Past Projects

CONNECTION : OPEN 2018

Curated and organised by me, this Open was the first exhibition in the new Handa Gallery at the refurbished Wells Maltings Norfolk.  It ran from end June to 30 September 2018 and featured the work of some 240 artists with connections to Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge and Essex.

A call to artists was made in October 2017, via an anonymous entry process.  We were thrilled by the enthusiastic response (over 900 entries) indicative of the large amount of talent in this region.  A wide variety of styles, materials, methods and subject matter was immediately apparent as was the high standard of works submitted.  The idea was based on a true Open, taking inspiration from the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, giving visitors an opportunity to view and purchase work by artists at every level of their career, from emerging talent to established figures.

Photos of the show here.

Tracey Ross Walking to Morston, mixed-media on board, 2018

With thanks to my fellow selectors: artist & art tutor Tracey Ross, Veronica Sekules of the Groundwork Gallery Kings Lynn and Simon Daykin General Manager of the Maltings.  See also my current project – Spirit of Place.

Computer Art Image of the Month (2011 – 14)

For three years I wrote a monthly column for The Chartered Institute for IT (formerly known as the British Computer Society), in conjunction with the Computer Arts Society.  Each month I chose an image selected from the myriad of possibilities thrown up by the world of contemporary digital art. It could be a print, painting, plotter drawing or a still from animation, film, installation or web artwork.  The series began with Mark Wilson in January 2011.  The archive of published articles is here.

Janice Sylvia Brock: My Life on Canvas (2011 – 13)

I worked with English-born, Barbadian-resident artist Janice Sylvia Brock to write and edit the fascinating and inspiring story of her life.  Her paintings are full of the life, colour and warmth of the Caribbean.My Life on Canvas

The book, My Life on Canvas is 55,000 words and 200 illustrations published in 2014 by I. B. Tauris, under the PWP imprint.

To purchase the book in the UK click here or in the USA click here (if you would like a signed copy please email me).  The launch was opened by Sir Cliff Richard at Sugar Hill Club House, Barbados in January 2014. See book launch photos here.

A Computer in the Art Room (2008)

Based on four years of research and numerous interviews with practitioners, this book uncovers the little known history of early British computer art. It is an amazing story and hard to comprehend that before the onset of personal computers, propriety software and the internet there was a real struggle for access which touched off an explosion of true British pioneering spirit.  See Reviews.  To purchase, click on Shop above.

Bits in Motion (2006)

Bits in Motion was a film screening of early British computer animation curated and presented by Catherine Mason at the National Film Theatre, London on 7 March 2006. The screening of seminal works such as Tony Pritchett’s The Flexipede, 1967 (the first computer-generated film made in Britain) was followed by a panel discussion featuring pioneering artists and a Q&A session with the audience. An illustrated catalogue and programme notes was produced. Funding was gratefully received from London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange and was held in conjunction with Birkbeck, University of London and the Computer Arts Society.  Photos of the event here

CACHe Project (2002-2006)

CACHe (Computer Arts, Contexts, Histories, etc) was a research project in the Department of History of Art and Screen Media at Birkbeck, University of London supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.  The team included Prof. Charlie Gere as Project Leader, artist and writer Paul Brown as Senior Research Fellow, Dr Nick Lambert as Research Fellow and Catherine Mason.  The team were charged with the investigation of the history of computer arts in Britain from its origins circa 1960 to 1980.  The findings of this research are detailed in the two major outcomes of the project, the books   A Computer in the Art Room by Catherine Mason and White Heat, Cold Logic edited by the team and published by MIT Press. Read reviews of the book here and see book launch pictures here.

Other outcomes included the donation of two important archives of computer art to the Victoria & Albert Museum, the re-formation of the Computer Arts Society and the editing of CAS’s bulletin PAGE issue no 62, describing the work of CACHe.  In addition Catherine Mason and Paul Brown co-edited a special issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac Re:Searching Our Origins in April 2005, which addressed the writing of histories of digital practice.

Nick Lambert and Catherine Mason meet with pioneering programmer Bob Hopgood at the Atlas Laboratory, an important early institution for the creation of animation by digital computer.