Feline-Thropic CatLog

{Fe l in e - Th r o pic}

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>>> exhibition ins t a l l

Feline-Thropic 11th May - 30 June 2024

A warm welcome to the “CatLog’’ for our Summer exhibition at Redcar Palace.

Feline-Thropic explores the human cat relationship through time.

Archaeologists have discovered cat paw prints in 2,000 year old Roman roof tiles, historians have uncovered inky paws wandering across 15th century manuscripts and artists and philosophers have imagined what this relationship might look like in another 2,000 years. These two moments of deep time serve as a mirror to the intense connection we share with our feline friends where humans can make careers by posing videos of cats on social media and shelves buckle under the weight of cat mementos (that is until one of our cat friends knocks them off onto the floor). Our days are filled with their antics and our night with the haunting sounds of cats singing the songs of their people.

We have invited 14 artists to respond directly to the theme of this exhibition and their work is illustrated across the following pages. Alongside invited artists we have thrown open our gallery space to all comers through our “Open Calls not Cat Calls” presentation, which features over 120 works by over 80 artists from across the UK and further afield.

Part of the genesis of this exhibition was a joyous publication produced by pupils at Billingham South Community Primary School who regularly come together to edit the Happy Newspaper. One such paper was dedicated to a feline friend of the gallery, Billy the three legged cat. We are delighted that the Happy Collective have kindly agreed to come together again to bring their happy take on the exhibition through designing this catalogue. In doing so they have been supported by Nic Golightly and Mrs Hopes. We are grateful to the pupils and staff at this inspiring school for their enthusiasm for this project as well as to all the artists who contributed to this paean of

cat based goodness.

Museum of Future Cats Here we imagine how a museum of the distant future might look back on our own cat obsessed era. When we, today, step into an archaeological museum we assume that what we are looking at are the objects that represent the great achievements of their age. What in fact we might be looking at is simply that which survived. The bronze age clay beaker that we see beautifully lit and behind security glass may be nothing more than the ancient equivalent of today’s disposable cups. What is to say that 1000 years from now, visitors to the museum of the future won’t be able to marvel at beautifully presented bottles of bleach, washing up liquid and petrol canisters.

We can surely be quite confident that much of this era’s cat tat will long outlive us. Our young people’s group Blooming Youth Collective have run with this idea and scoured local charity shops for any random cat related paraphernalia. The display here is their take on how the curators of the future may wish to record such an important cultural phenomenon.

>> > h e

>>>hello!

>> > hi! >>>we are the happy collective >>>we make a newspaper at school called the happy newspaper. We once made a newspaper responding to people’s letters. One of the letters was from James Beighton of Redcar Palace. He loved our work about his cat Billy. So we have been commissioned to make the CAT LOG for this exhibition at Redcar Palace. We think it’s kind of great. >>>In May 2024 we met with designer Nic Golightly and our teacher Mrs Hopes. We made this Cat Log in exactly the same way we make a Happy Newspaper. We thought about the subject and explored different ways of describing and exploring it creatively.

We had a lot of fun. >>>wishing you all good health and lots of happiness >>>from the happy collective

ll o !

>>> h e l l o!

>> >he llo!

this happy newspaper // CAT LOG was powered by a well known, loosely cat themed chocolate wafer biscuit. (other biscuits are available in supermarkets)

We thought about cats. and we thought about discos. then we thought about what songs cats would play if they had a disco.

Jingle Bells Pussy Cat Dolls Felix Theme Tune It’s Great To Be A Cat What’s New Pussycat Bongo Cats Nyan Cats Copycat Rainbow Cats Circle of Life Jungle Book Catatonia (Full back catalogue)

(Full back catalogue)

We talked about lost cats, famous cats of Billingham and then we made some W A N T E D P O S T E R S the cats we knew.

BE ON THE LOOK OUT PEOPLE. (Excellent rewards guaranteed)

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BE T A NT N HA YA M Following on from her hugely popular solo exhibition at Redcar Palace last year we are delighted to re-introduce Tanya’s work in the current exhibition. Tanya is a leading authority on the subject of Medieval English embroidery and a technique called the Opus Anglicanum through which medieval artists were able to create images of incredible intricacy and shimmering colours. Tanya reimagines the subject matter of these past artists, taking what might have been a religious or courtly scene and injecting some contemporary humour. She is drawn as much to the margins of the images as to the main subject matter where oftentimes the artist would let rip with their imagination. Cats are an important source of inspiration for Tanya and it is three such works that we have included in the current exhibition.

