Megan Calver investigates sites and situations in a spirit of imaginative discovery. A recurrent theme is her speculative relation to the other-than-human lives with which she co-exists. She makes and uses objects, sculptural interventions and live actions in a process of teamwork with people, places and things.
Since 2016 she has worked extensively with Gabrielle Hoad. Joint projects include: Delicate Instruments, a CAMP Research Residency, 2023; Clouded Border, Durlston, Dorset (2022); Platform Residency, Exeter Phoenix (2021); Salt-cat (keeps them at home) (2020), a site-based installation for Open-Up, Hestercombe Gardens, Somerset; pigeon steps (2019), a participatory provocation and publication for Walking's New Movements, University of Plymouth; Turn (the) leaves (2018), a public participatory event and 8-channel sound installation for East Devon AONB and Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton; LEAN (2018) commissioned for the Od Arts Festival Somerset; and The Buffer Zone (2016), a shared inquiry with Susie David at Dawlish Warren into human/nonhuman dialogue, supported by a bursary from a-n The Artist Information Company.
Calver is a member of Preston Street Union, an Exeter-based affiliation of artists who initiate new work and learning through social and collaborative processes. Throughout 2019, Preston Street Union worked on two commissions for Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum, funded by Arts Council England. |
Exhibitions Events |
2024 | Summer Open, Studio Kind, Barnstaple |
| Through Line, a CAMP Exeter Kin exhibition, Maltings Taphouse Gallery, Newton Abbot |
2023 | Delicate Instruments (Vibrating Stillness), Vitrine, Exeter |
| Delicate Instruments, Devon & Exeter Institution |
| Design for Life: Art and Architecture - Part 1, Hestercombe Gallery, Taunton |
| CAMP Research Residency, with Gabrielle Hoad |
2022 | Clouded Border, Durlston Country Park & National Nature Reserve, Dorset. |
2021 | Platform Residency, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter |
| Salt-cat (keeps them at home), screen print edition |
| Stay-at-home Residency, an artist-led collaboration with Gabrielle Hoad conducted in respective homes |
2020 | (be)wilder, participatory event, Thelma Hubert Gallery, Honiton |
| Salt-cat (keeps them at home), 'Open-Up', Hestercombe House, Taunton |
| Visit the show of a rival, 12-page artists' publication |
2019 | pigeon steps, enacted at Walking's New Movements, University of Plymouth |
2018 | Materiality: Provisional States, Hestercombe House, Taunton |
| Experiencing The Landscape: Art on the East Devon Way, Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton |
| The Art of Rivalry, Od Arts Festival, OSR Projects, East and West Coker |
2017 | Disclosures and Dialogues, a series of seminars with Sarah Bennett and Philippa Lawrence, Hestercombe House, Taunton |
| Prospect, Cotley Estate, Somerset |
| Street Rockery, part of 'Makers of the Multiverse', Juneau Projects with Spacex, Piazza Terracina Exeter |
2016 | Throw only to an alert catcher, Dawlish Warren beach huts and Exeter Phoenix Gallery 333 |
| Hanging Instructions, Fringe Arts Bath |
2015 | Past present future, Somerset Art Works, 44AD artspace, Bath |
| Second Site, Hestercombe Gallery, Taunton |
2014 | LOVE RULES OK, ArtSpace 101, Plymouth University |
| Palaces & Cabins, OSR Projects with Salisbury Art Centre, Salisbury Art Centre |
| Loiter like a leaf, Knightshayes National Trust, Devon. First commissioned by Somerset Art Works |
2013 | Loiter like a leaf, 'Abundance', Somerset Art Works with National Garden Scheme, Wells |
| Oasis-in-a bucket, 'TIVVYfest on Tap', streets of Tiverton |
| Palladium Painting Show, Bucca Gallery, Newlyn |
2012 | Open drawing show, Bucca Gallery, Newlyn |
| Everything & More, OSR Projects, West Coker |
| Interruption, 'TIVVYfest on Tap', streets of Tiverton |
| Cultivate 2: A Gift for Somerset, Reveal Somerset with OSR Projects, The Brewhouse Taunton and Weissensee Kunsthochschule Berlin |
2011 | Inter-, with Bournemouth University School of Health and Social Care, Atrium Gallery, Bournemouth |
| A Night of Light, Reveal Somerset, Hestercombe Gardens, Taunton |
| Under a New Sun, OSR Projects, West Coker |
| The Reading Room, with Michael, Julia and Harriet Calver, Wrington Reading Room |
| England, My England, Micro-Festival, The Brewhouse, Taunton |
2010 | Jelly and Tea (Be coloured by the landscape), Somerset Art Works with Neroche Scheme, Clayhidon Village Hall and Musgrove Hospital Taunton |
| Stowage, a Found Space project, shops in Exeter and Macclesfield |
2008 | Slippage, MA show, Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth |
2005 | Cut into Shape, Brewhouse Art and Education, The Brewhouse, Taunton |
2004 | STart04, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter |
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Reviews Writings |
2017 | after alert catchers: a response to a collaborative project, Mark Leahy |
| Megan Calver, Susie David and Gabrielle Hoad - Throw Only To An Alert Catcher, Alistair Fitchett |
2014 | Megan Calver: LOVE RULES OK, Susie David |
2013 | mode, loiter, Sue Palmer |
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