Laura Onions:  work, news, about     

                                                                                                                                                      






















 




























Born in Telford 1991
Based in Wolverhampton & The Black Country


I have a printmaking practice (in the broadest sense) often adopting sculptural, painterly and social forms to hold and share spaces for learning. The manoeuvres of printmaking - contact, transference, intimacy underline these activities in which a focus on making together have emerged as my approach. I work with archival materials to connect with place, people and histories, offering a framework to respond and reimagine in the present. I am thinking about local ecologies, inherited landscapes and climate justice through these means.

Since 2022 I have been co-diretcor of Eagle Works Studios & Project Space in Wolverhampton, a Community Interest Company that provides affordable studios and opportunities for artists. You can find out about Eagle Works here





Projects, Events & Exhibitions


2024
Deveron Projects Residency, Huntly, Aberdeenshire
Midlands Painters, Moonraven Gallery, Birmingham 
Start the Press! , Ikon Gallery

2023
Gathering Press at Dartmouth Park Pavillion, Multistory
Constellations Cohort 2023, UP Projects
Gathering Press x Ikon Slow Boat, Wolverhampton
Valuable Conversations, group exhibition, Wolverhampton Art Gallery

2022
Positively Disruptive, workshops, Being Human Festival of Humanities 
Gathering Press x RAW, British Art Show 9 Legacy Project, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Barber Print Club, workshop series, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Twenty:Twenty Collection, group exhibition, New Art Gallery Walsall
On Paper, group exhibition, Paper Gallery, Manchester

2021
SpeakEasy, Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Simultaneity of stories-so-far, exhibition co-curator, Grand Union, Birmingham
Seasonal Cards, Minerva Apothecary Garden, Birmingham

2020
Gathering Press, (ongoing) mobile screen-printing press, Black Country
Barber Home, online commission, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham

2019
The Twin: Coventry Biennial, group exhibition, The Row & Bell Green Library, Coventry
FLIMSIES (small acts of care), group exhibition, Art Licks Festival, London
I am because we are, collaborative project with The Haven, Wolverhampton

2018
Archiving the Feminist Experience, group exhibition, Feminist Art Library, London
GU Women, group exhibition, Modern Clay, Birmingham


Texts, Papers & Publications


2024
Making Bread With Your Feet,
workshop for 'Gentle Gestures' stream at 'Midlands Conference for Critical Thought,' (April 2024). 
Gathering Press: Towards an Environmentally Resonant Pedagogy, in 'Makings Journal: Gentle Gestures, Contexts, Spaces and Approaches Beyond the Academy,' (May/June 2024).

2023
Leadership Seminar: Studio Culture & Pedagogic Change, Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD).
Studio as a Space of Exception, session convenor, 'On Not Knowing: How Artists Teach', conference, Glasgow School of Art & Uni Arts Helsinki.
Printmaking Communities at the Edge of Chaos, co-authored research paper with Dr Simon Harris, IMPACT 12 Printmaking Conference, Bristol.

2022
Maker-centricity and 'edge-places of creativity': CARE-full making in a CARE-less world, in 'European Journal of Cultural Studies, Special Issue: Craft Economies and Inequalities.' 25(6) published 7 Dec

2021 
Printing Press as Boundary Object, research paper, 'Places, Spaces and the Printing Press Conference', CPHC Birmingham and National and University Library of Ljubljana, Slovenia

​2020
Print as a Collective Space for Learning & Social Practice, research paper, 'Print and Pedagogy,' CASS Research Seminar, London Metropolitan University

​2019
'Reading Otherwise',research paper, Association for Art History Annual Conference, Brighton

2018
Recommended Reading: GU Women, Art Licks Magazine
Being Maker-Centric: Making as Method for Self-organising, in 'The Organisation of Craft Work: Identities, Meaning & Materiality' (Routledge: UK) co-authored book chapter 

    

Other Activities


Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Wolverhampton (2017 - present)
Fellow, Higher Education Academy (208 - present)
Programme Assistant, Grand Union Gallery (2014 - 2022)
Center for Print History and Cultures, Member (2020 - present)
National Association for Fine Art Education, Steering Committee (2022 - present)


Workshops


Multistory, Ikon Youth Programme, The Barber Institute, Grand Union Gallery, The Feast, Gatis Community Center, Birmingham City University, National Saturday Art and Design Club, Wolverhampton Social Prescribing.


Bursary & Awards


CADRE Seed Funding, University of Wolverhampton (2022)
Classroom Testbed Bursary, Classroom Gallery (2021)
Creative Black Country Seed Funding (2020)
a-n Travel Bursary (2017)
Vice-Chancellor Strategic Research Award (2017)


Education


MA Art and Education Practices, Birmingham City University (2017)
PGCE Post-Compulsory Education, University of Wolverhampton (2015)
BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Wolverhampton (2013)