Come Together - a workshop with Ian Giles

Join artist Ian Giles in the gallery for a hands-on workshop tracing Islington’s radical queer past. Working with clay we will explore how gay history is embedded within the local landscape.

Ian will open the session with a performative talk about Islington’s pioneering role within queer activism; the UK’s first gay protest was staged in Highbury Fields in 1970 and the London Gay Switchboard was founded on Caledonian Road in 1974.

In the workshop we will use clothing and natural materials gathered from Highbury Fields to impress into clay tiles and create your own set of ceramic buttons. We will contemplate the narratives held within our public spaces and explore how queer history is shared and cared for. 

In the weeks following on from the workshop Ian will fire the group's ceramics in a handbuilt wood-fired kiln and participants will be sent their buttons.

This workshop marks the beginning of a collaborative placemaking project, led by Islington-based artist Ian Giles. Drawing upon his research at Islington Archives, he is working with a growing cohort of participants and community partners towards making a public artwork to celebrate Highbury Fields as an important site of queer heritage.

Since the beginning of their fellowship programme ‘Feeling Still in a World Which Runs’, current Curatorial Fellow Seán Elder has tried to accommodate and support artists and workers with the modest resources Cubitt has in terms of space and time and this workshop is an extension of this.

This workshop is supported by a-n Artist Bursaries 

Photo: Becky Warnock 

Ian Giles works across performance, moving image, installation, painting and events; his work fosters new networks to record and celebrate queer histories and experiences. He has a BFA from Chelsea College of Arts and a MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art. His work has recently been exhibited at MIMA, Museum of the Home and Whitechapel Gallery. 

FAQs

This workshop is open to everyone, especially LGBTQI+ people who live, work, or have a connection to Islington. 

No experience of working with clay is necessary 

All materials and tools will be provided

Please bring an apron if you have one and wear comfortable clothes that you don't mind getting a little dirty

Refreshments provided