Image shows hands rubbing clay on a person's head, Mess of help (2023) by William Cobbing

Saturday 8 November 2025

Performance: ‘William Cobbing: So You’

2pm–2.45pm | Free | Drop in

Rooted in sculpture, William Cobbing’s work encompasses a wide range of media including video, performance and installation. Clay is a central material in his practice, both in its raw and fired form.

‘So You’ is an interactive performance in which two protagonists engage in a slapstick way of making. Modelling blindly, the artist will create clay portraits of a series of sitters as the audience watch the absurd process unfold.

This event accompanies the solo exhibition ‘William Cobbing: Despised mud, I love you’ from 11 October 2025 – 10 January 2026. It is followed by an artist in-conversation and book launch from 3pm, booking required.

Biography:

William studied sculpture at Central St Martins, De Ateliers, and a PhD at Middlesex University. Recent solo exhibitions include Inner Horizon at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, USA; Janus Seasons at Selfridges, London, UK; and Social Substance at Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions internationally and is represented in collections including the Arts Council Collection, the Wellcome Trust and Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University. In 2021 he was awarded a residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in The Netherlands and was awarded the Norma Lipman Artist Residency at Newcastle University in 2013.

Time

2pm-2.45pm

Location

The Burton at Bideford

Who is this event for?

Suitable for all. This is a drop-in event, no need to book.

Car parking

This workshop takes place at The Burton at Bideford. We are situated on the edge of Victoria Park in Bideford, next to a Torridge District Council-owned car park where charges apply. For more details on parking in Bideford, visit the Torridge District Council website.