPD encompasses all that she does creatively, from murals to branding and creative direction. For companies such as MTV to independent businesses and personal projects for peoples homes or self initiated. Her values and vision is simply to put our common senses first. Designing in a meaningful way that supports and enhances human behaviour and actions in everyday life. Restoring and responsive to the needs of the living beings it impacts; and using her eye for colour and detail along the way. Her interests in interior design, nature, “waste”, craft, heritage and nostalgia are recurring themes that often resurface in projects.
Since leaving London and moving back to her hometown of Dover in 2018, the local creative community has been an integral part of reestablishing her practice. Working and supporting organisations and groups such as Future Foundry, Dover Arts Development, Transition Dover’s Repair Cafe, Ceramic Art Dover and co-founding Dover Pride in 2019. For commissions or enquiries please contact svpdimech@gmail.com
Ben Gore
Ben Gore is a Folkestone based multi-disciplinary artist and runs the independent arts distributor Blue Monday Press. As an artist, Ben works in a variety of mediums making everything from sculptures, to paintings, to handmade action figures. Through Blue Monday Press, Ben writes, edits, and publishes pop culture inspired books like Evergreen Fantasies, The Grime Activity Book, and Hip Hop Cocktails.
Ben wanted to get involved with the collage collective for a number of reasons. He has recently moved to the area and thought it’d be a great way to meet and make with fellow local creatives. Ben also wanted to take part to work collaboratively with other artists and to see what could be made together. Through taking part in the collective, Ben enjoyed seeing how everyone approached the medium of collage differently.
“It was great to meet other local creatives and collaboratively make together. The space was very welcoming and taking part definitely made him more comfortable making and creating around other people.” Finally, he’s glad he made some collages that he’s proud of!
Brigit Hegarty
Brigit Hegarty is an artist and yoga teacher who facilitates Wellbeing Through Creativity workshops and programmes designed for children and adults online and in person. Clients go to Brigit to learn how to access greater self knowledge through yoga, breath work, meditation, Qi Gong, Tai chi, Somatics, kinesiology, neural reprogramming and nutrition. Brigit’s practice is centred around the knowledge that there are many modalities of healing, and one which creates a firm connection with the inner world, creates presence and enables freedom of expression to flow is working through the hands. She believes that to foster this practice is to build strong foundations for personal identity, possibility and a fulfilled life and that to share this practice with others is to nurture purpose, meaning and community. “Presence removes time. Without time, no suffering, no negativity can survive.“ Eckhart Tolle
Brigit has found that working with the Collage Collective at Fourth Wall has been a great way to meet with a creative community here in Folkestone. She has also been able to include her daughter and mother in the process and share the joy and confidence building that collaging achieves.
“It has been such a pleasure working with Sarah and the other artists”
Maja Jones
Maja Jones is a graphic designer and collage artist. About the medium she says “Collage has always been there for me, but even more so in lockdown. It became a regular escape from the doom and gloom and I was really interested in how it can be a really powerful form of very accessible art therapy. It’s a powerful way of checking what’s going on on the inside.” “Going through magazines, mindlessly picking out the images, patterns and typography that speak to me, was and still is very therapeutic.” After lockdown, Maja teamed up with a local mental health charity in Eastbourne and ran ‘Collage and Wine’ sessions for parents and carers.
She recently started a new job that sadly means she has less time to devote to collage and when Maja saw the Fourth Wall Gallery collage residency advertised on Instagram, she really wanted to do it, to hang out with fellow collage lovers and just be in the flow. Maja loved the set up Sarah has at the gallery, so many materials, magazines, collages on the walls and felt it really invites creativity.
Maja loved the enthusiasm and encouragement for collaboration. Her favourite bit was when everyone mucked in and did a big joint collage paste up that was cut up into lots of smaller collages.
“I loved the relaxed and chatty atmosphere, even though I didn’t know anyone prior to the residency. It was also my first time in Folkestone, so the whole day of being somewhere new, doing something I love was a really nice experience, it felt like a mini collage retreat. Thank you for having me!”
Amy Kolsteren
Amy Kolsteren is a photographer based in Kent who recently found the passion for collaging. She loves being able to create something beautiful in a calming space. She finds It’s so interesting to see what different images jump out to her depending on the day.
