The Turnpike was selected to host the 2018 Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award Artist Commission. The Award was established in memory of the artist Alexandra Reinhardt and is supported by the Max Reinhardt Charitable Trust. The successful recipient of the award was the artist Lindsey Mendick. Throughout the Summer, Lindsey worked at The Turnpike with local young people who, together with 9 invited contemporary artists, formed The Turnpike Pottery: an artists' collaborative working in clay. The aim of the pottery was to introduce young people to contemporary artists, develop their skills in ceramics and give them a nurturing, creative space where they could express their ideas. The result was an immersive exhibition that celebrated the voice of youth and boundless potential of collaboration.
Participating artists: Sally Hackett, Grantchester Pottery, Paloma Proudfoot, Jonathan Baldock, Urara Tsuchiya, Florence Peake, Phoebe Collings-James and Zoe Williams.
Lindsey Mendick studied her BA at Sheffield Hallam University and her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London. As a child of the 1990s Mendick's aesthetic sensibilities were forged in the decade that taste forgot. Her work presents a gloriously camp dreamscape of pattern and colour, with imagery pulled from culture high and low, from Botticelli to Liberace, from the gardens of Versailles to Las Vegas via The Big Breakfast. Everyday domestic objects and foodstuffs are elevated to a decadent and opulent platform. Into this she weaves her own personal narratives, memories and relationships; including her father’s stories and her mother’s seamstress skills.
Recent exhibitions include: You See Me Like A UFO, Marcelle Joseph Projects (2017); Herland, Bosse & Baum, London (2017); In Dark Times, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2017); You Were High When I Was Doomed, IMT, London (2017). In 2018 she will be exhibiting a solo show Perfectly Ripe as part of the Zabludowicz Invites programme and will also be presenting new work in collaboration with Jamie Fitzpatrick in June 2018 at Vitrine, Basel.
“I am so utterly thrilled to be awarded the 2018 ARMA Commission. The opportunity to work on such an adventurous and dynamic project with such a fantastic gallery will be indispensable to me as an artist. I cannot wait to begin The Turnpike Pottery with the young people of Leigh.”Lindsey Mendick
“ARMA was excited by the many possibilities offered by Lindsey Mendick’s proposal to give The Turnpike a pottery. The tactile nature of Lindsey’s work lends itself particularly well to working with young people at a vulnerable stage in their life, and we all look forward to supporting her in the project.”Veronica Reinhardt, Trustee of the Max Reinhardt Charitable Trust
“Lindsey is a fabulous choice for the ARMA commission at The Turnpike. Her work with young people will provide a great example for others working in gallery and visual arts education. Engage is proud to coordinate ARMA and we are eager to see how the commission develops.”Jane Sillis, Director of Engage