chris lewis-jones

'exploring evolving notions of identity'

using combinations of film, projection, installation, painting, printmaking and live art, my work explores, questions, and where appropriate, celebrates evolving notions of culture and cultural identity.
My practice is research driven. Although I've tackled universals such as faith, ritual and nationalism, I am most interested in exploring my own identity: the identity of the Englishman, the identity that (in terms of recent cultural discourse and funding priorities) 'dare not speak its name'. As one who was, until quite recently, embarrassed by his cultural identity, I have come to enjoy elements of both my maleness and my Englishness, delighting in the multiplicity of response and interpretation that they both invite and provoke.
As England enters a period of accelerated social and ethnic transition, sings and symbols are becoming, if not fluid, then certainly less fixed. I work with transparent and transient materials precisely because they are less fixed, allowing the form, like Baudrillard's signifier, to float. The discourse is characterised by uncertainty.

Email id@chrislewisjones.co.uk

Web Information

www.chrislewisjones.co.uk

professional qualifications
2007 Professional Trainer's Award (Credit) Broadway Media Centre Nottingham
2004 MA Art & Design Advanced Practice & Theory (Distinction) University of Derby
2002 Post Graduate Certificate in Arts Practice (Fine Art) University of Derby
1991 Certificate in Adult & Further Education (Stage II) Basford Hall College Nott'm
1989 Certificate in Adult & Further Education (Stage I) Northampton LEA
1978 BA Hons Fine Art (2.1) Sunderland Polytechnic School of Art

selected exhibitions
2008 Yard Gallery Nottingham
2008 2004 Derby Museum & Gallery
2008 Another Road Side Attraction Gallery London
2008 Air Space Gallery Stoke-on-Trent
2007 City Gallery Southampton
2007 Reg Vardy Gallery Sunderland
2006 Nottingham Castle Gallery
2006 Corner House Manchester
2004 2003 2002 2001 1999 Djanogly Gallery University of Nottingham
2003 Q Arts, Derby (solo exhibition)
2002 1999 1992 City Gallery, Leicester
2000 National Museum of Installation Art London
1999 Stamford Arts Centre (solo exhibition)
1997 Angel Row Gallery (solo exhibition)
1994 Nottingham Castle Gallery (solo exhibition)
1989 Leicester University Annexe Northampton (solo exhibition)
1978 Midlands Arts Centre Birmingham (solo exhibition)

selected public art
2005 Money's Yard (installation of shaped paintings opposite Hub Gallery), Arts NK
1993 Westminster Banner Project, Victoria (and other) railway stations, London
1992 Lincolnshire Life Mural, Lincoln Castle (largest mural in UK)

selected curated exhibitions
2008 ram jam & concertina Derby Museum and Gallery and St Werburgh's Church
2007 oldknows@20 co-curated with Simon Withers at O.S.G./Mere Jelly Gallery
2006 id4me (refugee artists) at Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum
2000 Viva Zero (Gallery Art Group) Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham
1996 Forest-Coal-Forest (with Bilsthorpe youth) Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
1995 Freedom of Expression (with Amnesty/Tom Hackett) Angel Row Gallery
1995 Every Cloud (elderly art students) Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham

selected live art/performance
2008 Cyril Seaton's Cycle Roots Drill Hall Lincoln & Speak Free Festival Derby
2007 Chap Fencing City, Millais and John Hansard Galleries, Southampton
2006 'Yes, I am an Englishman!' Tate Modern, London
2006 Jammin J Fame Factory & Lace Market Photography Gallery, Nottingham
2005 Searching 4 Albion (filmed performance) Tate Modern
2003 Strangers in the Night Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham

selected screenings
2008 S4Albion screening Nottingham Open Festival of Contemporary Arts
2006 S4Albion screening and seminar City Arts, Nottingham
2004 triptych4theboys (projection) Broadway Media Centre/Harts Hotel Nottingham
2004 triptych4theboys University of Derby
2003 Flag /England and I Q Arts Derby

