Les Bicknell Eva’s Place Sibton Green Saxmundham Suffolk IP17 2JX
artist
m 07875186542
e lesbicknell@gmail.com
w http://lesbicknell.blogspot.co.uk
Commissions since 2000
#knownknowledge, 2018
Working with Essex County Council and Commissions Projects to develop 6 steel plasma-cut public art sculptures for Goldlay Square in Chelmsford.
unfoldingthinking, 2017
A year with NanoTech DTC collaborating with PhD students and academics at the Maxwell
Centre for Nanotechnology in Cambridge. The project sought to extend an
understanding between cutting edge science and contemporary art, specifically
making connections between nanotechnology and the making of bookworks. Outcomes
include a series of interventions within labs and communal spaces, films,
artworks, exhibitions, papers and workshops.
Build your own: tools for sharing,
2016
Working in the
Castle Museum, Norwich during the Build your own exhibition. Engaging with members
of the public and creating a number of films exploring the process of making.
The work built on the collaborative work I had recently engaged in within the NanoPhotonics
Centre in Cambridge University. Working with the Director Prof. Jeremy J.
Baumberg on an experimental project
Parallel
Practices. 2015
A collaborative project with the Crafts Council and Kings
College London. Working in collaboration with Thrishantha Nanayakkara Senior
lecturer, King's College London and jeweller Naomi Mcintosh to explore soft robotics - squeeze
fold bend and expand - Structural Memory in Deformable Objects.
unpicking and rebinding. 2013 - 14
Working
with Ipswich Record Office, Museum of East Anglia and The Costume and Textile
study Centre in Norwich to explore the role of the fold within historical and
contemporary textiles and printed material to create a body of work, a book and
film.
Creative Carers. 2013
An Artlink pilot project to enable the writing of a report -
working within residential homes with carers of the elderly, developing their
own creativity and supporting their work with the elderly residents .
Bookmare. 2012
Creating
a body of work for the first bookmare at Camberwell
College of the arts – to include an illustrated talk and the design of the
print material for the exhibition.
The big book. 2012
The creation of a
large bookwork for the learning programme at firstsite gallery. The piece celebrates the history of the space
from its inception to the first exhibition alongside ideas including looking,
thinking, colour and illusion. The book is to be used as a tool to engage the
public in the exploration and understanding of the permanent and touring
exhibitions.
Journey to the podium. 2012
A commission for Essex County Council – to create a
collaborative bookwork with an athlete for the 2012 Olympics. Working with Dan Bentley, paralympian gold medallist, boccia player
to create a piece that connects the audience to the experience of
Boccia. The work has a functionality that mirrors the initial simplicity of the
sport; but when handled reveals the complexity and gamesmanship which is
embedded within the game play.
Interactive print. 2011
Working with Firstsite, Colchester museum service
and Essex schools to develop specialist print around the Roman Berryfield mosaic which is embedded within the floor of
the space.
Wrapping the Corn Exchange
with cornfields and sky. 2010
A temporary piece
for Ipswich Borough Council which
celebrated the history of the space whilst generating a moment of calm within
the town. The 75m x 10m printed piece wrapped Ipswich Corn exchange while it
was being redeveloped.
bench for Leiston. 2009
Working with Suffolk Coastal District Council on the
creation of an ‘art bench’ for the town of Leiston. The project involved
working with all of year 8 pupils from Leiston Middle School, creating drawings
at The Long shop Museum that were developed into designs which were then
sandblasted into recycled stone blocks and sited in the main square.
Beyond. 2007 - 08
A piece for the Hythe area of Colchester which celebrates
the stories of the people who used to work, live and play in the area before
its redevelopment. The two piece artwork sits either side of a path and the
continuous text is derived from reminiscence work with past residents of the
area and workers from the laundry. The shapes are derived from the distinctive
laundry building roof that was on the site. Supported by Barratt’s and
delivered by Colchester Borough
Council
Diss stones. 2008
The creation of a
work with Diss Town Council and
Cittislow sited at a Morrison’s store. The work celebrates the history of the
site while providing a talking point for the residents of the town. The piece
takes the form of
4 large granite pieces in the shape of buildings formally located on the site
with text/equations generated from community involvement sandblasted into it.
Temporary installation - based on ideas
around Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. 2007
Large-scale
installation for St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta. The piece
explored concepts around the science of seeing and the myth of believing.
