Sandy Creighton
My work reflects the proposition that by paying attention it is possible to uncover interesting material in the immediate environment that might normally be overlooked. In the words of Richard Wentworth “in a globalized accessible world, the space outside one’s door might be the most exotic of all”. Faced with an abundance of subject matter, the problem becomes one of discrimination and selection. The challenge is to develop strategies that sidestep intention and deliver the unexpected. Chance procedures, constraints and arbitrary rules can be useful tools to enable this. I feel a powerful impulse to construct patterns and narratives in the face of the chaotic nature of existence, this tendency provides the tension in the way I work with the material I collect.
I am interested in two kinds of relationship between the microcosm of my local area and the macrocosm of the wider world. One is in the notion that a small part can be seen to represent the whole and the other is in the tracing of networks of connections that link everything together. These relationships invest my work with significance beyond mere documentation
I like to invite a high level of participation in my work, as in the sound piece, Rubbish Music, in which viewers are invited to manipulate materials in order to generate sounds. I believe that when viewers physically interact with a piece, they give it their full attention and enter into a more profound dialogue with it.
In the video installation Front and Back, by using a remote camera operated by an automatic mechanism I intentionally relinquished a degree of control over the images I used. Such strategies prevent me from finding only what I am looking for, they uncover the unexpected in the everyday.
Qualifications:
"0" Levels: English Literature, English Language, Maths, Biology, Physics-with-Chemistry, French, Geography - Felsted School, Essex. 1972
"A" Levels: English Literature, Biology, Geography Ipswich School, Suffolk. 1975
Bachelor's Degree: English and American Literature, BA Hons (2:2) UEA, Norwich, Norfolk. 1979
Teacher Training: Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Primary, Bristol Polytechnic, Bristol. 1987
Master's Degrees: Master of Education, UWE, Bristol. 1993
Master of Fine Arts, Bath Spa University 2016
Employment:
Sep 16 – present: full time artist.
Sep 87 – Sep 16: Class Teacher, Castle Batch Primary, Rawlins Ave, Worle, Weston Super Mare, N. Somerset, BS227FN.
July 85 - July 86: Refugee Relief Worker, Save the Children Fund, S. Darfur, Sudan.
Feb 80 - Mar 81: Teacher of English, Nyala Higher Secondary School For Boys, S. Darfur, Sudan.
Aug 81 - April 84: Gardener Norwich City Council Parks Department.
Exhibitions:
03/02/2017 “Pay and Display” Centrespace Gallery, Bristol.
26/11/2016 North Bristol Art Trail.
24/09/2016 MFA Degree Show, Bath Spa University.
30/05/2016 “Out of the Archive”, Fringe Arts Bath Festival.
28/11/2015 North Bristol Art Trail.
27/11/2015 “Dark Matter” group show, Roper Gallery, Bath.
29/11/2014 North Bristol Art Trail.
23/11/2013 North Bristol Art Trail.
03/11/2013 NBA group show, Cabot Circus, Bristol .
18/03/2013 04/01/2012 “This Is Me” artist in residence, Castle Batch School, Worle, N Somerset.
24/11/2012 North Bristol Art Trail.
18/10/2012 NBA Group Show, The Parlour, Park St Bristol.
21/07/2012 "We Used To Swim" video installation– Artspace Lifespace, Bristol North Baths.
5/02/2012 Tiny World at The Pervasive Media Studio, The Watershed, Bristol.
04/01/2012 “This Is Me” artist in residence, Castle Batch School, Worle, N Somerset.
15/12/2011 "Herbal" at Urban Fringe Dispensary, 58 Colston Street, Bristol.
14/10/2011 North Bristol Arts Trail.
28/11/2010 North Bristol Arts Trail.
20/07/2009 “Natural History” at Windows, Gloucester Rd, Bristol.
12/08/2009 People's Republic of Stokes Croft Dutch Auction, Jamaica St Bristol.
09/05/2009 “Natural History” one man show. The Phoenix Project, Glastonbury.
20/10/2007 Art For Amnesty, Bishopston, Bristol.