Journey To The Centre Of The Couch (Couches & Other Good Ideas), Ella Dorton

Hull based artist Ella Dorton will expand her fabric collage-based practice with her first major project at Humber Street Gallery.

Typically using found fabrics, old clothes, bedsheets, curtains and paint, the artist composes portraits that reflect the people of Hull. Her interests have recently explored fictional future landscapes that capture drastic ecological change with rising sea levels and continued use of plastics and their detriment on the environment.

For her project at Humber Street Gallery, the artist will develop a series of large-scale fabric collages that depict individuals and groups of people that make up the social diaspora of Hull from communities surrounding her own neighbourhood. To create these, the artist has composed portraits and sketches brought together through extensive sittings with her subjects. These sittings act as an axis to bring the voices of those who greatly inspire her, directly into the work, often including quotes from conversations scrawled/stitched onto the final piece.

Ella Dorton is one of seven artists who collectively run Ground, an artist run workshop, gallery and community space. Many of the subjects within in this series of work have been a part of the Ground community.

Past events

Flesh ‘n’ Blood, Jasleen Kaur

Floodlights, 2021. Absolutely Cultured © Tom Stevens 

FloodLights

Sound Bath @ Humber Street Gallery

Fruit Factory Network site visit to Bloc Projects, Sheffield © Absolutely Cultured

Introduction to Fundraising in the Arts

HSG x GK Beaulah: Design Challenge

Fruit Factory Network site visit to Bloc Projects, Sheffield © Absolutely Cultured

Life as a Creative

Dance Exchange Hull, 2019 © Tom Arran

Meet the funders

Installation View. Practice in Place. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists, 2020. © Jules Lister

Practice In Place

HIPI Hang Out Forum, Absolutely Cultured © Absolutely Cultured

Arts Council England under £15k Applications: Top Tips with Deb Ashby

Remote Talent Development

Installation view, 2019. Ollie Dook, Proboscidea Rappings. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister

Proboscidea Rappings, Ollie Dook

Dance Exchange Programme, Absolutely Cultured © Absolutely Cultured

Dance Exchange Hull

Language Café © Chris Pepper

Chatty Hull

Hull Takeover: Previews © The Herd/The Roaring Girls/Just Club

Hull Takeover: Previews

Athena Papadopoulos, A Tittle-Tattle Tell-a-Tale-Heart, courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist 2019. © James Mulkeen

A Tittle-Tattle Tell-a-Tale Heart, Athena Papadopoulos

Installation view. Place To Place: Liverpool Biennial Touring Programme. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists 2019. © Tom Arran

Place To Place: Liverpool Biennial Touring Programme

Jamie Reid XXXXX: Fifty Years of Subversion and The Spirit © Jamie Reid

Jamie Reid XXXXX: Fifty Years of Subversion and The Spirit

Contains Strong Language © BBC

Contains Strong Language

Land of Green Ginger © Tom Arran

Act VII: Land of Green Ginger

John Grant's North Atlantic Flux: Sounds from Smoky Bay © Chris Pepper

John Grant's North Atlantic Flux: Sounds from Smoky Bay

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca © Hull Truck Theatre

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

50 Queers for 50 Years Workshop © Chris Pepper

Creative Case for Diversity: An Introduction

High Street Soundwalk Artist Talk: Jez riley French

Installation view. In My Room, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings. Courtesy of Focal Point Gallery and the artists, 2020 © Anna Lukala

In My Room, Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings

Yoga @ Humber Street Gallery

Installation View. HSG Open Call - Season One. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artists, 2021. © Jules Lister

HSG Open Call - Season One (2021)

Chatty Hull, 2019 © Absolutely Cultured

Making work with and for communities

Installation view, 2020. Jamie Crewe, Solidarity & Love. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist. © Jules Lister.

Jamie Crewe, Solidarity & Love

Model City, Absolutely Cultured © Tom Arran

Volunteer Community Support and Crisis Response

Installation view, 2020. Lucy Clout, ZZZ. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2020. © Jules Lister

Lucy Clout, ZZZ

Lucy, 2019. Aniara Omann, Equanipolis. Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister

Equanipolis, Aniara Omann

Installation View. Mike S Redmond and Faye Coral Jones (MSR FCJ), Ecstatic Rituals.Courtesy of Humber Street Gallery and the artist, 2019. © Jules Lister