LEN SHELLY & ANGIE BILTCLIFFE  – A retrospective exhibition celebrating their lives and work

This very special exhibition starts this Saturday then continues until 23rd October.

‘Len Shelley and Angie Biltcliffe were hugely popular and influential figures within Hastings and the wider art world. Both worked closely with Hastings Museum and Art Gallery over the years, as exhibitors, guest curators and workshop leaders. We are delighted to be able to take this opportunity to celebrate their work, reflecting the profound impact their lives, and untimely deaths have had, with an exhibition of interest to those who knew them well and to those new to their work.’   Hastings Museum

What has been especially heartwarming for me, is the way that so many people have been involved in pulling together the exhibition.  There was a call out for everyone to loan artwork for the exhibition, and close friends and colleagues have worked hard to hang the exhibition in a sympathetic way.  It’s going to be a very emotional experience but also enriching and comforting.  I can’t wait to spend time in their company again.

See more of Len’s work here.

Bee Fever, a collection of poetry by Angie Biltcliffe can be seen here.

I’ve been busy with a tonne of stuff here, including designing postcards and flyers, doing the artwork for an animation, as well as keeping on top of the day-to-day arts stuff for The School!  A load of things have passed by, the first Queens Head Crafters Sunday workshop, a bunch of Rye Art & Craft Fairs…  But dont worry, they’re both regular events, so come along to the next ones!

So,  I had better crack on and mention some forthcoming opportunities that might be handy!

The first Deadline is 3rd June – a call for entries for the Battle Contemporary Fine Art Fair (with £3K Prize fund), Online Gallery, Exhibition Calender, Artist in Residence & Mentoring Opportunities….

Have you had a chance to have a look at the Stade Education Project?   There’s a bunch of stuff that could be of interest to artists at the moment!   The Design a Deckchair competition is pretty cool – deadline 30th June, so not too late to sort out your design – and there’s 2 categories – under 16′s and adults…  Judges include Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Jerwood Gallery!  And Stade Stories might appeal to photographers, deadline is 24th July…  If you were wondering how the stade project is progressing I suggest you check out the Jerwood Gallery too.

There’s more, much more, but I think I’ll stop now, all those links are making me dizzy.

New Exhibitions 

INAUGURATION – Rye Art Gallery 

Sarah Money has put together a stonking new show at the Easton Rooms, Rye Art Gallery.  Bringing together longstanding friends of the gallery as well as Royal Academy peers, heavyweight painters Fred Cuming RA, Gus Cummins RA and Mick Rooney RA have produced a magnificent body of work. Inauguration opened this weekend, and will be on till the 15th May.

East Sussex Open – Towner Gallery

Works on display include painting, installations, ceramics, sculpture, and photography.  There were 130 entries, so well done to everyone who got in, especially The School Creative Centre’s resident artist Paula MacArthur!  The show is on until 2nd May, with free entry.

The exhibition coincides with the Eastbourne Festival which takes place from 23 April – 15 May.  Dis-location is a fringe event – looks quite interesting!

Regular Selling Events

Lots of Rye artists are taking the initiative to set up some interesting DIY selling opportunities.

Rye Art and Craft Fair

The next one is the 20th April…

The fair is run by local Artist Alice Mason and features roughly 20 local artists and makers, with a wide range of work from jewellery to fine art.  I also particularly like their affordable home-made food!

I highly recommend participating, an absolute bargain at £12 for a table!  Call Alice on 01424 812550 to book yours.

Made in Rye

I noticed several new shops have opened up in Rye recently.  Lots of gorgeous stuff, a new fashion boutique and a pretty little beauty/lifestyle shop… but that’s off topic!  There’s also a new art/craft shop – Made in Rye, opened up by core members of the Rye Harbour Group to promote not only their own work, but also new makers.  They’re very friendly and are interested in supporting other local makers.  If you’re interested in finding a new outlet for your work, it would be well worth checking it out!

Mad March Fair at The Queens Head

The Queens Head’s first Art Fair went well on the 26 & 27th March, and was suitably mad, with the function room turned into an Aladdin’s cave of artwork.  What was particularly nice was the number of artists from further afield, with people traveling from Cambridge, Oxford and London.  Keep an eye out for their next making weekender in May.

Call for Entries

Deadline: Sunday 1 May 2011 The East Sussex Contemporary Art Fair 2011 will take place 24th to 26th June at The School Creative Centre.  Applications are invited from studio groups and galleries as well as individual artists and designer makers.   Please contact Paula MacArthur for more details.

