As the winner of the Site Darbyshire award, Emily Smith was offered an exhibition at Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA) and the manufacture of new work from Darbyshire Framemakers. Rather than simply the presentation of a cheque, the award offers a form of mentoring service from Mark Darbyshire and SVA in the form of a dialogue with the winner in order to realise work which previously could only have existed at the proposal stage.

With the award Mark Darbyshire intends to act as a conduit between the public funded artist-led SVA and the art market of gallery owners, collectors and museums. SVA is principally a site of production and it also acts as a facilitator for project-based experimental events allowing both studio artists and visiting artists to develop their work in an environment somewhere between the cell-like privacy of the studio and the glare of attention of the gallery.

The series of work that the award will enable Emily Smith to realise is itself an enquiry into the systems of realisation, how thoughts are realised in form. She is using the award as an opportunity to further her interest in how language, speech and writing both create and obfuscate meaning by developing her ‘writing machines’. The work questions objective and singular memory, and investigates how the past is recalled through both visual memory and physical trace.

Emily Smith exhibited at the Site08 Darbyshire exhibition in June 08 alongside work by national and international artists as part of the Site festival, an annual festival of contemporary arts which takes place in Stroud, Gloucestershire. UK artist Peter Liversidge selected and shortlisted the entries for the award. Peter Liversidge has exhibited widely in Europe and the US. Liversidge exhibited at the recent Europalia Festival in Brussels, having been selected by the British Council as the UK’s representing artist.

Alongside the exhibition there will be a series of talks, discussions and poetry readings on each Sunday during the exhibition. A particular highlight will be a talk on Sunday 8th March at 11am by Brian Dillon, author of a memoir, In the Dark Room, and the UK editor of Cabinet.

END

associated events
in negotiation a discussion led by Colin Glen Sunday 1 March 11am
retrace: A Return to the Point of No Return a talk by Brian Dillon Sunday 8 March 11am
retrace: exhale poetry readings Sunday 15 March 11am

'His Cabinet' wood, plaster, projection. Emily Smith. Photograph by Emily Smith

Editors notes

Emily Smith
Emily Smith is an award winning artist who creates sculpture and installation pieces. Emily Smith completed her Fine Art Ma from UWIC in 2006 and graduated with a first class honours degree in Visual Art with Visual Culture from the University of Gloucestershire in 2004. She was awarded the 2008 Darbyshire Award.
Her practice examines themes of loss, absence and trace and stands as an investigation of memory; the subjectivity, transience and loss inherent in the act of remembering. The work is rooted in philosophy and in theory such as Derrida's theory of grammatical trace and Freud's theory of memory, applied to the materials and methods used. The work questions objective and singular memory, and investigates how the past is recalled through both visual memory and physical trace.

Site Darbyshire Exhibition and Award
This annual exhibition of work by national and international artists takes place as part of the Site festival, an annual festival of contemporary arts taking place in Stroud, Gloucestershire. The exhibition presents work from shortlisted artists and an award is presented to a selected artist. UK artist Peter Liversidge selected and shortlisted the entries for the award. Peter Liversidge has exhibited widely in Europe and the US. Liversidge exhibited at the recent Europalia Festival in Brussels, having been selected by the British Council as the UK’s representing artist. Liversidge is represented by the Ingleby Gallery. Darbyshire Framers awarded a prize of up to £1500 worth of framing services to Emily Smith, the selected artist who was offered an exhibition at SVA, John Street, Stroud.

Site festival, 1st -30th June
The Site festival has a vibrant and challenging programme of visual and performance arts with international connections. From billboards to engine sheds, empty shops to industrial estate units, common land and footpaths the Site festival encourages artists to colonize an unusual assortment of spaces. SVA, the organiser, opens up its doors for the whole month of June as the main site for the festival. Open Studios, an essential ingredient to the festival takes place for two weekends with more than 100 participating artists.

Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA)
SVA was founded in 1997 with the aim of promoting and supporting the artists working in the area. Starting from humble beginnings, when volunteers helped to convert a disused town warehouse into artists studios, SVA moved back into its building in John Street Stroud in 2007 after completing the 2nd phase of the £1.5 million building refurbishment project. This unique contemporary arts resource provides good quality space, facilities and support to a wide number of artists and the community.
The building has been designed by Tony Fretton Architects, whose back catalogue includes the Camden Art Centre, London; the Lisson Gallery, London; a house for Anish Kapoor and the British Embassy in Warsaw.

Darbyshire Framers
Darbyshire Framers is a leading framer and art fabricator in the contemporary art world and has attracted a range of high-profile clients; artists like Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Derek Jarman to commercial and public galleries such as Gagosian and White Cube Galleries.


Further Press information

Further text and images available:

Exhibition preview by Colin Glen
Photographs of Emily Smith and her work

Website links:

www.easmithartist.com
www.sva.org.uk
www.sitefestival.org.uk
www.darbyshire.uk.com
www.inglebygallery.com

Contact details

Emily Smith
07963781384
emilysmithsculpture@hotmail

Mark Darbyshire
Darbyshire
19-23 White Lion Street, LONDON, N1 9PD
(020) 7812 1200
enquiries@darbyshire.uk.com

Jo Leahy
SVA, 4 John Street, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2HA
01453 751440
Jo@sva.org.uk