Abstract
In April 2021 I instigated a ‘cuckoo’ residency at an old tennis club in Huddersfield. Grove Lawn Tennis Club has been on the site at Gledholt since the mid 1800’s and is home to a tennis club of dedicated amateur tennis players. I had no relationship to the club other than I walked past its green and white painted gates and suburban drystone wall surrounds to get to my place of employment or to my painting studio in Huddersfield town centre. I looked over the gates and was attracted by the look of the club, its Italian red clay courts, chain link fence, hoardings advertising sportswear brands and the community that kept it alive.
I began to make a series of large oil paintings that collected together ideas of sports brands, tennis related injuries, tennis balls, chain link fences, nets and drystone walls. These were made like banners on unstretched canvas. Over the month of May and June I produced a body of work as part of the ‘residency’ at the club and so contacted the club secretary to ask if I could work with them officially on an event and exhibition at the club. I was asked to attend a committee meeting where I presented the idea and the work I had made and at that point was invited to make the exhibition as part of the club’s annual open day and faith tea.
On the 12 July 2021 I installed the paintings onto the chain link fence that surrounds the tennis courts for the duration of the open day activities. The exhibition was titled Welcome to Broken Hand Tennis Club. The show was made with the tennis club committee and the event brought together the diverse seemingly communities of tennis club and art audience in a rare opportunity to look at paintings and watch tennis simultaneously. Revealing shared concerns with practice, the love of doing a thing – painting and tennis, and the frustrations and successes of being an ambitious amateur.
For the conference I will present this project with images of the event and a discussion on ideas in arts and sports community cross overs.
Bio
Dale Holmes is a picture painter from Barnsley who has been around a bit and now lives in Huddersfield. He is a researcher and senior lecturer in contemporary art at the University of Huddersfield and was awarded a AHRC Doctoral Studentship in 2010 leading to a PhD through Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.