Annette Pugh
Concepts- Lost identities, restlessness and uncertain moments underpin my practice. The development of the photographic image, and its relationship to drawing, painting and film, informs my work. Working from a range of found and archived sources I re-present concepts relating to leisure, longing, and absence, creating familiar yet anonymous scenes. Solitude and solace are ever present in recent works, which investigate a deep sense of place, our emotional connection to the landscape and notions of fate.
Influences-Contemporary painting, print making, digital media, photography, film.
Career path-Following the completion of BA (Hons) in Fine Art I worked as a community artist and on a range of commissioned works. I then qualified as teacher of art and design (PGCE). Throughout this time I actively contributed to the early development of art and digital media in schools and exhibited in several notable digital projects. I have since completed an MA in fine art, which placed a strong emphasis on philosophical aesthetics and another MA in Art and Design Histories examining the use of the digital in Fine Art/painting. I have worked as visiting lecturer on the BA and MFA courses at Coventry and Brighton Universities respectively and alongside my own work I continue to teach students of all ages and abilities. I am a member of an independent studio group based in Birmingham, a was a council member for the RBSA, and curator of 'Next Wave', a biannual experimental exhibition for emerging talent for many years. Throughout my career I have been awarded a number of arts grants to develop my own practice and curate exhibitions and undertaken a series of residencies. I exhibit both painting and photography on a regular basis and work has been purchased for private collections and commercial enterprises.
QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING, 2021-22 - Turps Corespondence Course, 2004 - MA Art and Design Histories, University of Central England, Birmingham 1998 - MA Fine Art, University of Central England, Birmingham 1993 - PGCE Art and Design, University of Central England, Birmingham, West Midlands 1990 - BA(Hons) Fine Art, Stourbridge College/Wolverhampton Polytechnic, West Midlands
CURRENT POSTS, 2015-Teacher of Art, Shireland Collegiate Academy, post 16 responsibility, Council member RBSA, VL Fine Art Coventry University
PREVIOUS POSTS, VL Coventry University BA Fine Art, Brighton University MAFA
CURATOR - 2020 Next Wave RBSA, 2019 - Making Together RBSA/SENSE Birmingham, 2018- Next Wave RBSA, 2017- Connecting Creatively, RBSA, 2016- Next Wave, RBSA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS- 2023- Happenstance, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Bittersweet, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham, 2019, Verdant, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham Wanderlust, Argentea Gallery, Birmingham, 2018, Ornament, Reuben Colley Fine Art, Birmingham, 2017, Restless, Argentea Photography Gallery, Birmingham, Somewhere Never Travelled, Reuben Colley Fine Art, 2014 -Familiar Yet Anonymous, Reuben Colley Fine Art, 2003 - Dedicated Show, Park View Gallery, Birmingham 1992 - Solo show, Goate Gallery, Birmingham 1991 - Printwork and Drawings, Wednesbury Art Gallery, Sandwell
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024, London Art Fair, The Design Centre , Islington, exhibiting with Gala Fine Art, 2023, London Art Fair, The Design Centre, Islington,
2023, Bewdley Museum, Memory of Place, Birmingham Artspace, Bewdley Museum
2022, RBSA Prize Exhibition, Commom Wealth Games Festival Summer Exhibition, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham, Winter Exhibition, Colley Ison Gallery, Birmingham
2021, Figurative Art Now, Mall Galleries (selected by Barbara Walker, Andrew Gifford, Jo Baring, Jonathan Watkins, and Claire O’Brien), Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery Birmingham, Returning Voices (Artwrite on-line project)
2020, Moment, (Art\write on line project) Hinterland 3, Medicine Gallery, Birmingham, Two Chairs (an online collaborative project with Art\write),
2019, RBSA Open Drawing, Birmingham, Coventry Drawing Prize, Blue Door Gallery, Coventry,
2018, Bridge Gallery, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Romeo and Juliet; Take 2, Studley Artists Workhouse,
2017, RWA Open, Bristol, Elsewhere touring, Lanchester Gallery, Coventry,
