In Conversation with Artist Katie Spragg and Herbalist Jane Wallwork

2 Dec 2023 4-5pm

Overview

Join us at The Maltings Studios for a conversation between artist Katie Spragg and local herbalist Jane Wallwork about the range of plants featured in the exhibition ‘Natural Practice.’ 

The talk will focus on the importance of conversation and sharing of plant knowledge in Spragg’s new collection of work. They will both share stories of plants and place, with Wallwork providing expertise on the healing qualities of plants, returning to two key questions in Spragg’s practice: how plants care for us and how we can care for them.

The conversation will be moderated by Jacqueline Moore, Senior Director Make Hauser & Wirth and conclude with an audience Q&A. Tickets cost £5 per person and include refreshments. All the proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to our 2023 – 2024 charity partner, Bruton Community Library.

This event coincides with the opening celebrations of Make Hauser & Wirth Somerset’s exhibitions, ‘Vital Clay’ and ‘Natural Practice’, on view from Saturday 2 December 2023 through Saturday 27 January 2024.

About Katie Spragg
Combining clay with a range of processes, including animation and installation, Katie Spragg creates work that aims to arouse curiosity, specifically the way in which humans and plants coexist. She graduated from The Royal College of Art in 2016 with an MA Ceramics and Glass, having previously studied for a BA (Hons) 3D Materials Practice at Brighton University in 2010. Her work is held in collections and institutions internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; British Ceramics Biennale and Sotheby’s. Alongside her teaching, Spragg is a founding member of Collective Matter, an outreach group who pioneer collaborative practice through clay, and has developed the ‘Clay for Dementia’ programme with the Garden Museum, London, UK.

Spragg’s recent exhibitions include: ‘Beyond Nature,’ Hauser & Wirth, London, UK (2022); ‘Plants, Porcelain, People,’ St. Peter Hungate, Norwich, UK (2021); ‘Ceramics: Facing the New,’ EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland (2021); ‘Gathering,’ Make Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, UK (2020); ‘Nature Moves In,’ Ruup & Form, London, UK (2019); ‘David Gates: In Conversation,’ Make Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Bruton, UK (2019); and ‘A Natural Selection,’ The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2019).

About Jane Wallwork
Jane Wallwork is a herbalist and The Exmoor Apothecary’s consultant for herbs. She was inspired by her grandmother as a child, who brought plant medicine to life for her. Through her own health challenges, Wallwork sought more natural alternatives and this helped her to pursue this path. She studied Anthropology and Sociology at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK; a path of learning that further piqued her interest in working with plants as food and medicine, as well as the use of indigenous flora for healing purposes in many cultures.

She has a passion for knowledge and skill sharing, and so in Autumn 2020, in tandem with the Plant Medicine School in Ireland, Wallwork set up a sister school in Somerset to mentor and teach alongside her consultancy work and private practice. Wallwork’s entire working life is based around plants and herbal medicine, working to support people’s health and wellbeing.

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