West Dean College of Arts and Conservation is pleased to announce that Renee So will be joining the College as Artist-in-Residence in May 2019.

The three-week residency will support a solo exhibition of So's work at the De La Warr Pavillion in Autumn 2019. So was chosen from a recent Open Call for artists that attracted entries nationally and internationally.

This collaboration between West Dean College of Arts and Conservation and the De La Warr Pavilion marks the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus. From its avant-garde, arts and crafts beginnings to its radical approach to uniting art, technology and everyday life, the Bauhaus is one of the most important, influential art schools of the twentieth century. It produced radical new experiments in pedagogy, performance, film, photography, architecture and design.

Renee So comments that: "I am so happy and excited to be the artist in residence at West Dean, as it provides the chance to further my knowledge of textiles in the tapestry studio. My exhibition will bring together my non-hierarchical approach towards art and craft in recognition of the women of the Bauhaus."

So will utilise the ceramics and tapestry studios of the College to produce a new series of sculptural lamp bases and fabric shades using these applied arts. This work will mark the starting point for a solo exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion in Autumn 2019.

The lamps will be grouped alongside other large-scale bespoke furnishings in an interpretation of the Bauhaus core belief of gesamtkunstwerk or a 'total work of art', uniting art, craft and design within the modernist architecture of the De La Warr Pavilion. The exhibition will focus on the historical undertones of applied arts as 'women's work' in recognition of the many women whose contributions to the Bauhaus were previously overlooked, redressing the gender imbalance of the time. The exhibition will demonstrate that the interdisciplinary innovation of the Bauhaus remains as relevant today as it did 100 years ago.