The Jesus College Governing Body is pleased to announce the appointment of two contemporary artists, Marcus Coates and Peter McDonald, as Short-Term Visiting Fellows.

The new one-year Fellowships are a first for Jesus College, and aim to enhance both the College’s art collection, and the artistic life of its community. Both Visiting Fellows will have access to the College’s buildings, libraries and archives, and spend time with members of the Jesus community, with the understanding that this association will inspire a new body of creative work from each.

 

Coates and McDonald currently have their work featured in the new Rosaline Wong Gallery, which was officially opened by Ms Wong in October 2022. Prior to the gallery’s opening, Ms Wong worked closely with Kate MacGarry of Kate MacGarry Gallery in London to commission special works for the exhibition space. A champion of up-and-coming artists and a collector of contemporary art herself, Ms Wong was keen to see the artists’ association with the College continue, and to provide an opportunity for the creation of new artworks for Jesus.

Both artists are delighted to accept the terms of their Fellowships and to join College later this month. McDonald says, “The principal subject of my work is the everyday and how narrative is explored through pictorial space. My mother is Japanese, and my father was British. Being mixed race has given me a particular perspective on identity. Being neither British nor Japanese, there is always an element of being on the outside looking in, which influences the way my paintings depict social situations. Having the opportunity to engage with Fellows at Jesus College, and to be in the historic surroundings, would be a unique and valuable experience for me to translate into my pictorial world”.

 Coates added, “The Visiting Fellowship will enable me to meet other fellows and tutors at College and researchers in the wider community of the University. I see this contact as an essential part of my research as an artist, an engagement where interdisciplinary links can be made, and new perspectives explored. My artistic work is rooted in exploring and creating cultural behaviour change, particularly in terms of ecology. Within this field I focus on the impact of animal/human relations and the potential of art as an active agent for change. At Jesus, the research areas of zoology, experimental psychology and also music (musicology) interest me. Part of my research for the new commission will also involve observing the Cheng Yu Tung Building space and its use by students, researchers and staff, which will have an impact on the artwork design and purpose”.

The Principal, Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS FREng FBCS, congratulated the two artists on their recent appointments on behalf of College. The Short-Term Visiting Fellowships will commence in February 2023 and conclude in January 2024.