Security of Tenure. Gail Prentice outlines the range of facilities

Philip Napier in his old studio at the Flax Art Studios’ Edenderry Mill premises, c.1990; all photographs courtesy of Flax Art Studios

Security of Tenure

GAIL PRENTICE OUTLINES THE RANGE OF FACILITIES OFFERED AT FLAX ART STUDIOS IN BELFAST.

FLAX ART STUDIOS was founded in 1989 by a small group of artists who needed space to make large-scale installation art works. The top floor of the Edenderry Mill was found – a former linen mill in North Belfast. The studio was artist-led and the first Board of Directors consisted of Philip Napier, Michael Minnis, Áine Nic Giolla Coda, Ruth Graham, Sharon Kelly and Paddy McCann. In 2004, tragedy struck, and the mill was destroyed by fire, taking with it 15 years of archival and current work belonging to the studio artists. In May 2004, Flax secured new premises in Belfast’s city centre, on Corporation Street. Flax later moved to Havelock House, the former home of UTV, in the city centre location of Ormeau Road in 2018, which has proved to be a positive interim move for us. Havelock sits on a 1.78-acre site and has almost 60,000 square feet of office-style studios, production space and an industrial workshop. We are delighted to have the opportunity to have full use of this building, which has such an illustrious history, steeped in Belfast’s heritage.

Flax has a robust track record of 30 years of working at the cutting edge of contemporary art. We significantly contribute to the region’s visual art practice through studio provision; act as a hub for professional development and international networking opportunities; and foster greater understanding through outreach and engagement activity. We provide subsidised studio provision for emerging, mid-career and established artists, particularly those working with sculpture, installation, new media and time-based media. Flax provides studio space for over 50 artists, including 12 emerging artists, two international residents and two curators-in-residence. The International Residency Programme was established in 1994. To date we have hosted artists from Australia, Canada, United States of America, Columbia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Iceland, India, Japan, Korea, Slovenia, Lithuania, Spain, Thailand and Sweden. We

Flax Arts Outrech Archive

also provide at least ten production residencies and open our workshop facility to external artists, through our sculpture workshop programme.

SCULPTURE WORKSHOP Flax Art Studios sculpture workshop is the only facility of its kind in Northern Ireland. We aim to make it accessible to professional artists, with fees set at an affordable level and subsidised by Flax. We have been developing our studios to provide professional sculptural production and media facilities. Our workshops include wood, plaster, casting, digital fabrication, textile and large internal/external workspaces. We also offer media production space, including a photography studio and a sound-staged film studio. We have two types of membership: our Sculpture Workshop Membership for makers, which gives full access to our facilities; and a Media Production Membership for creatives who wish to only hire our studios.

This spring we will be introducing new courses in sculpture, mould-making and casting processes. Taught by highly skilled and experienced artists, these workshops are open to everyone and are suitable for beginner and intermediary levels, with all materials provided. Geraldine Owens is a sculptor working in film and television. She uses traditional sculpture techniques essential to work in this field of the industry. This year, we will be offering three master classes with Owens, where she will provide demonstrations of traditional sculpture techniques that are rarely taught in formal education today. She will lead a workshop on ‘Scaling Up’ (25 – 26 April), ‘Polystyrene Carving and Sculpting’ (9 – 10 May) and ‘Copying from a Cast’ (23 – 24 May). Stuart Calvin will lead a wood machining course on 16 May, providing an introduction to the variety of wood machines in Flax’s sculpture workshop. John Rainey will lead a ‘Plaster and Mould Making’ workshop (6 – 7 June), focusing on plaster of paris and its advantages as a material for creating sculpture and moulds. Rachael Campbell Palmer will lead a workshop on ‘Silicone Mould Making and Casting Materials’ (27 – 28 June), providing an introduction to a range of materials that can be used in sculpting and casting processes, including polyester casting resin, jesmonite and crystacal. To book a course or to find out more about the studios, contact: flaxartstudiosfacilities@gmail.com.

THE FUTURE OF STUDIO PROVISION IN BELFAST During our 25th anniversary year in 2014, Flax organised a symposium which brought a more focused level of thinking about the development of a vision for studio space across the city. We then undertook a feasibility study in August 2015, focusing on the baseline provision of studio space for visual artists in Belfast. This report established that much of the existing provision was not sustainable, revealing high levels of dissatisfaction with the quality of workspaces available. Central to the case for investment is the fact that the majority of existing studio projects face significant and real challenges to their short-term sustainability – one of the major reasons being that they have no real security of tenure. The study predicted that some 58% of existing provision may not be available to visual artists by 2020. Subsequent developments and dynamics in the market have now led to a significant reduction in the volume of available studio space. Artist studios in Belfast are at a critical stage; if Belfast is to have sustainable artist studios in the future, a new model of working is needed. Flax and other artist studios work hard to attract, nurture, promote and retain artistic talent in the city. Providing studio space and a place to work for professional artists is vital in ensuring that artists continue to have the resources and infrastructure to live and work in Belfast and Northern Ireland. We hope to continue to do this in future.

The Film Studio at Flax Art Studios in current premises at Havelock House, Belfast

The Photography Studio at Flax Art Studios in current premises at Havelock House, Belfast