Friday 16 December 2016

Liz West presents new body of work in Leeds College of Art alumni exhibition

Liz West | Colour Wheel
Vernon Street Gallery, Leeds College of Art
Exhibition opens 15 December 2016 - 27 January 2017   

Leeds College of Art alumni close 170th year with a special ‘Colour Wheel’ exhibition

Throughout 2016 Leeds College of Art has been celebrating 170 years of delivering art education in Leeds. The College’s final alumni exhibition of the year features a trio of female contemporary artists, Georgina Starr, Liz West and Georgia Lucas-Going, who all studied at Leeds College of Art and have gone on to have highly successful careers. Working with colour, performance and sound, these three artists continue to demonstrate the reach, ambition and values of the College.     

The exhibition takes its overarching title from Liz West's planned installation 'Our Colour Wheel.' West wanted to go back to the literal and pedagogical 'Foundation' of her practice - the colour wheel as a teaching tool. She has invited 17 other artists, curators, teachers and friends from her past to submit their personal vision of a colour wheel to her. They will all be framed identically and installed as a grid format.     

This exhibition is the final installment in a programme of alumni group shows that have been held throughout the year at the Vernon Street Gallery in the College’s historic 1903 building, celebrating the diverse and ground breaking careers of past students and staff over the last 170 years. 
 
Our Colour Wheel, 2016. Image credit: Liz West / Fiona Grady

Our Colour Wheel, 2016. Image credit: Liz West

Our Colour Wheel, 2016. Image credit: Liz West / Helen Shaddock

Our Colour Wheel, 2016. Image credit: Liz West / Ric Warren

Our Colour Wheel, 2016. Image credit: Liz West / Garry Barker

Thursday 8 December 2016

Liz West presents new permanent commssion Sevenfold at The Met Theatre in Bury

 Liz West | Sevenfold
The Met, Bury


Commission opens 9 December 2016  

Liz West’s Sevenfold revealed as centrepiece of The Met

When The Met opens its doors in December 2016, following a £4.6 million refurbishment, at the centre of the historical building will be a newly commissioned art installation by internationally renowned artist, Liz West. The installation, Sevenfold, will mark the completion of this project to transform one of the North’s leading cultural live music, theatre and arts venues located in the heart of Bury.
  
The site-responsive piece will inject vibrant colours and a sense of illusion into the magnificent entrance and staircase of the Victorian neo-classical building.  Light is very important to Liz’s work, and this is a space that is flooded with natural light, which Sevenfold will draw upon to highlight the architecture and magnificence of The Met’s 1840s architecture.   

Sevenfold takes its reference from Newton’s rainbow sequence of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Seven (six prisms in the main installation plus one mini above the reception desk) individual and vast prisms have been created that use mirrors to further radiate colour and reflect elements of the beautifully restored architecture. As visitors ascend the staircase they find themselves at eye level with the artwork, giving the chance to marvel Sevenfold at its luminous best.  

David Agnew, artistic director of The Met, says, “We wanted to celebrate the light and sense of rejuvenation that the restoration of this stunning building has opened up and embraced.  The vision of this project is to use the past to illuminate the future, which Liz’s piece perfectly embodies.  As people enter the building they’ll be able to enjoy the visual spectacle of Sevenfold as it radiates against the vastness and intricacy of the Victorian plasterwork.”   

Liz West says, “I am delighted to be given this opportunity to make my first permanent installation, it is an honour to be asked to make a new work in such an magnificent and multi-purpose setting. The light-based, theatrical and immersive nature of my work ties in perfectly with The Met and the buildings use. I hope that visitors enjoy my work for many years to come and are able to see new elements within the installation every time they look at the piece.”   

The refurbishment project has allowed a re-imagination of The Met, which occupies the space of Derby Hall.  Built by the 13th Earl of Derby, Derby Hall shares its architect, Sydney Smirke, with the circular reading room at the British Museum.  It’s always been one of Bury’s grandest civic buildings having begun life as a Public Rooms, it’s also been used as the Town Hall, council building and since 1979, as Bury Metropolitan Arts Association.    

To see more about the plans for the building visit www.themet.biz/better To see more about Liz West’s work visit www.liz-west.com

 















Thursday 6 October 2016

Liz West presents new exhibition Autumn Lights at the National Trust's Little Moreton Hall

Liz West | Autumn Lights
Little Moreton Hall


Exhibition open 9 September - 17 November 2016  

Ancient hand blown glass in the windows of 16th century Little Moreton Hall is the inspiration behind the Hall’s first ever contemporary art exhibition, which opens this autumn. 

Autumn Lights, by British artist Liz West, has been commissioned by the National Trust as part of its Trust New Art programme, and is the start of an ongoing programme of work by contemporary artists taking place at Little Moreton Hall under the title The Senses.

“By bringing contemporary art installations into historic buildings such as Little Moreton Hall, we hope to add a new and exciting layer to our visitors’ experience” says Hannah Pierce, the Trust’s Contemporary Arts Programme Manager. “It also enables young, dynamic artists to create new work in spaces which wouldn’t normally be accessible, which can inspire and challenge their creative process.”   

Liz West has chosen to explore sight and vision, drawing inspiration from over thirty thousand lead window panes at Little Moreton Hall – and in particular, the glass they contain. “The ancient hand blown glass in the windows of Little Moreton Hall is tinted – very subtly – by trace impurities of copper, iron and magnesium” says Liz. “These historical ‘colourways’ will be the starting point for my artwork which will use natural light to visually alter visitors’ perceptions of the Hall’s many different spaces. These spaces can differ dramatically in atmosphere depending on the amount of light that’s present.”   

“By using prisms, filters, refraction and reflection, I want to create a spatial light trail through the Hall which will highlight elements of its architecture that are usually unnoticed or overlooked. This interplay of architecture, light and colour will constantly change as the sun’s natural light shifts through the Autumn season.”   

Autumn Lights, by Liz West opens at Little Moreton Hall on 9 September and runs until 27 November on days when the house is open. Find out more at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/littlemoretonhall.

Friday 9 September 2016

Liz West makes new work Our Colour for Bristol Biennial

Liz West | Our Colour
Bristol Biennial


Exhibition open 10am - 7pm until 10 September 2016


What does it feel like to be inside a colour? Does colour change the way you feel? For the 2016 edition of the Bristol Biennial Liz West invites visitors to drench themselves in the spectrum.

West has transformed architectural space and turned colour into an immersive and embodied experience by refracting light through carefully arranged coloured theatre gels. A vivid world is created, exploring our individual visual perception and how colour affects our senses.

This new artwork is part of a series by artist Liz West under the umbrella title Your Colour Perception that began in a residency at Castlefield Gallery’s New Art Spaces Federation House last year in Manchester. Our Colour is an immersive light installation, developed with experts and designed as an experiment in human colour perception. Using light as a sculptural material, the artist explores the physical, emotional and psychological effects of colour within a space.

Liz says “Most people rarely have the experience of being completely immersed in pure colour. I observe that after moving through the space – walking, running, dancing – and experiencing every colour, people often go back to the colour they find most comfortable; they will then stand, sit or lay there for some time to reflect.”  

For further details about Our Colour, opening times and information about the future projects please visit www.liz-west.com or bristolbiennial.org
Bristol Biennial
The Pithay
Bristol
BS1 2LZ

Free Entry
#OurColour