about
JAMES LORD
James is a multidisciplinary artist working across the fields of painting, sculpture, screen printing and written word. His practice examines sustainability, land rights and societal relationships with nature. Materials used include discarded, overlooked and natural objects. Assemblage, printing and painted layers transform context and meaning. James' work is self-aware, expresses conviction and engages with vulnerability.
PEER STUDIOS CIC
Peer Studios is a contemporary community art space in Ventnor, Isle of Wight. It's gallery is in a high ceilinged Victorian Shop with views out over Ventnor Bay and the English Channel.
VENTNOR
Ventnor is on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight which is a small island in the south of England. The town grew from a small fishing village from tourism through the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Visitors first came via steamers that alighted passengers at piers around the Island’s coast then steam trains connected to London via Southampton and Portsmouth.
Ventnor and the nearby villages of St Lawrence and Bonchurch have strong artistic and literary connections.
Notable residents and visitors:
Elizabeth Sewell
Laura Richards
Karl Marx
Winston Churchill
Mahatma Gandhi
Charles Dickens
Alice Meynell
Edmund Peel
Mary Gleed Tuttiett
Haile Selassie
George Bernard Shaw
Alfred Noyes
Algernon Swinburne
Sir Edward Elgar
The town stradles an area of landslips (7000 BC) that gives it a unique geology. Stretching 7 miles along the coast it rises from sea level to downland reaching over 800 metres. Known as the Undercliff, the sheltered maritime position gives it a warm microclimate. In 1970 Ventnor Botanic Garden was established on the the site of an old tuberculosis hospital. Here exotic plants thrive all year round.
The area has suffered from years of decline from dropping visitor numbers and loss of links to mainland UK from closure of the steam railway and packet ship connections, the creative community has remained strong and over recent years had great success with The Ventnor Fringe (arts festival) and Ventnor Exchange (community arts centre).
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF POSTED ART
One aim of this project is to bring art to a community literally on the edge. For many travel off the Isle of Wight is prohibitively expensive and for young people following a career in the arts extremely challenging. As in areas of Cornwall and Devon work is limited to seasonal in hospitality with zero hours contracts, rental and house prices inflated from holiday cottages and second homes. This exhibition will provide community cultural engagement and offer visiors information about onward creative connections to Brave Island, IW Creative Network and the University of Creative Arts.