Lots of Great Things: Open Studio event
Friday 30 August 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Free drop-in
Join the Banana Sharks as they explore their independent and collaborative practices spanning painting, performance, poetry, installation and film.
During this event, you are invited to their shared studio space to chat about their practice and participate in their making processes and performances.
You may be invited to:
Wear an artwork
Paint a giant canvas
Write or read a poem
Roll a paint-covered object
Join a group dance led by the Banana Sharks
Please wear clothes which you don't mind getting messy, Towner can provide coveralls, but these may be limited.
The Banana Sharks are supported by artists Dana Brass and Babalola Yusef to explore their individual creative practices and themes in a safe, supported environment. Since the summer of 2023, the group has worked in response to Maria Amidu: in the perpetual back and forth, while exploring their own independent themes, including positive mental health, dance, food making, writing, and play.
Towner has commissioned artist Shepherd Manyika to produce a moving image work in collaboration with the Banana Sharks which will be shown throughout this event.
This event and artist commission is supported by Iniva Future Collect
Banana Sharks is delivered with support from The Meads Fund - Sussex Community Foundation and John Jackson Charitable Trust.
About Babalola Yusuf
Babalola Yusuf is a multidisciplinary artist interested in how art can explore intersections, how it is possible for a photograph or the repetition of a phrase or simple imagery to transcend itself. Much like a seed which in specific soil, with specific conditions, begins to unfold up and into light – is it possible through an artwork to exist to both soil and sky, to experience eternity in time? Babalola works with performance, painting, film, photography, sculpture and sound and was on Flatland Projects' Early Careers Programme from 2022/2023.
About Dana Brass
Dana Brass is an interdisciplinary artist, primarily working with photography, drawing, painting, and printmaking. Dana is also a psychotherapist and supervisor.
Dana has worked as an artist-facilitator in community organisations, with people of all ages and backgrounds, for over 15 years. In particular, Dana enjoys the group process and facilitation of collaborative work. Originally from the USA, Dana moved to the UK in 1998. Dana has lived in East Sussex since 2006.