Tom Bull grew up in Northamptonshire and his relationship to folklore and heritage is at the heart of his practice. Recently Tom has been cladding unwanted playhouses into sculptural cottages with a process known as wattle and daub. An archaic procedure in which a lattice is daubed with clay and hay, the process harks back to a non-industrialised time, where things were sourced locally and built sustainably through land and labour.
On the 11th of November, as part of ‘Desire Paths’, join our ‘Hardcore Cottagecore’ community workshop where we will be cladding a series of children’s’ playhouses in wattle and daub and transforming them into pseudo-cottages. Through this sculptural event we’ll confront what remains of Croydon’s folk heritage, talking about urban change, labour, class, location, heritage, lore & nostalgia.
Once completed we hope for the houses to be installed inside the roundabouts of Croydon. Either overgrown, a site for unconvincing advertising or garish art installations, these quasi-urbanised wormholes are often neglected and overlooked as active land. However, these 360 plots, provide the perfect greenery for some unsuspected sculptural housing…
Join Turf and Tom in this sculptural endeavour to up-cycle unwanted ‘idyllic’ playhouses into earthen sculptures that ooze with life and layers upon layers of calcified entombment.
ABOUT TOM BULL:
Tom Bull b. 1995, Northamptonshire, UK. Through the landscape of folklore, rural living and modernity, Bull investigates the tension and slippage between fiction and representation, violence and sensitivity, truth and mythology. With a wide range of tools and materials borrowed from architecture, model making, farming and forestry, he employs a sculptural practice that manipulates traditions, time, lore and genre. Bull holds a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (2016) and an MFA from Goldsmiths (2022). Recent institutional exhibitions include the solo exhibition Under Cover of Darkness, E-WERK Freiburg, Germany (2023) and the International Transmedia Festival, Yeata Museum, Korea. Bull has been awarded New Contemporaries (2022) and the Gilbert Bayes Sculpture Award (2022).
KEY ACCESS INFO:
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- To help us support you best, please let us know if you have any access needs when booking.
- Wear suitable clothing for working with clay and hay.
- Materials, hot drinks and seating will be provided.
- For access info about getting to Turf and the Turf space, click here.
WORKSHOP CODE:
Turf aims to be a space where all are welcomed & respected. We ask all attendees to align with this spirit when booking and support us in creating a welcoming & collaborative atmosphere together. We ask that everyone is;
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- Kind and respectful in our language and behaviour towards others.
- Considerate of others’ time; allowing others room to speak & engage.
- Respectful of the space itself as belonging to many people, treating the space & objects with care.