The MBC Arts Wellbeing Residency:
Sue Delbridge & Iam Burn
Norfolk Street Arts supported this residency through our curatorial and artist development work. This residency spanned 12 months and purpose was to enable two regional artists the space and time to reflect and respond to both their personal and professional creative practice. The two artists selected by an independent panel ( Sunderland Culture, Sunderland BID, Enterprise Place and the University of Sunderland were :
Sue Delbridge - Glass & Visual Communication
Iam Burn - Maritime Heritage and Commerce
Sue Delbridge
Sue Delbridge's work is inspired by mental health. She has worked as a workshop facilitator exploring the themes of mental health within community settings.
Her work from the residency explores narrates demons as representation of emotional and mental health. Delbridge uses her skills in glass in order to communicate the stories which are personal to her.
The residency represents a shift in her practice from community towards a focus on her own personal practice.
Due to Covid-19 unfortunately a physical exhibition of Delbridge's work wasn't possible. Norfolk Street Arts supported MBC through the direction and distribution of a documentary film charting the artists journey over the past 12 months resulting in a 17 minute retrospective of the artists works and development and a short 5 minute video specifically looking at the patron st of mental health.
Iam Burn
Artists Project Statement : 'Sunderland has a rich history in commerce, industry and innovation since it was made a town back in 1154. It become a city in 1992 and now has a population of approximately 278,000. Sunderland has clearly changed considerably since its birth, so how does it look today? I asked the next generation of creative thinkers, pioneers, entrepreneurs and investors, for their views of Sunderland. Directed by their views, I have responded photographically to create pictorial representations of their thoughts. Their views produced an intriguing dichotomy when assessed as a group. It appears the current story of Sunderland is a tale of two cities…'
Iam Burn's work from the residency has allowed him to produce 100 limited edition copies of salt prints which accompany the digital output below. His work has inspired by the commerce and trading history of salt from Sunderland, Burn's work is developed through community consultations and is reflective of the contemporary representation of the city while still taking influence from the heritage.