Spike Island is pleased to announce Amelia Hawk as the recipient of the third and final edition of the Spike Island and Creative Youth Network Engagement Fellowship for Artists.

Hawk will work with Creative Futures alumni to create a new digital commission to be presented on Spike Island’s digital channels in Summer 2024. The project will explore and question what constitutes a good working environment for creative practitioners and how this may impact the work we create.

The Spike Island and Creative Youth Network Engagement Fellowship for Artists is part of the West of England Visual Arts Alliance (WEVAA), funded by Arts Council England.

AMELIA HAWK

Amelia Hawk (she/her) is a visual artist based in Birmingham. Hawk creates experiences and conversation as a way to make and share artwork. She is guided by feelings and emotions, exploring what might make her angry, frustrated or empowered. Her work often addresses mental health and socio-political subjects. Hawk combines counselling tools within her practice and workshops to create a safe space for participants.

Hawk holds an MA from Kunstakademiet Oslo (2015). She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including venues such as The Festival of Northern Norway, Intercultural Museum, Oslo; Munch Museum, Oslo; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; Tenthaus, Oslo; Luda, St Petersburg; National Gallery, Prague. Recently she undertook ACE funded R&D to research how to integrate counselling strategies into her practice resulting in The Listening Line phoneline, Listening Objects, and other associated works including an emotional coffee van commissioned by Multistory and hosted in Warley Woods, Sandwell.

www.amelia-hawk.com

WEST OF ENGLAND VISUAL ARTS ALLIANCE (WEVAA)

WEVAA is a consortium partnership of nine organisations co-led by Spike Island and Visual Arts South West including the Brunswick Club, Bath Spa School of Art, Bristol City Council, Creative Youth Network, Culture Weston, North Somerset Council and UWE Bristol. This alliance is delivering a 3-year programme of activity with the aim of supporting visual arts progression in the region, with the collective vision for the visual arts community in Bristol and the West of England to become more progressive, sustainable and inclusive by 2024. As part of this programme, and to support young people to develop their understanding and experience of the visual arts sector, this fellowship provides the opportunity for a group of young people to develop an Engagement commission with a nationally significant artist. The co-produced work will be shown on Spike Island’s digital channels and the process of creating this work ensures the young artists receive mentoring as part of the process.