What is important? – Working on a housing
estate in Great Cornard within the Housing Department of Babergh District
Council. 2004 - 08
This became a
4-year project working to develop a permanent creative shared space. The work
included working closely with the residents and all stakeholders to development
a shared language with which to develop concepts and drawings. These became final
inclusive pieces, including paths, which realigned the estate.
Writing instructions / reading words – a
site-specific text based work at the Poetry Society and an artist book Here are my instructions. 2002
Curated, produced
and edited by Redell Olsen and Susan Johanknecht with support from an Awards
for All grant.
Multi-functional street
furniture in the Quayside area and at St Crispin’s Urinal in Norwich. 2001
Developed with Norwich City Planning Department a
large text fence and ‘functional’ text feature that explored the history of the
developed space.
Louth Millennium sculpture project. 2000
A number of interventions around Louth with the sculptor Lawrence Edwards including 3 life-sized bronze figures and floor text panels. The work also involved working with local media to generate text, alongside workshops in schools and the generation of a one-off book and exhibition for the library. Commissioned by Louth Town Council and Commissions East.
Queen’s Suffolk Book. 2000
Creating an
editioned book, a one off bookwork and web site for Suffolk County Council in celebration of the Queen’s jubilee visit
to Suffolk.
Earlier Commissions include
North Kesteven
District Council. Alnwick Library. Sustrans.
Scunthorpe Borough
Coucil. Essex University.
Suffolk County Council
Lincolnshire County
Council. Eastern Arts
Board. Crafts
space Touring
Manchester
Metropolitan University. Birmingham
City Council Norfolk County Council.
National Museum of
Scotland Suffolk College
The Minories
Lead Artist roles since 2000
NanoArt DTC. 2016
Working
within a team of scientists, a collaborative project organised with Jeremy
Baumberg within the NanoDTC Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics,
University of Cambridge. This included presenting a paper at the Festival of ideas in Cambridge.
Dementia Quilt. 2015
Supporting and co-ordinating a student engagement with a local nursing
home in Norwich with NUA. Working with the residents, staff and students to
develop a number of artworks to be located within Grenville Court residential
home.
‘Home Zone’, Suffolk County
Council Environment and Planning Department. 2002-5
Redesign of two new streets in Lowestoft within the context of the
national 'homezone' design criteria with the residents of those streets, the
business's, local and national services. This was a 3-year project and also
included in the last year the generation of a creative team to build a new kind
of manual for the residents to understand their new street which resulted in many
digital interventions, a bookwork, CD ROM, web site and conference.
Marriott’s Way, cycle path,
Norfolk County Council Planning and Transport Department. 2001-3
Working over 21
miles in liaison with 12 Parish Council, Norwich City Council, Norfolk County
Council on the development of an artistic vision for the path. The work over a
3-year period included numerous consultation situations, developing the
signage, the creation of a number of sculptural text interventions, the
interpretative material, working with the Poet Esther Morgan on a YOTA project
and the design of a bridge.
Artistic Director of the
Millennium Gorleston Psalter Project. 2000-1
A collaborative
community art project that included building an art team, working with over 200
volunteers and a team of artists and designers to develop, design, and create a
one off Psalter. I then worked in collaboration with musicians, both
professional and amateur to enact the book in a performance in the church that
was involved in the commissioning the initial Psalter.
