Various artists

Art | Unlocked | Unearthed

Introduction

The Jennifer Lauren Gallery held a two-week callout in April 2020 for artists that self-define as disabled and/or Deaf to submit one artwork for selection that has been made since January 2020, with no theme or art material specified. This callout culminates in this rich and vibrant online exhibition and zine: ‘Art | Unlocked | Unearthed.’ 

With the help of artist and adult survivor Terence Wilde and curator Lisa Slominski, we have selected the work of 30 artists from 194 submissions. As part of the funding from Manchester International Festival, five of the selected artists are Greater Manchester based – highlighted by the word *MANCHESTER. 

Art provides a much-needed distraction and connection point for so many disabled and/or Deaf artists in order to combat the loneliness and isolation that many are currently facing. Many of those featured are from supported studios who are doing an incredible job to move their programming online to continue supporting disabled artists from a distance.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a work and we hope you enjoy some of the incredible art here, many from artists working out of supported studios. Supporting artist’s wellbeing is of utmost importance to me and this callout is just one way of providing a boost to artists during this time. Please get in touch should any works be of interest to you.

Manchester International Festival featured the exhibition HERE
Manchester ‘In Your Area’ Community News featured the exhibition HERE
“I was very happy when Jennifer asked me to be part of the selection process for her callout - an online exhibition of this type is a much needed creative initiative and much needed in this unstable time when artists in particular are having to work in isolation. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, so, when I began looking at the images on screen, I just wanted to gauge my initial emotional responses, before seeing the whole picture through the titles of work and stories behind their creations. I wanted to be fair and unbiased. I also wanted to bring a personal sensitivity and awareness when dealing with vulnerable artists, in this case artists identifying as disabled and/or Deaf. Submitting to callouts ,with or without help, is a daunting and very brave thing to do, putting yourself out there and anticipating a response. I’ve been there many times and continue to do so. After quite a few hours I sent in my marking, I looked at the heart and soul of a large number of entries and made my decisions with my own heart and soul.”
— Terence Wilde, artist and adult survivor
“It was such an honour to work with Jennifer Lauren Gallery on the selection for this national and international call out for artists. I was very impressed by the calibre of work submitted and even more enthralled by the intuitive creativity of the submissions. As a curator, I definitely discovered new artists from Jennifer’s call out that I look forward to including in future projects.”
— Lisa Slominski, curator

Supported by Manchester International Festival
#MIFCreatives2020

 

Works

Featured
A print of a figure from the waist up with a mass of orange hair, bright red lips and a white and black striped boob tube top. The figure is printed in black with heavy black outlines.

Joyce Davies: Making me Invisible
(Gaada)
Mono screenprint, 50x70cm, 19.7x27.6 inches
Give me time to talk. Let my voice be heard. Stop here, to listen. I may just have something worthwhile to say. You rush right past me making me invisible.

A grid like painting of Susan Brown drawing pictures of her mother from the waist up and the different outfits that she has seen her in. It is 8 people wide & 8 people in length in varying outfits.

Susan Brown: Her Mother
(Pure Vision Arts)
Mixed media on canvas, 61x91.4cm, 24x36 inches
Susan Brown has attended Pure Vision Arts since 2002. Diagnosed with autism as a young child, she began drawing spirals, women and cars at the age of five. Brown first painted her characteristic grid like drawings on cardboard in the 1980’s while working as a dishwasher at Friendly’s where cardboard packing was readily available.

A drawing of different animals with large sticking up ears in different directions on the page feature. The background and the animals are coloured with different markings & colours.

Martine Thielens: Stuffed Animals
(Studio Borgerstein)
Marker pen on paper, 70x55cm, 27.6x21.7 inches
Martine just loves people and animals. With her caring character, she takes equal care of her dolls and stuffed animals as the people who surround her daily. These people, as well as other cuddly figures, appear as characters in her paintings. Just as in real life, they surround her on canvas, sometimes prominently next to her, other times more in the background.

A digital collage of a figure in black & white with a dog next to them standing on grass with blue sky behind. Under them in the soil is a skeleton lying facing upwards holding a poppy that sticks up.

