Artist in Residence – Art at HMP Grendon

Ikon are currently recruiting for an Artist in Residence – Art at HMP Grendon. Find out more about the role here.

With a focus on the development of the prisoners’ artistic practice, Ikon has opened the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Studio at HMP Grendon – a dedicated space for workshops, in printing and painting, and a changing programme of exhibitions, art historical and contemporary.

The Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust has funded Art at HMP Grendon since 2011. During this period Ikon has managed two artist residencies – Edmund Clark (2014 – 2018) and Dean Kelland (2019 – 2023) – resulting in major exhibitions at Ikon Gallery and HMP Grendon, Buckinghamshire.

The residency runs alongside a public programme of research symposia and events at Ikon, allowing a platform for public discourse on the role of art in criminal justice.

Current artist in residence Dean Kelland works across performance, photography and filmmaking. His practice touches on cultures of taste and histories of class in order to produce engaging observations on collective and mediated identities. Kelland has exhibited nationally and internationally with Ikon and undertaken residencies at New Art Gallery Walsall and the Birmingham & Midland Institute.

Kelland was interviewed by Polly Bates for Artists Responding To magazine and spoke about his experience as Artist in Residency at HMP Grendon. “The work in the workshop is specifically about equipping the men with some skills and practices that they may not have experienced before and importantly what they then may do with those skills in terms of developing concepts.” Dean Kelland

Read the full interview with Dean Kelland – Artists Responding To