Stephen Turner (b 1954) is an artist from Dewsbury, Yorkshire who now lives and works in both Yorkshire and in Kent, where he has a studio in the Historic Dockyard in Chatham.
He was educated at the University of Leeds (BA Hons Fine Art 1976) and at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada (MFA 1979) following the award of a Commonwealth Scholarship. He was Fellow in Painting at Exeter College of Art and Design (1980-83) and then combined working as an artist with part-time roles as Head of Arts and Craft for the North Kent Adult Education Service (1982-84) and as Exhibition and Events Organiser for the arts & environmental charity Common Ground (1984-2001). Since 2001 he has worked on personal art projects in the UK and abroad as artist, occasional curator and writer.
Turner’s creative practice is concerned with aspects of time and the tension between transience and permanence. His work often involves spending long periods of ‘slow looking’ in solitary places, noting changes in the complex relationship between people and the natural environment.
Projects are rooted in research, which explore these themes in a variety of media in different installations, residencies and exhibitions; for example at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London (Tide Marks 2001), Turner Contemporary in Margate (Cella 2002), The Seafort Project (2005), University College Falmouth (Materia Prima – Research into Art, Nature and the Environment 2006), Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland (Theatrum Mundi, Performance Architecture 2007) Stour Valley Arts & Fermynwoods Contemporary Art (Tree Rings 2008). He was Artist in Residence at the Bridge Guard Art & Science Centre in Sturovo, Slovakia (2012) and showed at the Museum of London Docklands (Estuary, 2013). His large solo exhibition, Natura Prima, was made for the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa during the Venice Biennale in 2019. Escaping with Magwitch was a voyage along the Medway Estuary with writer Carol Donaldson resulting in an audio artwork commissioned by Cement Fields for Estuary 2021.
Ten years-ago Turner conceived the idea for The Exbury Egg, a six-metre-long floating wooden sculptural form, developed in collaboration with PAD studios (architects) and commissioned by Space, Placemaking and Urban Design. He lived there as its Eggman for twelve months from July 2013 to August 2014, in deep engagement with nature on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire. During the last ten years, Egg and artist have toured to different locations in England.
Curatorial work includes the exhibition Sir Stanley Spencer ‘Resonance and Renewal – Shipbuilding on the Clyde’ in association with Historic Dockyard Trust, Imperial War Museum & National Maritime Museum 2010; ‘The Tree of Life; New images of an ancient Symbol’, co-curated for Common Ground with The South Bank Centre 1989 and ‘Out of the Wood’, Common Ground and the Crafts Council 1990 (both nationally touring exhibitions). CV at https://www.theartistsagency.co.uk/media/1358/stephen-turner-cv-2019.pdf
Presentation: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Nature is not simply a quantitative thing or experience. Rather it’s an infinite collection of emotional associations through time, binding us to all other life and to the places where we live or work; seeking equilibrium in a world of economic, spiritual and environmental crisis.
Stephen Turner will address this theme with a Power Point presentation exploring his personal engagement with nature: Referencing past art projects along the River Medway Estuary (in the north Kent marshes and down river to the confluence with the Thames at the Mauncell Forts on Shivering Sands) and his journeys as the Eggman in a six-metre-long floating Egg which began life on the Beaulieu River Estuary in the New Forest National Park in 2014.
He will reference the painting by Paul Gauguin of 1897, ‘Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we Going?’ (which in reproduction has kept him company on his travels for the past 25 years) and his new book ‘Everything from the Egg’, published by theartistsagency, February 2023.