The New Folk – The Artists

Common Ground, guest curators

The New Folk exhibition was created by the young curators group Common Ground. The collective selected eight contemporary artists for the exhibition. Some of the work was pre-existing, other works have been created specifically for the exhibition.

Short introductions to each artist in their own words.

Ruth Broadway

“My work captures things at the cusp of change – a moon, a moth, the tide. Using the physical acts of stitching, binding, folding, printing, collecting & preserving to tether the ephemeral, I try to use the ritual of daily noticing, recording and making to foster mindfulness and appreciation of the quiet transformation happening around us.”

Instagram: @ruth.broadway

Felicity Tattersall

The photo depicts Felicity sat in the woods drawing. A dog is present playing with a red ball. — Felicity Tattersall

“My work is concerned with nature and the healing benefit we derive from it. My interest in folklore is heavily connected to botanicals and how plants can utilised to develop healing properties, both in a more formal sense such as medicines and remedies, and a less formal sense, such as the hidden or unseen benefits we might experience from them, or how we might involve them in rituals or as talisman.”

Instagram: @felicitytattersall_artist and @ftillustrator

Steve Larder

“My illustration work attempts to represent the heritage and mythology of my landscape, and having grown up the in area of Boston in Lincolnshire I have often chosen that area for inspiration”.

Steve is also the producer of Rum Lad zine, which you can find on his website as well as his illustration work.

Website: Steve Larder, Instagram: @stevelarder

Jane Barnett

“I am a textile and fibre artist with a background in anthropology. Animals feature heavily in folklore, the subject of therianthropy (shape-shifting) and the idea of animals being used for divination fascinates me.”

Instagram: @brigantetextilearts

Robyn Lawrence

“Folklore is an ever-present theme in my research and visual practice. Hag stones (also known as holey stones, witch stones, adder stones, and eye stones) reoccur throughout my work as references to histories rich with the mystic, the supernatural, and witchcraft.”

Instagram: @robynlwre

Matt Feldman

A surreal black and white collage made up of archived images. The picture shows several men in old-fashioned attire with a mountainous and desolate looking area in the background. The top of the image is upside-down and shows several men (also in old-fashioned attire) lined up. Lots of white tents can be seen nearby.

Matt Feldman is a London based artist working across film, installation, and sound. His work often seeks to create speculative environments that weave together history, personal narratives, symbolism, and documentation.

Instagram: @matt.feldman.studio

Layan Harman

“The fragmentary, absent nature of the past is a central theme of my work.

Folklore is often unwritten or officially chronicled, subject to change and reinterpretation that reflect the changing needs of the present.

The search for “authenticity” in a potentised, hidden past becomes a mirror for these present needs, articulating the shape of our hopes for the future or cultural requirements that go unaddressed in current society.”

Instagram: @aeonlung

Sophie Ferrier

“Connection to folklore is the archetypes of the guardians, the magic contained within nature and the stories that are told. These stories which are repeated over and over again but always forgotten.”

Instagram: @sophieloaf

The New Folk Exhibition is on until 6 March 2022 at North Lincolnshire Museum. It can also be viewed on our virtual tour.

Website: Common Ground,

Facebook: Common Ground North Lincs

Instagram: @commongroundlincs