Open School East and Gathering, London are delighted to announce the recipient of the Springboard exhibition opportunity for OSE Associate alumni — Poppy Nash

As part of the partnership, Poppy presented 𝘒𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘺 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥, a solo exhibition at GLASSHOUSE, Gathering’s project space in May 2025.

Poppy Nash
Kiss the Back of My Hand
GLASSHOUSE, 5 Warwick St, London

15 May – 7 June 2025

Open School East and Gathering, London are pleased to announce Kiss the Back of My Hand, a solo exhibition by Poppy Nash at GLASSHOUSE projects opening 15 May. Encompassing new textile works exploring the malleability of memory, this is the artist’s first exhibition with Gathering in partnership with Open School East.

Conceived of as a group exhibition with Agnes Richter, Lorina Bulwer, Marie Leib and Katerina Detzel, Poppy’s exhibition engages with marginalised practices and movements, cultivating layers of narratives from past centuries to radical ephemera from the 1980s and 1990s to Nash’s own artistic legacy. The artist draws threads of association with the past and collective memories through 19th century archival textiles, text, digital embroidery, print and found scrap materials.

Poppy Nash is an interdisciplinary visual artist working at the intersections of textiles, printmaking, archival research and protest. Her work uses the materiality of craft to interrogate politics of agency, care and resistance, informed by her experiences of chronic illness and disability. Archival research is often a starting point, with previous works beginning from the Wellcome Collection Medieval archives and National Disability Art Collection & Archives. Works have taken form as large-scale textile installations, banners, print works and garments, presented across gallery and community settings.

Poppy was an Associate at Open School East in 2021-22.

About the Partnership

Open School East is partnering with Gathering, London to launch a new opportunity for OSE Associate alumni to develop a solo exhibition within Gathering’s project space – GLASSHOUSE.

This partnership is developed as part of Open School East’s Springboard Programme, and will provide essential support and a space for emerging creative practitioners to experiment within a commercial gallery setting.

“I am delighted to partner with OSE. Having attended art schools in both the UK and the US, I understand the importance of fostering a collaborative and innovative community of art students. I founded Gathering as a place for people to come together, reflecting the sense of community that often begins at school, university, or within non-traditional learning spaces.

GLASSHOUSE was envisioned as a platform for emerging artists to develop their practices and gain experience exhibiting their work in a commercial gallery. I am thrilled to offer this space to OSE alumni and support their practices,” 

– Alex Flick, founder of Gathering and GLASSHOUSE.

“We are excited to be partnering with Gathering as part of our Alumni focused Springboard Programme. This incredible opportunity enables an Open School East Alumni to realise a solo exhibition at Gathering’s GLASSHOUSE space in May 2025. With the direct support from Gathering’s team, the selected artist will gain insight and guidance in how to develop their practice and better understand how to navigate the sector through 1:1 production support, technical guidance, networking opportunities and ongoing support from Open School East. This partnership with Gathering’s GLASSHOUSE is an integral support structure to ensure that early career artists coming from non-traditional higher education routes have equal opportunities to showcase their work.” 

– Polly Brannan, Artistic Director, Open School East

Recent exhibitions at Gathering, London include solo shows by OSE Mentor Simeon Barclay and Associate Programme Guest Tai Shani.

You can find out more about Gathering at gathering.london and GLASSHOUSE at glasshouseprojects.uk