Statement
Tim Martin’s practice currently involves making and showing work through engagement and collaboration with others. He has curated exhibition programmes for over 15 years and in 2014 set up Hestercombe Gallery in Somerset with the aim of presenting national and international work in the reclaimed spaces of Hestercombe House, whilst also developing a residency programme.
Recently curated exhibitions have included: Simon Faithfull, ‘Elsewhen’ (2019); Helen Sear, ‘Prospect Refuge Hazard 2’; Cultivation: Points of Vantage (2018) Including artists: Anna Barriball; George Shaw; John Newling; Mariele Neudecker; Mary Griffiths; Mary McIntyre and Mikhail Karikis; Terrain: Land into Art, (2016) work by 17 artists including Gary Hume, Peter Doig, Anya Gallaccio, Richard Long and Hamish Fulton. ‘Leaping the Fence’, (2014) works by 16 artists including Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Gavin Turk and Mark Quinn; Tania Kovats ‘Oceans’ as well as showing works from both Chris Ingram’s and Jeremy Cooper’s renowned collections. In 2016 he also curated ‘New Dimensions’ at The Museum of Somerset as well as ‘Combat Art – Reflections of Afghanistan’, London in 2015.
Martin’s curatorial practice overlaps with the making of work. He is concerned with the natural world and man’s relationship to it with inspiration being drawn from journeys made in the landscape, specific sites or issues. Recent activity has included: ‘Grounded’, Cotley, Somerset, 2019; Fragile Beauty – Art on the Blackdown Hills 1909-1925, The Museum of Somerset, 2017; ‘Palaces and Cabins’, Salisbury Art Centre, 2014; as well as contributing to the artists magazine ‘Hive’.
CV
Born 1962 Keighley. Lives and works in Devon, UK
Recent Exhibitions
2010 ‘Through’ & ‘Through the Garden’, The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington Common, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, N Devon (Solo)
2011 Sheds, Simonsburrow House, Devon
2012 Colour EFFECTS Mood, Musgrove Gallery, Taunton
2013 ‘Skills Unearthed’, Cotley Tithe Barn, Somerset
2014 ‘Palaces and Cabins’, Salisbury Art Centre
2017 Fragile Beauty – Art on the Blackdown Hills 1909-1925, The Museum of Somerset, Taunton
2019 ‘Grounded’, Cotley Tithe Barn, Somerset
2020 ‘Somerset Reacquainted’, Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury
Curatorial
2000-13 Visual Arts Officer, Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, Taunton, Somerset
2011 ‘England My England’ micro-festival, Taunton, Somerset (Co-Curator)
2011 ‘A Night of Light’, Hestercombe Gardens, Somerset (Co-Curated with Zoe Li for Reveal Somerset)
2013 Outside In, West, The Museum of Somerset, Taunton
2013 R.E.P Group – Mediators (co-curated with Simon Lee Dicker) OSR Project Space, West Coker, Somerset
2014 Leaping the Fence, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Second Site, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Combat Art – Reflections of Afghanistan, Menier Gallery, London
2015 A Personal Passion – The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art
2015-16 Simon Bayliss – Arcadia, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2016 New Dimensions, The Museum of Somerset, Taunton
2016 Terrain: Land into Art, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2016-17 Stephen Smith – Shifting Ground, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2017 Regions of Light – Rev. John Eagles, Paul Desborough, Rebecca Chesney, Jem Southam, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2017 Tim Knowles – The Dynamics of Drifting, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2018 Cultivation: Points of Vantage, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2018 Helen Sear – Prospect Refuge Hazard 2, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2018-19 Materiality: Provisional States, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2019 Simon Faithfull – Elsewhen, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2020 Most Admirably Improved by Art, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
Participatory/other projects
2009 Producer, ‘Night/Day’, Film Council funded digital short film. Written and produced by Deborah Richardson
2010 Designer, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Brewhouse, Taunton
2011 Project Manager, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, The Brewhouse, Taunton
2012 Get Creative, Taunton High Street, with Somerset Film and Actiontrack
2013-4 Community Means? Hemyock Primary School, Devon
Awards
2007 South West Curatorial Research Trip to China, Arts Council England
2010 Grants for the Arts Award, Arts Council of England, ‘Through’ & ‘Through the Garden’, Solo Exhibition
2012 Visual Art South West/Reveal Partnership Travel Bursary, Kiev, Ukraine
Publications
2006 50 Wessex Artists, Evolver Books
2010 ‘Through’ solo exhibition catalogue
2010 William Morris Society Newsletter article
2012 Mapping the Future, Textile Forum SW review of Conference/Catalogue
2014 Visual Art South West – Guest editor Sept http://www.vasw.org.uk/
2014 Palaces and Cabins, Group Exhibition catalogue
2014 Leaping the Fence, Exhibition catalogue
2015 Second Site, Exhibition catalogue
2015 Hive, Spring and Autumn 2015, Artists Book.
2016 Terrain: Land into Art, Exhibition catalogue
2019 Materiality: Provisional States, Exhibition catalogue
Professional/other Bodies
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
‘Reveal’ Lead Officer for Visual Arts and Media, Somerset (job share) 2007-13
Visual Arts South West Steering Group, 2010 – 13
Blackdown Hills Artists and Makers (Chair) 2011 – 14
Somerset Art Works (SAW), Trustee 2010 – 20 (Co-Chair 2019-20)
Conferences, Seminars and Talks
2012 Rhod Symposium, Chapter, Cardiff
2012 Local is the New Global – Reveal conference, Wells – Somerset UK
2014 Critical Mass – Making the Visual Visible, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2014 Moved by Conflict, Schools Conference, MShed, Bristol
2014 Liquid Line – Drawing as a Means of Exploration, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Second Site – The Context of Art, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Double Take, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Landscape Painters Anonymous, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2015 Rethinking Practice, Visual Arts SW Regional Conference, Ocean Studios, Plymouth
2015 Invisible Landscapes Seminar, OSR Projects, West Coker, Somerset
2016 The Crucible, b-side Festival, Drill Hall, Portland
2017 Art and the Environment in Britain 1700 – Today, Rennes 2 University, France
2017 Regions of Light Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2017 Pathways in the Landscape, Event and Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2018 Scaling the Sublime, symposium, The Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham University
2018 Photography, performance and the historical imagination, Symposium, Plymouth University
2018 Art and Landscape: Where next? Event, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2018 Points of Vantage, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2019 Disrupted Views, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2019 Materiality Disclosed, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2019 Where Function Ends, Symposium, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
2020 Urthworks, an Exploration, Seminar, Hestercombe Gallery, Somerset
