Anne-Marie Creamer, United Kingdom
Anne-Marie Creamer is a British artist, lecturer and curator based in London who has always been interested in story telling & experimental approaches to narrative. Although she took part in many exhibitions as a painter in the 1990’s in 2000 she decided to expand on her interest how language & narrative are structured to explore a use of the moving image. Most of this transition took place during time spent working in Japan & most importantly Central-East Europe, where whilst on an international artist in residence awards in Prague & Transylvania the key work ‘Meeting the Pied Piper in Brasov’ was made.
Anne-Marie has developed a body of work - mainly experimental videos, drawings & installations - that form a kind of expanded, discursive narrative with interconnected objects & images that explore the relationships between documentary & fiction, realism & illusion. Her work has often centered on the existence of artifacts or chance encounters, such as the 200 letters Transylvanian exile Mikes Kelemen wrote to his fictitious aunt in the 18th century, her encounter with a group of dancing Székey children in Transylvania, finding an old coat in an abandoned apartment, or the small painting that the fictitious Vladimir Slapeta commissioned from painter Andrew Grassie. All these are included in slyly reflexive & deceptively simple tales, often featuring nameless protagonists who search for lost objects or places that seem forever out of reach.
Anne-Marie was also involved in running the artist-run Cubitt Gallery (London) in the 1990’s & is currently a Lecturer at Norwich School of Art (Norwich, UK) & Design & Wimbledon College of Art (London, UK). She is also joint leader on the forthcoming ‘The Lucerna Project’, which is currently in development with several London & Czech based organization.
Studied: Middlesex University & Royal College of Art, (Fine Art, Painting), London, UK. Exhibitions include: 2008; (solo) Galerie Die Aktualitat des Schonen, Liberec, Czech Republic; Golden Rain, Eigeroya lighthouse, Egersund, Norway, curated by Michael Petry as part of Stavanger ‚08; LICC award finalist, Alma Enterprises Gallery, London; Holy Hiatus, various locations, Cardigan, Wales. 2007; Territorien, BBK Galerie de Kunstler, München, Germany; Selective Affinitives, Outpost Gallery, Norwich, UK; Malé etudy, Skolska 28, Prague, Czech Republic;Apex arts, New York. 2006; Flying Through Amber: the last wish of Vladimir Slapeta’, with Andrew Grassie, Format festival, Derby, UK. Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Wales, UK, Draiocht Arts Center, Dublin. Also previous exhibitions at; Norwich Gallery, UK, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Cultural Hall of the Syndicates, Transylvania, Romania, Spacex Gallery, Gasworks Gallery, The Tannery, Salama-Caro Gallery, Small Mansions Arts Centre (London). AD&A Gallery, Osaka, Gallery Aoyama, Japan Sagacho bis Gallery, Omotesando Gallery, (Tokyo). Awards: Delfina Studios Trust, Arts Council of England, The Union of Soviet Art Critics Residency, Evelyn Williams Trust, Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK. Publications: 2008; Golden Rain, for “On the Edge” Project, Eigeroya lighthouse, Egersund, Norway. Texts by Michael Petry. Organized by Ha Gamle Prestegard as part of Stavanger ‘08. 2006; ‘The Drawing Book, a survey of drawing, the primary means of expression’. Edited by Tania Kovats, with texts by Charles Darwent, Kate Macfarlane & Katherine Stout. Black Dog Publishing.
Artist Statement
British artist Anne-Marie Creamer is interested in story telling & experimental approaches to narrative. She has developed a body of work - mainly experimental videos, drawings & installations - that form a kind of expanded, discursive narrative with interconnected objects & images that explore the relationships between documentary & fiction, realism & illusion.
Middlesex University, London. B.A. Fine Art & Royal College of Art, London. M.A, Fine Art, painting
Awards and Residencies
From 2001 only;
2001 Go! InternationalAward’, London Arts Board London Arts Development Fund: London Visual Arts Artists Fund, London Arts Board
2003 International-artist-in-residence-award, Foundation & Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic
Grants for Individuals, Arts Council of England, London
AHRC Small Grants in the Creative & Performing Arts
2003-4 Evelyn Williams Drawing Fellowship, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Royal College of Art Collection, Coopers & Lybrand Delloitte, London, Delfina Studios Trust, London. & in private collections in London, Switzerland and Paris.
