Approved: 09.12.2006

Tumim and Prendergast

Artist, Maker, Writer

Approved: 09.12.2006

"Tumim & Prendergast explore the concepts of our temporal existence and cast-off items we often ignore. Accident and chance also play a part alongside their characteristic humour (often dark). They offer us clues - to research further and of lives lived." (Art historian Lorna Johnston 2011) We enjoy collaborating with groups of all ages, individual arts practitoners and those from other disciplines, including writers, composers, poets and scientists.

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News

     

    Artist Statement

    "Tumim & Prendergast explore the concepts of our temporal existence and cast-off items we often ignore. Accident and chance also play a part alongside their characteristic humour (often dark). They offer us clues - to research further and of lives lived." (Art historian Lorna Johnston 2011) We enjoy collaborating with groups of all ages, individual arts practitoners and those from other disciplines, including writers, composers, poets and scientists.

    Each piece of work or installation project should beguile the eye of the viewer, the skills employed being integral to the concept behind each artwork. Many of our ideas develop "on the hoof", through the making process. By drawing, painting or embroidering replicas of "throw-away" items as tenderly and lovingly as we can, we are paying tribute to those who have lost or discarded them – for whatever reason. Each item we depict takes on a symbolic status that is part of a bigger picture. The ephemera that floats between all our lives, including images of fleeting moments, is sometimes more emotionally charged and tells more of a story than the objects or formal portraits and momentos we expect to be represented by.

    The direction of our practice is increasingly political. We are interested in what it means to be silenced and have been researching the concept of ‘Gaslighting’ particularly from our personal experience of Health and Social Care provision.

    Tumim & Prendergast 2019

    CV & Education

    Artist Biography

    Matilda Tumim & Chris Prendergast are based in North East Fife. They studied at Falmouth and the Royal College of Art, prior to moving to Orkney in 1989, relocating to Fife in 2015.

    Tumim and Prendergast work with a variety of media, including stitch, paint, collage and ink and have been commissioned to make permanent installations for schools, hospitals and voluntary organisations. They exhibit regularly and their work is held in public and private collections around the world. Their work has been influenced by Surrealism, a European cultural movement developed in the aftermath of World War One. For many their projects, the artist duo take their starting point from playing a game created by André  Breton called The Exquisite Corpse

    New projects/ awards

    2023 - Creative Scotland Open Funding awarded for the research and develop an artist’s book The Child Who Heard Too Much.

    Exhibitions:

    2021   Surreal Estate WASPS Project Gallery, Meadow Mill, Dundee             

    2021   Screen Test.  Online group exhibition for WASPS artists                                                               

    2019   Little Originals. Group exhibition at Dock Street Studios, Dundee  

    2019    WASPS Open Studios at Meadow Mill Dundee
    2017    THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, Suttie Arts Space, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
    2016    BOTTLED UP.  The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness
    2012    73 Leaves.  Embroidery installation, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Kings Cross, London
    2012    Bread & Roses. Motorcade Flash Parade, Bristol 
    2012    Embroidered Narratives. Bank Street Arts, Sheffield
    2011    73 Leaves. The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
    2011    Retrieve. Limousine Bull, Aberdeen
    2009    Small Volumes. Timespan, Helmsdale
    2009    TRAVELLING LIGHT.  WW and Pharos Galleries, London and Venice Biennale 
    2009    Impossible Exchange.  Frieze Art Fair, London
    2008    Last Post.  Corsespace, Aberdeenshire
    2008    Anecdotal Evidence.  Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH)
    2007    A Year of Consequence.  Orkney Museum, Kirkwall, Orkney 
    2007    Consequences. Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney
    2006    Coupling.   Peedie Gallery, Arts Development Office, Orkney Island Council
    2005    Wedded.   Stromness Public Library, Stromness, Orkney
    2004    Foul Flora Weird Waves.   Loft Gallery, St Margaret's Hope, Orkney

     

     

     

     

     

    Residencies & Public Commissions

    2012   Balfour Hospital - Peedie Sea Centre - Art Commission Orkney & Grampian Hospitals Arts Trust

    2010  Pickaquoy Centre Kirkwall Orkney, eight large paintings installed on permanent loan                
    2008   Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital (RACH). Artworks for the second floor entrance Hall                             

    2008   Favourite things.   Glaitness Primary School, Orkney. GHAT
    2008   Wallflowers nursery courtyard , St. Margaret's Hope Primary School, Orkney. Orkney Islands Council
    2006   pARTners Artists in Residence - Scottish Arts Council, Papdale Primary School, Kirkwall, Orkney

    Private & Third Sector Commissions 

    2012   73 LEAVES Embroidery Installation National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Islington, London
    2007   The Gallant Weaver - Cover artwork and design for choral settings of words by Robert Burns
    2005   Constellation- Drawing Commission for Tullimentan showcase for the Arts in Orkney - The Pier Arts Centre

    Talks & Presentations                                                                                                                           

    2021   Artists Talk for the preview of Screen test online exhibition with Wasps Glasgow                                                                                                                                          2020   Zoom seminar discussing Surreal Estate project - architecture students at Westminster University                                                                                                                        

    2020   Exhibition talk for sponsored solo exhibition Surreal Estate 
    2010   Threads and Leaves Talk about our collaborative art practice, Heriot Watt School of Textiles, Galashiels 
    2008   Presentation - The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney 
    2007   Consequences - a musical response, St. Magnus Festival, Kirkwall, Orkney 
    2006   Professional Practice and Crossover - Highlands & Islands Visual Arts, Hi-Arts, The Macphail Centre Ullapool

    Publications

    2011   Book Cover for Hoopla The Art of Unexpected Embroidery by Leanne Prain Arsenal Pulp Press ISBN-13                                                           2011   The Poetic Stitch – Hoopla – Chapter about Tumim and Prendergast’s embroidery
    2011   Participant in Words are all we have by Rachel Marsden, reflecting on life as a curator
    2009   Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital - Artworks 2 - publication celebrating the hospital's art programme