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Advent Art at Bankside

A bauble is not just for Christmas at Bankside. We feel our collection Advent Art Collection deserves to be enjoyed year-round.

Bankside’s commitment to art and culture is reflected in our Christmas countdown – an artistic advent calendar that celebrated our ongoing partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt. Bankside’s artists-in-residence past and present were called upon to decorate a series of Christmas Baubles, in their own unique style.

Each hand-painted bauble formed part of a unique advent calendar. Every day, from the 1st of December, one guest checking in was picked to unveil the day’s bauble and hang it on the tree. To make the moment even more special, the guest also received their own bespoke edition bauble to take home.

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1st December - Kate Matsevych

Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Current artist in residence Kate is a London-based artist and illustrator. She devotes her artworks to the beauty of the female body, women in general.

“As most of my paintings revolve around women and femininity, I decided to paint Christmas ornaments with eyes, noses, and lips, incorporating motifs inspired by Christmas decorations. I also wanted vibrant colors to make the ornaments playful, colorful, and visually delightful”

More about Kate

2nd December - Rod McIntosh

Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Rod McIntosh is a British artist who utilizes ink to create marks inspired by mindfulness and meditation, along with the tradition of drawing.

“My trio of baubles, are a play on the ‘nativity story’s three gifts’. The enso is the motif that each originates from. Simply seen repeated on both sides of one. As a spiral from the top down on the second and as a block of gold, filling the northern hemisphere of the bauble with drips working their way down towards the ground. During the festive season, I hope seeing each or all will draw your attention away from the lists, the demands, and the busyness and allow you to allow yourself a gift in the moment. To breathe, to connect with the present and ground yourself in gratitude”.

More about Rod

3rd December - Victoria Heald

Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Past artist-in-residence Victoria Heald paints figurative and animal works on striking gold bases. Her trio of hummingbird baubles reflects her striking style.

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4th December - Luke M Walker

Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Urban landscape painter Luke believes that art should raise awareness about environment issues. His work derives from exploration, primarily through walking.

“My baubles all riff on the theme of my Bankside Panorama undertaken on the residency at the beginning of the year. A short section of the river from Tate Modern to Hungerford Bridge reimagined in the snow”

More about Luke

5th December - Anika Manuel

Anika Manuel is a portrait and figurative painter living and working in Cornwall, specialising in portraying the female image.

“I opted for a Bauble design that reflected my painting in the ‘Art of Belonging’ exhibition. Using this composition as a starting point, I then created three unique miniature portraits in my signature style”

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6th December - Guglielmo Alfarone

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Today’s advent bauble is by portrait artist Guglielmo Alfarone.

“The portrait of the young girl with a furry hat evokes a sense of nostalgia and warmth, while the white and grey paint drops add a touch of playfulness. The use of graphite for the drawing adds a classic and timeless feel to the bauble”

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7th December - Sarah Emily Porter

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Abstract painter Sarah was Bankside’s virtual artist in residence during lock down. Her work often has architectural and sculptural attributes but is derived from the traditions and histories of painting.

By pouring and manipulating paint on tilting wooden structures, her practice places emphasis on the process of making by removing the gesture and emotion of the artist’s hand from the final work. Instead, she subjects paint to the forces of gravity and use systems and order to create opportunities for chance to occur, creating a tension between what was and what could be. Through this method of painting, she seeks to highlight the significance and complexity of colour and reveal intricacies in her materials.

More about Sarah

8th December - Sam Ryde

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Samuel Ryde is a London based photographer with a passion for noticing the un-noticed objects and architecture of everyday human life.

“I wanted to directly reflect the graffiti that is a constant theme in my work. People always ask me if I have finish my images, the answer is no but this was my chance to try it”

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9th December - Frankie Curtis

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Frankie Curtis with take up residency at Bankside next year. She has created a unique style inspired from a childhood of growing up watching cartoons. Her work is a vibrant collection of crazy characters with a sprinkle of humour throughout. Working mostly in acrylic paints and markers, spray paint, and digital work bringing her work to life in an animated format.