2016, Elsewhere, Lewis Gallery, Rugby, Next Wave, RBSA, Birmignham (exhibitor and curator), Bristol/Manchester Art Fair, Battersea Art Fair, London, Hinterland 2, Rugby Art Gallery, Nicklin Revisited, Reuben Colley, Birmingham,
2015- Hinterland, Telsen Centre, Photographic Prize: Urban Life exhibition, RBSA, Coventry Drawing Prize, Rugby School, Reuben Colley Fine Arts,
2014- RWA Open, Bristol, West Midlands Open BM&AG, Next Wave, RBSA, Birmingham (exhibitor and curator), Coventry University and Elliots Drawing Prize, Rugby School and Lanchester Gallery. 2013-14 RWA 161st Open, Bristol
2013 - Coventry Drawing Prize, Rugby School, Rugby 2013 - Tutors Show, RBSA, Birmingham
2012 - 160th Autumn Exhibition, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2012 - Allotment, Midlands Arts Centre, West Midlands 2012 - Public View, The Public, West Bromwich 2012 - Tutors Show, RBSA, Birmingham 2012 - Young Curators, RBSA, Birmingham
2011 - 159th Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2011 - AA2A, A Celebration of 10 Years Collaboration, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton 2010 - Open Autumn Exhibition, RBSA, Birmingham
2010 - stART, RBSA, Birmingham 2010 - West Midlands Open 2010, Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham
2009 - Selected Artists , Park View Gallery, Birmingham
2008 - Candidates Exhibition, RBSA, Birmingham 2008 - Open All Media , RBSA, Birmingham 2008 - Prize Exhibition, RBSA, Birmingham 2008 - stART, RBSA, Birmingham
2007 - 155 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2007 - untitled, The Haywood Gallery, West Midlands
2005 - Birmingham Artists Open Studios, Lee Bank Business Centre, Birmingham
2004 - Summer Show, Park View gallery, Birmingham
2001 - Green City, Park View Gallery/Stirling Ackroyd, Birmingham
2000 - Digital Expressions, Welsh Touring Exhibition 1999 - Moot, University of Central England, Birmingham
1998 - Anything, Custard Factory, Birmingham
1997 - Open Studios, Old Union Mill, Birmingham
1996 - System Error, School of Art And Design, University of Central England, Birmingham
1995 - 1002 Situations, Castle Tollet, Austria 1995 - Live Wire, Derby Photography Festival, University of Derby and national touring event, Derby 1995 - Mid Art, Himley Hall, Dudley
1994 - 2nd City Art Show, Burlington Arcade, Birmingham
1993 - Mid Art, Dudley Art Gallery 1992 - Coventry Open, Herbert Art Gallery
1992 - Under One Roof, Midlands Art Centre 1992 - We Will Be Seen, Bilston Art Gallery, Wolverhampton
1991 - Freedom in Imagination, Lanchester Gallery, Coventry 1989 - Women's Art Practice, Stourbridge College
SELECTED ARTIST TALKS 2016, Professional Practice, Working Methadology Photography and Film Works, Coventry University, BA/MA Fine Art, 2013, Professional Practice, Coventry University, BA Fine Art, 2012 - Print, A Painters Perspective, University of Wolverhampton, West Midlands
SELECTED WORKSHOPS 2019, Sense, Making Together (award winning project), 2015- Changing Faces educational program RBSA, Architecture and Drawing, Perry Beeches 2, Grand Designs RBSA, 2014- Drawing in Black and White, RBSA, 2013- Expressive Drawing , Hodge Hill Girls , Birmingham 2012 - Clay Sculpture- intensive artist led workshop, Shireland Collegiate Academy, Smethwick 2012 - Mono printing, collagraph and solvent transfer, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton 2011 - A Portrait A Day, Shireland Collegiate Academy, Sandwell 2011 - Dynamic Drawing, RBSA, Birmingham 2011 - Voice Projection, teaching outside the school environment, RBSA, Birmingham University 2010 - A Response To Sandra Blow, RBSA, Birmingham 2010 - Collage Creations, RBSA, Birmingham 2010 - Life in The Shadow of a Volcano, Compton Verney, Coventry 2010 - RBSA/Arts Council workshops, RBSA, Birmingham 2010 - The Language of Abstraction, RBSA, Birmingham 2010 - Tree of Life, RBSA/ Kings Heath Primary, Birmingham 2009 - Collage, Drawing and Composition, RBSA, Birmingham
RESIDENCIES 2018 Artist in residence, Fine Art Coventry University (Film making and Photography), 2015-16, Photography Residency Fine Art Department , Coventry University, 2012-13 - AA2A, Coventry University, Coventry, 2011 - Artist in Residence, University of Wolverhampton , West Midlands 2009 - AA2A, Artists Access to Art Colleges , University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
PUBLICATIONS 2019- Forward Art Magazine, 2011 - Fresh- Summer 2011, 2004 - Virtually Ceramic,Ceramic Review