P. Harvey Newell
Penny has worked on various commissions and collaborations. They have regularly collaborated with Phil Stanier of The Strange Names Collective, with whom they wrote an original performance for Utopia 2016 Festival at Somerset House/The Courtauld Institute, featured on this is tomorrow, and an original performance for Lakes Ignite 2018. Penny wrote a poem in collaboration with video artist Stella Ramsden and aerial silk dancer Amelia Merchant. They wrote a four-part visual poem in response to a Holly Hendry solo show at Bosse and Baum Gallery. Penny has also been involved in collaborations and projects at BBC Arts, Tyneside Cinema, Tate Britain and BBC Radio York.
Major Commissions
2019-22: b-side Arts Festival, b-side
Commissioned to research, develop and deliver Poetryledge, in collaboration with professional mountaineering instructor and climbing partner Mike Norbury. Poetryledge involves co-existing with strangers on a climbing portaledge, writing poetry together about the experience of climbing and sitting on a sea cliff.
2019: New Creatives North, BBC Arts, Tyneside Cinema
Commissioned to develop a poem 'speaking because of bodies' (published in The Poetry Review, Winter Issue, 2019) into a short radio drama. This opportunity was co-funded by BBC Arts and Tyneside Cinema, and involved mentoring from BBC writer Katherine Beacon and Naked Productions.
2017-18: Lakes Ignite Festival, Lakes Culture
Commissioned to co-write a performance called 'The Buried Moon'. We visited local mines and interviewed specialists including geologists. 'The Buried Moon' re-imagined the industrial history of mining in the Lakes as a futile endeavour to excavate a mythologically buried moon.
2015-16: Utopia Festival, Somerset House and The Courtauld Institute
Commissions to contribute original research and co-write on a performance work called 'The Naming of Clouds', directed by Phil Stanier of The Strange Names Collective. This project drew from Penny's PhD research into the conceptual history of clouds, culminating in a three-part performance entailing: a script-based studio work, a durational performance staged on the balcony of Somerset House, and a set of digital photo-collages produced by Wayne Burrows.
Performing in the scored durational component of 'The Naming of Clouds', July 2016
2015: Holly Hendry, More & More Is More, Bosse and Baum Gallery, Peckham, London
Commissioned to write a responsive poem in relation to the sculptural practice of artist Holly Hendry. The poem was published and distributed alongside the exhibition, and performed at the opening.
2015: Bose Soundlink
Commissioned to write a poem for a Bose Soundlink advert, collaborating with aerial silk artist Amelia Merchant and video artist Stella Ramsden.
Residencies
2019: Haarlem Artspace, with Institituto Procomum, Santos, Brazil
A week-long residency themed on "collectivism". Haarlem Artspace hosted UK-based artists alongside three members (co-founder and director, programmer and facilitator) from Instituto Procomum in Santos, Brazil - connecting artists to resident artists at Haarlem. The focus of the residency was not on "producing" work, but on listening to south perspectives on the commons, discussing concepts such as maintenance and care in relation arts practice, thinking and writing about the theory and practice of commoning. The residency was supported by the Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE) programme by the British Council, aiming to empower women and girls, foster youth development, and support the inclusion of disabled people and other marginalised groups.
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Photo credits: Rosie Reed Gold
2014: Merz Barn
A two-week residency, during which print-based artist Lukas Hornby taught me the basics of using a 19th-century Treadle Press. Penny type-set and hand-made a limited edition print of a poem written on-site, entitled 'The Sadness of Scything'. The poem was based on an agricultural arts workshop facilitated by collaborating artists on the residency.
2014: ARC, Stockton and The Tetley, Leeds
Two research and development residency programmes undertaken in collaboration with Aidan Moesby. During 'Fieldwork' at the ARC Stockton we developed a script for a scratch night of new work exploring the meeting point between art and science. This was further developed in residency at The Tetley, Leeds.
