ARTISTS TALKING

# 33 [19 May 2008]

Longhouse PAD

Friday 16^th May saw the launch of the Longhouse Professional Artists Development publication. Artists, organisers and speakers gathered in the AirSpace exhibition space to view and discuss the work and issues that had been raised throughout the project. The exhibition continues until 24^th May and if you come along you can pick up a free copy of the publication produced during the project. The publication illustrates the artists’ responses to the project and gives further insight into the project itself.

David Bethell and Anne Francis of the AirSpace gallery team both took part in the 3 day residency and exhibition, where 9 artists worked with 2 lead artists, local architects and council officers to explore the regeneration of Hanley, Stoke on Trent’s City Centre.  The artists then produced responses and proposals for what they felt could benefit the city whilst working in conjunction with the regeneration.

‘Being involved in the project has given me more confidence in working on public projects and it has introduced me to more people working creatively within the City. It also generated some interesting discussions about the future of art in the city.’

-David

For the launch of the publication Anna Francis has produced a map and invites visitors to the gallery to mark on the map their feelings about the city centre, the things that they would change or keep. The map is gradually filling with responses to the city and offers insight into the general feelings and ideas about the regeneration. Alongside the map sits a pile of postcards that read ‘We don’t need a cinema or an art gallery here ...what this city really needs is a great big supermarket.’ A strong comment on the demolition of part of the Cultural Quarter of Hanley City Centre; old cinemas and buildings knocked down to allow for the construction of what is reputed to be the biggest Tesco in Europe.

www.longhouse.uk.com

# 32 [19 May 2008]

Chris Lewis-Jones: 13^th May

To coincide with the Creative Partnership funded ‘Series of Unlikely Urban Texts’ exhibition, where Chris Lewis Jones worked with pupils from the Forest Park Primary School to create art work, Chris delivered a talk about his practice. The audience were shown examples of how his worked progressed through his concerns with cultural identity and his relationship with Cyril Seaton.

# 31 [14 May 2008]

Dialogue Box is a series of exhibitions to be shown in the window space at the AirSpace Gallery. The series is in response to the importance of the gallery window space; we see this as our access to the community, through the window we can reach those people who would not normally seek out an art gallery as well as reminding those that do that we are here. The work that is produced will create dialogue between people; dialogue about the artwork, the gallery and perhaps its place in our ever changing city.

Exhibiting artists include:

George Benson, Birmingham

2^nd – 9^th June 2008

Benson’s current work concentrates on creating abstract images made solely of colour, form and texture from everyday and found objects. These are currently things

that he has collected throughout his life. Recomposing them and looking at them

from different angles to create subtle, direct images with an absence of complication.

Alison Ballance, London

7^th-14^th July 2008

The proposal, by only being a suggestion of what it could possibly be, is a fragment. We have to look back into ourselves to see what s missing and then the attention becomes focused on that. Fiction is a fragment and therefore neither real nor the truth. It is a reference to reality which becomes real only through the viewer referring it to themselves. I see the idea of the fragment in architectural ruins, failures or incompleteness; attention is drawn to what is missing.

Diana Ali, Nottingham

18^th- 25^th August 2008

Diana is a British-Syhleti artist. She has worked in mixed media painting, photography and installation. She has exhibited in various venues such as, Salford Working Mens Club and Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham. She is currently exploring the visual and the verbal as an art form by involving artists’ responses locally, nationally and internationally. 

More information from the AirSpace Gallery

airspaceinfo@btinternet.com

# 30 [14 May 2008]

As summer approaches and Fine Art students are due to graduate the AirSpace team have been visiting Universities to give talks and offer advice. Dave and Andy have been to Staffordshire University and Loughborough University visiting their final year students.

‘It’s a great way for us to keep up to date with what graduating students are producing and to know what we can offer them, as well as keeping an eye out for up and coming students that we may wish to exhibit at the gallery. It is also a great way to promote AirSpace and to let people know that art is here in Stoke on Trent.’

-Andy

We want people to know that we are here to offer advice; people can feel free to come along to AirSpace and talk to us. Just e-mail us to let us know you’re coming!

airspaceinfo@btinternet.com

# 29 [8 May 2008]

PRIMARY PUPILS ENTER THE ART WORLD

Nottingham-based installation artist Chris Lewis-Jones feels that he has struck artistic gold working with 52 Year 2 pupils at Forest Park Primary School in Cobridge. Using contemporary art to enhance learning across the curriculum has been ‘outstandingly successful’ – so much so that examples of the children’s work are to be exhibited at Airspace Gallery, in Broad Street (Stoke on Trent) in May. Chris, who has worked and exhibited across the UK and beyond explained:

‘This is without doubt one of the most enjoyable commissions I’ve undertaken. As their work shows, the children at Forest Park have been creatively incandescent!’