Publications Forthcoming
2008 Golden Rain,for “On the Edge” Project, Eigeroya lighthouse, Egersund, Norway. Texts by Michael Petry. Organized by Ha Gamle Prestegard as part of Stavanger 2008.
2009/10 The Lucerna Project, an artist-led project by Anne-Marie Creamer & Jan Mladovsky, with Jaroslav Koran of Gallery books, Prague. Texts will include those from Victor Buchli, Anne-Marie Creamer/ Jan Mladovsky, Jiri Kovanda, Zdenek Lukes, Karel Pecka, Tomas Pospiszyl, Jane Rendell, Richard Wentworth, Katerina Seda, Jiri Kovanda, Kjetil Berge, Elizabeth Wright.
Previous, from 2001 only
2001 British Art Now, catalogue, Tokyo, Japan. Funded by The Great British Saskawa Foundation. East International catalogue. Text by Lynda Morris. Funded by the Arts Council, The Henry Moore Foundation, Eastern Arts Board
2005 Basil H Alkazzi Foundation & The Royal College of Art.A celebration of twenty years association between the Foundation & the College, looking at the work of the 54 scholars the Foundation & the College have supported over the last twenty years. Published by the Basil H Alkazzi Foundation & The Royal College of Art.
2006The Drawing Book, a survey of drawing, the primary means of expression. Edited by Tania Kovats. With texts by Charles Darwent, Kate Macfarlane & Katherine Stout. Black Dog Publishing.
Bibliography – Reviews & Citations Previous, from 2001 only
2001 Norfolk Contemporary Art Society magazine, reviewing East 2001, Robert Short.
2005 ARTTRA – on-line art magazine. Review of Oriel Mostyn 25, Julian Benson.
Muvelodés, Lászlo, Szat mári, Nemzetközi képzomuvészeti alkotótábor, On ‘Freecamp’, Transylvania, Romania
2006 foto8, Ei8ht magazine, FORMAT festival
Hotshoe International, editorial, ‘Fresh Perspectives on Photography’, FORMAT Photography Festival, Derby.
2007 art49.com, The European portal for art in the 20th and 21st century. "Melody Spirit Performance und Territorien Ausstellung"
Photography-now.org, ‘Territorien’ Ausstellung
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wenn Heimisches fremd wird, „Territorien“: eine Ausstellung in der Galerie der Künstler, Mittwoch, 28. März 2007, HANNE WESKOTT
Curatorial/ Exhibition work Forthcoming
2007-10Currently developing ‘The Lucerna Project’, an artist led project in development by Anne-Marie Creamer & Jan
Mladovsky, with Central European & UK organizations. (www.lucernaproject.info)
Participation in workshops, Talks, and Conferences Previous, from 2001 only;
2001 The British Art scene in the 1990’s, Open Studios NOPE, Tokyo, Japan Hand-Made Film- East conference, chaired by Marjorie Althorpe-Guyton. Cinema City, Norwich, UK
2003 Drawing Quarters 1, including Deanna Petherbridge, Grenville Davey, Humphrey Ocean, Paul Gough, Caroline Broadhead, Tania Kovats. University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
2006 FORMAT conference. Looking at some of the current relationships between painting & photography. Presented paper & recent project, ‘Flying Through Amber: the last wish of Vladimir Šlapeta’, with Andrew Grassie. Also including Dan Hays, Lisa Le Feurve, Jonathan Harris, John Goto, Angela Grauerholz, Sarah Jones & Edwin Zwakman. Derby University, UK
Lecturing
Has taught in many British art schools & universities.
Currently;
2000-08 Norwich School of Art and Design. Ba & MA Fine Art. Part-time Lecturer.
2001-08 Wimbledon School of Art, University of the Arts, London. MA Fine Art in Drawing. Regular visiting Lecturer.