ENCOUNTERS inspires The Gathering Space

After meeting Ruth Ben-Tovim and Trish O'Shea at the community/performance conference in Rhode Island in 2003 and seeing the work they were doing with their ENCOUNTERS shop projects in Sheffield, England, Loree Lawrence (Lead Artist of The Gathering Space) started fundraising to do a similar project in the Junction neighbourhood. For the last six years ENCOUNTERS has inhabited disused shops in diverse neighborhoods and used them as a base to create artworks around the themes of people, community, identity, and place. The shops attract hundreds of visitors, becoming neighbourhood magnets, drawing in people of all ages and cultures to leave objects, memories, journeys, thoughts and ideas about where they live. In Fall 2006, ENCOUNTERS was featured in the British Pavilion for architecture at the Venice Biennale. Loree visited Ruth and Trish in May 2007 to immerse herself in their world and came back to join with Lise Beaudry, Noah Kenneally, and Amy Kazymerchyk in starting The Gathering Space. To learn more about ENCOUNTERS visit www.sharrowencounters.co.uk.