Exhibiting
Selected one person shows since 2000
the lesson National
Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Jan 2000
reading landscapes Focal Point
Gallery, Southend, Jan – March 2000
rural but not
isolated Peasenhall
and Sibton Youth club. June 2000
sibton Peasenhall
and Sibton Youth club. May 2001
folded space IP
Gallery, Colchester, April 2003
suppose it is true
after all? The Cut Arts
Centre, Halesworth April 2005
threads: mapped Gallery 1.1
Town Hall Gallery, Ipswich Sept 08 – Mar 09
unpicking and rebinding Norwich
Gallery, Nov 2013
unpicking and rebinding Museum
of East Anglia, Stowmarket Sept – Nov 2013
unpicking and rebinding small
tour includes Ipswich, Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds Record
Offices, Castle Museum, Norwich May – Oct 2013
Les Bicknell Centre
for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol, April 2014
plis croisés imprints,
Piegros La Castre, France, Aug – Sept 201
unfoldingthinking NanoDTC, Cavendish
Museum, Cambridge, Dec 2017-18
Selected Group shows since 2000
Views across the
Pond Blickling
Hall National Trust House 2000
Inside Cover Touring
inc Oxford Brookes, 2001
On Paper. New paper
art. Crafts Council,
July – Aug 2001
Edges, Crossings,
Thresholds. Elizabeth Fry
Building, UEA, July – Aug 2001
paper past/paper
perfect MoDA, Feb -
March 2002
paperworks Norfolk
Creative East Tour, May – June 2002
Right here, right now the
Herbert, Coventry, Sept 2006
looking for University
of the arts, London March 2007
Action/interaction Chicago
Centre for Book and Paper May 2007
Picasso’s Laboratory St James Cavalier, Centre for Creativity,
Valletta Malta 2007
From Book to Book Leeds Art Gallery, March – April 2008
The Last Book National Library of Spain, May
2008
imprints mediatheque
La Durance, Cavaillon, France Jun – Aug 2009
we are the history of textiles Dragon Hall, Norwich, March –
April 2010
exhibitor Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition July – Aug 2010
Prospero's Library Studio 75, London April 2011
Modified Expression National
Craft Gallery of Ireland, Kilkenny
July – Sept 2011
“Between
You and Me’ Samwon
Paper Gallery, Seoul Korea Nov – Dec 2011
rewind
Texere bi-annual, Kaunas Dec 2011
repeat Norwich
Gallery Jan 2012
library of lost
books Birmingham
Library June 2012
bookmare Camberwell
space July 2012
The Art and Soul of
Paper Various
locations Norwich 2013
Codex: Between This
and That bookartbookshop
London 2013
Boarders and
Crossings Dundee
Aug 2013
International Artists Book Prize Bank Street Arts, Sheffield October
2013
Resurrecting the Book Library of Birmingham, November 2013
DIY Cultures Rich Mix
- London May 2014
RUKSSIAN Artists’ Books Touring
exhibition Tsaritsyno State Historical, Architectural, Art and Landscape
Museum-Reserve, MoscowPavel Kuznetsov Museum, Saratov - Russia 2014-15
fashion 360 fashion week at NUA 2016
Art Language Location Cambridge
2016
paperscissorsbook a
Northern craft touring show in 2016
we love your books http://rejectamenta.com/wlyb/intersect-2017/
of average sunlight Kingsland Project Space, March - May 2017PAGES Touring
- Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham - March 2019
Print Matters -
books from the archives Przy Rektoracia
Gallery. Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art and Design, Poland. May 2019
Constellation Inspiration
and the Laramie County Library, Wyoming,
USA - June - Sept 2019
Artist Book
gommisti.
imprints,
Crest, France - July – 2010
site
specific online The
Cut, Halesworth. Aug – 2020
Wood-Sun-Stone
– imprints,
Crest, France. March - 2021
Friends
of Roger Ackling.
Grants and Awards since 2000
YOTA - Arts
Council 2000
Working for a year with my Parish Council exploring the role of the
artist in society. The outcomes were rich and varied including abstract
signage, lighting the church, exhibitions in the village hall and editioned
artworks each month for every household.
Commission
East – Awards for Artists 2001
To work with The Museum of East Anglia Life, the artist Sue Brinkhurst
and poet Esther Morgan to work on mapping
the collection project.
Commissions
East/Eastenglandarts – Awards for Artists 2002
To develop concepts and new work around ‘idea’ a virtual artwork in
collaboration with the writer Robin Brooks.
Commissions
East/Eastenglandarts – Awards for Artists 2003
Purchase of digital equipment to extend and develop practice.
Arts Council Grant recipient GFA 2013 – exploring the role of the fold
within historical and contemporary textiles and printed material held in
heritage collections within the Eastern region
Arts Council Grant recipient GFA 2016 - unfolding
thinking sought to extend our understanding between cutting edge science and
contemporary art, specifically making connections between nanotechnology and
the making of bookworks at the Maxwell Centre in Cambridge.
Published writing and articles:
Artists Newsletter. Galleries
magazine.
Artists Book Year Book. Catalogue statements as
an artist and curator.
Engage 9 an
Norfolk CC P&T Website
Recent writing
work included in catalogue Buch
Kunst Objekt published by Kunstmuseum Stuttgart 2016
'Smocking Is Evil?' Unpicking and Rebinding Futurescan
3: Intersecting Identities. 2016
unfoldingthinking making book art with scientists Artists Book Yearbook 2018-19 2017
NanoArt - Science Exhibitions in the Cavendish Laboratory January CavMag 2018
Observing
a gap and filling it with connections:
Where
does creativity come from and where does one go to encounter it?
exhibition catalogue essay and interview Telling Tales by Debjani Bhardwaj 2018
Advisor/Board membership:
Artist advisor for L.H.C.C.
