My project/proposal is to use the bursary to substantially boost the visibility of my ongoing body of work by collaborating with an appropriate freelance curator who is interested in painting, knowledgeable about Venice and feminism, (I have someone in mind), who will work with me to devise and implement strategies for making the work visible. I anticipate using the bursary to fund curator/collaborator fees, curator/artist expenses and technical support.
Since 2018 I have worked on a body of work, (Venice, a Perplexion, ongoing, see: https://www.virginiabodman.com/walkingonwater/), resulting, from what seemed at the start, to be a radical change of direction in my practice, (more later), there are now 50+ large paintings and many works on paper.
It is increasingly difficult to get work shown, (fewer galleries, presenting fewer shows annually) and as someone with a sustained career as a painter my modus operandi, (from c.1980) was to approach appropriate galleries/spaces directly inviting directors/curators to make a studio visit, and on every occasion except one, I was successful in getting the work shown, including a solo show Wordless, at the Miles Meehan Gallery, Darlington Arts Centre, 1998, (Leverhulme Fellowship work). Nowadays this direct approach is considered naïve and inappropriate and does not elicit responses.
I love working in my studio, thinking about painting, experimenting and discovering ideas and finding ways to give them form, but I have become increasingly and seriously frustrated by my inability to get the work seen, work which I think has a powerful physical presence (colour, materiality, scale) and needs to be seen in-the-flesh, work which I have confidence in.
Objectives:
To see the work outside the studio so that I can properly evaluate it. For me the final part of making the work is to install it successfully in a space, to make a show.
To share the work with audiences and to provide pleasure and delight as well as a degree of perplexion and mystery. I have always been surprised by the enthusiastic and interested responses that I get to my work when it is shown.
To create debate/conversation around key concerns.
Having had an exhibition in Darlington 27 years ago it is time to renew my acquaintance and share my new work with audiences via an artist-led mini, Venice Festival. Venice has always been as a place of pleasure, so a festival to cheer us all up and bring us together.
Venice would be offered as a ‘theme’ to interested organisations etc and would culminate in a week-long focus, a festival and might include, but is not limited to:
a season of films made in or based on Venice,
Venetian Music – Darlington Orchestra: Vivaldi etc (popular), Venetian song workshop for singers,
school workshops: Carnivale: costume making, dressing-up, event
Darlington 6th Form College, projects, artist talk, workshops, costume making etc
A series of talks on for example: Carnivale, The Grand Tour and its effect on UK culture and collections, Venetian art, Venetian transport, histories, food, etc
Exhibition(s) of my work in a non-gallery space(s), I have some experience of this having organised MA Fine Art student exhibitions at Nissan, The Church of St Thomas, Stanley Crook, Co Durham and Hammerton Hall in Sunderland etc.
An artist-led festival, inspiring others with my enthusiasm and knowledge would be a new, exciting and challenging step for me, one which I am excited to embrace.
An exhibition of Venice related artifacts, holiday souvenirs and items from for example Tyne and Wear Archives.
Please tell us about your practice. Please include any recent exhibitions if
My practice has always been driven by events/issues experienced firsthand and a fascination with the histories, materials and processes of painting. I start with visual material and as the work progresses and subject matter/concerns become ‘nameable’ I research widely to establish whether my personal concerns have wider significance and relevance. Important/ interconnected subjects, have included: family relationships, the female body and the land, abuse of power etc.
A short visit to the Venice in 2017, one of many I’ve made, unexpectedly resulted in a falling-in love, which has had a profound effect on my work/ideas. Initially ‘Venetian-ness’ – specific forms and colours began to appear unasked in my on-going paintings (see Furious, Globe Gallery, 2021, https://www.virginiabodman.com/FURIOUS_2021/). I was perplexed by what I thought would be a passing infatuation and struggled to understand how Venice which by now was un-shakeable passion, fitted into the trajectory of my work. In 2018-19, with the aim of getting-over-it, I made a 4-month visit to Venice – it didn’t work. I now go for 2 months each Autumn, work I make there fuels continuing research and paintings.
Examining this perplexing, uncharacteristic falling-in-love and the desire to use this experience in my work was essential. My aim was to make work ‘about’ and not ‘of’ Venice. In 2018 I wrote: Venice is probably the most depicted, described, imagined and critiqued city in the world. It presents contemporary artists with aesthetic and ethical dilemmas. It cannot just be pictured as uniquely beautiful. Responses must be made to the effects of climate change, tourism and depopulation. See: Venice: a Perplexion on https://www.virginiabodman.com/walkingonwater/ for a fuller account.
