Scott Schwager - The Far Side of the Ridge
Saturday 3rd October - 1st November 2026,
open daily 2-6PM from Saturday October 3rd to Sunday October 11th, & by appointment.
Sat October 3rd exhibition opening 2-8pm, 6-8pm Vermouth opening reception
Sun October 4th, 12pm Bridge into the Unknown Walk&Talk by Scott Schwager Approx. 90 minutes, free
Sat October 10th, 2pm - Lost and Found Walk&Talk by Scott Schwager Approx. 90 minutes, free
Sun October 11th, 11am Guided tour of his exhibition by Scott Schwager, 45mins, free
Mon November 2nd, 6-8pm Closing party in the presence of the artist. vermouth, free
Scott Schwager is an artist, born in New York, February 1969, working in London. Living in the UK, he began working as an artist in 2004, having opened a studio in East London after working at Camberwell College of Arts. In his early career, Schwager’s art was shown internationally, at Max Beckmann Haus in Frankfurt, the Union of Artists in St. Petersburg, a loft in New York, the Arts Club and other exhibitions in London. His artworks draw on his research. His PhD explores developing Walk & Talk as an art practice through his fiction writing about walks in Madrid, Calgary, and Wimbledon. Schwager creates Walks with others in public spaces. His paintings are in private collections.
Artist’s statement from the ponds near Spaniards Road in Hampstead Heath, London, 12th August 2026:
This collection is inspired by Sandy Heath Pond: life, walks, and ideas from farther afield. I want the ideas to feel sifted from nature while painting the ponds tucked into the Sandy Heath oak woodland section of Hampstead Heath.
These large unmanaged rainwater-filled ponds have shrunk with London’s recent run of record-breaking heatwaves. With low water levels and green algae blooming, they are silent pools of dappled light; a liminal space. The heat not only affects visual aesthetics but also the feeling while painting and conversing. I am invited a little longer to pause, listen, look, and create.
Some days the heat feels intense, walking alongside the black asphalt road. Finding the water in the woods becomes a relief. Swimming in the Heath ponds is like a ritual for renewal.
Walking here I encounter others. I met a musician who carried only the bow for his double bass. The larger instrument, he claimed, was too impractical for a stroll. He left dragonflies dancing behind him. Two young men stopped to say hello, one back from making music at Berklee College, Boston, the other from visiting the Korean Demilitarised Zone, where animals and plants thrive without human interference. An assembly of ferns stands sentinel.
Pond life invites reflexivity.
In my paintings I am trying to create something that I cannot express in words. I want to make paintings and walks that are a little like eclipses, like moments that capture my spatiotemporal experience.
The upcoming partial solar eclipse (August 12th, 2026), will be the deepest since 1999, quite unlike any the UK will see until 2050. Birds will cease chirping; the air temperature will cool; silence will accompany partial darkness. All this will pass in seconds, I think.
These paintings include marks made by leaves, fingers, my footprints. They can be seen in the context of walking art or landscape painting. But I don’t think they need be classified or fit into a binary.
In the Drawings on Sandy Heath Pond series, which I envision in the back gallery by the art centre’s planted courtyard, my memories of words spoken by walkers are inscribed alongside my own notes.
These pictures can be read as a polyvocal story around art and ponds in the UK in 2026, interwoven fact and fiction.
Walking while talking has the ability to bring us from one place to another, on both the physical and mental landscapes. Walks can be art; they conjure up the imagination, inspire creation.
I would like to invite you to come on one of my Walk&Talks in Chipping Norton, October 4th at 12pm or 10th at 2pm. If you want to join me on a Walk, please get in touch by email to: director @ artandtalking.com (not obligatory)
Sun October 4th, 12pm Bridge into the Unknown Walk&Talk by Scott Schwager Approx. 90 minutes, free
How do we get from what we know to what we don’t? What can we see past what’s familiar? What information and assumptions do we have? Do our interests, friends, cultural values, political beliefs and the media influence this? On this walk we will explore the unknown through a loosely planned path around Chipping Norton and its outskirts.
Sat October 10th ‘26, 2pm - Lost and Found Walk&Talk by Scott Schwager Approx. 90 minutes, free, meet at the art centre.
Starting at Art&Talking, we will walk through ‘Snells’ a new art piece by Scott Schwager made for his exhibition The Far Side of the Ridge. Snell’s Law in physics describes how light bends passing through a surface between two different materials, such as air and water. Snell’s Window is a circular underwater view such as a fish has of the world above water. From the art piece ‘Snells’, we will make a Walk&Talk around Chipping Norton.
This Walk&Talk explores the idea of Lost&Found, a topic evoking many notions from the physical space to what it can mean beyond for the walkers who gather for Walk&Talks. While walking, we will look for traces of what’s lost in the physical environment and beyond.
For example, what fossils, ferns and mounds can we find? Where were the castles, ancient trees and waters ? What are the moods, pace, values and way of interacting being lost as we change as artists, creatives and other walkers and as society evolves?
In making this Walk&Talk, we will look for ideas of other paths to futurise potential scenarios where we can find things lost.
This walk explores social, political and cultural issues of significance in society today. It considers, for example, what ways are there to find time for leisure, conversations and crafts in a world prone to social media scrolling, clicks and ai ?
Starting from Art Centre exhibition and this collection of thoughts we will walk around Chipping Norton’s historic and present day environs.
Education
BA, Political Science, Williams College, 1991.
MiF, LBS, University of London, 2001.
BA Painting, Camberwell College of Arts, 2004.
Associate Lecturer, Camberwell College of Arts, summer 2004.
PhD, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London |expected 2026/2027. Dissertation title: Walk & Talk: Developing a Contemporary, Collaborative Art Practice (viva, July 2026).