ARTISTS TALKING

# 11 [29 August 2007]

AirVideo

31^st August Preview (invite only) 7pm -9pm

31^st August - 7^th September open to public

‘Alternative Possible Worlds' involves 17 international video artists who have gained recognition as emerging talents. The work has been selected based around concerns about a rapidly changing world; from the effects of a shifting global economy, the destruction or suppression of indigenous cultures, mass building programmes and  urban sprawl to dreams of possible futures informed by a mixture of 1950s science fiction and advancements in cloning and genetic manipulation.

The artists' Alternative Possible Worlds trace a fine line between the illusion of progress and potential catastrophe.

Artists include Nick Goulis, Andro Semeiko, Toine Klaassen, Brignell and Raimes, Stephen Bishop, Noémi McComber, Zhenchen Liu, Ella Kajsa Nordstrom, Monica Rodriguez Medina, Michael Salmond, Gaia Persigo, Akiko and Masako Takada, Marcin Gajewski, Joseph Hallam, Ben Young, Alexandra Crouwers and Michelle Letelier.

AirVideo is a series of film and video events co-curated by Matt Roberts and Yu-Chen Wang of BasementArtProject.com. For more information www.basementartproject.com/airvideo

# 12 [29 August 2007]

Window Projects

The window of Number 4 Broad Street has become a taster for artists to show their work to the passers by of Hanley City Centre.

Past work includes the fading memories of Katie Shipley's ‘A Place to Forget (5)', 35mm slides encased in wax that melted through the sunny days of April and revealed the forgotten memories within. And Anna Francis' iconic image of the partly torn down ‘Terrace', which pays homage to the buildings that hold history for many people in Stoke on Trent, but are being sacrificed for the regeneration of the area.

Both pieces have been recycled from past exhibitions at AirSpace's old home at the Falcon Works, Old Town Road. Creating a gradual move from one space to another and allowing interested parties to see the quality of what may lie behind the doors of the new Gallery.

The current work on show in the window is Matt Robinson's bright yellow vinyl design, catching the eye of all passers by. This is an extension of the Dizzy Heights show that just finished at the gallery.

# 13 [29 August 2007]

Chris Simcox-airspace studio artist

 Some things that Chris has been up to...

Architecture week "A Fuller Space"

This was an event that intended to demonstrate the need within town centres for use of space to be explored in different ways, whether it be shelters or some kind of seating area. To capture people's imagination about public space and the surrounding architecture and to open up other possiblities or ways of seeing the surrounding urban landscape. The project started by putting together Architects, engineers, Artists with a local youth group and to come up with ideas through the use of workshops and events to inspire the young group to come up with their own ideas and to actively engage with the project. After some plane sailing, and the scenario of getting to know who you are working with! We arranged a time table and a brief to work from, the first day we came together as a group to come up with some funny, fantastical and sometimes crazy ideas. As the weeks went by we all came up with the idea of a "chill out" space, based upon the shape of a football.. So it was the professional's turn to make the idea a reality, realizing we should make the architect on our team work and show his skills of design. The next stage was to construct the shape using a 'geo-dome' which is made up of pentagons, and hexagons. Some serious late nights followed using in the 'airspace' studios to build it. Using the dome we collaborated with the youth group to come up with some panels to attach upon the surface, different materials such as steel, grass, and clay to add an interactive element to the project. On the day we were unfortunate to have the worst summer's day you can imagine, but the work was brilliantly successful and the youth group certainly made it their own.

Harlech Bienale  "Uncommon Ground" Five day residency involving artists from all over the world including Argentina, Spain, Israel and even England. The project was to have studio based artists who normally work and live in vibrant cities (Stoke-on-Trent)?? To come to Harlech which is an incredibly beautiful landscape of tree's, Mountains, Sand and sea to produce work and to place it in and around the landscape. My own perpective on this was to use and pick out the vast natural colour of Harlech and the surrounding landscape. I began by gathering scrap wood from which i could cut out circular shapes, and paint them with the intension of capturing colour and light to expose the natural beauty of the landscape.

# 14 [26 September 2007]

Recollection Private View:

A paper polar bear is engulfed in a hurricane of polystyrene balls and is imprisoned in glass. This is the first scene you encounter at the Recollection exhibition at the AirSpace Gallery. It is as you are passing by this window display, that inquisitiveness leads you on into the gallery itself where you are confronted by Tallulah Miers' projection of said polar bear onto a hanging of paper. The balls sweep in to gradually cover the bear, a tragic reminder of the melting polar ice caps, whilst maintaining an air of meditation with the repetitive imagery and rhythmic sounds of the ocean.

