Press

Press Release: 30 November 2011
Anna M. R. Freeman
Pied à Terre's Artist in Restaurant 2012

Anna M. R. Freeman has been announced as Pied à Terre’s second Artist in Restaurant, an annual residency for emerging artists. Anna’s residency will commence in January 2012 and will culminate with an exhibition of her work at Pied c Terre in September 2012. She will spend time at the Michelin starred restaurant, both as a diner and with exclusive behind the scenes access to the kitchens. In order to facilitate the residency, she has been given a sum of £10,000. One work created during the residency will become part of Pied à Terre’s art collection, which already includes works by Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and Howard Hodgkin.

Anna M. R. Freeman’s artistic practice encompasses painting, film and installation and is often inspired by a direct response to particular sites. Her work is primarily concerned with the unseen significance of space, through an examination of the functionality of architecture and its emotive content. She combines images taken of a space, with her memories of it, and is drawn in particular to unlocking the hidden potential of seemingly everyday things, nostalgic objects and organic forms of decoration. Central to her work are contrasting states; namely old and new, function and beauty, light and dark and surface and depth. For her residency she intends to create works that react to the seen and unseen intricacies of Pied à Terre through a series of painting, filmic and site-specific works.

Anna M. R. Freeman (b.1982) lives and works in London. She studied at Camberwell College of Arts, Kunsthochschule Weissensee in Berlin and Chelsea College of Art and Design, before achieving an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. She has participated in exhibitions across the UK and Europe and has completed a number of residencies, most recently The Florence Trust Artists Residency in 2010/2011. She was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition in 2008 and will have a solo exhibition in Venice at Workshop Arte Contemporanea Gallery in February 2012. Her work can be found in the Saatchi Collection and the Howard and Roberta Ahmanson Collection, and in numerous private collections worldwide.

The artist was nominated by Paul Bayley and selected by the residency’s committee, from a list of ten artists put forward by the scheme’s 2012 nomination panel. Artist in Restaurant 2011 was Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva.

The following artists were nominated for Artist in Restaurant 2012:
Andreas Blank
Ellie Doney
Miriam Elia
Natalia Escobar
Anna M. R. Freeman
Debbie Lawson
Mitra Memarzia
Claire Morgan
Helen Pritchard
Sally Sheinman

The Artist in Restaurant Nomination Panel 2012:
Paul Bayley, Director of the Florence Trust
Patrick Burrows, Director of Art Source
Manick Govinda, Head of artists’ advisory services at ArtsAdmin
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, Artist in Restaurant 2011
Oliver Varenne, Curator at Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania

The Artist in Restaurant Committee:
Professor John Aiken, Slade Professor, Director of the Slade School of Fine Art and Sculptor
Gill Hedley, Independent curator and consultant
Marie-Lise Sheppard, Grants Adviser for Arts at The Wellcome Trust & Artist in Restaurant scheme manager
Drew de Soto, Founder of Nancy Victor gallery
Calum Sutton, Managing Director Calum Sutton PR

The committee is chaired by Pied à Terre’s founding Director, David Moore

Pied à Terre was established in 1991, operating under the guidance of David Moore. The restaurant has gained some of the highest awards and accolades possible, earning its first Michelin star in 1993, becoming a two Michelin star restaurant in 1996. Marcus Eaves was appointed Head Chef in 2011.

Pied à Terre
34 Charlotte Street
London W1T 2NH
www.pied-a-terre.co.uk

For further press information and images, please contact Catherine Sutton
Email: c.sutton@virginmedia.com / T: 07957 143225

Press Release: 3 December 2010
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Pied à Terre's Artist in Restaurant 2011

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva has been announced as Pied à Terre’s first Artist in Restaurant, an annual residency for emerging artists. The artist was selected in December 2010 by the Residency’s committee, from a list of ten artists put forward by the scheme’s nomination panel comprised of six art world figures. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s residency commenced in January 2011 and will culminate in September 2011 with an exhibition of her work at Pied à Terre.

