Artist statement
The ideas for bell sculptures began when I heard my neighbour ring the church bells all day after the movement restrictions were lifted on my parish at the end of the Foot and Mouth outbreak. This was the first time they had rung in six months. This series of sculptures began with me making a bell that can be rung by anyone. As a commemoration of the animals slaughtered, and in recognition of the spirit of my neighbours during the FMD epidemic. I believe this is the only public access bell in the UK. French historian Alain Corbain suggests that bells can be considered the mouthpiece of a culture. All cultures make different types of bells, and have used bells to express and symbolise themselves. There is something universal, profound, and spiritual we recognise in a bell with resonance symbolically as well as acoustically. I think of these bell sculptures not only as a mouthpieces but also as earpieces. This has led me to explore the bells as silent objects. Laying the bell on its side, makes the form appear asymmetrical and somewhere between a hollow form and a solid form.
Solo exhibitions
- 2004 Ring of Bells video installation, Spacex Gallery, Exeter
- 2002 Exmouth Market, London, video installation
- 2002 Field Work video installation, Spacex Gallery, Exeter
- 2000 Sculptures by Marcus Vergette, Burton Art Galery and Museum, Bideford, Devon
- 2000 Poet, Painter, Instrumentmaker (Performance and live music), St. Michaels' Church, Chagford, Devon
- 2000 Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Bideford, Devon, installation sculpture
- 1999 Art Windows International, Washington DC, USA, sculpture
- 1998 Sculpture, Martin Village Gallery, London
- 1997 Litmus, performance, Media Centre, Exeter
- 1996 Sculpture, Delfina Trust Gallery, London
- 1996 Marsyas, installation, performance, touring, Dorchester Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Falmouth Arts Centre, Devon and Exeter Art Centre, Plough Arts Centre, Beaford Gardens
- 1995 Sculpture, Economist Plaza, London
- 1995 Sculpture, Standpoint Gallery, London
- 1994 Performance, touring, Purcell Room SBC, London, Quay Theatre, Newcastle, Devon and Exeter Arts Centre, Jacksons Lane Theatre, London, Falmouth Arts Centre, Plymouth Arts Centre, Sedburgh, Scarborough
Group exhibitions
- 2007 Time, Burghley Sculpture Garden, Stamford, Lincshire
- 2007 Nord Art, Budelsdorf, Germany
- 2007 New Art Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire
- 2007 Sculpture, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hants
- 2006 Fold, National Center For Craft, design and making, Sleaford, lincs
- 2006 FMD Cultural Documents, Holden Gallery, Manchester
- 2006 With An Object In Mind, University Of Leicester, Leicester
- 2006 International Biennial Contempoary Art Medals, Siexal, Portugal
- 2006 Tower of Babel, Limehouse Arts Foundation, London
- 2006 Sculpture in the Making, Atkinson Gallery, Street, Somerset
- 2003 Sculpture, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
- 2002 Thinking Big, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Italy
- 2002 Broomhill Sculpture, Barnstable, Devon
- 2001 East of Eden, Spacex, Exeter, Devon
- 1999 Couples, Plymouth City Museum, Devon
- 1998 Mythic Garden, Drewsteignton, Devon
- 1997 Sixteen Artists, Chagford
- 1997 Teighmouth Festival
- 1996 International Print Fair, London
- 1996 International Print Show, Barbican Gallery, London
- 1992 Southwest Open, Plymouth
- 1991 Spacex, Exeter
- 1989 Whitechapel Open
- 1989 Camden Art Centre
- 1985 Mappin, Sheffield
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