Weather Show - Camden Art Centre

An exhibition showcasing a year-long project from artists Lucie Macgregor, Tom James and Declan Leslie working in collaboration with pupils from Swiss Cottage School and The Village School.

Exploring the unpredictable weather through the seasons the team have worked in a variety of experimental mediums through performance, upcycling and kinetic sculpture. Focusing on the process of making rather than on a defined outcome the group have embraced the uncontrollable powers of sun, wind, earth and rain and to influence, activate and guide their artworks. The exhibition features a DIY rain machine, handcrafted clay pots and illuminated sun sculptures produced through the year in an interactive display inspired by the programme’s iterative, sensory and exploratory exchanges.

Following a year of questioning, Weather Show asks visitors to consider our place within the grand meteorological systems that swirl around us and “What is going on with this weather?”

This programme is delivered in partnership with ActionSpace.

The Artists

The Artists

Declan Leslie creates inventive fluid drawings in which he explores various themes. He likes to research a subject matter and really work through all the variations he can get from it. Declan‘s work is often populated by figures, he particularly likes scenarios that represent the more macabre aspects of human behaviour, these can include horror and grotesqueries in which he adds a twist of humour. He creates works with various drawing mediums and as part of his art practise he explores these mediums, pushing them as far as he can go once he has exhausted their possibilities he likes to begin experimenting with a new medium. Within his material experimentations he often creates his own unique techniques.

 Lucie Macgregor is a multidisciplinary artist based in London and works between the capital and her native home town of Huddersfield. Recently commissioned by Deptford X Festival and Volunteer South London, Lucie’s art making spans through sculpture, drawing and ceramics, facilitating conversations and creative encounters through collaborative projects. Lucie was previously a member of Camden Art Centre’s Youth Collective and was a Youth Artist in Residence here in 2021. Moving between various materials and narratives, she navigates social meeting as a way to reconnect people and place. Translating mark making, writing and drawing through sculpture, she invites others to re-map space with her as an act of reclaiming personal geographies through collective gesture. Curious to push and play with the ‘boundaries’ which separate different methodologies of making, the artist considers surface as something permeable and reforming.

Tom James is an artist and writer, based in London. He creates participatory projects where people can learn new skills, imagine new ways of living, and actually get their hands dirty to give them a try. His work spans live, durational installations, participative workshops, and self-published fanzines. For the past five years, it’s mainly been devoted to helping people survive and thrive in the bitter, barren future we’re creating for ourselves and our children. Tom’s projects have been featured across the British media, whilst his cult fanzine ‘GO!’ is part of the permanent collection of the V&A. ActionSpace is a London based visual arts organisation that supports learning disabled artists. They seek out and unlock talent, create opportunities and enable learning disabled artists to realise their potential.