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Above, Below, At the Edge of the Water
Response to the Exchange 62 Zine
Written by Onyx Ocean in Autumn/Winter 2024/25, edited by Jill Howitt Spring 2025 (image courtesy of 87 Gallery - Floromancy by Sam Metz) Instagram brought Artlink Hull and 87 Gallery into my circle of awareness, but one day I stumbled upon it quite literally...
Drawing a Line from the Humber to the Hudson: An Interview with David Remfry
Barnaby HaranIn this article, Barnaby Haran interviews artist David Remfry, a celebrated painter who has a retrospective exhibition, featuring over 60 works of his paintings and drawings (some which have never been exhibited before), at Beverley Art Gallery between...
Response to the Blue Green Zine
Written in October/November 2024 by Onyx Ocean, edited January-March 2025 by Jill Howitt A series of chance events led me to stumble upon 87 Gallery, where I was struck by a blue and green zine with a fish on it. To my elation, the Blue Green Zine was free for me...
Response to Seeing Cold Junction at 87 Gallery
Written by Onyx Ocean in October/November 2024, edited by Jill Howitt January-March 2025 I was vaguely aware of Artlink and 87 Gallery in Hull thanks to Wolds Pride’s Instagram (which I haven’t been to yet but know about through one of my partners who is local to...
The CloverLore Archive
CloverLore was a six-week collaborative and creative exploration of the historic, natural and cultural heritage of the South Blockhouse monument in Hull, led by local artist-facilitator Lauren Saunders and funded by the Hull Maritime Creative Communities Grant in...
Insights of an Eco Artist X-Post: In Conversation with Lauren Saunders
Interview by Joana Alarcão Crossposted article from Insights of a Young Eco Artist In this special cross-posted article in partnership with cultural magazine 'Insights of an Eco Artist', Joana Alarcão interviews Fish Co-Director Lauren Saunders about how her...
Equitable Making with our More-than-human Kin
Written by Lauren Saunders Edited by Jill Howitt IntroductionI am fully admitting to feeling a little overwhelmed and stuck since losing the clarity and focus that my MA offered, since graduation almost six months ago. I work well with self-defined briefs within an...
A Curly Wurly Research-Practice
by Lauren Saunders www.laurensaundersart.co.uk What does research as part of an artistic practice look like? What do we place value on when developing our thinking? Is there anything better than confectionery-based metaphor? Visual and participatory artist Lauren...
Seaing Monsters
by Lee Karen Stow A photographic response to the influence of newspaper reports of sightings of sea monsters on the Yorkshire Coast and river Humber. People see what they want to see. I see monsters in the seaweed.“… in addition to its great height, the serpent had...
Interchange
Words: Jill HowittThis article is about the new mural, ‘The Creation of Hull’, in the Ferensway entrance to Hull Paragon Interchange which was ‘unveiled’ in November 2023. TransPennine Express (TPE) commissioned local Hull artist Andy Pea to produce the artwork as...
Time/ Exposure/ Memory on the Coastline: A Reading of Paul Strand’s ‘Rock, Port Lorne, Nova Scotia, 1919’
by Barnaby Haran Salvador Dali once mused about the potential of a ‘documentary of the long life of the hairs of an ear, a documentary of a stone, or that of the life of an air current in slow motion’. As is often the case with Dali, there is an astute observation...
Wild: MILD – Sonics For Sculptures & Other Creations
Words: Charlie EdenMORE INFORMATION Website: wildmildartcollaborations.wordpress.com Instagram: @SonicsForSculptures and @WildMILDartcollaborationsWild: MILD projects combine musical improvisation, life drawing, sonic sculptures, and conversation, and has developed...
Hull Culture Declares Emergency?
Words: Jill Howitt This article, originally written for the Hull Friends of the Earth ECO Magazine, discusses the potential need for a local, culture-led coordination of climate efforts...In this article I’m really pleased to introduce Culture Declares Emergency,...
Hull’s Whaling Heritage Through Sewing and Song: An interview with artist Caroline Hack
In April Hull Maritime launches a new series of pop-up exhibitions with A-Fishing for the Whale by artist Caroline Hack. The exhibition features three textile works, which are on display from 12-26 April 2023 in Princes Quay Shopping Centre, and a newly commissioned work-in-progress piece inspired by Hull’s folk music heritage, on display at a film screening and meet-the-artist event at Ferens Art Gallery on Wednesday 19 April 2023.
In this interview, Hull Maritime’s Charlotte Tomlinson sits downs with Caroline Hack to talk about commissioning the exhibition, learn more about the works on display, and explore Hack’s connection to Hull’s maritime past and present.