Her baubles…
OODLE BELLS (pink and purple doodle)
Based on a recent artwork created for an exhibition in Waterloo station. This is a vibrant coloured bauble covered in doodles, it is made up of several different coloured layers so there is something to see from all angles. Created using spray paint and acrylic markers and finished with a clear varnish.

DOODLE ALL THE WAY (black on white bauble with red nose)
A fun and original collection of illustrations against a white background in Frankie’s traditional doodle style, themed for the season there is even a red nose for Rudolph. Created using acrylic paint markers and finished with a clear varnish.

IM DREAMING OF A WHITE DOODLE
A black bauble adorned with a collection of white doodles created opposite to the ‘doodle all the way bauble’. Created using spray paint, acrylic paint markers, and finished with a clear varnish.

More about Frankie

10th December - Kasia Sifantus

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Kasia is a contemporary mixed media art her art is an evocative response to the landscape, an expression of the transient qualities of nature and the ethereal expanse of seas, land, and sky. Kasia will be Bankside’s artist-in-residence early next year.

“I decided to decorate the baubles using acrylic paint and 24c gold leaves, sealed with resin. This technique can be seen in my ‘Appearances’ series”

More about Kasia

11th December - Sophie Derrick

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Sophie Derrick is a British artist who exploits the transformative and alchemic properties of painting, photography and sculpture pushing out the ‘self’ resulting in a ‘self-less’ state.

Through her practice, Derrick blanks out and departs from herself transcending the artist, the woman and becoming‘agender’ with the single motive of demonstrating the possibility of reaching a place where we too can be ‘other’. Sophie Derrick’s practice is founded on self-portraiture, but her blending of sculptural painting and performative photography successfully transcends any traditional interpretation.

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12th December - Kelly Jenkins

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Kelly is a contemporary painter and textile artist. Her meticulously embroidered paintings reflect graphically the complex world we now live in.

“These baubles are miniature versions of my latest collection of embroidered landscape paintings titled “Let Me Take You On A Wild Adventure. They take inspiration from the poem “Being but Men” by Dylan Thomas, which reflects on what it is to feel human in the cosmos. Looking to nature and up at the sky in awe, wonder and bliss of the universe and the beauty of our small selves travelling through the vastness of its playground. Each bauble depicts a dreamland of possibilities and adventure.”

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13th December - Corinne Natel

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

The baubles have been created to follow on from the series ‘Now Everything’s Vivid’, which evolved from Corinne’s residency last year at The Bankside Hotel. This style investigates colour and form – how colour and form work together and the relationship with negative space in a painting, how colours work with one another and develop relationships, create a sense of energy and a language in themselves. The baubles are colourful, vivid and aim to capture the energy and creativity of the city and the vibrancy of the South Bank, with some added glitter elements to give some Christmas sparkle.

More about Corinne

14th December - Joshua Donkor

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Joshua Donkor is a Ghanaian-British painter whose work uses portraiture as a tool to subvert monolithic portrayals of Black identity.

These Baubles capture fleeting moments and memories around Christmas time with my British and Ghanian family. The image transfers across the globe are also covered with soft painted glazes showing traditional British decorations like holly and Ghanian red miracle berries. This combination speaks to the way we combine cultures and traditions within family and pass these on to the next generation.

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15th December - Lucy Stevens

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Lucy Stevens is a British Contemporary artist whose work explores our relationship with the natural environment on a social and cultural level.

A collection of three baubles exploring light, repetition and rhythm using a vibrant colour palette of acrylic paints. Lucy has developed a visual language embodied with colourful, repetitive motifs and coded mark making to interpret birdsong, migration and the changing landscape which runs through her portfolio of artwork.

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16th December - Ottelien Huckin

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

My blue and white bauble collection is inspired by my Dutch heritage and traditional delftware, with a focus on the celebration of female sensuality. My work is deeply romantic, combining gestural and expressive figurative lines with detailed depictions of flora and fauna native to Britain. I hope that this limited collection brings joy to the viewer, and reminds them of the power and beauty of women.

