Castlefield Gallery Associates: Nerissa Cargill Thompson
Posted on 2 April 2025
This month we have asked Nerissa Cargill Thompson to contribute to our Castlefield Gallery Associates Spotlight series, in which current Castlefield Gallery Associates share their thoughts on what the programme offers and how it has been useful for them.
Nerissa is currently exhibiting in Overlooked at The World of Glass, St Helens, Habitat at Cupola Contemporary Gallery, Sheffield and CONTEXTURE at The House of Smalls, Edinburgh until the 19th of April.
Upcoming exhibitions include Any Other Business as part of PRISM Textiles, London, Reimagined at Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge and What is Precious at New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham.
Can you tell us a little bit about your practice?
My work explores environmental issues like climate crisis, plastic pollution and waste through textile art using recycled materials, particularly old clothing, and mixed-media sculptures of textiles and concrete cast in the plastic packaging that we use and discard on a daily basis.
My aim is to make people consider the world around them and their responsibility to the environment. My work explores juxtapositions of structure, texture and colour, particularly where nature meets man. I create my signature textiles using a combination of embellishing and embroidery. The embellisher blends the fabrics together to create subtle variations in texture and tone to mimic lichens and moss. The concrete captures the embossed patterns of the plastics representing manmade structures and gives a weight and presence more in-line with its legacy. The naturally inspired textures of the textiles emphasise the way our waste becomes subsumed into the environment but also how nature fights back.
I create my textiles in my home/garden studio in South Manchester and cast my sculptures at Neo Studios in Bolton. As sustainability is a key focus within the content of my work, I strive to improve the sustainability of my methods and materials so have been experimenting with recycled aggregates in my concrete like waste paper, egg boxes and cardboard but am keen to explore this further, especially regarding finding a more environmentally friendly resin or binder to replace the cement but doesn’t stick to the waste plastic that I cast in. Community engagement is an important part of my practice. I am an experienced workshop facilitator using a range of visual arts and crafts but with a general focus on the environment, sustainability and wellbeing using recycled and sustainable materials as much as possible.
I regularly exhibit locally and nationally in open calls, member exhibitions and as an invited artist. Winner AWOL/Comme Ca Open (2022), Second place Sustainability First Art Award (2021), Shortlist Fine Art Textile Award (2020), Shortlisted artist Castlefield Gallery Award, Manchester Open (2024). Created series of 11 sculptures as commission for Fylde Council (2022). Featured in “Mixed Media Textile Art in Three Dimensions” by Ann Goddard, Batsford Books (2022) and Embroidery Magazine (Jan/Feb 2024).
How did you hear about Castlefield Gallery Associates, and why did you want to join?
I joined at the end of my MA (Textile Practice, Manchester School of Art 2018). The sessions covering various aspects of life as a professional artist were really useful in content but also for getting to know other artists in the area meaning there is often at least one familiar face when I head to a private view alone. The feeling of being part of a network of artists was particularly important as I didn’t have a studio at the time and the MA had marked a transition in my career from Theatre to Art. Although I haven’t actually made use of it, the New Art Spaces scheme was an exciting possibility.
What are you looking forward to most about your coming year’s membership?
I had struggled to return to in person Associate sessions after lockdown so it has been great that Castlefield Gallery Associates have developed hybrid sessions though I was really glad I attended the Working with the Press and Show See Say sessions in person and hope to attend more in person events this year. I have been feeling at a bit of a hump with my practice and managed to bag a 1 to 1 slot with Helen. I am looking forward to putting her advice into practice and she told me that there is hopefully going to be a session on taking/selecting photographs for portfolio and proposals that sounds really useful.
Links
Website
ncargillthompson.co.ukImages
Banner:
- Nerissa Cargill Thompson, No Man is an Island: Mapping the Issue, 2020. Image courtesy of the artist.
From left to right, top to bottom:
- Nerissa Cargill Thompson, Political Weapon series, 2019. Image courtesy of the artist.
- Nerissa Cargill Thompson, Message in a Bottle: Family Pack, 2023. Image courtesy of the artist.
- Nerissa Cargill Thompson.
