A breakfast with Clare Smith and Anthony Heywood, two inspirational artists.

Clare Smith, Beachtime Stories

An exhibition of intimate 100 ink drawings of beach-inspired scenes by Clare Smith in the Line Gallery. Many if not most of these seaside scenes in Kent. The drawings are based on the artist's huge library of photographs which "she realised were asking to be used as a resource." A screening programme to include the trilogy of films, shot on location in Dover, Folkestone and Samphire Hoe, by Clare Smith, Helen Lindon and Joanna Jones. The films were all commissioned for Folkestone’s SALT, festival of the sea and the environment. The artists have been making these collaborative works since 2015. A discussion focused on the shore vs. coast inspired by John Gillis http://www.johnrgillis.com A professional practice discussion with students from the Margate School and UCA 

Anthony Heywood, When the Wind Blows

The use of particular materials in a work is sometimes a celebration, in other words, the use of material makes the viewer consider and re-align its suitability its purpose and above all its actual worth. The sculpture admits to the fascination of the material object though I seek to question the depth and consistency of our values. All of the work is manufactured using recycled and sustainable methods of making, I have collected both natural and manmade materials and used them in juxtaposition to generate a vocabulary within the work, and my use of the formal aspects of the iconic forms reflects the conspicuous consumption that our society produces. I intend the sculpture to identify notions of the classicism of consumption, ostentation and material value centred upon a cultural and spiritual identity The sculptures capture classical form made from the used and useless, discarded relics of mass consumption-unwanted building materials My engagement with the urban environment is through witnessing how our natural and urban environs are subject to change. The works reveal the nature of manufacture much as all my works are witness the materiality, I always believe that the materials should be appropriate to the concept and the Venetian house series also reference civic pride. Nothing it seems is permanent and nothing lasts forever? In all the works I am excited by the way in which the materials appear to be permanent whilst looking fragile and temporary. This again seems to represent and mimic our own life experiences. my approach to making sculptures draws upon art history as well as conte political events. I often create works with upcycled materials, the used and the useless, subverting their functions to play with conventional systems of classification and notions of so called high and low art to provide fresh perspectives on the things that constitute the world around us.