Yeovil Art Space is thrilled to announce two artist residencies with schools and young people right here in Yeovil. Part of the Our Town Project artists ‘Brendan Barry’ and ‘Juneau Projects’ will be engaging Yeovil’s community through creative play, exploring artistic techniques.

Brendan Barry is a photographer, educator and camera builder whose creative photographic practice combines elements of construction, education, performance and participation. 

Fascinated by the mechanics of vision and the processes of analogue photography, his work is concerned with the transformation of different objects and environments into spaces capable of viewing and making a photographic image. 

The process and materiality of photography is central to this practice as both a personal experience and the means by which he engages others in forms of collaboration and exploration. These include the action of light through a lens, the heightened awareness of the world brought about by being inside a camera obscura and the magical moment of transformation when the image is registered on photo-sensitive paper. 

Brendan is founder & director of Positive Light Projects, a not for profit organisation using the visual arts to engage and inspire a diverse range of audiences and communities. The organisation also aids emerging artists to develop their practice forward in exciting and innovative ways.

Brendan shares: “During this short residency I will be transforming Yeovil Art Space into a working analogue darkroom, photographic studio and camera obscura. A camera obscura is a darkened box or room with a small hole or lens that projects an inverted image of the outside scene onto an interior surface. I’m looking forward to running a series of workshops with local creative young people, engaging them with the magic of optical representation and introducing them to a range of traditional analogue processes and techniques.” 

Juneau Projects

Juneau Projects was formed in 2001 by Philip Duckworth and Ben Sadler. Their work is made in collaboration with other people, ranging from one-off workshops that introduce people to a skill or technique to long term projects working with communities to create artworks for their area. They work across a broad range of media including sculpture, animation, print making, Riso printing, performance, music and public art. 

Juneau Projects share ‘We are interested in the urge people have to be creative, how that has manifested throughout history and how we can work with groups to create work together. We’re really looking forward to working with Yeovil Art Space and getting to know the community in Yeovil. We love the process of working with people to make projects that reflect the creativity of the local area!’ 

Juneau Projects have exhibited at venues including Tate Britain (London), PS1 (USA), Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt), Grizedale Arts (Cumbria), IKON (Birmingham), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (Japan), Tatton Park Biennial (UK), Somerset House – King’s Cultural Institute/Up Projects (London), Lismore Castle Arts (Ireland) & Two Chairs, Vermont (USA).

Yeovil Art Space’s project ‘Our Town’ is a creative placemaking project funded by Arts Council England, offering a programme of art and cultural events for Yeovil Town Centre from now until March 2026.