Exhibiting artist Lucy Stein and anthropologist and folklorist Amy Hale discuss Stein’s current solo exhibition Wet Room and their shared interests in western esoteric traditions, modern Paganism, and the goddess culture that thrives in Cornwall.

Their conversation will be followed by a Q&A with the online audience hosted by Spike Island curator Carmen Juliá.

LUCY STEIN

Lucy Stein (b. 1979) is based in St Just, Cornwall. She studied at The Glasgow School of Art, and later at De Ateliers, Amsterdam. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Thesmophoria (including the performance lecture Bride of Quiet), Galerie Gregor Staiger, Milan (2020); Digitalis Purpurea (a re-introspective), Conceptual Fine Arts , Milan (online) (2020); £10.66, Palette Terre, Paris (2018); Crying the Neck, NICC Brussels (with Nina Royle) (2017); On Celticity (organised with Paola Clerico), Rodeo Gallery, London (2016). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Futura, Prague (2020); Bonington Gallery, Nottingham (2019); Tate St Ives (2018); TULCA festival, Galway; Newlyn Gallery, Penzance (all 2017); Le Bourgeoise, London (2016); UKS Oslo (2015). In 2017 she co-organised Fuck you wheres my Suger, a two-day festival on themes of depression and hysteria at Cafe Oto in London with Mark Harwood. In 2016 she co-curated NEO-PAGAN BITCH-WITCH! at Evelyn Yard, London with France-Lise McGurn and in 2015 she organised the performance event The Wise Wound with Tate St Ives and Porthmeor Studios. Between November 2019 and May 2022, Stein and Sarah Hartnett are undertaking a pilgrimage along the Mary ley line, which runs from Carn Les Boel in Cornwall to Hopton in Norfolk.

DR. AMY HALE

Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta-based anthropologist and folklorist writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall in various combinations. Her biography of Ithell Colquhoun, Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (2020), is available from Strange Attractor Press, and she is also the editor of the forthcoming collection Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses from Palgrave Macmillan (2021). Other writings can be found at her Medium site and her website.