This page is for further supporting content towards the ACE project application: Cosmic Origins: Exploring Creation and Destruction Through Art and Space Science.

Cosmic Origins builds on my collaboration with the National Space Centre and SEND pupils at Ellesmere College. Together, we created Neptune for Leicester’s Planet Parade, combining the pupils’ expressive mark-making with my signature pyrotechnic processes. These images document the workshops, the making of the painting and it being on show at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.

The linked article documents the earlier Planet Parade commission, which has inspired Cosmic Origins: a separate proposed project involving new research, artworks, further workshops for SEND pupils and other school groups, and a touring exhibition.

Read the Leicester Museums feature >

Initial workshop with a small group of Ellesmere pupils.

Marcus engaging with SEND pupils during an Ellesmere workshop.

Exploring paint and texture through sensory mark-making.

Marcus adding smoke pigment to the pupils’ collaborative artwork.

Completed collaborative artwork on display at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.

Leicester Museums website feature on the Neptune collaboration.

National Space Centre post highlighting the Roundhill Academy collaboration.

Creative direction

Cosmic Origins will develop this connection between art, science and participation into a new body of large-scale paintings. Research with the National Space Centre’s science team and a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, with curatorial input from Carolyn Russo, will inform the work’s imagery, colour, texture and composition.

I envisage a series of high-quality new works including collaborative pieces developed through further collaboration with Ellesmere pupils and workshops with other schools. with Ellesmere pupils as well as the other school workshops. A documentary will accompany the exhibition, giving audiences insight into the research, experimentation and shared creative process.

The visualisations below suggest the scale, atmosphere and presentation of the proposed exhibition. They are illustrative concepts; the final paintings will be developed through research and collaboration.

Gallery concept showing proposed paintings alongside the projected documentary.

Workshop concept showing collaboration with a larger group of pupils.

Research concept showing scientific imagery, sketches and material experiments.

Artist Q&A concept showing an audience and livestream equipment.

Marcus Dove:

Marcus Dove is a British contemporary artist working with gunpowder, smoke grenades and other pyrotechnic materials to explore creation through destruction. His work has been exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions in London’s Mayfair. His painting ‘Neptune’, commissioned by the National Space Centre and created with SEND pupils at Ellesmere College, forms part of Leicester Museum’s collection. Alongside his studio practice, Dove delivers arts education and collaborative workshops.

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