Scattered and disguised throughout the exhibition are Stuart Porter's lead sculptures; ghostly souvenirs of a time passed. A clock without hands or cuckoo hangs on the wall, whilst a record sits on the player without a needle. A pencil sits within the wall, illuminated but out of reach like a fading memory. The sculptures appear to be soft yet like the nature of the material they are made from, they are heavy with the memories they hold.

These small domestic items are dominated by Ben Chetter's looming clothes closet, from which emanates the sound of a distant disco and sure enough, hidden behind is the revealing of what is in the closet. Chetter's face is twice disguised, once with the mask of a stag and the other by contrast a dancing glitter painted face; demonstrating his struggle with peoples perceptions of masculinity and sexuality. The work continues to bombard us with camp, homosexual imagery versus masculine connotations made ugly. A clear message.

A whole 20ft of meditative drawing winds its way up and down one of the AirSpace walls. Unlike a maze there is no path just line after line of narrative that leads the viewer by staccato lengths into the compulsive mind of the artist. Or maybe just back to where you started. Andy Reynolds' drawing comments on the instinctive, like an unconscious doodle spilling and out of control.

At the back of the gallery is a darkened room, lit by a star speckled chicken coop. It seems that there is something about to burst from within the coop, a moment of enlightenment waiting to be released but imprisoned by lengths of pine wood and walls of agricultural plastic. These mundane objects hold onto this moment, perhaps to be released at another time.

ReCollection's private view was a great night with the gallery reaching full capacity requiring a one out one in policy on the door. Alongside the opening of the new show AirSpace joined Future Shorts in Creationism, a night of music, video, photography and performance art at the Underground in Hanley. Miers brought her work into the club with a performance piece, seeing her slowly pull undone a knitted blanket was almost as frustrating as the polar bear's fate was tragic with the delicate wool that had been time consumingly put together spiralling onto the floor. Performances by local bands Coda, Cats in the Alley and Rachel Rimmer were powerful and fun with the smooth flow interspersed by the video work, allowing each art form the full attention it deserved.

# 15 [28 September 2007]

Bernard Charnley-AirSpace Studio Artist

Bernard Charnley has been a studio artist at AirSpace since the very beginning. To find out about Bernard's work please see his website

 www.bernardcharnley.co.uk

# 16 [8 October 2007]

recalling the future.

Reviewed by Gemma Thacker on Work Experience

AirSpace.

Art that shows important matters.

Through the art you see the lives and the sole of the artist. Each artist coming up with something meaningful to them and showing us, through art, ways to understand the world and giving us a new light with which to look on things all around us.

Talulah Miers’s Template appears to be about our earth, it is saying, our once proud world is melting into nothing, animals are dying because of our cruel ways towards nature and each other. Blackened hearts taking life itself. Soon there will be nothing left but death and blood stains on our once proud Earth.

Paul Fulton the Chicken Coop. The main body is simple enough but has a deeper meaning. To see past the body and to the inside of it. The lights, like your eyes, are a window into your soul.

Stuart Porter’s Lead Work. In a time forgot lies important memories and secret items saved for the future. The use of lead gives it an age but keeps it the same.

Andrew Reynolds’s Syanaptic Voyage. Unstoppable movement. A soul like no other. In a simple form, a journey is started from nowhere and its destination unknown to its self-moving with the river of life until the end of time.

Ben Chetter’s Starman is a symbol, a hidden question, a highlight of ones hidden self. The truth of sexuality can this be a way to express it?

Recollection, remembering the past. But to me looking to the future. In both ways you see the art. Past and the future in one. As one door closes another two open. The past has important meaning and the future is what we make it. In the hearts and minds of all the living, hopes for the future and special moments to cherish forever like a baby being born, to its first days in high school and the rest of its life. Linked by invisible threads tying all of use together binding us to the past and unknown future.

# 17 [15 October 2007]

Brian Holdcroft - studio artist

When I walk the landscape I find myself thinking about the way that we engage with the environment. The dialogue is one that I feel cannot be detached from the history of the land to which we are so firmly rooted and the human condition. Fleeting moments of heightened experience raise further questions about the shape of our surroundings and our relationship with it. In his book “Landscape and Memory” Simon Schama suggests….. “Before it is a repose for the senses landscape is the work of the mind”.

The momentary and the more monumental shifts that occur both external and internal to our existence creates fluid reference points.

This constant state of becoming is central to my work as an art maker. My approach is to work with a variety of mediums including Super 8 film, photography, 2D and site specific in order to open up imaginative spaces of engagement.

