Returns Residency - Getting Started

For 1 week, a group of artists formerly working on a previous project in the city (Topographies of the Obsolete, 2013) based at the Spode factory site - have returned to Stoke to pick up some pieces ahead of a short exhibition with us in Autumn 2018.

Day One: 23 Monday 2018.

The Returns group has returned to Stoke-on-Trent for our ongoing research and artistic development. The group, formed of four artists (Danica Maier, Andrew Brown, Joanne Lee, Christine Stevens), has the Spode factory as starting point. From this original starting point the Returns artists’ group has opened up aesthetic, historical, political and environmental aspects, which we now want to take time to further explore. As part of a year year-long project we are spending the week in AirSpace Gallery (23 – 29 July 2018) using the space as studio. During this time we will build on existing work and develop new threads and artworks in relation to Stoke on Trent, its post-industrial environment, communities, and in the role of making and craft skills therein. 

Returns is an established collective of artists working in diverse media (photo, walking, audio, drawing, installation, clay, painting) who have sustained a dialogue across the last 5 years. Jointly, we have been involved with previous residencies in the Spode factory as part of the Topographies of the Obsolete (Intl European project) (2012/2013) with final exhibition in the British Ceramics Biennale (2013). From that we formed the group Returns as a newly developed collective and have since held 2 exhibitions with accompanying public events. ‘Returns’ in 2015 Bonington Gallery which included two student residencies. This was followed in 2016 by ‘In return’ at SIA Gallery including; a public seminar; audio walk and discussion group. The resulting works from this current residency will be brought together for an exhibition at Airspace Gallery (30 Nov – 15 Dec 2018) and summative publication.

You can follow our daily activities during this week on through the different voices of the Return members.   

Danica Maier