Spike Island Open Studios: Meet the Artists: Jo Lathwood

In the second part of our series of interviews with artists based at Spike Island, ahead of the artspace’s hugely popular annual Open Studios event, we catch up with artist Jo Lathwood.

Born in Bristol in 1984 and educated at the University of Brighton, where she took a First Class Degree in Fine Art Sculpture, Jo has shown work in galleries around the UK and internationally. She has taken part in various residency programmes and biennials in the USA, Canada, France, Belgium and Austria. In 2012, she become the co-director of Ore and Ingot, an artist-led fine art bronze foundry here in Bristol.

Tell us about your art: your inspirations, preoccupations, the material you like to work with, any influences from the art world and beyond.
I am a sculptor. I build encompassing installations which the audience can inhabit or travel through. Alongside these large artworks, I also create smaller intricate works which focusing on exploring the properties and processes of different materials. In the past, I have created porcelain crayons, tree sap windows, and made sculptures with lava.
I am currently working on building a Pavilion for Yate, which will open in summer 2019. The Pavilion will host a variety of free events and workshops over the next two years.

And what will you be showing for Spike Island Open Studios?
I will be hosting FACTORY, a process-based performance, where the public is invited to join me in creating modular bricks out of waste construction timber.

Tell us what Spike Island means to you as a place to work, connect, socialise, be inspired…
I have had a studio at Spike Island for four years. My studio is essential to my art practice and provides me with a place to be playful and explore different ways of working. For example, the FACTORY ethos has grown from a 2018 exhibition called Getting There, in Fabrica gallery, Brighton.
Getting There involved building a 10.5-metre staircase to facilitate the audience to touch the ceiling of the gallery. The whole process of building, from start to finish, was open to the public to see how I work.
The performance of making is now part of my art practice and is as important as the final artwork. Spike Island’s facilities and community have been instrumental in propelling my art practice forwards.

How many Spike Island Open Studios have you participated in? Any particularly good memories impressions from previous years?
This will be my fourth open studio. Two years ago, I shared part of my research in using lava as a sculptural material, by casting molten rock in front of a public audience down in the sculpture yard. This was a wonderful experience and ignited a lot of interesting conversations.
Open Studios is also a great opportunity to visit other artists’ spaces, as the building is so big that it’s hard to keep track of what is going on.

What does the event mean to you: a chance to connect with visitors, to see what everyone else in the building is up to, a date to focus your creative energies on?
Open Studios is a great place is test new ideas and meet with a wide range of people. I will be based downstairs in the commissioning bay with a small team of FACTORY workers over the whole weekend. Everyone is invited to join the production line and learn more about the project. Please feel very welcome to come and say hi.

For more info on Annabelle, visit www.spikeisland.org.uk/our-community/studio-artists/jo-lathwood

For more on Spike Island Open Studios, visit www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/events/open-studios-2019

Read more: Spike Island Open Studios: meet the artists: Annabelle Craven-Jones