Baltic visitors get creative to swell Starting Lines exhibition
A Foundation Press takeover
Posters, patterns, publications and walls divided zonally with fresh applications of brightly coloured paint. Lots of text, too. Nobody could accuse the latest Baltic exhibition of looking sparse.
This is Starting Lines by Foundation Press who are Adam Phillips and Deborah (Debbie) Bower, based – conveniently – here at Baltic.
It has become a bit of a summer tradition to dedicate the ground floor gallery to ‘doing’ rather than ‘looking’.
But this differs from previous attractions which have tended to encourage playground-inspired activity with children letting off steam while parents pause for breath.
On offer here is a mental workout, an invitation to flex the creative muscles by drawing or otherwise making marks.
And Adam, despite sporting a badge of Eric Carle’s beloved ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’, is keen for grown-ups to get stuck in.
“A lot of art here was made with children but we try to encourage adults, too,” he says.
“Being in this building a lot, we see parents getting their phone out while the kids start doing things. But we like it when both are involved.
“We did a project in 2024 where we made adult creative work sheets and put them on a trolley that floated around Baltic.
“People picked them up and did them but they were specifically free work sheets for grown-ups.”
He smiles mischievously: “A bit passive aggressive.”
Adam and Deborah describe themselves as artists, designers and educators, although they say they bring different strengths to the table.
They taught on the foundation art and design course at Sunderland University – hence Foundation Press, which Adam started with fellow teachers Tom Madge and the late Joe Woodhouse before Deborah joined.
When the course was axed four years ago, Foundation Press became a busy independent entity which Adam and Deborah run, working with a host of collaborators.
At the heart of their practice – and at the heart of this exhibition – is a Riso printing press which, as Debbie points out, resembles an office photocopier.
“Essentially, what it does is a cross between photocopying and screen printing,” she says.
“A lot of universities have them and students use them. It’s quite straightforward compared to other printing processes.”
Adam says: “It’s part of the history of self-publishing and the culture of spreading literature. Riso printers tend to be owned by political parties because you can churn out leaflets in your party colours.
“But they’re popular with artists because you can make lots of stuff quite cheaply, and you don’t have to mix colours because there are cartridges you can get – metallic ones, pastel ones and so on. It’s a fun, exciting system.”
“And it’s quick,” adds Debbie appreciatively.
A Riso printer, loaned by the manufacturers by way of sponsorship, sits in the wooden studio which has been constructed in the centre of the gallery.
It’s not just for show. Throughout the exhibition, the pair will lead Riso Social workshops from the studio for specific groups.
There will also be a regular all-comers session called Morning Edition taking place every Wednesday as Baltic opens to the public.
The idea was inspired by a famous art book by an American, Julia Cameron, called The Artist’s Way (you’ll find it here on display) and it will see up to 15 people sitting down to do 10 simple drawings each.
Adam explains: “At the end of each session, we’ll pick one drawing and make a print of it so we’ll build up an archive during the course of the show.
“We’re not looking to design things that are super-complicated or trying to be clever. I suppose the hope is that we enjoy it and other people might enjoy it too.”
As for the title and concept of the exhibition, over to Debbie, who explains the rules they devised to underpin it.
“It’s called Starting Lines because it has eight starting lines which are effectively prompts or provocations to make something.
“Each colour zone has a different starting line on it and as you go round the different zones, you see examples of work it has inspired.
“Because we wanted to be able to paste up stuff during the show, there are spaces, including two columns and parts of the outside of the studio, which will fill up gradually.”
Adam suggests they might resemble the fly-posted walls and columns which have tended to be a feature of European cities.
Recapping, Debbie says: “There’s a gallery element to the show, with its permanent display, and there’s also this developing element. Then there’s the Riso Studio where we’ll hold monthly print workshops and the weekly drawing session where we’ll do printing at the end.
“The last zone, number eight (Write Your Own Starting Line Suggesting A Creative Action), is where you’re invited to make your own response and leave something if you want to.”
Adam: “The idea here is that we’ll choose something once a week to print and put up on a column, so there’s an opportunity for people to be in the show.
“It’s all about trying to reflect the way we work, and we really love making things happen.
“It’s like creating an art school experience outside art schools. At the big table, we hope, there’ll be lots of social crossover with people sharing ideas.”
In fact, much of the work in the exhibition’s colour zones has been done by other people, participants in the many projects Foundation Press has hosted all over the region.
There’s a multiplicity of stuff, much of it text-based, mostly on the walls but some displayed in glass vitrines, and all of it beautiful and eye-catching.
There’s even a very flamboyant wall decorated with specially designed Riso-printed wallpaper.
Adam points out the wall hanging decorated with clouds created by children who were tasked with illustrating the wind in a project commissioned by a renewable energy company.
It was also children who came up with The Roar of Art, an excellent title for the magazine they created at Westgate Hill Primary School, in Elswick. They also devised slogans such as ‘Let Your Art Spiral’.
“Don’t know exactly what it means but I love it,” says Adam.
Also on display is one of the last remaining copies of The Byker Phoenix, a pastiche of a notable community publication which was revived in collaboration with artist Harry Lawson.
Only two works in the exhibition were not created by Foundation Press or their workshop participants.
These are a photograph and a drawing commemorating artists Sally Madge and the aforementioned Joe Woodhouse who died in 2020 and 2022 respectively and are much missed by friends including Adam and Debbie.
This comes in zone number three, with the starting line Make A Creative Tribute To Someone.
You will start, though, in zone number one, Design An Alphabet And Use The Letters To Say Something. Hopefully here the grey matter will start to stir and be fizzing by the time you get to eight.
Starting Lines by Foundation Press runs at Baltic until August 30, and it opened at the same time as the new Level 2 exhibition, My Body Temperature is Feeling Good, featuring the work of British artist Milly Thompson who died in 2022.
Baltic is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Admission free. Check the Baltic website for details of talks, workshops or other activities.