Sasha Callaghan: How do you like your Blue Eyed Boy, Mr Death
Digital collage, 14.9x14.9cm, 5.9x5.9 inches
As a disabled artist, my aim is to bring vivid and strange imaginings to life. Recently, I have been using a blend of collage and photo-montage to create surreal artwork that encourages the viewer to think about difference and see beauty beyond the mainstream. Each piece is constructed to challenge assumptions of ‘reality’ and convention.

A drawing of a head upside down and two hands wrapping around the top of the head with fingers touching. A lime green ink colour has been used with some floral aspects on white paper

Geza Brunow: 
Sea Foam and Palm Leaves

Ink and watercolour on paper
, 23x30.5cm, 9x12 inches

I love the ocean and the sea. Before I became disabled to the point that I am now, I used to surf as much as possible. Now I just watch the world go by from the pier. This is one of many organic "mood pieces" I create freestyle with pen and ink. I never know what will emerge.

A painting of lady with red hair & a man with black hair & a flatcap are sitting in a bar by a yellow table. The lady has an orange bag next to her. The wallpaper behind them is green with plants on.

Yvonne Backs: Two People in a Bar with Plants
(Studio Borgerstein)
Acrylic paint on cardboard, 80x90cm, 31.5x35.4 inches
Yvonne is inspired by a broad range of photographs from magazines and books. When she first starts, she aims for an appealing composition of shapes, which she then finishes with a warm and rich use of colour.

A grey cloth backdrop with a figure from waist up featured. The lady has brown skin made from different fabrics, a leopard print cardigan and a green/black hat on. All embroidered on top.

Theresa Malcolm: Portrait of Eleanor Xiniwe
(Submit to Love Studios)
Embroidery, 40.5cmx61cm, 15.9x24 inches
It’s my first ever embroidery. I’m pleased with how it looks. Art is good for the people.

A bright drawing of a brown & white cat lying across the bottom of the page - the words lottery written in circles above. A row of colourful cigarette packets above this & a row of alcohol above that.

Simone Johnson: NYC Bodega Cat
(Pure Vision Arts)
Mixed media on paper, 48.2x61cm, 19x24 inches
Simone Johnson’s whimsical and imaginative art depicts brightly coloured scenes of animals, particularly cats.

Two human bodies face each other, but each has a bird head with fancy feathers on the top and a pale pink circle around the head. The bodies are outlined in black, with black, orange and red featuring

Sara Ulfsparre: Grounded (IV)
Mixed media on paper, 21x29.7cm, 8.3x11.7 inches
This is part of my current series of works, where a bird/woman hybrid figure without arms or wings appear, referencing disability, pain and loneliness, but also integrity.

A white paper with a black ink pen drawing of a UFO at the top of the picture. Hearts fly out downwards to line drawings of people dancing below and looking up at the UFO/Satellite.

Sam Jevon: Satellite of Love
(Submit to Love Studios)
Pen on paper, 42x59cm, 16.5x23.2 inches
The title says it all really.

A painting on wood that is a mass of colour and pattern. A kind of face in the centre and many mini things collaged around this like a lion, a figure & little scenes of people. All bright colours used

Roy Gabbay: The Greyside of the Moonvine
(Pure Vision Arts)
Mixed media on wood, 61x45.8cm, 24x18 inches
A talented artist, Roy Gabbay draws, paints, sculpts and takes photographs. His highly detailed art is surrealistic and has been influenced by psychedelic artwork and his love of heavy metal music.

A bright coloured drawing of a series of shapes resembling crosses & flowers that are denser on the right of the page & peter out to the left. Small black text features on bottom right between shapes.

Rosie Stevens: 
Sunflower Soul

Ink pen and watercolour on paper, 
29.7x42cm, 11.7x16.5 inches

Through my process of art making I have tried to allow shapes, words and colours to form freely on the page. The piece incorporates stars, flowers, crosses and moons as well as some human-like figures. I have been looking at the art of Vincent Van Gogh recently and find his work inspiring. I listen to music on the radio when I draw, this helps me to move and feel.

A black pen drawing on white paper of a city view with lots of buildings and a church and trees. Things like brickwork have been clearly drawn in, so lots of detail and sky left plain.

