Screening and discussion of ‘Trewyn Studio’, a new film on Barbara Hepworth’s studio-museum

Helena Bonett is a curator, writer and lecturer undertaking an AHRC-funded collaborative doctorate at the Royal College of Art and Tate on the sculptural legacy of Barbara Hepworth. Her research focuses on the sites, sculptures and objects through which Hepworth is known and the connections that individuals make with these things and places, questioning what role Hepworth plays in people’s lived experiences and why. The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives, Cornwall, is a key site for Helena’s research, as it plays such a significant role in understandings of Hepworth and engagements with her work within a particular context. Helena was an Associate of the Tate St Ives Artists Programme in 2014–15. Trewyn Studio is her first film.

Jonathan Law is a filmmaker, researcher and lecturer who works with the Centre on a freelance basis. As Research Fellow and Filmmaker, Jonathan is responsible for developing and producing collaborative research-led film content for the Paul Mellon Centre’s research publications and for special public screenings. Some of his recent work includes The Famous Women Dinner Service: In Conversation With Contemporary Art (2019, 17min), The Atmospherics of Leighton House (2018, 6min) and short films for the award-winning digital publication The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018 (2018, various duration).

Amongst other current projects Jonathan is currently developing a film, with Rosie Ram and Mark Hallett, on the collage of Nigel Henderson, for display as part of the Tate Britain display Vital Fragments: Nigel Henderson and the Art of Collage (opening December 2019). Jonathan regularly contributes peer-reviewed film content to British Art Studies, the PMC’s award-winning, open-access online research journal.

Jonathan has produced films for institutions including the Yale Center for British Art (on the work of artists George Shaw and Nicola Hicks), Tate (on Barbara Hepworth), and the Heong Gallery at Cambridge University (on British modernist painting). His films have been screened at Tate Liverpool, the Esker Foundation in Calgary, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz and at the Culture Capital Exchange Inside/Out festival in London.

Jonathan was recently Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, and has also taught Essay Filmmaking (The Derek Jarman Lab, Birkbeck College), Media and Film Production (University of West London), History and Philosophy of Photography (University of Kent), and Art History, Criticism and Communication (Central Saint Martins). Jonathan also delivered lectures and exhibition tours for ten years at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Jonathan’s scholarly research has been particularly focused on cinema and multisensory culture. He holds a PhD in History and Philosophy of Art from the University of Kent, a PGCHE from the University of Kent, an MRes in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the London Consortium (University of London) and a BA in Fine Art from the University of Wolverhampton.