‘Open Books’, Paula Roush
Working within the framework of CoolTan Art’s support for therapeutic art workshops, Paula Roush established a collective under ‘Open Books’ as a participatory photo book project. ‘Open Books’ explored the narrative development of how a photographic collection can be viewed and interpreted through the different media of hand made editions, printed editions, and public exhibition. The photo book project was developed to address a sense of time and place through the incorporation and display of images, consisting of home, personal identity, memory and a sense of history.
The participants worked with a mix of found, sourced and individual photographs with the outcomes incorporated into a collective exhibition of photo books.
The photo book is an ideal medium by which to express one’s individuality and also enter into a dialogue with others. The visual juxtaposition of newly made images with personal memorabilia enabled the participants to develop personal narratives with both an artistic and therapeutic value through the exploration of memory, autobiography and cultural identity.
The process of creating the photo book project encompassed a variety of skills, from image making and composition, to the study of personal archives and family albums, the selection and editing of the material, including writing and drawing, and the physical construction of handmade book proofs that included sewing and other craft-related skills.
The final outputs of the photo book project included the creation of artist newspapers and a case bound book. For the exhibition, loose pages from all the publications were stitched and mounted into frames to evoke the physicality of the publications. The process of decision-making and selection was part of the working process resulting in both the personal/private books and a collective public exhibition of both books and prints on the wall.
‘Open Books’ was commissioned by HS Projects and funded by the Insight Community Arts Programme (2002 – 2015).
The project ran from January to June 2013.
‘Flight Structure Part II’, Sandra Blow
HS Projects was appointed by Heathrow to re-locate ‘Flight Structure’ by Sandra Blow, R.A. (1925 – 2006) to the Compass Centre, Heathrow’s new Head Office, in 2013. Working in close collaboration with Heathrow and BDP Architects, we examined a number of locations for ‘Flight Structure’ and identified a site on the ground floor in the East Block.
‘Flight Structure’ first underwent extensive restoration by Mike Smith Studios, including upgrading the lighting system from fluorescent to LED, complete re-wiring, and replacement of the stainless steel facia panels, re-configuring the work from wall based to free-standing. It was installed into the ground floor of the Compass Centre East Block, forming a focal point visible from the centre of the building and functioning as an architectural screen between the cafe seating area and kitchenette, thus maintaining Blow’s original consideration for the screen to have an element of functionality.
The shape and dimensions of ‘Flight Structure’ were originally determined by the Terminal 3 departures hall’s security gateway for passengers to move airside. These architectural references are typical of Blow’s work, especially since her collaboration with the architect Eric Defty in the 1970’s.
This commission being Blow’s only large scale experimentation with glass, forms an important part of the artist’s body of work. According to the artist herself: ‘Flight Structure is balanced to give the sense of a secure enclosure, whilst the luminous, coloured glass panels lift off into animation and gaiety,…with colours running across the top, taking off into flight.’
HS Projects re-located ‘Flight Structure’ to the Compass Centre in 2013.
Private Collections
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We have acquired work, on behalf of our clients, by both internationally acclaimed and emerging artists, including Eva Hesse, Joseph Kosuth, Pipilotti Rist, David Shrigley, Martin Parr, Sandra Blow, David Zink Yi, Inventory, Justin Mortimer, Alan Brooks and Christopher Bucklow.