Coverdale Barclay Associate Director Kelly Kerruish attends ‘Taking Place: Women Artists in Public Spaces’

Coverdale Barclay Associate Director Kelly Kerruish attended Taking Place: Women Artists in Public Spaces, hosted by theCOLAB and King’s College London. Here she shares her insights from the conference:

Last week, I had the genuine pleasure of attending Taking Place: Women Artists in Public Spaces, a thought-provoking conference hosted by Dr Kate McMillan, artist and Reader in Creative Practice from King’s College London and Claire Mander founder and curator of theCOLAB — a charity commissioning art that opens up neglected public spaces and that advances underrepresented voices.

The day opened with a fascinating lecture from art historian Natalie Rudd, tracing the history of women’s public art since the 1970s. From early projects such as St George’s Hospital’s art programme, to long-term strategies like Peterborough Development Corporation’s 20-year project to make Peterborough a cultural neighbourhood, she showed how urban regeneration opened up platforms of visibility to women artists whose work had traditionally been excluded from the public realm.

A highlight was the subsequent panel on commissioning public art. Richie Gibson (Westminster City Council) spoke passionately about culture as the golden thread of urban strategy, urging cross-departmental collaboration and evidence-based advocacy for cultural investment. His reflections on the transformational impact of public art on underused space were echoed by Bridget Sawyers (Art on the Tideway), who shared how the cultural strategy for the Tideway infrastructure project will deliver 24 permanent artworks at water processing sites along the Thames.

Claire Doherty, Founder of Situations and the New Rules of Public Art then challenged us to rethink public art not as “placemaking,” but “place unsettling”—a call to remember that public art can (and should) provoke new ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with place.

The afternoon focused on the challenges and opportunities for women artists creating work for public spaces, and on how platforms like The Artist’s Garden at Temple rooftop and institutions such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, DC) and Yorkshire Sculpture Park are advancing and centring diverse female voices.

In a conference first for me, the day also included two unforgettable performance lectures by Florence Peake and Daisy Collingridge.

At Coverdale Barclay, we often work with developers, councils, and local authorities on public art projects, so it was invaluable to come together to share best practice. It was also inspiring to see the momentum building behind more inclusive, ambitious, authentic and thoughtful public art.