BELLA KERR | ARTIST
practice | education | research
An active practitioner since graduating, drawing has provided continuity in a practice that has spanned installation, small-scale making, film, and set design, shown in a range of contexts from screenings in major London galleries, to museums, and regional galleries. Recent work has been expressed in the form of large-scale installation, digital prints and participatory and curatorial work.
Three projects have been key to my recent practice: Red Ball, Keeper(s) and as artist/curator, CIVIC. This project is a network of practitioners and researchers in conversation about art, architecture and the city; about cultural institutions, place, space, writing and walking. Keeper(s) examined the activities of the gallery and education through participation with a range of audiences and selected practitioners, including Jane Rendell, Karen Ingham and Kathryn Faulkner, while, over a number of years, Red Ball has invited participants to make and engage in discussion about making.
Reading Rooms: Manifestations of Domestic Space in Visual Art and Literature (MPhil through written and practice-based research) examined the room spaces found in the work of contemporary female artists and the longer history of the novel, and has since fed into text and time based work.
I was a lecturer in art and design for 30 years, teaching at all levels from foundation to postgraduate, and Programme Director of the Foundation Art and Design course at Swansea School of Art from 2004 – 2016. R.A. Hodgkin wrote of learning and the role of the teacher as ‘an oscillation between play, practice and exploring… she makes the space, sustains the dialogue and introduces structure, problems and evaluations’ (Hodgkin, 1985), capturing the ethos of the Foundation Art & Design course.
Citation: Hodgkin, R. A. 1985. Playing and Exploring: education through the discovery of order. London/New York Methuen
Selected Exhibitions, Residencies & Research | Download full CV here
Forthcoming:
March 2024 | Rub n Roll: Residency outcomes. Exhibition at Cardiff MADE.
May 2024 | Deserters. Fringe Arts Bath Festival. Curator.
2023 | Who’s Been Sleeping in my Bed? Fringe Arts Bath. Curator & Exhibitor
2022 | Play is a Roomy Subject Galerie 115, Canada. Wordplay, Digital Prints. Curated by Celina Jeffrey in collaboration with uOttawa MFA Contemporary Curating students.
2022 | The Coming of Age group exhibition curated with Amanda Roderick as part of Fringe Arts Bath, including Life Expectancy, drawings by Bella Kerr & Will Jones
2021 | Everyone is an Artist programme produced with Lyndon Jones for Archive on 4. Broadcast Nov 2021, Radio 4
2020 – 2021 | Revealing Wales short films produced with Lyndon Jones for the Royal Society of Architects Wales. Series 1 September 2020, Series 2 September 2021
2019 | ‘Drawing and Making Time’ collaborative presentation for Press Play conference with Catrin Webster, British School at Rome
2017 | ‘Word Room’ peer reviewed paper (practice-based/written) ‘Word Room’ video shown Drawing Centre, New York, The Bottom Line space . Originally presented as paper at Spatialising Illustration symposium, UWTSD, Swansea October 2013 & published VAROOMLAB Issue 2
2017 | Artist residency at Casa dell’Ospitalità di Venezia, a house for homeless men, Venice
2016 | Interview for ‘Professional Practice: 20 Questions’ Q-Art publication. Launched at Hauser & Wirth, London http://q-art.org.uk
2016 | One month collaborative curatorial residency at Residency Unlimited, New York. Considering cultural organisations: structure, infrastructure, partnership, learning, opportunity and engagement: http://residencyunlimited.org/residencies/amanda-roderick-bella-kerr/
2016 | ‘Networks, Space & the Artist-Citizen’ presentation for Q-Art Symposium, Transitions Out of Fine Art Education, Glasgow School of Art
2016 | One of 12 ‘verdicts’ on recent environmental interventions in Wales ‘Pupal Soup’ text for Touchstone: Architecture in Wales (RSAW journal)
2015 | ‘Making Protest’ for Time let Me Play Foundation staff exhibition, National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, as part of a 3 part event including: Green & Golden: Q-Art symposium exploring the impact of location on art education and the art school, Swansea College of Art & Gathered Again exhibition Swansea Foundation Alumni, Mission Gallery, Swansea
2014 | ‘Lucky Dogs’ for CIVIC at Cardiff Contemporary with CIVIC artists
2014 | Curator ‘CIVIC: Considering the City, Architecture, Art and the Urban Environment’ exhibition with Andrew Nixon (Powell Dobson Architects), Owen Griffiths, Huw Griffiths, Anna Barratt, Jason&Becky, Niall Maxwell (Rural Office architects), Lindsay Halton and Catriona Ryan. Mission Gallery, Swansea
2013 | ‘Swansea Foundation’ response for ’10 Methods: 20 Questions’ Q-Art HEA supported book/e-book, launched V&A Museum
2013 | ‘Physical Digital: Re-Forming the Book’ paper with Tim Stokes at Mix2 Text on Screens conference, Bath Spa University
2013 | ‘Keeper(s)’ solo exhibition, with invited keepers: Kathryn Faulkner, Karen Ingham & Jane Rendell. Mission Gallery, Swansea
2011 | ‘Learning to Read’ prints, ‘Artemisia’. Group show at St David’s Hall Gallery, Cardiff
2011 | ‘Recipes for a Red Ball’ project. Project Space, Studio Supersaurus, Swansea
2012 | published (IM)POSSIBLE School Book:As Found, for Five Years for Tanks Summer School, Tate Modern
2010 | ‘Research Design’ installation, What Will Be Seen with Opus Artists Group.
BayArt Gallery, Cardiff
2013 | ‘The Whiteroom’ peer reviewed paper presented:Occupation; Negotiations with Constructed Space
2009 | Conference, Brighton University, conference book/disc published September 2013
2009 | ‘Bed and Table’ site-specific installation, InFocus Space, Oriel Davies, Newtown
2008 | Other Rooms’ installation/drawings, On Drawing with OpusArtists Group. Elysium ArtSpace, Swansea
1999 | ‘Book Dolls’ group exhibition Recycling the Century. Oriel Myrddin, Carmarthen