The project has been funded by Creative Partnerships. Creative Agent Wayne Thexton said: 

‘Working with Chris has presented teachers and pupils with many new ideas. Their responses have been fantastic. Pupils aged 6 and 7 have been using the kinds of professional artistic language that many adults would struggle to keep up with. This speaks highly of what is possible with the right kind of challenge’.

David Bethell, founder member of AirSpace Gallery added, ‘It has been really great to bring these kids into the gallery, their work highlights and develops the outreach aspect to our venue’. Forest Park’s Deputy Head Pat Macbeth added, ‘Working with Chris has brought a whole new dimension to the children’s experience and perception of art and artists. The children have found this project to be inspirational in terms of both language and art.’

The exhibition, ‘A Series of Unlikely Urban Texts’, previews on May 8^th (7:00-8:30pm) and runs from May 9^th-13^th.

for further information contact

Chris Lewis-Jones/ Oldknows Studio Group

# 28 [8 May 2008]

With a bombardment of art exhibitions, public art interventions and music and video events across the city Axis and AirSpace have given Stoke on Trent a glimpse of how fun and inspiring art in the city can be.

Matt Robinson’t ‘Ultra Seimans’ may upon first sight appear to be a random collage of landscapes, limbs and religious icons, and upon reflection it is just that. A representation of a city where green land blends with cityscape, different cultures and people meet and mix: dance and rock music exist side by side as well as the old and new. Stoke on Trent is just this kind of city and it should be recognised and celebrated that we can all exist alongside each other; a growing city that looks forward to the future.

Alongside these snippets of the future we are offered a glance at the past, with Liz Wroe and Stuart Porter’s ‘Super Tramps1975-1986.’ A jacket is hung up and put to rest. We are further distanced from the memory by only being shown a photograph, as if this is a recollection of a story rather that an event. The jacket image is repeated on fly posters hidden within the shops in Hanley, taking the artwork out of the gallery. People can be seen to be excitedly pointing out gig tickets to bands they have heard of, others choose to peel the posters, either a protest or an attempt to gain a souvenir, and then there are those that simply walk by, not having noticed the work at all.

There are other works hidden in the city; postcards that highlight the importance of everyday scenes and wrapped lamp posts that rekindle an appreciation for the practical aspects of city life. Rebecca Huxley encourages us to look high with her bright and bold geometric images scattered over windows in the city.

After dark David Bethell and Andrew Branscombe brought Infinities to life with ‘Tetris’; a bold projection commenting on the reconstruction of the city around them.

And Manchester based Spearfish, gave the city a demonstration in Graffiti art, I like to think as an invitation for Stoke based Graffiti artists to show them how it’s done.

The visual arts programme for the Axis Festival runs further with AirVideo at the Victoria Hall, Hanley.

Another retail venue was overtaken by creativity when Dazed hosted a day of live music and performance art. While visitors to Fat Cats were treated to live music and video art.

The magnitude of this event is impossible to reduce to one review, but that these events are taking place in Stoke on Trent gives you a sense that the city is really growing. Art is becoming part of people’s lives here and we hope that this can continue and grow.

# 27 [14 April 2008]

AirSpace and the Axis Festival: 

This Year the AirSpace Team will be blessing you with eight exciting events from the 18^th of April to the 4^th May.  This includes some Stoke on Trent’s most exciting venues that have been flying the flag for both the city and their own genres, the Axis Festival are pleased to be working in partnership with the Sugarmill, Victoria Hall, Dazed and  Fat Cats, AirSpace are also using unconventional spaces to showcase Contemporary Art and Music such as Infinities and various locations within the City Centre.  AirSpace will also be hosting an exhibition and window display that will showcase some of new and freshest artists working on a national level.

The Launch for the visual arts event will be on the 18^th April at 7pm at AirSpace Gallery. With the exhibition There and Then the exhibition looks at artwork that examines nostalgia of music and festivals, the memory of life and light and the how these can be brought into the future. The exhibition also questions how the future visions can affect our memory or show how important our memories our. The exhibition features, automatic robots by Alex Pearl, futuristic vision our Matthew Hahn and Matthew Robinson and artefacts of the past by Liz Wroe and Stuart Porter and the light and time of David Knowles.  Is there an overload of information to the contrast of simply imagery. The gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm.

