These popular sessions invite curious members of the public to interact with Spike Island studio holders in their working spaces. Led by a member of the staff team, they feature an informal introduction by the artist followed by an opportunity to discuss their work and ask questions.

Maia Conran works primarily in digital media and installation, and her work is concerned with humour, loneliness and home. Marcus Jefferies’ practice seeks to heighten the viewer’s sense of the uncanny within familiar settings and forms.

Maia Conran

Maia Conran (1977) was born in Bangor, North Wales and studied at University of the West of England, earning her Masters in Fine Art in 2010. She lives and works in Bristol and has been a Spike Island studio holder since 2010.

Her work is concerned with stillness and movement and is inspired by cinema and her reading of magical realism, particularly the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges.

Recent group exhibitions include The Creekside Open, London (2011); Portmanteau, Halle 14, Leipzig (2011) and Film 2, Glyn Vivian Gallery, Swansea (2011). In 2011 she was commissioned by the Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton and had a solo show at G39, Cardiff.

Maia Conran's website

Marcus Jefferies

(1970) was born in Bristol and studied fine art painting at Wimbledon School of Art, London. He currently works and lives in Bristol and has been a Spike Island studio holder since 2003.

Jefferies maintains a diverse practice that incorporates model making techniques, photography and sculpture. Current work centres around the architectural model and the production of fictional archives. Recent exhibitions include Bedizened at A.P.T Gallery, London (2010) and Punctuated Space at the Beachcroft Space, Bristol (2010). He also curated and exhibited in From Within The Bungalow (2010), a site specific group show incorporated into a 1950s bungalow in the Bristol suburbs.

Marcus Jefferies on Axis