News
Live Lava Pour at Head of Steam in Darlington
Saturday 4th September 2021
Location: Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum, Station Road, Darlington, DL3 6ST
More information to follow shortly.
Live Lava Pour at Middlesborough Art Weekender
Saturday 2nd October 2021
Location: Middlesborough
More information to follow shortly.
Past events…
Live Lava pour at the Science Gallery London.
Friday 19th July 2019
Location: Science Gallery, Kings College London, Great Maze Pond, London SE1 9GU
Friday Lates at Science Gallery London are a chance to explore the gallery after hours, enjoy a drink and bite to eat, and discover talks, workshops, performances and music brought to you by inspiring artists and researchers.
Friday Late: Elemental will be a night of new encounters with matter and multi-sensory performances celebrating the feeling of being part of something much bigger than ourselves.
A key focal point of the evening is ‘Is it Magma?’ – a performance by artist Jo Lathwood. Through alchemical experiments with geologists, volcanologists, founders and materials scientists, Jo shapes and casts molten rock. From 18:30 – 20:30 visitors will be able to chat to her about her process as the rock heats up. Once it has reached a molten state (at approx 20:40) there will be a live lava pour and creation of a series of sculptures.
The event is free to attend for members of the public
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Curious Formations at Biddulph Grange
25th September 2017 – 12th of April 2018
Location: Biddulph Grange Gardens, Stoke- On-Trent, UK
Curious formations is the result of a 6-month residency exploring Biddulph Grange Gardens encompassing a live lava performance (information below) and two new temporary sculptures. Two large geometric forms (based on feldspar crystals) sit outside the Geological Gallery which was designed by James Batemen in the 1860’s. The gallery encapsulates his intertwined belief system, as embedded in the walls is a rock stratum and a collection of fossils which are chronologically displayed correctly but labeled within the seven days of creation.
Learn more about the work here: https://jolathwood.co.uk/artworks/performance/curious-formations/
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Live Lava Pour at Biddulph Grange
30th May 2017
Location: Biddulph Grange Gardens, Stoke- On-Trent, UK
Biddulph Grange has invited artist Jo Lathwood to reflect on the visible and invisible histories of Biddulph, as she is also curious about rocks. Supported by Bristol University, she has been looking at geology afresh – experimenting with ways of melting rocks back into a liquid lava and reforming them into sculptures.
‘The alchemical processes have become integral to my practice and I have realised
that how a material in a state of transformation is fascinating, as it opens the
possibility of learning about geology.’
She has been in residence at/is spending time at Biddulph Grange Garden from March 2017 researching and experimenting. Using the exhibition of rock strata in the Geological Gallery as a starting point, and a mobile foundry, she will be melting igneous rocks at temperatures of up to 1200 degrees celsius into lava, then into objects on site on 30 May 2017.
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Solo exhibition at the Earth Gallery at Bristol University
Friday 25th November 2016 – 31st March 2017
The artworks displayed are part of an ongoing collaboration between staff and students from the School of Earth Sciences and visual artists based in Bristol. The idea for the exhibition space grew out of a Leverhulme Artist in Residence grant to Rodney Harris in 2015.
The current exhibition shows a selection of works which are the results of alchemical experiments from the ‘Is It Magma?’ project. Jo Lathwood’s interest in using molten rock as a sculptural material comes from a keen desire to understand and explore processes. The majority of works on display have been created by heating up Andesite to a molten state and then pouring it into bespoke moulds. Much of the skills required to execute this work have been transcribed from a background in metal casting.
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Institute of Making – Public Open Day: Geology
Saturday 05 November 2016 1:00pm – 5:00pm. FREE.
Location: Institute of Making, Malet Place, UCL, London, WC1E 7JE
Along side some other very interesting material / art / geology investigators, I will be presenting a selection of sculptures that I have been making and talk to anyone and everyone about the processes I have explored during this research project. Hosted by the grand Institute of Making; materials library at UCL.
For more information have a look at www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/events/detail/public-open-day-geology
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Jo Lathwood & Solveig Settemsdal – Exhibition
29/09/2016 – 20/10/2016, Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm, FREE
University of Gloucestershire, Hardwick Campus, St Paul’s Road, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 4BS
A Solid Above is the first time Lathwood and Settemsdal combine forces to make new collaborative work. Lathwood and Settemsdal investigate material processes with an alchemical approach from opposite ends of the material spectrum. Lathwood’s practice currently investigates the sculptural properties of dense materials such as iron, bronze and rock whereas Settemsdal explores more ephemeral materials like wax, gelatine and plaster. The metamorphic properties of these substances feed into their process-led practices. Both artists share a fascination with the shifting boundaries where known reality blurs into the fictional, and how this has impacted our understanding of the world throughout history.
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Material, Process, Alchemy
Jo Lathwood & Solveig Settemsdal – Workshop
20/10/2016, 3.00pm-5.00pm, FREE
University of Gloucestershire, Hardwick Campus, St Paul’s Road, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 4BS
Exploring materials in the exhibition ‘A Solid Above’ Lathwood and Settemsdal introduce and explain the processes used to make their work. Initiating a discussion around narrative and mythos to properties of substance and how these can be used to construct thoughts and relationships in literature. Focussing on Primo Levi’s ‘Periodic Table’, Keats’ concept of negative capability and Arthur Koestler’s ‘The Sleepwalkers’.
http://hardwickgallery.org/exhibition/a-solid-above/
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Open Studio
Friday 29 April 2016, 6–9pm (party till late) / Saturday 30 April 2016, 11am–5pm / Sunday 1 May, 11am–5pm / Monday 2 May, 11am–5pm. FREE. Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Rd, BS1 6UX
To share my finding so far and answer some questions about the project please feel welcome to join me at Spike Island Open Studios over the May Bank Hoilday. I will be showcasing works-in-progresses with Solveig Settemsdal in Studio 19 and studio 80.
Spike Open: http://www.spikeisland.org.uk/events/activities/spike-island-open-studios-2016
Solveig Settemsdal’s work: http://settemsdal.com/
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Live Lava Pour
Monday 2nd May 2016 3pm – 5pm. FREE. Sculpture Yard, Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Rd, BS1 6UX
As part of the Spike Open weekend I will also be doing a live lava pour in the sculpture courtyard, so members of the public have the opportunity to see molten rock, and further understand how I have been creating some of these new artworks.