WE ARE...
Bennett & McDermott
Dan McDermott is an experienced artist and arts educator with a focus on drawing, painting and printmaking. His works have been placed in private and corporate art collections worldwide. He has had numerous solo exhibitions and has been included in over 60 group shows and international art fairs. Dan is a fine art lecturer at Stroud School of Art as well as running a successful private teaching and mentoring business.
Sharon Bennett has a collaborative, interdisciplinary practice. Her work has featured in museums, galleries and arts festivals around the UK and beyond, including Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth; The Grace Exhibition Space, New York; Art Licks, London; Site Festival, Stroud; Offbeat Oxford and Portsmouth Festivities. Alongside her work with Dan, Sharon is co-founder of artist duo The Women’s Art Activation System (WAAS). Sharon is experienced in writing funding applications and has been awarded funding from Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, The Mid-Counties Coop, a-n and Axisweb to run her projects. Sharon is a professional mentor for students and graduates of the University of the Arts London.
Through their collaborative art practice Bennett & McDermott have an interest in temporary community creation. They set up participatory scenarios, games and activities that facilitate conversation and create micro communities that are short lived but very energetic. Their minimalist approach to the use of materials allows human interaction and connectedness to take centre stage. Their projects offer participants an opportunity to step outside of the expected mode of interaction within the space, be it an art gallery or public domain, and experience a different way of being together. Documentation becomes both artefact and the vehicle by which concepts and value are disseminated. Bennett and McDermott are based in Stroud, Gloucestershire where they live with their two daughters.