Deborah Westmancoat

Over the last week I have had a studio 'score' detailing my studio practice enacted at Tate Exchange / Tate Modern as part of the Inventory of Behaviours project. Thanks to Alex Mah for many interesting conversations about writing scores whilst we were on the Porthleven Project residencies. I found the whole process of writing directions for others to interpret and enact really intriguing.
Text from Tate Modern website:
"This event is programmed by Bath Spa University, Kingston University and Freelands Foundation, Tate Exchange Associates. Step inside a site for generating artistic behaviour, inhabit the ordinary daily routines of artists and see what their habits reveal. For four days Tate Exchange will become a space for collecting and generating and mimicking behaviour; a live and constantly changing inventory of small but significant dramas. Boilersuit clad assistants will welcome and guide you as you are invited to respond to an Inventory of Behaviours, an improvised instruction manual. Devised by artists, the manual is based on their own behaviour in the physical, digital, or psychological spaces in which their art is made. You are invited to imitate or re-enact their rituals, traits and habits. Performances will be recorded and played back in the space and Twitter and Instagram will transmit the daily activities beyond the Gallery. On Friday, join an open discussion from 3-5pm that brings invited speakers from a variety of disciplines – from art to psychology – to reflect on what the Inventory of Behaviours can tell us about the conditions of the production of artworks today. This event is programmed by Bath Spa University, Kingston University and Freelands Foundation, Tate Exchange Associates." ... See more

I have been selected for the Manifesta12 biennale and will be working with another 14 international artists, architects and philosophers in Palermo, Sicily, from 20-29 July, focusing on the tenth century qanat water network that threads through the old town. Works will conclude with a printed publication and in situ art installation “to reveal the invisible and forgotten water network for the time of the Manifesta biennale”. Huge thanks to the Development Dept at Bath Spa University for being so supportive of the project and fully funding the trip. ... See more

Very pleased to have been selected again for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

White Field and Hailstorm 2 (2015)
Black writing ink, hailstones and white acrylic ink on board. Box framed in white wood and non reflective glazing. 60 x 50.5 x 4.5 cm. ... See more

One of two recent works are now on show in the Transformed Land exhibition opening at Ace Arts Gallery (Somerton, Somerset) tonight at 6pm. The show runs until 16 June 2018 (closed Sundays and Mondays).

Perigee-Syzygy Of The Earth-Moon-Sun System (2017)
Black writing ink, handmade oak gall ink and dew collected during the night of the 14/11/16 supermoon, on heavyweight paper. A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth–Moon–Sun system. Box framed in white wood and non reflective glazing. 51 x 61 x 4.5 cm. ... See more

Text from my current solo exhibition at Ace Arts, Somerton......

Weather Report – Deborah Westmancoat.
20 April – 19 May 2018.

Deborah Westmancoat is based in Somerset and is currently undertaking an MA in Fine Art with Bath Spa University, aiming to commence PhD study later this year. Her work is exhibited frequently throughout the UK and internationally. She was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2014 and became an RWA Artist Network member in 2015.

For the past six years she has been engaged in a long-term project researching the four stages of classical metaphysical alchemy in relation to the natural environment; considering how each stage might help us to understand the cyclical process of how landscape moves and forms. Recent paintings have included collected floodwater, moonlit stream water, icicles, hoar frost and hailstones. Organic materials gathered from each site, particularly oak galls, often contribute to pigments used in the process.

The work in this exhibition has been made using water collected from weather events and locations around Somerset, Dartmoor, Cornwall, the base of a Swiss glacier, the wilds of the Scottish Highlands and the Neolithic landscapes of Ireland. They draw focus to the simple beauty, poetry and mystery to be found in the everyday – in falling rain, puddles reflecting the bluest of skies and ground frost silvering silent country lanes, churchyards and wooded hollows. Every painting began in a quiet place where one of these moments became apparent and is an attempt to tell that story.

Image: Solar Horses (2017) ... See more

I'm installing a solo show of recent work at Ace Arts Gallery next week. Exhibition launch 6-8pm on Friday 20 April. All welcome. Do come and say hi if you are in the area. Show then runs until 19 May 2018.

Ace Arts, Market Place, Somerton, Somerset TA11 7NB. Tel: 01458 273008. Open Tues - Sat 10 - 5. ... See more

SOLD today, Ocellus (2017), from my current exhibition with C R Brownridge at the wonderful Green Hill Arts Gallery in Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor. Just a few days left to see it now - show runs until 4pm Saturday 14 April. Thanks to gallery team Georgie, Carol and Andrea for such a fantastic experience. I've loved working with you.
Green Hill Arts, Fore St, Moretonhampstead, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ13 8LL. T: 01647 440775. Open 10am - 4pm. ... See more

Received a wonderful letter from the panel at the Royal West of England Academy yesterday to let me know I have been successful in the first stage of selection as candidate for RWA Academician. I will be showing four works in the Academicians' Gallery during the Annual Open exhibition along with the other candidates in October. The current Academicians will vote and I will find out next year if I am accepted. There's no saying I will get in, but it's great to have the opportunity and I'm over the moon....... ... See more

Looking forward to this evening and being part of the panel discussion with Jem Southam and Katy McLeod at Green Hill Arts from 6.30 - 8pm. Amongst other subjects we'll be considering the idea of landscape 'in extremis', looking at our relationship with nature and extreme conditions and how art methods might open up our understanding of nature in a way that science and the written word can not. All welcome. Tickets available from Green Hill Arts, Moretonhampstead, Dartmoor. ... See more

More on the July/August 2018 residency I have been selected for with the International Academy for Chinese Thought and Culture - a collaboration between staff at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Peking University and Bath Spa University through the Global Academy of Liberal Arts network (GALA).

Overview: "You'll learn about Chinese thought, culture, history and arts, from some of the leading world scholars in China and the USA. You'll receive an introduction to the main school of thought in China, as well as learning about how Chinese ideas have informed the development of Chinese culture and Chinese arts. Part of the trip will involve studying in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucious, with staff from Beijing Foreign Studies University. You'll then return to Beijing to visit various historic sites and learn more about traditional and contemporary art in China from Professors at Peking University. The course will also have a practical focus and students on the trip will have the opportunity to learn about and try out various Chinese traditional practices inc Tai Chi, meditation, traditional Chinese medicine, calligraphy and the tea ceremony. The Beijing trip will also involve the opportunity to meet with some of the top curators and artists in contemporary China." ... See more