Check out the axis festival website for details of more events

www.axisfestival.co.uk

# 26 [8 April 2008]

AirSpace have started workshops! 

We have now completed two workshop sessions:

A Series of Unlikely Events:

with Creative Partnerships at Grove Junior School, Northwood, Stoke on Trent.

We had a great time teaching year 5 at Grove junior school about animations. They learnt about flick books, animation techniques and we held an awards ceremony at the end with presentation of photographs to the school.

RT8 Arts and Consultation:

At Kings Hall, Stoke.

Along similar lines we gave young people a chance to try out their plasticene model making techniques and shoot an animation.

The RT8 animation is available to see online check out www.airspacegallery.org and follow the ‘services’ link.

The Grove Junior School workshop was covered by The Sentinel, the local newspaper and hopefully the animation will be available on their website for viewing.

# 25 [4 March 2008]

Play: 7^th March - 15^th April 

The exhibition will run between the 7^th March and 15^th of April, it will also break with the usual format of exhibitions with the show and the works in it being split into three smaller exhibitions, making for a vibrant and changing environment for the viewer.

 Play: scene 1 Friday 7^th March

Play: scene 2  Friday 21^st March

Play: scene 3  Friday 4^th April

 Artists Include: David Bethell, Karen Boulton, Andrew Branscombe, Bernard Charnley, Anna Francis, Brain Holdcroft, Samantha Knight,Chris Parks, Katie Shipley. 

 This exhibition brings together artists who have become associated with the AirSpace gallery. It includes work from studio artists and other artist who have been involved with the project since it’s inception.The works included in the show come from a diverse range of artists practices, and is the second members show, following on from the success of 2007s ‘Shortcuts’  exhibition.The show itself has been curated by the gallery and Sam Knight, an exhibiting artist who is currently in the final year of her degree at Staffordshire University. Sam has been working on the ‘Play’ exhibition with AirSpace for a chance to experience working in a gallery environment and in the role of a curator.The ideas behind the theme of the exhibition have allowed for the artists to take, what otherwise be a common place word and activity, and put their own unique slant on the subject. ‘Play’ today is such a commonplace activity, when thinking of the amount of leisure pursuits that take place, that it has in many ways lost the magic that it might once have held, especially as a child. Chris Parks’ work looks at a more adult and sexual idea of the word play, choosing to use sex toys as an element of the work. Brian Holdcroft takes an approach of playing with the medium he is using. The work makes use of Super8 film and through playing with the pace of the film creates a disorientating environment for the viewer. David Bethell takes a whimsical look at the idea of childhood play activities through animation and a childlike ‘Den’ Installation. Katie Shipley has looked at another aspect of theme, choosing to create an interactive piece in the form of a giant Newton’s Cradle, the ubiquitous executive desk accessory reproduced on a massive scale.  

# 24 [11 February 2008]

AirSpace are looking for artist to submit works of all formats for this years Axis Festival.

Following the success of last year's festival, the Axis team are looking to widen its programme of events by including a range of Contemporary Art displays within the City. It is offering artists a chance to exhibit during the festival throughout a variety of venues from 18^th April - 4^th May.  We are requesting artists to produce works of art that are focused around the broad theme of place, movement and sound.

To find out more information please see the  Artists Brief  and an application form attached with this email.

ALL PROPOSALS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

1.    A statement about the work and how it investigates the theme. (max. 500 Words)

2.    Two images of the work - or mock-up images of the proposed work. (JPEGs)

3.    Detailed costing for the production of the work.

4.    Two examples of previous work that best suits your practice (JPEGs)

5.    Application form

6.    Description of your work for press releases and PR material (max 60 words).

Please send proposal to the AirSpace Gallery either by post or email, the address at the bottom of the page or our email is airspaceinfo@btinternet.com. Please state in the subject box 'Axis Proposal'. Images can be sent by email (each image no bigger than 1 mb) or on a clearly labelled CD, with artists name and list of works.

Although artists are not expected to visit the site but it is advised that they do so.

Proposals to be submitted by Friday the 22^nd of February.

Successful applicants will be notified within 2 weeks of the submission deadline.

Budgets are limited, but they are available to help with cost of proposals.

www.axisfestival.co.uk