Panel member for the distribution of individual grants to artists for
L.A.B.
Member of the
working party validating the M.A. in Book Arts and writing the student
Course handbook
at Camberwell College of Art.
Validation panel member for proposed B.A. in Fiber Art/Textiles at
Norwich School of Art.
Member of Eastern
Arts Board’s Regional Artists Advisory Group, The Year of the Artist.
Board member
Commissions East 2007 - 2010
Mentor Crafts
Council Parallel Practices 2016
Fairs:
Frankfurt Book Fair.1993 Chelsea Craft
Fair.. 1994 - 97
Represented at Frankfurt
Book Fair. 1994 - 97
London Book Art Fair 1994 - 97
Collections:
The work has been
acquired by numerous private and public collections nationally and
internationally including – Blackburn Art Gallery, The Bodelian Library,
Oxford, Chelsea Art College Library, Bibliotheque Nazionale, Florence, Herbert
Art Gallery, Coventry, Manchester Met University Library, Bibliotheque, Paris,
L.C.P. London, The Rijksmuseum, Den Haag, The Victoria and Albert Museum, New
York Public Library, H.R.C. Centre, Austin, M.O.M.A. New York, St Martins
School of Art, London, Wimbledon School of Art, Yale Centre for British Art.
Education work
Current Education posts
Course Tutor at
University of the Arts London Camberwell on the MA in Book Art. 1996
- 19
Senior Lecturer
on the Textile Design BA at Norwich University of the Arts. 2004 -
Visiting Tutor on
the MA Fine Art Course at Open College of the Arts. 2012 - 18
Year Tutor MA
Fine Art Course at Open College of the Arts 2018
- 19
Teaching Experience
Lincolnshire College of Art. G.A.D. Graphic Design. 1990
– 92
Suffolk College, Foundation. G.A.D and B.A. Graphic Design. 1992
– 94
Camberwell College of Art. B.A. Graphic Design & Joint Hons. 1993 – 99
Norwich Institute of Art and Design. B.A. Textiles. 1999
– 04
Visiting Lecturer
Brighton University, .B.A.
Fine Art.
Coventry University. B.A.
Art & Craft Studies.
Hertfordshire University. B.A.
Fine Art.
Humberside College of Art. B.A.
Fine Art Sculpture.
Kent Institute of Art and Design. B.A.
Communication Media.
Loughborough
College of Art and Design. B.A.
Fine Art.
Middlesex
University. B.A.
M.A. Fine Art, Printmaking.
Manchester Met
University. B.A.
Visual Communication Media.
Norwich Institute of Art and Design. H.N.D. Surface Pattern,
Crafts, Foundation, B.A. Visual Studies, Textiles,
Fine Art, Contextual
Studies.
Suffolk College. B.A.
Visual Studies.
Mentoring role within the Crafts Council Parallel Practices
2 programme 2016
Residencies since 2000
2001 Sibton Parish Council
2001 Physical Poetry, YOTA, NCC
2007 St James Centre for Creativity, Valletta
2015 Workshop for Being a man - BAM Southbank Festival Hall
2016 Build your own: tools for sharing, Castle Museum, Norwich
2017 Maxwell Centre for Nanotechnology in
Cambridge
Previous Residencies include
1989 Household Waste Disposal Site, Lincoln 1994 Becon
Hill Special School, Ipswich
Morton Hall Prison Lincolnshire 1995 Camden Arts Centre
Scunthorpe Library 1996 Suffolk College
1991 Kesteven House Assessment Center 1998 Norfolk
CC P&T Yota
Alnwick Festival 1999 Engage, Encompass Project UEA
1993 Stowmarket Library
Schools Residencies – over 20 years experience of ‘rising
fives’ to 6th forms including inset training with Humberside County
Council, Suffolk County Council and Norfolk County Council Education
Authorities.
My Education
Lanchester
Polytechnic, Coventry, Foundation Course 1982
London College of
Printing, Graphic Design BA Hons 1982 – 85
University
of the Arts London - Post graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching 2009/10
Current Work includes
currently
Developing a Synthetic Anatomy 3D modelling and
reflective thinking module at Kings for biomedical students with a team
constituted of members of staff from medical, biological engineering,
and anatomy.
invited
to be part of BABE 2021 “Lost weekend” https://www.instagram.com/respondproject/
writing text for
Turn the Page, Norwich.
creating work for
HERE an exhibition at artstation, Saxmundham.
running an online
course for Leicester Print Workshop.
Firstlight Bird Box project
