Bethany Stead

‘Tainted Love’ @kristinhjellegjerdegallery , opens next week, PV Thurs 21 May, 6 - 9pm. So full of joy to share a new ceramic sculpture, alongside such strong line up of artists ! Here’s a reveal of the piece at various stages of progress and some of the imagery and thoughts I collect that led to this demon chested figure with swappable heads 👹 2 - 4: wip images 5: film still from Under the Skin (2013) 6: The Nightmare (1781) by Henry Fuseli 7: Conception of Merlin in Lancelot en prose (c. 1494) #groupshow #kristinhjellegjerdegallery #contemporaryart #sculpture #ceramic

Nauli, 2026 Coloured pencil on panel, 30 x 23 cm A meshing of time and place from my experience on residence for one month last year in France and a week in Dorset. The stone figure embedded in the strata references Colpexies, or devils fingers. A Dorset legend I came across at @hogchesterarts , where finger like belemnite fossils, easily found in the sediment, are said to be the fingers of sprites or devils which scratch images into sandy banks and Holloways to distract and trick passers by. The soft dusty colours in the ambiguous landscape touch on hazy memories of a changing season in the desolate south France landscape where the vivid greens of summer faded with decay. Nauli comes from one of the six ‘shat kriyas’, yoga cleansing techniques alleged to promote physical and mental health by purging bodily impurities. I’ve been looking into these and reading about them for a while, thinking about how the hyper promotion of wellness and self care we receive on social media, advertising and even from professionals, alters our relationship to ourselves and our perceptions of others, finding out about the dark roots of modern western postural yoga intertwined with facism and white supremacy. I’m trying to look at that wellness culture that creeps up on us with a critical lens, and its disregard for queer, disabled, working class bodies. On view at @slqsgallery Photos: Joanna Wierzbicka #fineart #contemporaryart #drawing colouredpencil

Rag and bone man, 2026 Oil on panel, 51 x 41 cm One in a few new ventures back to oils. So much to explore, but enjoying the journey <3 This week and next week left to see ‘Au fil du temps’ at @slqsgallery London, open Thurs - Sat, closes next Sat 11th April !! Photos: Joanna Wierzbicka #fineart #contemporaryart #painting #oil #oilonpanel

Sharp points 🥀🔪✂️📌🧷🚬

Chemise, 2026 Glazed ceramic and grout on wood, pine artists frame, 53 x 43.5 x 2.5 cm New work @slqsgallery Photos: Joanna Wierzbicka #ceramic #clay #sculpture #fineart #artist

Burl, 2025 Drypoint etching on Somerset paper, oak frame with museum glass, 28 x 22.5 cm @slqsgallery Photos: Joanna Wierzbicka Thank you muchly to @ouseburn_framing_co for this subtle little frame, new independent framer in Newcastle folks get in touch for ur framing needs!! #slqsgallery #printmaking #etching #drypoint #emergingartist

Next Thurs I’ll be part of a panel discussion alongside some v interesting artists, ‘Them and [uz]’ at Leeds University. Tickets in my bio. We’ll be chatting about our individual practices and works in the show currently open at @lulgalleries , with a broader conversation around social class in the contemporary art world. I find this an evermore difficult subject to broach in art spaces and acutely more aware of it the older I get, it’s like shouting into the void, and when I bring it up, I often feel more alienated than when I choose to be quiet. Intrigued to hear what will come up and hope people come along that need to hear it. Thank you @_lauraclaveria_ for all your hard graft. Image: Installation view of ‘Pillows for Armholes’, in [uz], [uz], [uz]: Artists from Working-Class Backgrounds at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, 2025. Image courtesy of Leeds University Library Galleries. Artists on the panel: Simeon Barclay @kedishacoakley @will_hughes_art_ @chippedpale @bethimeldasmith

Thank YOUuuuu to everyone who came over to the opening of ‘Au fil du temps’ last week @slqsgallery Loved meeting new faces, having weird and wonderful chats & feedback around the work, as well as some familiar faces from the north who came out to support 🙏🏻🙏🏻 1. Group photo of my residency pals / the artists in the show, in front of @lexiahachtmann ’s beautiful work 2. People and little hairy clay person 3. Not pork pies as someone asked me the other day. Some fucking delicious French pastries - Canelé 4. Sneak instal shot of some new work, image by Joanna Wierzbicka 5. Throwback to our v lucky time at Pech Gris, stood outside Chateau de Gavaudin So grateful to @sarahlqs for all your work behind the scenes and being a delight to work with!!! And @marcelle.joseph and @ktm_girlpower for your unwavering commitment to support early career artists without pressure through this incredible residency & exhibition. #slqsgallery #girlpowerresidency #exhibition #groupshow