RO B CO YN VE Robyn studied ceramics at Cardiff Metropolitan University which has consistently supported some of the best artists working in clay. It was though perhaps her own family who had the most profound impact upon her artistic development. Her mother and her aunt were both exceptional artists who brought their creativity into everyday life in Robyn’s household. Sketches, installations and textile works surrounded Robyn growing up as did the ceramic work of the Cardew family (Michael, Seth and Ara) to whom Robyn is related through her great grandmother. Whilst Robyn is currently taking a break from making ceramics she has, over the last decade, made some of the most compelling forms of domestic pottery - mugs, bowls, vases, plates and platters. All work made to be used, and loved in the process. We are delighted to be the first gallery to present some of her 2d work including a very special portrait of her own companions Breena the Collie x Kelpie and Butter the cat. More of Robyn’s work can be seen on instagram @robyncovepottery

C R UI S EE A D

LO Together with her late husband Lewis, Louisa Creed has established a reputation as one of the great artists working within the rag rug tradition. Using a hooking technique and cutting up old clothes and scrap fabric as her materials, Louisa’s rugs tend towards intimate portrayals of familiar landscapes, family members and in particular her beloved cats. The three rugs by Louisa included in this exhibition have all been loaned by her close friend Heather Lamborn. Oswald is one of Louisa’s earlier works depicting a beloved pet cat being held by her husband Lewis. The material used to depict Lewis’ jumper is cut from the actual jumper that Lewis was wearing when Louisa captured this image. The depiction of the tiger is a later work and is untitled. Together with Heather we have titled it Startled Tiger. Possibly it looks so startled because it has found itself in an exhibition full of cats. We are also delighted to present some of the beautifully drawn paper puppets that Louisa has made together with a collection of playing cards that depict her family tree of cats through images of some of her rag rugs.

More of Louisa and Lewis’ works can be seen in the collections of The Whitworth Museum in Manchester and the Ryedale Folk Museum in North Yorkshire.

W BI L SO L N DA (1950-2018) Bill is one of Teesside’s overlooked artistic heroes. Studying first at Middlesbrough Art School and at Newcastle before attending the Royal College of Art in London between 197779 to study painting, Bill developed a truly unique language through his study of ancient languages, symbols and codes. He combined these abstract marks into landscape and portrait paintings that expressed his love of the garden, combining the natural and the cultured. This work foreshadows his interest in computer programming which came to mark his later life. Following our solo exhibition in 2023 we are pleased to reacquaint visitors with Bill’s work. Brian Morris’s Ridiculous Cat remains a puzzle. Who was Brain? Why was the cat so ridiculous? Why is its tail cut off. We are sad that we never had a chance to ask Bill these questions in person but privileged to play a part in giving this remarkable body of work the attention it deserves.

FR ITN AS EY ER

BR Britney completed her degree in Fine Art at Newcastle University in 2023, a school renowned for its association with British Formalism through the influence of Victor Passmore and Pop Art through the influence of Richard Hamilton. Perhaps future exhibition catalogues will talk about the influence of rag rugging and working class art in Newcastle through the influence of Britney Fraser. Celebrating the heritage of Northumberland where Britney grew up, her investigation of the traditional “proggy” style of rug making is combined with an interest in capturing and preserving Northumberland dialect. For this show she has collaborated with two colleagues at Redcar Palace to create cat specific rugs. We will be presenting a solo show of Britney’s work at Redcar Palace in July 2024 which will invite visitors to celebrate Teesside dialect in rug form. Britney posts about her work on instagram @britneyf.art

ND HO P DG ETE SO R N

IA HE ID Heidi and Peter are artists based in Cumbria who make work that oozes the character of their locality and landscape. Animals are a regular feature of Peter’s drawings and paintings. With seemingly simple gestures he captures the poses and expressions of his subject matter perfectly. When Peter’s drawings are combined with Heidi’s freely thrown ceramic forms they create very special objects that can be used, admired and which create joy. A touring exhibition of Peter’s work was mounted by Grizedale Arts featuring his work in collaboration with a range of other artists including Turner Prize winning Laure Prouvost.

Our work with Heidi and Peter has been kindly assisted by our friends at Grizedale Arts.

HE LA A M TH BO E RN R Heather Lamborn is an artist based outside of York who has been making rag rugs since the 1980s and is now a leading member of the British rag rugging community, demonstrating her technique at events and festivals across the country. Like Louisa Creed, Heather mostly uses the hooked technique which is ideal for creating strong visual images. Her rug Billy 3 Legs, which is included in this exhibition was an inspiration both behind the thinking for this exhibition and for the community rag rug project that Redcar Palace has been developing over the last year together with Borderlands Creative People and Places. Heather has been a long term friend of Louisa Creed and we are grateful to Heather for her support in including both her own work and loaning works by Louisa to Feline-Thropic.

