Liz Sergeant
St Albans
Socially engaged British artist, exploring the artist’s role as a catalyst for change, through interventions, installations and playful disruptions.
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My practice explores the artist’s role as a catalyst for change, through interventions, installations and playful disruptions. Working across a variety of media, including performance, my practice is discursive and collaborative.
I explore the ways in which art can be encountered and experienced – in galleries, public urban spaces, woodland, workplaces, heritage sites or schools – and test the notion of art as a participatory outcome, a shared experience and/or a collaborative event.
The ideas I wrestle with are often contemporary social issues, as diverse as the contribution of older women to society, ethical concerns in the clothing industry’s supply chain, slavery, climate change and deforestation. My work is often text-based, inspired by my love of language, nurtured during previous careers as a linguist, language teacher and recruitment manager for a global consultancy firm.
Frequently inspired by people and places, my creative process begins with detailed historical research to anchor my work in a specific context. Then, from a particular story, location or detail, I embrace more general, universal themes, creating a body of work that I hope has relevance and resonance for a wide audience. Underpinning my practice is the desire to communicate and connect, to open minds and touch hearts.
Qualifications and Training
2016 - Arts Award Adviser (Bronze, Silver), Trinity College London
2012 - Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts), University of the Arts, London, Central Saint Martins
Solo exhibitions
2019 - Flowing Free Installation in St Johns Church Harpenden, part of Cultivate Arts Festival
2018 - In & Out of Order Installation in St John's Church Harpenden, part of Cultivate Arts Festival
2015 - Please hold the line (while we try to connect you) The Old Curiosity Box, Potters Bar, Herts
2012 - Liz Sergeant@Rayden's Solicitors, St Albans, Herts
2011 & 2012 - Herts Open Studios
Residencies
June 2019 - Visiting Artist, High Beeches School, Harpenden, Herts
October 2108 - Visiting Artist, St Nicholas Primary School, Harpenden, Herts
October 2017 - July 2018 Visiting Artist, Crabtree Junior School, Harpenden, Herts
June 2017 – Artist in Residence, St Albans Diocese Leadership Conference, Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire
January 2014 – The Psychotropic House, with XAP. Awarded a month’s residency at Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Project Studios, Andrews Road, Hackney E8, supported by funding from Arts Council England.
May 2010 – Spinach, Islington, London N1
May 2009 - Valentine's Mansions, Ilford, Essex
May 2008 - Trinity Buoy Wharf - London E14
Selected exhibitions
2023 & 2021 - A Wandle Wonder Wander with XAP, Wandsworth Arts Fringe Festival, London
June 2021 - The Water Replies, The Estuary Festival, org. by Metal & Cement Fields
September 2018 - Amwell Artists, Amwell Cottage, Wheathampstead, Herts
March 2018 - Fighting Talk SheFest, Sheffield, S Yorks
Dec 2017-Jan 2018 Snap to Grid Los Angeles Centre for Digital Arts, California, USA
October 2017 - Virtuality/Mortality with XAP at Ugly Duck, Tanner Street, London SE1 3PL
April 2017 - The Garden View, Amwell Cottage, Wheathampstead, Herts
Sept - Nov 2016 - The Runaway Fingers, Pushkin House, 5a Bloomsbury Sq, London WC1A 2TA
May 2016 - Daylight Saving with XAP. Geddes Gallery, 26 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DU
March 2016 - Moving Image Margate - POW!Thanet Festival, Margate House, High Street, Margate, Kent, CT9 1DX
Jan 2016 - Snap to Grid, Los Angeles Centre for Digital Arts, California, USA
April 2015 – The Other Garden, with XAP, Nancy Victor Gallery, Charlotte Place, London W1T
January 2014 – The Psychotropic House, with XAP. Guest Project Studios, Andrews Road, Hackney E8. Including a Symposium, family drawing workshop, school visits and performances
September 2013 – Get Culture, with Re:kindle Public Arts, Queens Wood, London N6
July 2013 – Light, Space & Rhythm, at Neves Solicitors, Harpenden, Herts
April 2013 – Dirty Linen, with XAP at the Curious Duke Gallery, London EC1
February 2013 – Head to Head, at the Upstairs Gallery, Berkhamsted, Herts
September 2012 – Growth with Re:kindle Public Arts, Queens Wood, London N6
July 2012 – No Now! Space Station 65, Kennington, London SE11
June 2012 - Central St Martins Fine Art Degree Show, Kings Cross, London
November 2011 - Christie's Art Auction, Palazzo Clerici, Milan
September 2011 – XAP at Oxo-2, London SE1
June-September 2010 – Displacement, Spinach, Islington, London N1
December 2009 – 20:20:20:20, Central Saint Martins, London WC2
May 2009 - Valentine's Uncovered, Valentine's Mansions, Ilford, Essex
September 2009 - 2009.75: A Point in Time, Lewisham Arthouse, London SE14
November 2009 - Chateau D'If, Shoreditch Town Hall, London EC1
May 2008 - Trinity Buoy Wharf - London E14
Live/Performance
Sept 2023 - Tied 3 with XAP, Totally Thames, Thames Festival Trust
May 2019 - Campaigning for Charlotte Wandsworth Arts Fringe Festival, London
June 23rd 2018 – Interview for Wandsworth radio’s ‘Finding Charlotte’ documentary by Lesley Strachan.
June 17th 2018 - Interview on BBC Three Counties radio Sunday Breakfast about Cultivate Arts Festival.
October 2016 - Tied on the Thames with XAP, Art Licks Weekend, Bankside, London
June 2016 - Tied with XAP. Whitstable Biennale Satellite Programme, Whitstable, Kent
January 2014 - Living Painting Performance - three performances at The Psychotropic House, Guest Project Studios, Hackney, E8
October 2013 – Feminism in London Conference - live performance of Speaking of Charlotte: the Spirit of Activism at the fund-raiser at Space Station 65. Screening of the video during the one-day Conference.
Artist Assistant
Processions 2018
Content expert on suffragist Charlotte Despard, as part of the Processions Live Art project organised by Artichoke to celebrate Women’s Suffrage with marches through London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast on June 17th 2018. Assisted artist Ruth Ewan with a workshop with women from Nine Elms to develop a banner for Charlotte Despard.
Artist’s Assistant - Yinka Shonibare’s team - March 2014
Preparation of ‘The British Library’ for Brighton’s HOUSE Festival
Project Assistant – Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design Jan–Mar 2013
Assistant to commissioned artists as part of A Million Minutes, an Islington Council project organised in conjunction with Central Saint Martins, funded by the Arts Council England and AIR
Supported artist Sarah Cole in Care Full as part of Hostings - A Million Minutes, an Islington Council project, funded by the Arts Council England and AIR
Supported musician Clare Connors in The Music Room, one of the Windows projects for A Million Minutes
Supported Scarabeus Aerial Theatre in their performance of Paradise Lost? off Archway Tower – October 2013
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