We are excited to announce that this year’s PLL Award has been offered jointly to two recent MA graduates, David Blackmore and Fritha Jenkins. Each will occupy half of Pete’s former 500 square foot studio for a year. David graduated from The Slade School of Art (UCL) in 2015 and Fritha graduated from The Ruskin School of Art (Oxford University) in 2016. It is the first time we have given the award jointly. Both artists are experimental makers with sculptural practices who will benefit immensely from use of this large, free space at a transformative time in their careers. Fritha and David each demonstrate strong connections to the processes and values that were important to Pete and each of them present exciting proposals for our public programme. In addition to their shared space, David and Fritha will have access to our ground floor studio for regular solo presentations, events and public engagement activity during their year at Chisenhale Studios.
In his statement David Blackmore says: “My practice hinges on the boundaries between order and dissent. I intend to push my studio practice further, processing new developments by interacting with visible signs of authority and ownership and exploring methods for undermining materials. My contribution to the public programme at Chisenhale Studios will include a curated a series of events to further explore the instigating factor of my practice; frustration. This will be accompanied by open studio weekends and a Rage Room where visitors will be encouraged to lash out towards inanimate objects in a controlled environment.”
And Fritha Jenkins writes: “I intend to use this award as an intense period of making, with time for consolidating and developing ideas and processes which I began to open up during my MFA course. The resulting new body of work will have outcomes across sculpture, performance and video. I’ll also be creating work in response to material from the archive of the science writer, hovercraft expert and IJNA fellow Angela Croome. I’ll be curating a public programme involving talks, performance, exhibits and screenings broadly related to themes in my research and practice. Alongside this I’ll be continuing my work engaging with elderly people and their carers; seeking out meaningful and playful collaborations.”
The award commemorates the life of Pete Lloyd Lewis who worked in Chisenhale’s Studio 3 until his death from cancer in 2013. A critical and enquiring artist and teacher, Pete was instrumental to the growth and development of Chisenhale Art Place, of which he was a founder member. Pete’s practice was playful, experimental and open to diverse influences and media. He was preoccupied with the boundaries between the artificial and the real, often amplifying the synthetic qualities of materials and forms by contextualising them in relation to nature. The award is generously supported by Ted Sumner who was Pete’s partner, providing a studio rent-free for one year. Previous recipients are Athena Papadopoulos, Hannah Honeywill and Seth Pimlott.