Robin Wise: Untitled
(Alius Art)
Ink pen on paper, 42x30cm, 16.5x11.8 inches
This illustration is part of a series of favourite places in Scotland. It is the view of Belmont Street when standing on Union Street in Aberdeen

A painting of a pigeon in the centre dressed in a red robe. Either side the pigeon is being hugged by figures with fox heads and human bodies. Backdrop of block of flats in grey/brown tones.

Patricia Shrigley: Breeder
Mixed media on canvas, 114x130x3.8cm, 45x51x1.5inches
Playing with the stereotypical views on the meaning of the so-called underclass. Humans are often referred to as feral, breeding like pigeons for benefits.

A painting with two sets of legs, one white and one brown. One has stripey knee high boots & the other yellow, both with toes like how gloves go over fingers. Bright pink floor. Black swirled backdrop

Oscar Azmitia: Boots with Toes
(Pure Vision Arts)
Enamel on cassette, 7.6x10.2cm, 3x4 inches
Oscar Azmitia was born in Manhattan in 1978 and began attending Pure Vision Arts in 2006. Encouraged to paint on canvas he has subsequently created numerous meticulous works, many influenced by biblical epics.

A bright pencil crayon drawing featuring small mini scenes in a series of squares and rectangles across the piece. Small bits of text and copies of pictures feature in each square in high detail

Nicole Appel: Parrots and Pysanky (Homage to Roz Chast)
(LAND Gallery)
Pencil on paper, 61x48cm, 24x19 inches
Simply put, conventional portraits have traditionally represented people using their faces. Alternatively, Nicole Appel’s “Patchwork Portraits” are non-traditional portraits that represent people as a collection or a ‘patchwork’ of the things that they like or care about.
Nicole’s drawing, “Parrots and Pysanky,” is dedicated to Roz Chast, the famous, New Yorker Magazine cartoonist. Roz is a big fan of Nicole’s work.

A ceramic piece with a golden shine over the top. Two lizards (one brown/orange and the other green/black) are entwined together in a circular 3D form in clay.

Morgane Salmon: Ouroboros with 2 Lizards
Glazed faience with gold luster, 40x25cm, 15.8x9.8 inches
These ancient representations of serpents or dragons biting their tails are widespread symbols that represent the eternal cycle of regeneration. To augment the magical aura of her two fetish animals (she replaced the dragon by the lizard). Morgane highlights them by applying a gold luster during a third firing.

One side of a flat circular piece covered in pins in shades of green, yello and pink around the edge.

Monica Valentine: Untitled (side one)
(Creative Growth)
Mixed media, 14.1x14.1x5.1cm, 16x16x2 inches
Monica Valentine is enamored with colour, and is incredibly adept with her hands. Based on her sculptures that consist of vibrant layers of beads and sequins, it comes as a surprise that she is blind and has prosthetic eyes.

The other side of a flat 3D circular piece with pins in white, pale grey, orange and yellow.

Monica Valentine: Untitled (side two)
(Creative Growth)
Mixed media, 14.1x14.1x5.1cm, 16x16x2 inches
Monica Valentine is enamored with colour, and is incredibly adept with her hands. Based on her sculptures that consist of vibrant layers of beads and sequins, it comes as a surprise that she is blind and has prosthetic eyes.

A colourful drawing of several figures around a central vehicle that looks like it is selling goods. It is made up of lots of small shapes of colour one next to another. A highly patterned background.

Miguel Ángel Hernando: Untitled
(Debajo del Sombrero)
Marker pen on paper, 42x29cm, 16.5x11.4 inches
His world is the world of little things and fantastic animals, very much delicate, floating, loose and usually smiling. As time goes by, it gains an increasing process of adornment and decoration.

A large scroll of white paper with the words christmas and new york repeated and overlaid over each other in blue, purple and green. The text becomes illegible.

Michael Beard: Christmas, New York (detail) *MANCHESTER
(Venture Arts)

Oil pastel on paper, 1014x57cm, 400x22 inches
Michael Beard's artwork enables him to articulate his immense passion for travel. Compulsive writings of names of cities, famous towers and graphical signage and symbols that he identifies in each location, are strong themes in his work.