CH OC A ON RL NO ES R Charles O’Connor’s artistic practice spans painting, mask making, sculpture and graphic design, and works from his studio in Whitby, North Yorkshire. ‘Cat Mask’ is made from papier-mache and is based on his interpretation of a cat, with sharp pointy teeth and glaring eyes, this cat means business. His work references pop culture, and is inspired by found forms and collected objects, investigating the idea of the readymade across 2d and 3d design. Recently his new series of drawings and paintings revisit elements of his mask making series, creating new visions for the forms and developing surreal environments for them to exist within. Charles won Mask Maker of the year in 1991, which was judged by Eduardo Paolozzi at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and sold several pieces to David Bailey for promotional use. Charles’ studio is open by appointment.

YE PO LE PO NA VA Yelena Popova is a Nottingham based artist who works across a range of media including painting, video and installation. Much of her work is interested in exploring human relationship with geography and how we use the land around us. Her paintings for example will often use gathered soils and minerals from an area as the basis for their pigment.

With the work included in this exhibition Yelena is asking a question which may be of deep importance to our descendants in the distant future. Hunting Scene with Ray Cat draws upon ideas of the philosophers Françoise Bastide and Paolo Fabbri who have questioned how future humans can be alerted to the presence of nuclear waste from our era’s energy generation. Their proposal involved altering the DNA of domestic cats so that they would change colour in the presence of radioactive material.The blanket included in this exhibition is also a sketch for a larger work that Yelena made for the Deep Time project for Solway Hall in Whitehaven.

Please us this pageto gaze into the cats eyes and have a momentary cat nap.

RE J DP U AT DE H Jude draws intensely patterned abstract images in black and white that come directly from his imagination and typically make no attempt to represent objects. Rather the images relate to the way Jude experiences the world around him, stemming from his visual impairments and colour blindness.

Although Jude does not specifically reference any artist in particular some have seen parallels with the Scottish artists Alan Davie (1920 - 2014) and Scottie Wilson (1891 - 1972). Having shown his work in two exhibitions at the Fabrication Space in York, Jude, now aged 10, was invited to develop a new work for the current exhibition and we are delighted to include his tribute to cats here which retain so much of his signature style. Our thanks to Jude’s mum Candice Redpath for helping us to include Jude’s work in Feline-Thropic

SA B DL EN ER Based in Birmingham, Ben is renowned for his collaborative work with Phil Duckworth under the name of Juneau Project who develop inspired works together with communities.

Ben studied painting at the prestigious Ruskin School and it is this element of his work that we have chosen to highlight in the current exhibition. The intimate and yet fantastical paintings shown here depict improbable moments of reality. What if electronic music pioneer Gary Numan was actually a cat? What ride would a cat go on first at an amusement park? These and other vital questions are all ones we should keep asking. Alongside his wall of 25 small paintings we are also delighted to present together for the first time Ben’s take on real life cats from Teesside: Marvin, Billy, Queenie and Socks. Please follow Ben’s practice in painting and video work on instagram @bend_laser.

J SO AC LO AS M T ON A S Jacasta is a painter working across oil and acrylic to create semi-allegorical works.

Jacasta originally trained as a graphic designer and now uses graphic knowledge to capture insights into a surreal world through paint instead of computers, liberating the characters from the screen.

The paintings are a glimpse into Jacasta’s world, creating a way to communicate with audiences where words fail. They are a deep narration of key moments and meetings, the mores of modern times, both disturbing and beguiling, recorded through metaphorical designs. Jacasta is also available for cat portrait commissions.

TH OM E PS DEK ON Following on from his highly successful solo show at Redcar Palace in 2023 we are delighted to present one of Edek’s most recent large scale paintings, a work which formed a big part of the inspiration for this exhibition. Catastrophic Tipping Point continues Edek’s reflection upon the dangers of climate change, expressed through imagined changes to the animals that are so much part of our everyday lives. His commitment to a sustainable future extends to his use of materials which include emulsion paint rescued from landfill, boards from building sites and vinyl from discarded shop signs. Ed describes his work as

“an exploration of the

human interactions with nature and helping to create a future mythology, a way to remember and document the things around us for when they are no longer there.”

This Feline-Thropic Exhibition Cat Log, was created in collaboration with Billingham South Community Primary School’s Happy Collective

Grace // Jacob // Jamie // Elsie // Mason // Kyle // Noah // C Caelan // Rosie // Finley // Ella // Isabelle // Elena // Jacob Max // Amelia // Scarlett

(with adult supervision from teacher Mrs Katie Hopes + designer Nic Golightly).

Our mission as the happy collective is to enjoy creative tasks together, whilst creating a newspaper that our friends, family and community can enjoy too.