John Hansard Gallery, in partnership with ArtfulScribe, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ella Frears as Writer in Residence from February to July 2021 as part of the SO:Write Literature Development Project.
Ella Frears is a poet and artist. Her debut collection Shine, Darling (Offord Road Books, 2020) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation and was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Her poems about the St Ives Modernists are currently on show at Tate St Ives.
An impressive candidate from a strong field of applicants, Ella is no stranger to Southampton, having worked with K6 Gallery on Next Stop: City Bus project in 2018, following in the footsteps of former Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who led a similar initiative 25 years earlier. Ella has also held residencies at the National Trust, and the Observatory at Buckler’s Hard, New Forest,
John Hansard Gallery Director, Woodrow Kernohan, said, “We are delighted to welcome the fantastic Ella Frears as Writer-in-Residence within our team. It will be exciting to see how Ella engages with the Gallery’s communities, upcoming exhibitions, events and transition of our programme, as we move from the digital to a return to the physical, with the reopening of John Hansard Gallery”.
Ella said: “I’m delighted to be John Hansard Gallery’s new Writer in Residence. It’s been such a strange, troubling year and like many I’ve found myself missing exhibitions, galleries and the people who occupy and engage with them. I can’t wait to get stuck in – discussing art and poetry, sharing ideas, running workshops and writing, writing, writing. Whether digitally or in person… or a bit of both, I’m keen to connect with as many people as possible. We all need art – now more than ever.”
ArtfulScribe Director Matt West said: ‘Ella’s poetry is currently enjoying critical acclaim at a national level and her talent and experience will really help others to engage with the Gallery and with creative writing, in new and unexpected ways. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this role develops within the unusual parameters of social distancing, and also to this fresh opportunity to engage with Ella’s work.”
Keep an eye on our website and social media channels over the coming months for more!