Introducing Bethany Stead, one of the artists of the 2025 GIRLPOWER residency exhibition ‘Au fil du temps’. Bethany Stead (b. UK) lives and works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Through drawing, painting and sculpture, Stead uses figuration and personal visual language to disrupt our fragile social fabric.​ Her work is concerned with the sense of discomfort of inhabiting bodies, forming a kind of psychological dissection. She examines themes of health, hierarchy, deviance, worship, garment and the posthuman, filtered through the lens of class and sexuality. Stead graduated from Newcastle University BA Fine Art (2019) and completed the NewBridge Project Collective Studio Programme (2021). She was awarded the Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award (2025), selected for Hogchester Arts Residency (2025), and the Girlpower Residency, France (2025). Solo and duo exhibitions include; ‘Girdle’, Cub_ism_ Artspace, Shanghai, China (2025); ‘Sackcloth and Ashes’, 36 Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (2025); and ‘Snatch a Thread’, Moving Gallery, Sunderland, (2024). Selected group exhibitions include; ‘[uz], [uz], [uz]’, The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds (2025); ‘The Omnipotence of Dream’, Salford Art Gallery, Greater Manchester (2025); ‘Antigone Revisited’, Hypha Studios HQ, London (2024); and ‘ING Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries, London (2024). Artwork Images: Imitation (2025), tempera on grey board, sepele’s artist frame Pestilence (2025), glazed ceramic We are playing with fire (2025), oil on linen Installation Images: Sackcloth & Ashes at 36 Gallery, UK (2025) Girdle at Cub_ism_ Artspace, Shanghai, China (2025) #SLQSGallery #Aufildutemps #BethanyStead #GIRLPOWER

A moody winter visual timeline. Returning from China to the northern fog, squeezing experiments between pockets of time, getting dirty, and transporting my brain back to the girlpower residency in France for some new works featuring in ‘Au fil du temps’ opening at @slqsgallery , London, on 5th March 🪾 I’ve been oil painting, the holy grail of paint. A special re-emergence in my practice - the first works I ever sold were large oils on panel, see a sneaky pic from 11 years ago of that very first series and a 19 year old me with shoes that don’t fit 👠 Save the date !! #exhibition #london #fineart #contemporaryart

Come and celebrate with us SLQS gallery’s second birthday with the opening of our exhibition “Au fil du temps” on Thursday 5 March 6-8pm (RSVP link in bio). SLQS Gallery presents “Au fil du temps”, an exhibition of new paintings, prints and ceramics by Damaris Athene, Lexia Hachtmann and Bethany Stead, recipients of the 2025 GIRLPOWER Residency co-founded by Marcelle Joseph and Kimberly Morris. The exhibition reflects on the artists’ time spent as visual archaeologists over their month-long stay in a 15th-century house in the French countryside in the South West of France. Feeling and being in the landscape inhabited by humans and more than humans, attending to its existence and transformation over time. In the ethereal world that these three artists have collectively created our very own existence as individuals and as a species is reflected through the passage of time. The GIRLPOWER Residency, founded by Marcelle Joseph and Kimberley Morris, is located in a medieval hilltop property dating back to the 13th century near Bergerac in the Aquitaine region of southwestern France. As an extension of their collection, Joseph and Morris have devised this annual one-month residency to give female-identifying and non-binary artists the space and time for research and experimentation.The thrust of the programme emanates from the desire of GIRLPOWER Collection to extend their patronage beyond the purchase of art to personal involvement with the artists themselves. The mission at the GIRLPOWER Residency is to provide early-career artists with an opportunity to slow down and centre their focus on their practice without the stress of deadlines and life in a big city. Au fil du temps Damaris Athene | Lexia Hachtmann | Bethany Stead Private View | 5 March | RSVP link in bio On View | 6 March - 11 April 2026 20 Club Row, London E2 7EY #SLQSGallery #GIRLPOWER #DamarisAthene #LexiaHatchmann #BethanyStead

Subjugation