A painting on wood that has been built up in layers to give a 3D appearance. Muted colours used. Central top half of a lady in a red top, with a dog next to her. Two people laughing in the background.

Madeleine Hawes: Isolation
Acrylic paint on MDF wood, 74x109.5x13cm, 29.1x43.1x5.1 inches
Signing is disappearing. They laugh, I don’t; they are listening I am not. I stare and wait for the signing to begin. I am like the dog.

A drawing in paint on fabric of a brown bear outline with a few orange bits of colour. The bear is towards the bottom right of the image.

Leslie Thompson: A Brown Bear
 *MANCHESTER
(Venture Arts)
Acrylic paint on orange fabric, 
50x91cm, 20x35.4 inches
Leslie Thompson has been a regular practising artist at Venture Arts for over 20 years. He has a highly developed drawing style, drawing both from memory and through live observational drawings.

a bright coloured drawing of a couple (a white man and a black lady) holding hands on the bottom left. Two birds fly above & a big yellow sun in the top right & centre. Flowers feature at the bottom

Jimmy Tucker: Spring Love
(YAI Arts)
Prisma coloured pencils, pencil and sharpie on paper, 61x48cm, 24x18.9 inches
It is a picture of a couple enjoying being together on a nice Spring day or Summer day. I like to incorporate a lot of suns in my art, so the picture has a lot of suns and also I think the artwork represents just a nice day out with someone you care about.

A series of 9 mini drawings of children's characters like Winnie the Pooh and Paddington, with Jennie's handwriting around them featuring her name and other things she has read & copied down in pencil

Jennie Franklin: Untitled *MANCHESTER
(Venture Arts)
Felt pens on paper, 21x29cm, 8.3x11.4 inches
Jennie Franklin takes inspiration from found imagery, from leaflets and flyers and other paraphernalia, which she then interprets in her own style, picking and choosing from various sources to make her own compositions. Events and feelings that occur at the time of her drawing permeate the artwork - making for varied and personal pieces of art.

A bright image with high patterning. The words Euston Station are top centre with a big tube sign underneath and some tube trains with high patterning in lines around the edges and sides.

Ian Wornast: Euston Station
(ActionSpace)
Pen and pencil on paper, 84.1x59.4cm, 33.1x23.4 inches
My work is about London, transport links and changes I see when I walk around my neighbourhood. Things I notice, new buildings that are being built and things that catch my eye.

A textile piece in tones of red, pink and flesh. It looks like a jumper padded in sections to show muscles and ribs.

HML: Muscle Suit
(Interact Studios)
Mixed textiles, 127x127x15cm, 50x50x5.9 inches
HML is a multimedia artist with a background as a seamstress. She created Muscle Suit for Interact cast members to wear in ‘Here. Them. Now.’ A performance about the intersection of disability, gender identity and sexuality.

A drawing of a woman with brown hair and pale pink lips on a bright pink backdrop. The woman can be seen from the chest up with her hands up under her chin and rings on. A black top is worn.

Byron Smith: Woman with Hands
(LAND Gallery)
Coloured pencil on paper, 48x61cm, 19x24 inches
Byron Smith’s drawings and paintings are often gentle, celebratory and intriguing depictions of women. Sourcing his images from fashion magazines, Smith exaggerates his model’s features with long, bold eyelashes, polished nails and plump and puckered lips.

A white paper drawn on in black biro. Organic forms features and different thicknesses of marks. Many circular shapes flow into one another.

Beth Hopkins: Flux (detail)
Biro on paper, 56x73cm, 22x28.7 inches
This drawing explores our inner structures and connections, at a time when we are hyper aware of the vulnerability of our bodies. It is detail from a piece that is three metres long. 

A black pen drawing of a koala on a branch and the koala has short black lines making up the texture on its bodt

Andrew Johnstone: Koala *MANCHESTER
(Venture Arts)
Marker pen on paper, 29x42cm, 11.4x16.5 inches
Andrew Johnstone works in a careful, precise and deliberate way – a style that shines through in any medium he chooses.