New exhibition at Sunny Bank Mills gallery explores contemporary folklore

Relatively new in post, Turzynski joined Sunny Bank Mills around ten months ago and immediately set to work on her vision for the gallery’s future. “I was thinking about how we could open up the gallery to new audiences while not alienating our current audience, focusing on accessibility and inclusion,” she says. “Sonia Moran, our arts engagement coordinator, said that she had always dreamt about doing an exhibition on contemporary folklore. Folk means people and the folklore theme could be interpreted in lots of different ways so it seemed like a great opportunity to bring a range of stories to life.”

Turzynski made an application to Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grands Fund which was successful. The gallery received an award of £21,262 back in August this year. “The main part of the gift was to commission new work,” says Turzynski. “That is really exciting because going forward I want to continue to create opportunities for artists and build new relationships with artists we haven't worked with before.”

The artists whose work is showcased in the exhibition were found through an Open Call. “We were completely overwhelmed by the response,” says Turzynski. “We had over 500 people respond to the call out. The quality of work was so high which also speaks to the moment that folklore is having in contemporary art and in the crafts movement.”

From the artists who applied, ten were offered seed commissions of £154 to enable them to develop their idea with the chance of receiving one of three larger commissions of £2,558. A further four artists were then invited to be part of the final exhibition. Turzynski and co-curator Moran created a shortlist and then brought two external judges on board. “We worked with Emily Zobel-Marshall from Leeds Beckett University and Lally MacBeth who is the keeper of the Folk Archive,” says Turzynski. “They both brought a really interesting curatorial vision to the selection process.”

The artists featured in the exhibition are working in a diverse range of media including drawings and prints, sculpture and storytelling, installation, ceramics, illustration, photography, film, mixed media, performance, textiles and painting. Running alongside the show is a whole programme of events and workshops including one in which you can create your own folklore costume inspired by your own family folklore.

“Folkore is continually evolving and can be used as a tool to help us connect and make sense of personal and social landscapes that can be challenging to navigate,” says Turzynski. “Some of my favourite pieces are those that are based on folklore that the individual artists have created for themselves,” says Turzynski. “They have dreamt such full worlds for people to step into that the works transport the viewer into these magical alternate realities. You can get lost in someone else’s imagination; it’s like reading a great book or watching a film. We hope that in the range of works on display everyone can see themselves reflected in some way.”

The response to the show so far has been very positive. “It has been really moving actually,” says Turzynski. “Our visitor numbers to the gallery have basically tripled – I’m sure Christmas has also played a part in that – but what we have been amazed by is how much time people have been spending in the exhibition. They stay for a long time looking at the exhibits and listening to the audio descriptions and then they want to talk about what they have seen and heard. People are really wanting to have a dialogue about the work which is of course the biggest seal of approval. We have learnt so much from working on this project and putting together the exhibition and I look forward to its legacy. For me personally this is a real statement of intent of what is to come.”

LORE is at Sunny Bank Mills Gallery until December 24. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday 12noon-4pm. Free entry. sunnybankmills.co.uk