Iris May

(almost) completed mural for the vic bar. thank you to the lovely bar team for taking good care of me during its completion. inspired by drawings done on shift and of live musicians. keep an eye out for the interview @naomi.bull did with me about it

a big thank you to @echolocateexhibit for putting on such a good show, especially @sirtomgibson + @kimurayolk part 1 is open until the 31st in Cambridge, Fitzpatrick Hall, Queens College + part 2 will open in Glasgow on the 3d Feb at 20 Scott Street +++my wonderful penpal @kar23olina

Day 1 and 2 progress. Still working with four paints im very happy with the green colour yellow and black makes hoping to get a whole new whack of paint next week to really go crazy get stupid.

Germinator - Iris May @irisjpmay Iris May’s practice centres on the creation of sculptural ‘possible bodies’—forms assembled from wood that are designed to fold, move and be reconfigured. These works exist somewhere between object and companion, accumulating histories through processes of reuse and recombination. Emerging from an interest in post-humanism and the conditions of contemporary life, the sculptures propose alternative ways of thinking about embodiment, connection and presence, particularly in relation to transience, space and the need to carry a sense of home. Iris May is a multi-media artist based in Glasgow. She graduated with a First from The Glasgow School of Art @glasgowschoolart and was recently selected for the RSA New Contemporaries. Her work has been featured in publications including The Skinny, The Herald and voc .a (Issue 8, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio). Recent exhibitions include A Dark Pool of Water at The Colour Factory, London, and a solo presentation at Rumblehouse Gallery, Calgary. She will begin a residency at The Shift Gallery, Glasgow, in May 2026. — Germinator is a group exhibition developed through a year of mentoring and support for recent graduates, exploring material, memory and process across sculpture, painting and installation. Exhibition open until 10 May
Fri–Sun, 12–5pm Haarlem Artspace @haarlemartspace 
The Red Lion
Market Place
Wirksworth
DE4 4ET

GERMINATOR — OPENING TONIGHT Join us this evening for the opening of Germinator, featuring work by
Iris May · Jessie Farnsworth · Lucy Bronwen Davies · Vidhi Jangra · Lucy Nelson · Lucy Vardy · Sireen Martin Germinator brings together practices that engage closely with material, memory and transformation — from sculptural ‘possible bodies’ and hybrid landscapes to works rooted in domestic residue and natural systems. Across painting, sculpture and installation, the exhibition explores how meaning is assembled, carried and reworked in a shifting present. The project developed in response to the changing conditions of art education, offering recent graduates time, support and context as they move beyond study. Selected through an open call, the artists have spent the past year in dialogue and mentoring, working towards this exhibition as a shared point of arrival. With thanks to Steve Swallow (Castlegate Gallery, Cumbria), Dan Howard-Birt (Kingsgate Project Space, London), David McCleavy (Humber Street Gallery, Hull) and Séamus McCormack (New Contemporaries / Commonage Projects) for their generous mentoring and support. — Tonight | 6–9pm
All welcome Exhibition: 1–10 May
Open: Fri–Sun, 12–5pm Haarlem Artspace
The Red Lion
Market Place
Wirksworth
DE4 4ET

Join us Friday 1 May for the opening of Germinator, featuring: Iris May · Jessie Farnsworth · Lucy Bronwen Davies · Vidhi Jangra · Lucy Nelson · Lucy Vardy · Sireen Martin — Creating worlds,questioning how meaning is made and held. Iris May constructs sculptural ‘possible bodies’: foldable, transportable forms that act as companions as much as objects, accumulating histories through reuse. Sireen Martin builds hybrid landscapes, placing organic forms within imagined terrains that blur boundaries between virtual, physical and metaphysical space. Vidhi Jangra repurposes domestic materials to reconstruct memory and interrogate the spaces we inhabit — the home as a site of resistance. Lucy Vardy works with everyday residues — tea bags, textiles, traces of wear — transforming them into quiet relics that honour the ordinary. Lucy Nelson’s work exists between presence and absence, constructing ambiguous forms shaped by cycles of loss and becoming. Lucy Bronwen Davies engages with found and foraged materials, forming biomorphic structures that reflect natural interdependence. Jessie Farnsworth’s paintings emerge from internal rhythms, where fluid forms drift across dense colour fields. Germinator is a process of assembling, disassembling and reimagining relationships between bodies, places and histories — a living archive of a strange, shifting present. So as we move forward, we will still have today. — Opening: Friday 1 May, from 6pm Exhibition: 1–10 May Open: Fri–Sun, 12–5pm Haarlem Artspace The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET

you can catch my work at the RSA New Contemporaries in Edinburgh until the 22nd of April. A thank you to @theskinnymag for the write up + a huge congrats to my fellow exhibitors for a stunning show. a big thank you to the team behind the show, especially the installers. you can check out the show online if you can’t make it down at /artists/2698-iris-may/overview/ photo: ‘possible body 4’

“Hailstones!” 2026

DISCO SHIFT Our first exhibition at the Glad Cafe, featuring artists who work in hospitality. Here are some photos from the opening night- a massive thank you to @thegladcafe for hosting us, to all of the amazing artists involved and to everyone who came down to see the work! What a gorgeous evening. The exhibition is now open during normal opening hours until June, so there is still plenty of time to see the work! 🪩 Photos by @mimibhogal.art

DISCO SHIFT: our fourth show, exhibiting works made by artists currently working in hospitality. Come along on April 1st between 6pm-8pm, to see the works at our new venue @thegladcafe ! The show will remain open during the usual business hours of the Glad Cafe until June 1st. Selections are still being made for this show - artists who submitted, keep an eye on your inboxes!

Thank you to everyone who came down last week to the opening night of our third exhibition, ‘COUPLING’! It was amazing to see so many familiar faces as well as so many new ones. Thank you as well to all of you who submitted work, and to @esther_stone_sculpture for creating a fabulous zine about everyone involved The show is now open during normal cafe hours @ferncoffeebar until the 16th of April, so you still have plenty of time to come and see all the beautiful work on display if you weren’t able to make it to the opening. Photos by @mimibhogal.art

“America” 2026 oil on unprimed canvas quite a departure from my current work, a reimagining of a painting from a few years ago, still an in-progress experiment.