Press Release
A group exhibition where the invited artists reflect on the way we value things and the role of chance in shaping our perceptions. What is often taken for granted may deserve more consideration and deeper scrutiny. The works in this show, drawn from a range of themes and media, challenge us to reconsider the importance of overlooked or seemingly incidental objects, gestures, and moments.
Displayed in varying forms—hanging from hooks, collaboratively installed, or heaped upon the floor—the artworks are arranged to explore the meaning of incidental and how objects and actions can reveal hidden significance when given the space and attention they deserve.
Curators
Min Angel / Lucy Soni
Lucy Bainbridge
Léonie Cronin
Monika Kita
Sarah Sparkes / Jane Millar
Kim Thornton
Events
Bell House projects will also be on view: Pottery, Quilt Academy, Artist in Residence, The Garage Press.
Curated by:
Kim Thornton - Thomas Wright Room
In the rush of daily life, we often overlook the small, seemingly insignificant and sometimes humorous moments and objects that quietly shape our experience. These incidental encounters — with people, places, or things — fade into the background, unnoticed and unremarked. Yet, it is within these ordinary interactions that the fabric of our existence is woven. The incidentals, often dismissed as trivial, become the quiet architects of our day-to-day reality.
This exhibition invites you to reconsider the overlooked. What if these mundane objects and fleeting encounters are more than mere details? What if they are the unsung threads that connect us, offering meaning and value in their subtle, often invisible presence? By shifting our gaze, we uncover a deeper layer of significance, revealing the quiet heroes of our everyday lives.
These overlooked incidentals — the forgotten objects, the brief interactions, the unnoticed spaces — may, in fact, hold more importance than we initially realize. It is in the serendipity of these encounters that our sensory worlds come alive, and where the ordinary may reveal something extraordinary. The exhibition seeks to remind us of the importance of these small moments, urging us to pause and give them the attention they deserve. In doing so, we uncover a hidden beauty and an undeniable truth: the incidentals are essential, not peripheral, to the human experience.
Artists: Wendy Aldiss, Lito Apostolakou, Cash Aspeek, Rosie Barnes, Laura Moreton-Griffiths, Alex Stone/Angus Stewart, Kim Thornton
Léonie Cronin - Lutyens Room
At the heart of this exhibition lies a collaborative curation, shaped through an ongoing critique process that explores the theme of Incidentals.
The works on display in The Lutyens Room come from five artists who first met over a decade ago during their MA studies.
Drawing from their own practices, they have revisited and reimagined their work through the often contradictory and transformative process of creating and curating incidental pieces.
Artists: Léonie Cronin, Lois Farningham, Lois Farningham, Murray Anderson, Will Cenci
Lucy Bainbridge - MacAndrew Room
Bainbridge Print have brought together artist printmakers who explore different ways of experimenting with the theme ‘Incidentals’ and showcase the breadth of artists who come to print at Bainbridge Print Studios. From Lucy’s ‘Rainy Day’ prints, where historic landmarks are distorted by the rain to Tanya’s ’Where the flowers grow’ series of screenprinted wallpapers, that effortlessly distill these natural forms to simple animated incidentals.
Artists: Lucy Bainbridge, Jennifer Moore, Lucie Holzer, Tanya Brennand-Roper, Lesley Syme
Min Angel / Lucy Soni - Hall
Min Angel and Lucy Soni are lining the walls of the Hall in Bell House with an incidental collection of paintings. The 30 invited artists were asked to consider what 'The Incidentals' meant to them; what is of greater or lesser importance, what is chanced upon and whether in painting anything can be said to be of minor consequence.
Artists: Alice Delhanty , Alice Wilson, Caroline Thomson, Christina Niederberger, Daisy Watson, Ella Soni, Emma Lilly, Grant Watson, Henrietta Roeder, Hermione Allsopp, Jacqueline Utley, Jennifer Morrison, Jon Ridge, John Wyatt Clarke, Julie Caves, Lee Johnson, Lindsay Mapes, Lucy Soni, Mamon Hawkins,Marie Fujii-Pratt, Mike Ryder, Min Angel, Miranda Boulton, Mita Vaghela, Monica Perez Vega, Paige Perkins, Ralph Anderson, Suzanne Holtom, Sylwia Narbutt, Ted McKenzie, Tony Beaver, Vanessa Mitter
Sarah Sparkes / Jane Millar - Landing, Gowan Room
Artists' products gather to form heaps on the floor, or thrown on to hooks.
The works are waiting, to be used, worn, gathered or sorted. In these rooms no artworks are presented as final or fixed, there are no frames or plinths. In this way the curators present art works in state of liminality, of flux, and therefore as having agency and personhood. The theme of Incidentals as ‘sundries’, extras and props in storage, is developed through the use cupboards, a mantelpiece, and a carpeted floor. Everyday and extraordinary, the Inconsequential is full of potency and mysterious significance.
Artists: Rebekah Dean, Helen Barff, Sandra Lane, Poppy Whatmore, Alison Cooke, Vanya Balog, Robert Rivers, Simon Leahy-Clark, Paul Cole, Sarah Sparkes, Roland Hicks, John Bunker, Jane Millar, Belinda Worsley, Carrie Stanley, Chris Marshall, Karen David, Campbell McConnell, Helen Turner, Kate Squires, Lucy Woollett AKA Lady Lucy
Monika Kita - Lucas Room
This exhibition brings together four artists whose works explore the evolving natural environment, with a particular focus on rock formations and the incidental transformations that occur over time. The central theme, Incidental, examines the subtle, often unnoticed changes that shape both the natural world and our perception of it. Through a diverse range of media—photography, moving image, sound, installation, painting, and drawing—the artists reflect on the dynamic processes that define our landscapes, shaping them in ways that are both imperceptible and profound.
The works in this exhibition engage with the fluidity of nature’s transformations and the tension between permanence and impermanence. The incidental nature of these transformations—whether through erosion, time, or myth—invites reflection on the complex relationship between humanity and the ever-changing environment. These pieces offer a powerful reminder of the forces that shape our world in ways we may not always recognize but that ultimately define our experience of it.
Artists: Nilofar Akmut, Minna Etein, Danielle Jacques, Monika Kita