Confidence in Line
Critical thinking and artistic responses from Elloughton Primary School Pupils Hull artist and Fish co-director Lauren Saunders engaged in a short residency at Elloughton Primary School in November 2022. Year 3 and 4 pupils were introduced to some of the theoretical...
My Journey in Paint: A retrospective exhibition of paintings by Ian Humphreys
In September 2022 Ian Humphreys had a retrospective exhibition of his paintings at Kenmare Butter Market in Co Kerry. This short essay was written for the exhibition catalogue. Welcome to Ian Humphreys’ retrospective exhibition which he describes as celebration. The...
Life/Death/Life
It’s not only the point itself that cycles through birth-death-rebirth at Spurn. Things people once cherished, or at least used with purpose, often become stranded here. Having lived with us, their usefulness gone, ephemera are brought and buried by the tides. Eventually uncovered one day by a storm, discovered by a passer-by, do they live again?
Reflections on Studying Fine Art as a Mature Student at Hull College
In my late 40s I was lucky enough to stop working as a Veterinary Nurse and try something different. Art classes were a pleasant new hobby and being the sort of person who jumps into new things wholeheartedly, I decided on the spur of the moment to study full time for a Fine Art Degree…
Wading In Still Waters
This research project came about through a conversation with Jill Howitt, who offered me the opportunity to explore a short body of research related to Hull and its location near the water. I began writing it in late March, just as the winter frost had begun to lift and the last of the icy patches that lingered on muddy paths were melting back into puddles…
Rooting for the Tree
Keith Key is an artist from Hull currently studying the Access Course at Hull College. The following statement forms the starting point for his work as he introduces the poetry and artwork that we are delighted to feature in The Critical Fish. "I am an artist,...
The Geopoetics of Drawing
Bio: Lauren is a visual artist whose work is inspired by ecological research and her own connection to the Earth. She explores questions surrounding environmental ethics within her highly experimental and philosophy-inspired drawing practice. Website:...
Understanding Place
I have moved many times throughout my life, starting anew in a place and forming attachments to people and the environment. There are some places I think of fondly and feel more at home in than others, that feature more prominently in the story of my life. The original question that started this particular chapter was whether I could ever truly understand a place if I was not from there…
Spurn
According to one theory, the eroding boulder clay coastline, harsh North Sea and tidal conditions brings about the destruction of the Spurn Point formation in (roughly) 250 year cycles. This cycle of destruction and rebirth (of living on the edge, submerging, then floating…) of the Spurn is something I wanted to explore through photography…
School walk out
Recent reports have highlighted the shocking extent of sexual harassment and violence in schools, so we are very grateful for this timely article by Evan Chapman and Ilsa Hartley in response to the death of Sarah Everard in March this year. This article includes an interview, short film and photographs. Ilsa and Evan have since left school and we wish them both well for the future.
Open Bridges
Open Bridges made history when for the first and only time all the bridges over the river Hull were raised, swung or closed simultaneously splitting the city in two at 20:17 hours on the autumn equinox, 22nd September 2017.
European Howl, Agent Starling
Thank you to Agent Starling – Quentin Budworth and Lou Duffy Howard – for this article about their new album European Howl. Quentin tells us about the varied musical influences plucked from different cultures and times, and how this album kicks against the isolationism of Brexit, aswell as the process of working and collaborating during lockdown. In this article you will also find soundtrack and video links as well as the beautiful album cover by Anna Kirk Smith.
Unity in Scottsboro: an Interview with Don Howard
The Critical Fish editor Barnaby Haran interviews caricature artist Don Howard about his mural depiction of the ‘Scottsboro Boys’ story, which was recently installed in Scottsboro, Alabama.
Practice in Place: In Conversation with Jessie Davies
Jessie Davies is an artist rooted in the Humber region. For the last year she has been part of Humber Street Gallery’s Fruit Factory Network programme and last year she presented nine of her Estuary paintings in the exhibition Practice in Place, which ran until 20th December 2020.
Touch
Touch is a video installation. Janine Antoni created a makeshift tightrope between two trees on the beach in front of her childhood home in the Bahamas. In the video the trees which support the rope at either end are out of sight so the rope spans the screen and is set horizontally parallel to it.
Lumina
Introduction: Jill Howitt Images: Andy Hazell and Carolyn Mendelsohn Text: Emily Wilczek On this page and gallery, alongside showcasing new art and writing, we are also featuring art projects from the recent past that explored the relationship between the city/region...