Residencies
Jessica Hoad | ResidencyLocation: Gloucester Place Studios
21 January - 31 March 2013
Jessica Hoad has a varied sculptural practice which explores how we connect and disconnect with each other, ourselves and the world around us. Her current practice focuses on human resilience and how we are shaped through adversity. She is particularly interested in transformative processes between different states of being and how we become who we are.
Previously she has used everyday found objects to create large scale immersive installations which often have had an active or participatory element. In one installation ‘Vent’ a continuous cycle of air is exchanged between sculptural object and audience. A large rubber balloon is filled with air sucked from the shared gallery space through an industrial vent on the wall. As the huge balloon inflates the viewer is forced to negotiate the space around them. The balloon then gradually deflates and the air is expelled through the vent and the cycle continues. In this work the repetition of emptying and refilling tests the strength of the material each time as it moves towards a whole.
Between January and March 2013, Jessica will work directly with Mission Gallery’s exhibition ‘Japanese Style: Sustaining Design’. In partnership with the National Waterfront Museum, she will create a series of Education Workshops with Primary school groups in Swansea, providing talks and participatory events. She will be based in her studio in Gloucester Place, with Mission Gallery and the National Waterfront Museum acting as hub for all the educational activity. During her residency, Jessica will directly address issues of site, space and architecture across both venues.
An overview of Jessica’s practice, plus a short screening of the work produced over the two months, will shown at Mission Gallery from 25 February – 10 March, during the final weeks of both the Japanese Style exhibition and Education Residency.
Jessica Hoad is based in Swansea. She completed her degree in Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University in 2009 and is currently studying on the MA Contemporary Dialogues course at Swansea Metropolitan University.
Further information: http://jessicahoad.blogspot.com
