Bio

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Bethany Stead (b.1995, Wakefield UK) is an artist based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. She graduated from Newcastle University in 2019, and participated in The NewBridge Project Collective Programme 2020-21 where she is currently a studio holder. She is member of the North East based artist collective Hypha. 

 

She was recently selected as artist in residence for Hogchester Arts in West Dorset for January 2025, and awarded a grant with The Elephant Trust and The Eaton Fund towards her first solo exhibition at The Moving Gallery in Sunderland, 2024. Group shows include The Hatton Gallery (Newcastle), Salford Art Gallery (Greater Manchester), Mall Galleries (London), Constantine Gallery (Middlesbrough), and BALTIC (Gateshead). 

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Statement 

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​​​​Working across drawing, painting and sculpture, I am interested in haptic materials that are historically and socially linked with class, gender and sexuality. I use clay, cloth, paper and wood to weave visual stories which challenge and disrupt our socio-political fabric.

 

My work attempts to explore the discomfort and awkwardness of inhabiting bodies, both biological and artificial, the history of bodily health, the human connection to clothing and textiles, the notion of worship and religion, and our relationship with the more-than human sphere through the lens of class. Metamorphic, animalistic and anthropomorphic, beyond-human figures that transgress category, reside within unsettling or idyllic spaces. Archetype and symbol thread through the work, where my personal writings act as a starting point for feelings and ideas, influenced by intergenerational storytelling, and drawing on psychoanalysis, magical realism, science fiction and folklore.
 

Current work focuses on pictorial image-making, in paint, pencil and ink on paper, sometimes on large sewn panels or smaller handmade sheets. I look to challenge conventional representations of the human, creature, and woman, restaging within queer spaces free from binaries. Embodying a reconnection to forgotten realms and ideas, I aim to move away from a visual escapism that numbs, but instead embraces complicated personal experiences around gender, dress, sexuality, health, ecology, technology and grief. The tall flat works foster deeper connections between myself and the characters, and communicate a personal visual language and draftsmanship. These pictorial worlds are accompanied by sculpture and object, that act as suggestive offerings of ritual, and have become key to reading the imagery and narrative of the works.​

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