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17th December - Julie Bennett

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Julie Bennett is a portrait painter living and working in London.

Her bold, unapologetically confident portraits appropriate pop culture icons from the music industry and art world, creating contemporary homages to the likes of David Bowie, Elvis, Frida Kahlo, Boy George, Patti Smith, and Her Majesty The Queen.

“The theme for my artist residency at Bankside was icons, and when they asked me to paint one of their baubles, I knew I wanted to feature a Christmas icon. My bauble is a self-portrait depicting myself as Mother Mary, as she seemed the ideal figure—without her, there wouldn’t be Christmas. I wanted it to be a homage to mothers everywhere, recognising their special role in making Christmas such a magical time.”

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18th December - Lee Herring

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Lee Herring is a contemporary painter specialising in colourful, textured and abstracted landscapes.

Abstract layers are brought to life with Christmas sparkle. No bauble could hide from the signature neon pink.

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19th December - Imogen Morris

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Imogen is a Birmingham based artist who creates portraits using nail and thread.

Imogen has gone back to her embroidery roots and has created abstract forms using the triangle, the shape which features in the polygonal structure of all her portraits. Playing with colour and composition, the thread creeps along the fabric, which is then tied up and wrapped around the bauble.

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20th December - Lauren Goldie

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Lauren Goldie is a mixed media sculptor based in London, studying for her master’s degree at Central Saint Martins.

Happy holidays from Lauren Goldie, artist and PhD researcher at Central Saint Martins. This bauble, ‘Celestial’, aligns with interests in science fiction and the potential to mine asteroids for resources.

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21st December - Ernesto Romano

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Ernesto’s unique practice involves the use of medical records like X-rays or MRIs of his body or vintage X-rays which he uses to make his art.

“My baubles are a play on Basquiat’s famous crown motif which I have reinterpreted with glitter paint after giving to the bauble a bright colour with spray paint.”

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22nd December - Cummings Twins

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Mark and Paul Cummings intention is to create phenomenological experiences, with an interest for the occult, mysticism, technology and zeitgeist.

We were delighted to host this incredible duo in the studio in September 2019 and more delighted when they choose to create our bauble art.

More about The Cummings Twins

23rd December - Michael Wallner

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Michael’s art is inspired by his passion for the city. He creates most of his work from his own photography (many taken on his helicopter flights with the doors off), creating art with unusual materials including brushed aluminium, reclaimed wood, copper as well as neon and L.E.D installations.

HAPPY OXMAS 1 (glossy gold, pink Oxo lettering, green Oxo top)
Celebrating the Oxo Tower, one of Michael’s favourite London buildings with some of his trademark colours and metallic effect. Coated in glossy gold with stenciled O-X-O letters dabbed in pink. Topped off with loose dabbing in the shape of the top of the Oxo Tower in light green.

HAPPY OXMAS 2 (matt light gold, green Oxo lettering, pink Oxo top)
Celebrating the Oxo Tower, one of Michael’s favourite London buildings with some of his trademark colours and metallic effect. Coated in matt gold finish with stenciled O-X-O letters dabbed in ‘Christmas’ green. Topped off with loose dabbing in the shape of the top of the Oxo Tower in light pink.

THE WORLD IN PINK
Michael’s art features city shapes and landmarks from all over the world. The globe-like abstract shapes on the bauble celebrates this with a medley of fluorescent pinks, reds, oranges, and fuchsia, colours often featured in his work

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24th December - Kate Matsevych & Luke Walker

In partnership with Contemporary Collective powered by DegreeArt

Our current artist in residence Kate Matsevych brings our #adventart to a close with another one of her colorful and visually delightful designs reflecting women and femininity.

The guest that hung Kate’s bauble on our tree received a bauble by previous artist Luke M Walker. Luke was our very first artist in residence back in 2019 and returned again this year. His bauble, in his distinctive charcoal style, captures a short section of the river from Tate Modern to Hungerford Bridge reimagined in the snow.

More about Kate More about Luke