Cultures of Climate

Town Island Exhibition Catalogue

Through textiles, sculpture, video, and painting, Matheson examines themes of place, identity, belonging and drawing on the 1950's migration of Carriacou's people to Britain. Building on cultural connections, Matheson has been able to develop his practice and engage with local communities in Huddersfield, UK and Carriacou, Grenada, through a series of research workshops. 

Key themes included culture, migration, the history of windrush and the recent environmental and community destruction cause by hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean. 

Opening times: Mon - Wed & Sat 11am - 4pm

Sovereign Design Galleries and Toast House Café, Queen Street South Annexe, Huddersfield, HD1 3DR 

Town Island was delivered in partnership with Yorkshire Contemporary, University of Huddersfield and the School of Arts and Humanities, Kirklees Council, Cultures of Creative Health and Cultures of Climate.

Town Island was funded by the UK Government, the British Council and Arts Council England.

 

One of the most important features of the School of Arts and Humanities is the support students and academics receive from the technical teams. These staff members are the unsung heroes of academia. Their expertise drives innovation in thinking and making across all subject areas, but these contributions are not always recognised for the valuable resource they are.

Many of our technical team are highly accomplished practitioners, and this group show features contributions from five members of technical staff who present work that showcases their amazing skills and ideas, bringing to life creative innovation in fashion, textiles, film and sculpture.

This exhibition is part of our Cultures of Climate programme for the academic year 2024-2025. The work on display foregrounds strategies and practices of re-using, re-making and re-thinking across a range of areas often involving everyday but extraordinary practices. Each piece explores how we can re-imagine and re-use materials in ways that are both innovative, ethical and aesthetic.

Themes encompass variations of traditional craft techniques, the spatial practices of walking, digital innovations with film and navigating contemporary innovation in the context of the climate crisis. 

Exhibition Opening Times:

Monday – Thursday & Saturday: 10am – 3pm

Friday: 10am – 2:30pm

(Closed Easter Bank Holiday Weekend)

 

Address: Sovereign Design House, Queen Street South Annexe, Huddersfield HD1 3DR.

Our Climate Canvas is a collaborative project between second year students and Cultures of Climate. Work on display is a culmination of work across three strands: Fine Art BA (Hons), Illustration BA (Hons) and Fine Art and Illustration BA (Hons).

'Climate' was briefed as part of the second term project as part of their Studio Practice module, where students were encouraged to look at the current state of our world and the culture of our climate. Students created visual responses that directly tackle a number of themes, ranging from recyclable materials, to fertility rates, to animal welfare.

Exhibition Dates: 24 March - extended to 1 May

Exhibition Opening Times: Mon to Fri 9am - 5pm

Address: Atrium, Barbara Hepworth Building, University of Huddersfield

Heavy Water is an art collective comprising Victoria Lucas, Maud Haya-Baviera and Joanna Whittle. Their long term artistic research project, established in 2020, responds creatively to traces of history, situating archive-based research in a contemporary context through the production of artworks. Heavy Water takes its name from D2O, a form of water used for the stabilisation of volatile matter. The materiality of Heavy Water is mystical; permeating organic bodies, calming violent creations, grounding and giving weight to something fluid and intangible. It is representative of their processes of investigation and methods of making, developed in response to shared subject matter.

Heavy Water Collective’s collaboration is distinctly curatorial. Artworks developed in parallel by the three artists are brought together in configurations that generate new insight that is relational and responsive to the archives and collections investigated. As part of the Cultures of Climate programme, Haya-Baviera, Lucas and Whittle will respond to the collections held at Heritage Quay and the West Yorkshire Archives Service, developing threads of research that, through sustained dialogue, will weave a network of meaning between the resulting artworks for an exhibition at Sovereign Design House in September 2025. 

The Heavy Water collective formed during a residency with the Freelands Foundation based at Site Gallery in Sheffield. It was at this time that the collective members discovered overlappings in their work and wider practices, particularly in their archive and collection based research in the production of new work. Since their first presentation at Site Gallery in 2021 they have gone on to work on numerous projects together as part of their galvanized practice through an ongoing commitment to their collective research ideologies.

To learn more about Heavy Water Collective, and each individual artist, please visit:

• Heavy Water Collective
• Maud Haya-Baviera
• Victoria Lucas
• Joanna Whittle

Cutting Waste, Creating Wonky explores the beauty of imperfection in fashion by presenting garments that challenge conventional design and pattern-cutting techniques. Reimagining traditional methods, the exhibition emphasizes fabric-efficient clothing, turning irregularities into positive design features to reduce fashion waste.

By altering grainlines and embracing unconventional pattern cuts, Cutting Waste, Creating Wonky pushes the boundaries of garment construction, blending experimental design with wearability. The exhibition showcases how innovative approaches can transform our understanding of fashion and sustainability.

Dr. Claire Evans, Senior Lecturer in Fashion at the University of Huddersfield, began her career in the 1990s designing garments in Moldgreen, Huddersfield. This exhibition traces her journey from traditional fashion to radical, waste-conscious design. Featuring pieces from her original fashion line alongside jersey cotton skirts that explore challenging fabric-efficient approaches, Cutting Waste, Creating Wonky celebrates creative resistance and responsible fashion innovation.

Cutting Waste, Creating Wonky is supported by Cultures of Climate and University of Huddersfield. It is in collaboration with WOVEN and Kirklees Museum and Galleries.

Exhibition Dates: Monday 26 May - Saturday 28 June
Exhibition Opening Times: Mon, 11am - 3pm, Tues - Thurs, 11am - 5pm, Sat & Sun, 12pm - 5pm
Address: The Tolson Museum, Ravensknowle Park, Wakefield Rd, Moldgreen, Huddersfield, HD5 8DJ

The Cultures of Climate Art Trail spans between Huddersfield and Dewsbury, with exhibitions exploring the role of art as an asset for social and environmental sustainability.

Recycle En Masse, exhibited in the Toast House Cafe, is a collection of printed reproductions of paintings and photographs depicting citizens of Dewsbury, with views of Shoddy and Mungo Mills. These images are part of the site-specific Cultures of Climate Arts Trail, between Huddersfield and Dewsbury, exploring the role of art as an asset for social and environmental sustainability. Visitors are invited to consider the current climate crisis, against the backdrop of the nineteenth and twentieth century production of Shoddy and Mungo - the earliest and largest example of recycled textile fabric. Instead of celebrating the industrial ingenuity, or scale of recycling, the photographs (by Fred Hartley) and townscapes (by Gerald Park and former Head of the School of Art in Huddersfield - Noël Spencer) help shine a light on the social contexts of the industry.

The Cultures of Climate Arts Trail 29 May – 19 June 2025

Recycle En Masse: Toast House Café, University of Huddersfield Queen St South Annexe, Huddersfield HD1 3DR. Opening times: 10am-3pm Mon-Thurs 10am-2:30pm Fri.

Soar Away (by Deborah Rundle): Dewsbury Town Hall, Wakefield Old Rd, Dewsbury WF12 8DG, Opening Times: 9am–5pm Mon-Fri

Hillstone Fibre Arts Exhibition: The Arcade Pop-Up, 25 Princess of Wales Precinct, Dewsbury WF13 1NH, Opening Times: 10am-2pm Wed–Fri (until 30 June).