More recently I have come to understand that Venice has become a mirror for ongoing personal concerns. “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are”, (Nin, A, et al), holds true and after much perplexion I’ve now come to understand that this ‘about Venice’ work is a connected and credible part of my practice.
https://www.virginiabodman.com/walkingonwater/
I have shown two of the Venice paintings in No Last Dance, curated by Helen Baker and Sue Spark, NCA, 2024,
See: https://www.virginiabodman.com/walkingonwater/67.html
1974-77 BA (Hons) Fine Art (Painting) Birmingham Polytechnic
(First Class with Commendation in Art History)
1978-81 MA (RCA) Painting, Royal College of Art, London
2007 ACE(NE) award for HOME GROUND publication
2007 Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Sunderland, funding for HOME GROUND publication
2007 RAE Fellowship, (HEFCE funded) for HOME GROUND publication
2002-03 AHRB Small Grant, project title – Inside/Outside: Landscape and the Feminine
2001-2 Rootstein Hopkins Sabbatical Award
2000 Artists Residency, Wysing Arts, Bourn, Cambridge
1999-2000 Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship supported by English Heritage, Northern Arts and Berwick upon Tweed Borough Council (LEADER funds)
1999 Travel and Training Award, Northern Arts
1996-97 Leverhulme Fellowship, (project title: The Sublime and the Feminist Grotesque, a Reconciliation)
1995 Sabbatical Award, University of Sunderland
1994 Major Artists Bursary, Northern Arts
1993 Northern Arts Awards to Artists, (x2)
1987 Eastern Arts Print Prize
1983-84 Durham Cathedral Artists Residency, funded by the Arts Council, Northern Arts, and Hatfield College, University of Durham
1981-83 Abbey Major Scholarship, British School at Rome
1978-81 Princess of Wales Award, Royal College of Art
1976 Gilbert Mason Drawing Award, Birmingham Polytechnic
1975 Jackson Award, Birmingham Polytechnic
I have been a studio holder at Villiers Street Studio Group in Sunderland since 1990, since 2003, as the longest standing member, I have acted as chair responsible, with the group’s secretary, for managing finances, H&S, recruitment, building issues, liaison with landlord etc.
1989 Grizedale Forest Gallery, Northern Arts commission, (1 painting)
Yes, by the Art in Northern Churches collection
2021 Journal of Visual Art Practice, Corby, V, Maternity meets Modernity: Virginia Bodman’s transformation of maternal experience through the work of Pablo Picasso and Keith Vaughan.
10.2009 Corner, D. Virginia Bodman Paintings, The Western Mail
18.12.2006 Whetston, D. Swell Show of Sea Paintings, The Journal
14.12.2006 Rudd, A. Art Review – Virginia Bodman: Full Volume, Metro
6.1998 Sykes, A. Darlington showcase for regional artists. Northern Review
3.1998 Farrier, P. Passages of Plenitude, Darlington and Stockton Times
May 1996 Byrd, C. Artlanta, The Atlanta Journal, U.S.A.
Summer 1996 Wollen, R. Artlanta, Contemporary Art (Vol. 3, issue 4)
Summer 1996 Anson, L. Artlanta In Newcastle, Untitled (No. 11)
May 1996 Cullum, J. Review Artlanta, Atlanta Art Paper,U.S.A.
1.12.95 New, The Times Higher
3.8.93 Alberge, D. Frames Of Different Reference, The Independent
1992 Whetstone, D. From Head, Heart And Belly, The Journal
Spring 1991 Robinson, H. Putting Us In The Picture, The Insider (Issue 10)
4.11.90 Hall, J. Fruit And Veg Of Motherhood, The Sunday Correspondent
10.10.90 Grimley, T. Honest Look At Motherhood, The Birmingham Post
9.1984 McClaren, A. Art At Work, Arts Review
8.1984 Varley, W. Art At Work, The Guardian
5.1984 Varley, W. Virginia Bodman, The Guardian
3.1984 Patronage Report, Art Monthly
No. However I have had 4 solo shows with the Globe Gallery, currently based in North Shields and am the only artist who has shown at all the Globe Gallery iterations, with solo shows at: Globe Gallery, North Shields, Globe Gallery, Carliol Square, Newcastle, Globe Gallery, 7 Floor, Commercial Union House Gallery, Newcastle and had work in group show at Globe Gallery, Ground Floor, Commercial Union House, Newcastle. Since 2006 Rashida Davison, director, Globe Gallery director, has been a big supporter of my work.
2006 Invited Artist, 32nd Artists Symposium, Lazar Castle, Lazarea, Transylvania, Romania
2000 Artists Residency, Wysing Arts, Bourn, Cambridge
2000 Rootstein Hopkins Fellowship, University of Sunderland
1999-2000 Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship, Berwick-on-Tweed
1996-1997 Leverhulme Fellowship, University of Sunderland
1983-84 First Durham Cathedral Artist’s Residency, Durham
1981-1983 Abbey Major Scholarship in Painting, British School at Rome
1977 -1978 Fellowship in Painting, Exeter College of Art
Email: virginiabodman@aol.com
Address: 54 Otto Terrace, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR2 7LR, GB
Local Authority: City of Sunderland