Deadline: 1st June 2011 South East Summer Exhibition Selling exhibition show-casing artists in the South East at ‘The Grand’ Folkestone  8th July to 4th August.  Up to 200 artists will be selected by a distinguished panel led by Fred Cuming RA with prizes.  A fringe event of the Folkestone Triennial 2011 which takes place from 25 June to 25 September 2011.

Tomorrow – Friday 11th March from 6.30 to 8.30pm and also on Sunday 13th March between 5pm and 7pm.

Sunday’s viewing coincides with a spoken word event.  More information can be found here…

Surface Meaning continues until 27th March in House of Hastings, near Morrisons.  Its open Thurs – Sat 11 – 4.  Showing work by Jillian Eldridge, Ben Fenton, Paula MacArthur and Nikki Tompsett.  We’re pretty pleased with the way it hangs together so it’d be nice to see some friendly faces.

If you’re looking to do  some art and craft rather than looking at the stuff, there’s a lovely ‘Making Weekender of Awesomness’ at The Queens Head in Rye!

In a nutshell its a weekend of making things for the pub’s first art fair on 26-27 March!   It’s in the function room, so out of the way of the main bars and there’s plenty of room to spread out and do lots of different stuff…  Bring your own finished and unfinished artworks, materials, favourite pens and brushes, sketches, idea seeds, inspirations and anything you want to work from.  There’ll be some materials available so don’t worry if you haven’t got any projects to bring along.  Make what you like, or collaborate with …others.

There’s more info here…

I think that’s enough to be going on with!

Best wishes,

Nikki

Slow Train to Rye

Firstly ‘Slow Train to Rye’ is the new Richard Adams show at The Easton Rooms Rye Art Gallery starting 26th February (until 27 March).  Richard must be one of our most popular local artists and works entirely with chalk pastel!

Surface Meaning

Next, a project I’m involved in!!  ‘Surface Meaning’ is a showcase of 4 artists from The School Creative Centre exhibiting in the old House of Hastings, Queens Road, Hastings.  New work from Jillian Eldridge, Ben Fenton, Paula MacArthur and Nikki Tompsett.  Join us for the private view on 4th March between 6.30pm and 8.30pm or thereafter on Thurs, Fri, Sat on 11 to 4pm til 27th March.  It’s an interesting bunch of work, from found photos and text, to freestanding papier mache painting/sculptures, crispy pop art screen prints and canvases, and gorgeous abstracted paintings.

Setting up...

Do you know about Rye Art and Craft Fair, which is run by Alice Mason?  This is a new monthly selling fair at the Rye Community Centre.  It is focused on all things handmade, from paintings, prints, lampshades, teddy bears, felt, jewellery, vintage stuff including clothes and hats.  Alice offers stands at an extremely affordable rate per table, so if you were considering giving it a go I would highly recommend it!  People have quite a lot of freedom to present their work however they like. Some even brought gazebo’s! I had never seen the hall looking so dynamic.  The atmosphere was friendly and approachable, with a cafe area selling interesting food and soft drinks.  The next one is Saturday 5th March 10am to 4pm.  The entry is free, come and check it out!

Then on Tuesday 8th March there’s Tea Party II at The School Creative Centre, a relaxed networking opportunity for any kind of visual artist/designer/makers.  Its a chance to catch up with other local artists, discuss exhibitions and project ideas.  Bring your own stuff to promote and find out what’s going on locally.  There’ll also be representatives from Rother Arts Development and the De La Warr Pavilion…  From 1pm to 3pm.  Tea and homemade cake will be served, bring your own if you fancy it!

Mad March Fair Poster

Lastly is The Queens Head‘s Mad March Fair on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of March which will be from 11am to 8pm.  Free entry all day.  An eclectic mix of art and craft as well as homemade cakes and preserves. The pitches are free, with commission taken on sales (which will be used to purchase art supplies for their new workshops).  All artists, makers and crafters welcome.

They also have a new series of participatory art workshops tailored to the skills and crafts that people might want to try.  Their monthly Art Corner will take place on Sundays in their Function Room, and provide a safe, inclusive space to collaborate, create, express yourself, share ideas, learn new things and above all have fun!

I think that’s all for now.

Let me know if you want me to promote your local events and opportunities!

Best,

Nikki

Welcome to The School’s Artists Resource blog.  Here we want to build a list of useful links and contacts for artists, crafts practitioners and creatives.  We will also post any opportunities we know of locally and nationally if we feel it is of use to you!

Please feel free to comment and make this space your own, it would be lovely to see this space growing into a really useful toolkit.

Best wishes,

Nikki

Visual Arts Co-ordinator @ The School Creative Centre