Folk and Locus with Sally Light 5th February - 23rd March 2024
The Second of two exhibitions inspired by Somerset's folk and locus. Sally Light aka Bodkin Beak has won one of two places to work at St. John's Church. Funding has been awarded to support the exhibition, and community-focused launch events, by the Somerset Community Foundation.
Building on the success of Blues in the Pews and The Transformation Project in 2022, these exhibitions seek to continue developing St. John's as a centre of the Arts and offer opportunities for the community to connect with cultural happenings. Sami Green is acting as Curator in Residence, providing guidance, and encouraging artists to work in bold new ways. Inspired by SEED Sedgemoor, Highbridge creatives, and outreach workers, have formed Highbridge Arts Collective (HAC) who Continue to build on the opportunities created by the Arts Council England. The aim is to grow a positive sense of place and offer workshops and interactions that improve wellbeing.
Opening on Monday the 5th of February, Sally Light has worked with Sami Green Creative and Rev. Martin Little to take her 'Hedgeweft' series from Somerset Art Weeks 2023 into an immersive experience, combining her poetry as an audio artwork, developed with Daniel Birch Music and Somerset Film, with her digital textiles. The exhibition will be open to view until March 23rd, during church opening times. We are inviting people to a free celebratory viewing where Sally will treat attendees to a short talk about her inspiration, with time for questions on Thursday the 8th of March. There will be refreshments, wine and chat between 7.30 and 9pm.
Please let us know if you have any access needs, the church has a ramp to the main door. St. John the Evangelist Church, Church Road, Highbridge, TA9 3HS. (01278) 780633
For more information on the artist and her work visit the Folk and Locus project page https://www.facebook.com/bodkinbeak https://www.instagram.com/bodkinbeak/ https://bodkinbeak.co.uk/about-buttondesigner
Sally will also be making an appearance at the Highbridge Repair Café on the 16th of March from 10am - 1pm where she will be delivering a FREE Rag Rug making workshop and sharing her mending skills and some history about her craft.
PAST EVENTS
Folk and Locus with Elizabeth Woodger 9th October - 25th November 2023
Elizabeth Woodger worked with Sami Green Creative and Rev. Martin Little to take an image from her current Diagenesis project into St. John's Church. It was hung as an installation within the vaults of the building. We held a celebratory viewing where Elizabeth talked about her background in Geology and how this has inspired her work as a photographer. Throughout this project, Elizabeth has been working with Cheddar Gorge and Somerset Film at The Engine Room, Bridgwater. Her folded artworks were also shown at the launch, along with an opportunity to join a workshop decorating a leaf for a community tree mural.
For more information on the artist and her work visit the Folk and Locus project page https://elizabethwoodger.com/ @https://www.instagram.com/elizabethwoodger/
24th September - 9th October 2022
The Transformation Project - Part II Somerset Artworks Sanctuary Festival
Sami Green Creative won a CREATIVE PATHWAYS BURSARY with Somerset Art Works to continue developing and responding to The Transformation Project in collaboration with St. John's Church. She connected and collaborated with an exciting collection of Artists and community groups to programme three weekends of events for SAW Festival 2022. The workshops, art, theatre, dance, word and music are all responded to the festival themes of Sanctuary, Transformation and Community.
In January 2018 Sami Green designed and hung 'Flutter' a large origami mobile from the roof of a stunning Geodome for a small event. In May 2018 Artist Michael Pendry installed his incredible artwork 'Les Columbes' in Salisbury Cathedral. A swarm of doves carrying messages of hope across the ceiling of Salisbury Cathedral. As an ode to hope, post lockdown, Sami Green is revisiting 'Flutter' in collaboration with St John's Church, Highbridge, Somerset. The project saw vintage music paper, discovered in the church, out into the local community to inspire a post-Covid 19 reconnection that celebrated the awesomeness of potential creativity and created a spectacle that brought local people together for Easter.
Members of the Highbridge and Burnham community engaged in the artwork, collecting and folding pre prepared origami paper using a set of instructions that were available online. This resulted in the return of hundreds of finished artworks being returned to the artist and prepared for installation. The end result was suspended in the ceiling of St Johns Church and lit by coloured lights and glass. Each origami piece was a message of positive intention from all those that chose to contribute.
3rd - 7th July 2021
Sami Green X Simiah + Sophia Gazla
A metaphysical exploration of light, sound, and texture captured through conversations between object, technology, and human experience. Encounter a collection of abstract ecology and landscape inspired artworks, in kaleidoscopic colour. Paintings by Sophia Gazla, mixed media installations by Sami Green with soundscapes developed by synaesthetic Hip Hop producer, Simiah.
Emergentism is a collaboration that builds on a new body of artwork by Sami Green, based on research into the life cycles and new beginnings, symbolised by seed pods. They are containers for ideas and feelings, driven by a passion for the preservation of our natural world and admiration for its intrinsic beauty. Sculptural objects become the intention, coloured light and sound represent the metaphysical. Nature, perception, and experience are woven together through the process of visual interaction and immersion. Forms built through an exploration of the aesthetics of nature, harness geometrics and numerology through repeated pattern and process, in modern functional materials. Sculptures are then enhanced by the addition of sound and light to create interactive spaces for viewers to explore. Sami Green has worked with electronic music producer Simiah to isolate frequencies representing coloured light to develop the potential of sensory impact with audio soundscapes.
Electronic producer and sound designer, Simiah, is well known to the music world for his contributions to hip hop, with numerous releases on the King Underground and Cut N Paste labels. The exhibition showcases new work by the artist, working to understand the qualities of colour and light as sound to enhance the audience experience. Identifying the colours of light as sound frequencies, and playing with pitch, to intensify feeling responses and reactions. Utilising his gift of synesthesia the artisit has built a captivating and beautiful landscape of musical vibrations.
Bristol-Based Artist and Counselling Psychologist, Sophia Gazla, paints abstract artworks that provide a platform for the embodying, and sensemaking, of personal themes and journeys. Exploring movement, brushwork, and layers to represent internal landscapes in colour and texture. Sophia’s works will be motivated by colour frequencies and soundscapes created by Simiah, to explore the synesthetic qualities of colour and sound in the immersive experience. Embodying personal response as a material and physical perspective and exploring the idea that painting can be an expressive and regenerative process, supporting alignment and transformation.