About Stephen Turner
Stephen Turner often spends long periods in odd, abandoned places, noting changes in the complex relationship between nature and the man-made, between the permanent and transient, chance and predictability.
Previous projects have explored these themes through both permanent and temporary work. For Grotta, a cairn of oyster shells was built on Whitstable beach and then washed back into the sea close to the oyster beds, in recognition of an ancient custom; for Time and Tide three thousand clay boats were ‘sailed’ and then gradually dissolved back into the estuary mud. Other works have used river mud and forest debris to slowly chart changes on canvas.
Many of these activities have been inspired by the particular environment of the Thames Gateway from Bow Creek on the Thames to the marsh islands of the Medway below Chatham and the Mauncell Seaforts east of the Nore.
There have been related shows for Turner Contemporary in Margate and Trinity Buoy Wharf in London and in 2007, work from the Seafort Project was shown in ‘Theatrum Mundi; performance architecture’, at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in Sunderland.
Turner has been artist in residence in Kings Wood, for Stour Valley Arts, and in Rye for Coastal Currents. He won the Hunting Art Prize (Drawing) in 2003 and in 2006 was lead artist for Four Shores, a project along the paths and shorelines of the Isle of Sheppey. In 2007 his research project “Materia Prima” for University College Falmouth was part of their inaugural Artful Ecologies Conference and exhibition. He is currently working for Safla (Public Art Wales) on a commission for the St David’s2 development in Cardiff.