selected collaborations
2008- Simon Withers and Gareth Jordan/Cyril Seaton's Cycle Roots (live art)
2008- Saira Lloyd (curating, performance, project management)
2006- Simon Withers (curating, research, performance, project management)
1994 Tom Hackett/Amnesty International/Angel Row Gallery (community exhibition)
1992 Tricia Durdey (choreographer) Bonington Gallery (stage design/performance)
1991 Heather Connelly (stage design/performance/drama) Mansfield Arts Centre

teaching/lecturing experience
2008, 2006, Visiting Lecturer PGC Arts Practice, University of Derby
2006, Visiting Lecturer Year Zero Fine Art, University of Derby
1998-2005 Access to Art+Design/Foundation Course Leader, People's College
1991-1998 Lecturer in Art & Design, Highbury Hospital/The People's College (P/T)
1996-2000 Gallery Art Group Coordinator, University of Nottingham (P/T)
1988-1989 Lecturer in Art & Design, Bosworth Tutorial College, Northampton

other professional experience
2000- visiting lecturer: universities, colleges and art galleries across the UK
1994-2005 Artistic Director Sambawamba (participatory arts company) (P/T)
1992 Education Officer for Visual Art, Castle Gallery/Nottingham City Council

publications
2007 Cyril Seaton: Sexy Surrealist or Fortunate Fantasist (Published by/in Staple)
2007 contributed to Davidson's North + South Catalogue (published by Reg Vardy)
2004 a reflective evaluation of the public art gallery (People's College)
2002 Connect 2 contribution to catalogue (City Gallery)
1992 illustrated Re-thinking the Neolithic by Dr Julian Thomas (Cambridge Uni Press)

selected conferences/seminars
2008 gave talk and chaired seminar on 'rationalism revisited' for BHA, Notts Branch
2007 'Using installation art to enhance understanding of culture/s and language/s'
Creative Curriculum Conference, University of Nottingham
2006 commissioned to deliver a paper based on research into 'The extent to which
an artist's practice informs his/her work within educational contexts' at CP
creative practitioners' seminar at Nottingham Trent University
1998 artists' panel/seminar on Public Art, Angel Row Gallery

selected voluntary work
2007- Chair, Sherwood Rise Residents Association, Nottingham
2005- 2007 Chair, N CAN (Nottingham Contemporary Artists' Network)
2005- Chair, Oldknows Studio Group
1992-1996 Board of Directors, Meadows Community Arts, Nottingham
1988-1989 Coordinator Oxfam Campaign Group (Hungry for Change) Northampton

awards
2008 Most Original Robin Hood Prize, Nottingham Castle
2001 Best Troupe Award, Nottingham Afro Caribbean carnival
1993 1st Prize Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade (processional sculpture)
1993 3rd Prize (Painting) Rufford Arts Centre/East Midlands Open

collections
ArtsNK (Sleaford), Castle College (Nottingham), Brian Robinson Collection, (Washington), University of Nottingham

selected recent research
2008- Arts Council England/CP Nottingham Creative Practitioners' Think Tank
2007-08 Arts NK/NKDC Research into Youth Arts, potential and initiatives
2006 Arts NK- Artscape Metheringham, research into local identity and extent to
which it frames, limits and/or informs aspirations for public art

selected residencies
2008 University of Derby School of Art & Design
2008 Forest Park School/Airspace Gallery/Creative Partnerships Stoke on Trent
2007 Manning Girls' School/ Creative Partnerships Nottingham
2006 Arts NK, Hub Gallery, Sleaford (Mapping Methernigham)
2005 Haydn School/ Creative Partnerships Nottingham
2004 Leicester Housing Association

selected music
Urban Groove Merchants (urban street beats with a Brazilian twist)- Artistic Director
Wholesome Fish (hillbilly punk)- squeezeboxes and percussion
Café con Brio (European music/s from opera to folk)- squeezeboxes/vocals

Suggested webs/links
www.youtube.com
www.psygen.co.uk
www.uptherise.co.uk
www.oldknows.co.uk
www.moongold.me.uk
www.goldfactory.org.uk
www.scaatchi_gallery.co.uk
www.nottinghamopen.co.uk
www.chrislewisjones.co.uk
www.creativepartnerships.co.uk