
My never-ending book on images of gestural mark making titled Residue...Trace.
Post-Event Report
Traces and Tides Exhibition
The Projection Room, Paignton – September 2025
Background
Following the closure of the Fine Art Department at the University of Plymouth, our MA Fine Art cohort was unable to present a final exhibition. To address this, I independently organised the Traces and Tides exhibition at The Projection Room, Paignton—a venue generously made available to artists by the trustees of Paignton Picture House.
I invited fellow MA Fine Art student and mixed-media artist Shannon Fennell to co-exhibit and share the space. Together, we developed the exhibition plan and programme.
Exhibition & Curation
The exhibition ran for seven days, welcoming a total of 247 visitors.
Our curatorial approach aimed for clarity and engagement, displaying select works on walls and presenting others on tables to create a balanced, accessible environment.
Visitor response was overwhelmingly positive, with strong engagement across the exhibition.
Macmillan Fundraising Activities
In alignment with Macmillan Cancer Support’s Coffee Morning initiative, we hosted a charity event during the exhibition.
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A raffle was organised, with Shannon and myself donating artworks as prizes.
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The raffle quickly grew as additional contributions came in, reflecting strong community spirit.
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Combined with the Coffee Morning, the fundraising efforts raised a total of £442.50 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Anna and Shannon holding the total at that time: another £33 have been added online.
Closing Event
The exhibition concluded with a lively closing event featuring Octopus Jam—a trio of sisters (Carmen, Laura, and Emily) who performed to an enthusiastic audience. The performance created a celebratory atmosphere and rounded off the week memorably.
The raffle draw also took place during the closing event, with winners Richard and Judy delighted to receive their prizes.

Outcomes & Impact
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247 visitors engaged with the exhibition across the week.
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£442.50 raised for Macmillan Cancer Support.
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Strengthened collaboration between artists, the venue, and the community.
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Successful demonstration of The Projection Room’s value as a supportive and adaptable arts space.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank:
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Macmillan Cancer Support for enabling us to host the Coffee Morning and raise vital funds.
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Paignton Picture House trustees for providing The Projection Room and supporting emerging artists.
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Octopus Jam for their closing performance.
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All raffle contributors, attendees, and visitors who made the exhibition and fundraising a success.


Details, 2 of many, of the sugar kelp in resin installation.

The sugar kelp in resin drew a lot of attention and SOLD at the coffee morning! I was hugely excited and grateful that my work has been validated!


Traces & Tides: Threads of Sight and Sea
An exhibition by Shannon Fennell & Anna Goodchild with a coffee morning in support of Macmillan Cancer Support and a closing event featuring live music by Octopus Jam - three very talented musicians - Carmen, Laura and Emily.
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Press Release
Traces & Tides: Threads of Sight and Sea brings together multidisciplinary artist Shannon Fennell and multimedia artist Anna Goodchild, whose practices explore transformation, perception, and our connection to the more-than-human world.
Fennell’s work evolves from her adaptations to a deteriorating visual condition, weaving printmaking, fibre arts, and found materials into dimensional and kinetic forms. Her practice embraces repurposing and recycling, transforming limitations into new artistic freedoms.
Goodchild explores seaweeds as collaborators in her photography, photopolymer etchings, and letterpress works, inspired by Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, a world within a world, and Tacita Dean’s notion that there will always be a residue. Through burnt sienna and Prussian blue, she captures the meeting of sandstone and sea, creating layered prints and poetry that reflect on traces, tides, and ecological awareness.
As part of the exhibition, Fennell and Goodchild will host a Macmillan Cancer Coffee Morning on 26 September, inviting visitors to share in a moment of community and care. Each artist will raffle one of their works, with proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support.
The exhibition will conclude with a special Closing Event on 28 September from 11 am to 4 pm, featuring live music by Octopus Jam from 12 noon to 1 pm. This final day offers a chance to experience the exhibition, enjoy live performance, and celebrate the collaboration between art, music, and community.
Together, their works form a dialogue between adaptation and awareness, resilience and residue—threads of sight and sea woven into an exhibition that looks both inward and outward.
Exhibition Dates: 22nd to 28th September 2025
Venue: The Projection Room, 11 Torbay Road, Paignton.
Macmillan Coffee Morning & Raffle: 26 September
Closing Event with Live Music: 28 September, 11 am–4 pm (Live music: 12–1 pm)
Shannon Fennell:
"My work is about transformation—turning what I have and what I find into something that carries meaning. Hosting this coffee morning is a way to give back and connect art with care."
Anna Goodchild:
"Seaweeds teach me about traces—what remains and what we leave behind. Donating my work to Macmillan’s cause feels like leaving a positive trace for others."
My first meander book sold on 23rd June, 2025 at the BayCat exhibition! I am hugely excited because it shows that there is a buying public in Paignton that likes something different! Hurray! there is hope, perhaps, for some different art too!

First BayCat exhibition
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I'm excited to be part of this first group exhibition from 20 - 23rd June, 2025 in Paignton. It is a sign of the growing and determined efforts to put art on the Paignton map. Come and join us if you can. The opening event is on Friday 20th June from 4 - 6 pm.

MAFA residency
From 28th April to 8th May 2025, seven of us MAFA students will be experimenting with combinations of media in a space new to us:
GROW 14 Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AQ
I shall be there on Wednesday 30th April, as well as on 1st, 7th & 8th May.
Please pop in if you can. There is also an exhibition opening event on Thursday 8th May from 5-8pm & it would be great to see you there. The exhibition continues on Friday and Saturday from 11 - 3pm.
This is an image of mine that might be on show:
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A photopolymer gravure print of an egg seaweed printed on Hahnemuler paper with Charbonnel burnt Sienna ink.
A new exhibition at The Projection Room, 7 Torbay Road Paignton showing my new cyanotype and some poetry I developed after a mini-residency at Saltern Cove, from 3rd to 7th December 2024. For other evolving developments of my work from Saltern Cove see here.

Cyanotype on shot silk with gelatine, of Shaded weed from Saltern Cove.
Poetry for Saltern Cove
Reflections on the shoreline (waka)
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Shell remnants gather
silt on a deep canyon bed.
Grooved by the tide force
pulsing gold, lead, cobalt
in rare earth riches: seaweeds
Autumn on Saltern Cove (haiku)
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Green holds up tankers
Bubble voices hush and rush
reclaiming their lace.
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Review of the exhibition White Shadows:
It was great to see so many people who came specifically to see the work and who were so pleased to see that someone, like Sara Hurley, has started to move the art scene in Paignton. Having the combination of music and artwork was a truly inspired idea and one that will have traction for future events, I am sure. I would like to thank Sarah for inviting me to be the first to exhibit in The Projection Room - it was an honour - and all those who came, particularly those who follow me on Instagram - it was exciting and unexpected to see you there.
Highlights for me: * making contact with so many new people and to talk to them about my work and how and why I do it; * having the opportunity to show my work about my town, in my town. * having read my little book, one of the visitors said he would like to see it performed - something I have considered but needed to hear it from someone else.
What could have gone better: the volunteer stewards could have been better informed about it.
Exhibition: White Shadows
White Shadows:Dates: 24th to 29th August 2024
Times: 10am to 4pm
Venue: The Projection Room, 11 Torbay Road, Paignton TQ4 6AA
This is the inaugural exhibition marking the opening of The Projection Room.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
+44 7760 296 294