Resident artists
Discover the talented artists and makers who share our creative space at the Old Pay Office in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
Clarke Reynolds
International blind artist with multiple solo exhibitions across the UK, India, and the USA. Recognised for his unique approach to the tactile language of Braille, he takes the Braille cell and, through the colour, shape and size of the dot, explores the English language. The Braille becomes a vessel to hold words, and his work is made to be touched.
He advocates for the use of Braille through art, encouraging conversations around accessibility in the creative industry, especially in the visual arts. His main objective is to educate the younger generation by teaching Braille through art in schools, breaking down barriers associated with sight loss and inspiring the next generation of visually impaired creatives. He is the proud patron of the charity VICTA (Visually Impaired Children Taking Action) and is the first blind trustee of Aspex Portsmouth. His work has been widely recognised; he is a finalist for the National Diversity Awards as a Positive Disability Role Model of the Year and has made several appearances on live TV.
www.seeingwithoutseeing.com
Instagram: @clarkereynoldsofficial.
Petal & Pchelka
Petal & Pchelka was founded by Sally Biloshiskaya, a passionate floral designer with a background in luxury brands.
Inspired by her love for flowers and a desire to create bespoke designs, Sally's journey led her to become a qualified florist with a global perspective.
With a focus on high-end customer service and attention to detail, Sally's unique creations have been commissioned from clients across the UK and Singapore.
Discover the magic of Petal & Pchelka's floral designs.
www.petalandpchelka.co.uk
Instagram: @petal_pchelka
Facebook: @petal&pchelka
Home of the Good Chair
Home Of The Good Chair was founded by Katy Bennett in 2020.
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Self taught in weaving, she uses a natural material called Danish Paper Cord which comprises three strands of paper twined together to weave, using traditional techniques, the seats on vintage chairs.
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Her aim is to revive once old chairs and give them a new lease of life in this modern world.
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She is now keen to explore the use of natural colour dyes and develop her own signature style.
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Sally Tyrie
Sally Tyrie is a fine artist based in Portsmouth who works mainly with printmaking, photography, bookmaking and mixed media. A recurring interest is in imagery that has a sense of the uncanny. Specifically, ways to convey a narrative around absence, presence and transience. She often works on collaborations and for the past year has been working on a site-based project at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. This
culminated in Spatial Fragments, a 2024 exhibition with Deniz Beck and Pippa Charlesworth.
The resulting work seeks to make visible the time spent in the captivating abandoned spaces of Storehouse 9, and she was particularly interested to overlap this experience with discoveries from the archives.
“My current investigation, and ongoing mixed media work, continues to explore why we are drawn to derelict decaying spaces; what is it about ruins that attracts
our attention?”
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Thomas Buckley
An alumni fellow of The Royal Shakespeare Company and currently associate artist at Portsmouth Guildhall, Thomas makes work exploring the potential of XR and emergent technologies in drawing out our humanity. Alongside leading projects that combine sensory practice and new media Thomas works with marginalised groups, putting their stories at the forefront of this new artform.
​"My work is often described as inspiring wonder or seeming like magic, although I rebel against this description.
Clarke’s Third law that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” - is in my opinion, a dangerous platitude. As we engage more reliantly with technologies seeing ourselves as separate; dichotomising the human and the digital breeds distance, inaccessibility and immoral use."
Thomas works with AR, VR, projection, theatre and immersive practices. They creative direct a porous studio of exciting makers and artists toward outcomes that are full of human stories.
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ZooPoo
Embarrassingly, you catch screenprinting specialist Spencer in the mid-swing of rebranding, from his old venture Petting Zoo Prints & Collectibles (est.2008) to ZooPoo (est. 2024). The chosen basis and format for the operation remains largely unchanged, and Spencer is predominantly focused on his mission and long term goal to excel at 2D paper printing (serigraphy)... it’s just that the style, the conceptual content and the attitude are all up for a thorough spruce - the latter of those three in particular.
You are thanked for your interest and visit, and perusal of his past career (new works are mostly still in the planning process and first full exhibitions aren’t planned until 2025). So whilst you might not yet be able to glean the exact thrust of upcoming work and their themes, the artist would very much like to make you aware of the printing workshops he will be giving during his tenure with the Sustainable Conservation Trust, both at the PlayOffice and at other sites. The range of these workshops will span very affordable family friendly demos for absolute beginners, to more involved sessions where participants can print and take home pieces they have pulled themselves, and more advanced courses and tutelage where participants are guided over numerous sessions to design their own work and print a full edition of 30 prints to sell or give to family and friends!
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Crying Out Loud
Crying Out Loud are creative producers bringing memorable experiences from extraordinary visual theatre makers to audiences of all ages and abilities.
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Our mission is to:
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– connect artists, programmers and communities across local and global borders & inspire cross-cultural exchange
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– discover and develop new artistic talent on our doorstep and across the globe through a producing model that centres innovation, risk and careful collaboration
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– produce world-class, boundary-pushing artworks, performances and creative projects for and with communities and audiences of all nationalities and ages everywhere
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A key strand of our new programme is to support and present visual, site specific and cross artform projects in Portsmouth and the Solent area. We create development opportunities for local artists & communities, connecting them with the best companies and makers globally, and tour world-class international work to audiences in Portsmouth and across the South West England.
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