Working mainly with found materials that require experimental approaches, Elpida is known primarily for site-specific sculptural and installation works that respond to the characteristics of a particular space or location. Working with unorthodox and often discarded materials from the natural world, Elpida’s practice examines how humans and nature relate, questioning preconceived notions of beauty. As artist in residence for the Faculty of Media, Art & Communications at the University of Gloucestershire in 2008/2009, based at Gloucester Cathedral, Elpida’s site specific installation comprised a major sound work and featured beheaded angels adorned with preserved animal heads and a ceremonial gown made of cured chicken skins and cotton.

Elpida is spending time at the two-Michelin starred restaurant, both as a diner and with exclusive behind the scenes access to the kitchens. In order to facilitate the residency, she has beed given a sum of £10,000. One work created during the residency will become part of Pied à Terre’s collection of contemporary art, which already includes works by Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton and Howard Hodgkin.

Of the announcement, Elpida comments: “I am privileged to be the first artist in residence at Pied à Terre. This project presents a unique research opportunity, as well as promising to facilitate an important dialogue and new working methods. Many of my works are made of found or recycled materials and often at first people don’t recognise them as art. Bringing these works to the centre of conversation is a good way of challenging presumptions and limited perspectives of what art can be and how it can engage other issues. I am keen to create a body of work that both celebrates and engages with the distinct character of Pied a Terre, its history, staff and clientele.”

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva (b.1971, Kavadarci, Macedonia) graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1996, with 1st Class Honours and was awarded an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London in 1998. Her work has been extensively commissioned and exhibited nationally and internationally. Exhibitions include: ‘me, you & them’ at the 51st Venice Biennale; 'Inherent Beauty' at Public Room, Skopje; ‘Butterflies in the Stomach’ at L’H du Siege, France; and ‘Time Stands Still’ at Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Dublin. She has taken part in a number of European residency programmes including at ArtSway, Gloucester Cathedral; Irish Museum of Modern Art and Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship. She has also worked on a number of public art commissions including: 'Raison D’etre', Southgate Project, Bath; ‘Transpire’, St Bede’s Catholic College, Bristol; ‘We Are Shadows’, Unit2, London; ‘Life Cycle’, Bristol; ‘Re|Sort’, Fabrica Gallery, Brighton and ‘Ambush’, The New Forest. She lives in Brighton.

The following artists were nominated for Artist in Restaurant:
Rana Begum
Laura Buckley *
Margarita Gluzberg *
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva *
Phil Jones
Kypros Kyprianou
Jess Flood Paddock
Sam Plagerson *
Boo Ritson
Emily Wardill
The * denotes that the artist was shortlisted for Artist in Restaurant

The Artist in Restaurant Nomination Committee 2011:
Michael Bracewell, Writer, novelist and cultural commentator
Karen Gaskill, Creative Director at Interval, an arts festival in Manchester
Margot Heller, Director of The South London Gallery
Elizabeth Neilson, Director of the Zabludowicz Collection
Verity Slater, Independent arts consultant and producer
Nicky Verber, Founder and Director, Herald St Gallery

The Artist in Restaurant Committee:
Professor John Aiken, Slade Professor, Director of the Slade School of Fine Art and Sculptor
Gill Hedley, Independent curator and consultant
Marie-Lise Sheppard, Grants Adviser for Arts at The Wellcome Trust & Artist in Restaurant scheme manager
Drew de Soto, Founder of Nancy Victor gallery
Calum Sutton, Managing Director Calum Sutton PR
The committee is chaired by Pied à Terre's founding Director, David Moore

Pied à Terre was established in 1991, operating under the guidance of David Moore with Shane Osborn joining as co-owner and head chef in 1999. The restaurant has gained some of the highest awards and accolades possible, earning its first Michelin star in 1993, becoming a two Michelin star restaurant in 1996. Website: www.artist-in-restaurant.co.uk

Pied à Terre
34 Charlotte Street
London W1T 2NH www.pied-a-terre.co.uk

For further press information and images, please contact Catherine Sutton
Tel: 07957 143225
Email: c.sutton@virginmedia.com