We Are Gathered Here Together

A Horace Lindezey solo exhibition, We Are Gathered Here Together, was originally commissioned by Art in Manufacturing as part of a residency with The Making Rooms for The National Festival of Making 2024.

Now touring to London in the stunning Fitzrovia Chapel, come and explore three of the life events and special occasions so important to the artist: births, deaths and weddings.

Horace Lindezey has been a practicing artist and maker at Venture Arts for over 30 years, working predominantly in ceramics and textiles. Central to his practice is the theme of ceremony, from the dates we were born, to the celebration of marriage and the day we die. This exhibition invites you to enter Lindezey’s world, through music, witty expressions and his unique perspective of how he connects people, time and place.

Lindezey’s enduring obsession with weddings started when he was a teenager, after attending his first one aged fourteen in 1980. Lindezey can list every subsequent year, recalling how many weddings there were, whose it was, where it was, which suit he wore and, all importantly, whether there was cake. The special occasion of a wedding brings together all the things he loves – travelling, meeting people and chatting to them, getting dressed up and celebrating.

This passion for weddings informs the centrepiece of the exhibition, a wedding banquet table set for 24 guests who Lindezey has fond memories of watching get married on TV, such as Kylie and Jason and Pat and Frank Butcher. The table is complete with handmade ceramic plates, porcelain flowers, etched glasses and embroidered napkins and chair backs, all depicting phrases the artist is known for. The objects that are presented as part of the exhibition were developed as part of his residency with The Making Rooms that allowed him to explore and develop new making techniques.

Alongside the banquet expect to see ceramic commemorative wedding plates, embroidered artworks, prints of some of his favourite records and the artist’s iconic ceramic blue plaques, which he makes to commemorate the lives of those people, and fictional characters, that have been important in his life.

After exhibiting in the 2023 National Festival of Making in the group show, YESS LAD, Lindezey, was commissioned to return this year with a show of his own. Art in Manufacturing is the headline commissioning programme of the festival – providing artists with a platform to make new work in and alongside some of the UK’s major manufacturers. The new artwork in this exhibition was produced by Lindezey during a residency with The Making Rooms, and is shown alongside some of his most popular pieces, produced over the years at the Venture Arts studio.

Join us at Fitzrovia Chapel, in a venue the work was destined to show in.

EVENT | Artist Talk with Horace Lindezey
Saturday 12 October, 1pm. 

Join us for this special event as Venture Arts’ Head of Creative Development, Katherine Long, hosts a conversation with artist Horace Lindezey. The event will take place in the exhibition where they’ll explore the themes that run through Lindezey’s work and find out more about some of the new techniques he employed during his Making Rooms residency.

Corridor 8 interviewed Horace Lindezey in response to We Are Gathered Here Together: read the full article here.