# 18 [22 November 2007]

Tomorrows Arts Masterpieces For Sale in Stoke

AirSpace AirTrade Fine Art Auction 

University Pavilion, Stoke Road

Friday 14th December 7pm

Auctioneer: Mike Wolfe

AirTrade Exhibition,

AirSpace gallery 11th 7pm - 9pm

Viewing on the 12th and 13th  11am - 5pm

Dear Friends and colleagues

This is an invitation to come to AirTrade, AirSpaceâ€TMs auction.

AirSpace is having an auction to raise funds to extend its repertoire of exhibitions. Over 70 artists have pledge work and it is your opportunity to invest in both local and national pieces of work whilst supporting what is proving to be Stoke on Trent most vibrant visual arts asset.

All Artworks are available to view and bid for on the airspace website at www.airspacegallery.org/airtrade, as well as at the AirSpace gallery from the 11th â€" 13th December.

Silent bids will also be taken on 01782 261221 on the 12th December from 11am and 5pm.

On the 14th December the auction opens at 7pm at the Pavilion (Staffordshire University) and the auction starts at 8pm with guest auctioneer Mike Wolfe. All the artworks will be available for viewing on the night.

Entertainment and refreshing will also be provided.

To RSVP your place at the auction please or telephone AirSpace

Thank you for your support, and would like to especially like to thank all the artists who donated work for AirTrade.

Now that the Artists have done their bit, in pledging their work for the cause, it is now your chance to invest in the future Art scene of Stoke-on-Trent, at the same time as getting your hands on a unique and beautiful work of art!

Whether you are looking for that special christmas gift for a loved one, or just looking to fill that art spaced gap on your living room wall, there is sure to be something for you amongst the amazing array of works for sale in AirTrade. Internationally renowned artist Paul Rooney is offering for original signed copies of his vinyl piece 'Lucy Over Lancashire'�. Perhaps you are searching for a gift for a green-fingered friend - the Powell and Weston Bronze wall relief, based on the Neo-Assyrian Stone panel, (from around 645 BC - housed in the British Museum) is a truely unique gifting idea, and would grace the wall of any proud gardener. AirTrade can also reveal that Adam James has 4 prints on offer. Now don't go spreading this around, but we at AirTrade believe that James is one to watch! This could be the opportunity to get your hands on a masterpiece of the future!

Other featured major artists and works include; Common Culture, Matt Robinson, Rachel Marsden... and limited edition prints from AirSpace.

# 19 [28 November 2007]

Parallax View

November at the AirSpace Gallery saw the coming together of two artist led spaces. Following a research trip to Moot in Nottingham Dave and Andy invited Tom Godfrey from Moot to co-curate a show at the AirSpace Gallery.

AirSpace designed the research trip scheme in order to create just this kind of opportunity; we believe that networking between artist led spaces is really important and were really excited when Tom took us up on the offer. Networking between Stoke on Trent and Nottingham, a city with a well established art scene, could help increase positive awareness of our city.

The exhibition consisted of the work of nine artists, interwoven with a series of found objects, including tapes from scrap yards available to play, and some risqué found images from the internet.

The artwork though eclectic in appearance was held together by the underlying theme of ‘looking'. Though each artist followed their own agenda a walk around the gallery caused a flow of dizzying perceptions: playing cards whose faces change as you walk past, mirrors placed on the floor and a DVD of a hand animated image, flickering with light.

The exhibition has proven another success for the Gallery with consistently high visitor numbers; with this being the last of our ACE funded exhibitions we look forward to AirTrade, where we might generate enough funds to continue the exhibition calendar a little further.

www.mootgallery.org

# 20 [28 November 2007]

Keeping Up Appearences 

The window project at 4, Broad Street continues to give Stoke on Trent a glimpse into what is happening within the gallery walls. Phil Rawle, AirSpace's Graphic Designer installed a proposal for his window piece for a few days before the Parallax View; a line drawing with blue tape showing how the work will look upon realisation, the first of a two part piece. An intriguing cross of white tape on the pavement outside the gallery marked the optimum position for viewing the work, although you were required to be a little taller than 5'4" to appreciate it fully.

For the Parallax View passers by were confronted with a more minimal window piece, a white weather balloon pressed between the windows and the beginning of a line of umbrellas that encouraged you to enter the show, where the line of umbrellas continued into an installation by Mozal and Joaquim.

The latest and current piece is the work of AirSpace studio artist Brian Holdcroft, a small series of clay and straw blocks linked with a line of bright blue ribbon. The eye catching colour and striking work will hopefully continue to generate interest in the gallery.