Contains Art Evaluation Report 2020

Final evaluation, January 2020
3. Supporting practitioners
As well as the support that
we offer practitioners through
the exhibition programme
opportunities described in
the previous section, we
also undertake various other
activities intended to help
artists on their journey’s. For
the last few years we have
run a series of ‘container
conversations’ that provide a
place for discussion, debate
and critique for our artists’
community. We held four such
talks in 2018 and the same
in 2019, experimenting with
different formats as we consider
the evolution of the series and
the move to larger gallery in
due course. Some of the talks
are explored in more detail in
the following pages.
We also held a series of
conversations with local
practitioners who are
interested in taking studios
and working closely with us
in the new development. This
enabled us to understand
practitioner needs, hopes and
ideas and to connect them
firmly to the East Quay as it
moves forward. This work was
followed up at the start of 2019
with a Symposium, bringing
together the artist community
in developing ideas about
what is possible in the new
building. We were delighted to
welcome Bedwyr Williams as a
guest speaker at the event. A
second Symposium was also
held in December 2019, again
exploring future thinking in
regards to East Quay. This time,
we welcomed feminist artist
Rachel Ara to speak
Jenny Barron
New Perspectives
We have run a series of
speaker events during the
past that have been very
successful with creative and
public audiences alike. The
format of these evolved as we
have run the events. The most
interesting variant proved to
be a kind of ‘conversational’
Q&A format, which provided
a relaxed non-formal set-up
and also enabled those who
might not be comfortable in a
more traditional ‘speaker’ role
to agree and engage with the
process.
Jenny Barron’s container
conversation, which
accompanied her exhibition,
was the first opportunity for
many to hear this well-known
local artist speak first-hand
about her influences and
approach to her work.
Jenny led the conversation
through a conversational q&a
that was conducted during the
daytime—our first event of this
kind, having previously held
talks during the evening, often
on a Friday night.
We had looked extensively
at our audience profile for
Jenny’s work and decided
that the most attractive
format would be to hold the
conversation over Sunday
brunch in our container
courtyard. This was also part
of initiative to offer more
daytime cultural events and
weekend activities.
Dylan Fox
Rituals of Tourism
Responding to Dylan’s playful
approach to engagement and
because his works were sited
out and about in the town as
well as in the gallery, we reimagined
the format for his
‘container conversation’. He
was joined by lecturer Renee
Pfister for a walking tour of his
works, complete with stop for
ice-cream, pop into the pub for
a pint (and to see his beer mat
works) and dip in the ‘boating
lake’ (to see his wind breaks)
and finished with fish and chips
eaten around a conversational
table at the containers (having
taken in his postcard works
that were available from the
chippie).
The different format was very
much enjoyed by participants,
although it was harder work
to secure an audience than
when delivering the kind of
event we have become wellknown
for. This did not diminish
the impact of the event for
participants however, with
several commenting that the
smaller numbers (10 versus
the usual 20 or so for such
events) gave a chance to have
deeper and more involved
conversations, an opportunity
that was valuable given the
complexity and sensitivity of
the subject of Dylan’s work.
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