Beachtime Stories

Beachtime Stories, an exhibition by Clare Smith

Dates: 2nd November- 1st December

Location: The Margate School

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.

Clare Smith's mixed English/Chinese heritage informs her perspective on issues of identity and categorisation. Her nomadic childhood and early adulthood have meant a somewhat ambivalent relationship to place, reinforced by the sense of ambiguity that comes from her mixed identity. Smith works with drawing, print media, collage and moving image to investigate this ambivalence and what it feels like to actually be in a place, with references to craft, the importance of labour and the handmade. The artist lives and works in Dover and is co-founder of Dover Arts Development.

The Margate School, Margate's Art School