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Summer exhibitions in Southend

Visitors to Focal Point Gallery in Southend-on-Sea can enjoy two new exhibitions from June.

Emma Edmondson’s new exhibition ‘Made from this Land’ is a public artwork commissioned by Focal Point Gallery and Southend-on-Sea City Council which looks at Southchurch and Thorpe Bay’s rich brickfield history.

Both Southchurch and Thorpe Bay are abundant in clay, during the 1800s they supported working brickfields with the finished items being exported to London on barges up the Thames Estuary.

Extensively researching the history and connecting with local families and historians, Emma learnt traditional hand-thrown artisan brick-making techniques from W. H. Collier, and worked with local ceramicists Richard Baxter and Hayley Summers, to create slips and glazes from local seashells.

The public artwork will comprise of three sculptures in the form of brick columns and a short brick wall, reminiscent of the columns that would have been built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to create a walking trail for local residents and visitors to Southend.

The project’s been supported by Arts Council England, Essex Heritage Trust, Southend Friends of Museums, Alan Simpson Solicitors and Dedman Gray.

Running from Wednesday 28 June to Saturday 16 September is ‘Unstable Condition’ - the first solo institutional exhibition by Essex-born artist Rebecca Moss.

Rebecca will explore the concepts of ecological and economic instability as well as our relationship with the natural world.

The main gallery will feature a series of witty short videos and an installation that uses humour to comment on the precariousness of British seaside resorts, especially those under threat from rising sea levels due to climate change.

To find out more visit: www.fpg.org.uk

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