Amy wanted to be a part of the collective as she’s always loved what Sarah does for the community and feels it’s just such a fantastic way to meet others who love the craft.
“Collaborating on art pieces was completely new for me and really pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I so enjoyed challenging myself to let go of perfectionism and creating something amazing together.”
Tamsin O’Sullivan
Tamsin O’Sullivan is an artist and creative therapist from sandgate.
She creates intuitive and healing artwork alongside helping people to connect to their own creativity in order to heal from traumas and improve their overall mental health. Being part of the collage collective has really pushed Tamsin outside of her comfort zone in terms of working in a group setting. She feels that it has been so great to be surrounded by lots of talented and creative people and has enjoyed every moment.
Jessica Peterson
Jessica was inspired to join this project by the creative work she had seen within the Folkestone community. She strives to create something that reflects the feelings around her and say’s that working with such creative people has affirmed her need for more of this in her life, and everyone’s life!
Hayley Restall
Hayley Restall is a mixed media artist, working mainly in acrylic and collage. The collage element of her work comes largely from discarded vintage craft magazines, specifically a giant ebay haul of 1970s Golden Hands magazines. Hayley’s mum had many of these magazines when she was a child, and she often came across something her mum had made for her, while looking for the perfect scrap of paper for a hill or a wave. Hayley cannot resist shine and sparkle, and liberally apply both to her work wherever possible.
Hayley signed up for the collage collective after promising herself that she’d branch out a bit this year. For some time she had been wanting to take her work on a little mini break in another direction and “see where we ended up.” Like most artists Hayley spends a lot of time alone in the studio and the chance to work with others was very appealing.
“What I’ve got out of it has been invaluable. The freedom to make something just because, to experiment, try out techniques and put things by several artists together that shouldn’t really work, but do. And finally it’s been a lot of fun! I have worked with some brilliant people, eaten a lot of cake, had some wonderful chats and a lot of laughs.”
Simon Richmond
Simon Richmond (www.simonrichmond.com) is a writer, editor and all-round creative. From his global travels, he’s also amassed stacks of magazines, colourful pieces of paper and printed images that he thought it was high time he did something with.
Joining the Collage Collective presented a fantastic opportunity to put some of this collection to good creative use, try out something new and collaborate in a friendly, mutually supportive atmosphere with others. A journey through Japan, encapsulating both the traditional and contemporary sides of the
country (as well as its delicious food) was the inspiration for his picture scroll collage. Simon lived in Tokyo for several years in the 1990s and has travelled extensively around Japan as the author of guidebooks for Rough Guides and Lonely Planet.
Emily Watts
Emily Watts is a creative based in Folkestone. She makes art and design interiors that play with scale, proportion and the human form. Much of Emily’s inspiration comes from her love of symmetry and everything Art-Deco.
Emily was excited to discover the collective and was keen to meet and create with others who share her love for the medium. The two most meaningful things she has taken away from the workshop’s are; the creativity that comes from many hands working on a single piece and the interesting outputs created when you loosen up the process.
“I have loved the experience and hope it continues in some form.”
Beth Williams
Beth Williams is a full time student, mother and Domestic Goddess. She is studying Fine Art at The University for The Creative Arts in Canterbury, with a practice that is experimental and varied, she was interested in the collage collective due to its emphasis on collaborative working. Beth has been making collages for many years, but never as a group project, as such she enjoyed this residency immensely and is grateful for the opportunity to work among some really talented people.
“Sarah and Fourth Wall Folkestone provided a friendly and supportive space for people to work together and I have gained valuable experience in group working.”
Lauren Willis
Lauren Willis is one half of The Beer Shop Folkestone directors, where alongside all the day to day jobs involved in running a business, she organises creative and social events in the space. Before moving to Folkestone (feels like quite some time ago now) Lauren studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and worked in contemporary art galleries in London.
Lauren wanted to take part in Collage Collective to allow herself the space and time to be creative and make things for no reason other than to make things. For Lauren, being in the space and working alongside other creative folks has been inspiring and she’s managed to make the most artwork that she has in years.
“I really feel like it’s helped me understand my style and feel more confident in the work that I make.”