Gordon Dickinson's excellent Record of the Social Evening on the 27th of May

This can be viewed by going to www.youtube.co.uk and looking for gorgeousgordon. The series of photographs is called:
Swindon Open Studios...Artsite 27th May 2011-Display_2.m4v
It can be forwarded to anyone who cannot find it by this method.

Open Evening on Friday 27th of May at the Post Modern

People came, ate the food, drank the drinks, and chatted. Great. Thank you for coming.
It was billed as an information evening, so it should not have come as a surprise that at least one person was expecting a talk. I hope they were not too disappointed that this did not happen, and feel ready to email swindonopenstudios@hotmail.co.uk if queries do arise.
There were 3 raffle prizes not collected: 36 a red box of something, 32 - a bottle of wine, and 24 a bag. The easel will be put into the Launch Evening's raffle on the 9th of September
And here are the photos:

 The food with the raffle prizes in the background

 People at the evening, it's a bit out of focus but gives an idea of how many people attended.

This is a nice one of Debs Battaglia who is I hope taking part this year with her son George.

Thanks to the Co-op we now have our refreshments for the Open Evening on the 27th of May at the Post Modern

Doors open at 7.30pm on Friday night for our promotional evening.
We're hoping to see lots of artists coming along.
The food and drink has kindly been provided by the Co-op's Community Fund which is used to help community projects.

 Here's the manager outside the Swindon Co-operative shop

And here's the shopping. The white bread is for making those rolled sandwiches Toby had at his preview.

What a Surprise, we looked for Mazes and found an Eric Ravilious Exhibition at The Fry Art Gallery

The Fry Art Gallery in Castle Street, Saffron Walden in Essex is a gem of a gallery. It was packed with visitors to the Eric Ravilious exhibition on Sunday.
Well worth a visit if you are in the Saffron Walden area http://fryartgallery.org

Here's my favourite image of the Attic Bedroom from Brick House, Great Bardfield:

Substance Exhibition Photos - Opening night Saturday 21st May

The Substance exhibition is fascinating.
'Women in History' is the subject, and people's choices are varied.
It was amusing going round while two young people were looking at the exhibition. One of them said 'Wow, Margaret Thatcher', the other one must have looked mystified because the first one said 'Don't you know who Margaret Thatcher is?'
It was difficult to keep quiet.

Nicola Vesey-Williams 'Madonna's Corset' knitted wire with woven yarn, crocheted video tape and vegetable netting. It's a handbag and is not for sale.

Tim Carroll has made a papier mache figure, she's 'Ann Sexton' and can be purchased for £150.

Lynette Thomas  'Frida Kahlo' it's an embroidered and appliqued wall hanging and is not for sale.

Georgine Huntley 'Patti Smith is in my dreams' Mixed media £45

The Substance Exhibition Opening Night is this Saturday 21st May from 6.30pm onwards.

 The details of the exhibition are covered in the poster above. The opening night on Saturday is something to look forward to attending.

Photographs of some of the exhibits will be available from Wednesday 18th of May, in the meanwhile though, Maggie Harris has sent me a copy of a photo of her entry to the exhibition. It's featured below.

More information on Maggie's work and methodology appears on her blog:
www.stitchingwithschnauzerandsiamese.blogspot.com

David Bent is having an Open Day this Saturday 21st May

This Saturday, the 21st of May, David Bent is opening his gallery at the Old Nursery in Marlborough Lane  from 9am - 4pm.
Why not pay him a visit?
Prices range from £5 - £250
www.bentartgallery.co.uk

David H Jones' Studio is open every weekend in May as part of West Berks and North Hants 2011 Open Studios

David H Jones is a regular participant in our Open Studios; last year his work was in the  Central Library.

To visit his studio, have a look at the details below:

They do look a bit small, try Googling 'West Berks and North Hants Open Studios 2011'

North Somerset Arts Week - Portishead

Open Studios, or art's weeks or whatever you call them are great.
They offer a chance to see artist's work, talk to them about it, and see where they work is so exciting.
 The walk round the studios in itself was inspiring with many breathtaking views of the sea, and in the case of some of them, from inside the house.
Janet Haigh and Stephen Jacobson have the most amazing views from their home right beside the Severn Estuary, the changes of light and mood could make it difficult to do anything but look across the estuary.

 These two pieces above are made from enamelled copper, made by an interesting method. Janet runs Heartspace Studios in Bristol, for more information, visit her blog :www.janethaigh.wordpress.com
Even the small enamelled pieces seen in the corners of the window were lovely, they don't meet Janet's high standards and so she wouldn't sell them.

 These two photographs show work by Dawn Sidoli, and below people looking at her work. Dawn is a member of Severn Sea artists, her work can be viewed on their website: www.severnseaartists.co.uk

Severn Sea Artists advertise using banners and posters

Four of the venues in Portishead exhibiting in North Somerset arts week belong to Severn Sea artists. They used banners and posters framed in A boards to advertise venues to great effect. To see more go to: www.severnseaartists.co.uk

North Somerset Arts Week 29 April- 8 May 2011

This weekend is the last chance to have a look at some of the 300 artist's work on show.
The area covered stretches form Portishead in the north to Weston - Super - Mare in the south.
To find out more, visit: www.northsomersetarts.org.uk
More on Monday about what's on show.

A Two Day Interactive Photography Exhibition at Artsite next week

 This is the Press Release:

“Far Away and Nearby” is an interactive photographic exhibition which looks at the complexities of time and memory in connection with landscape.

Every person’s memories are unique; an individual set of references. Memories help to shape our lives and make judgements on how we view our world; they help us to discover who we are and where we fit in. The images throughout the exhibition will be displayed so that the viewer can interact with them, discovering their own reading of the images, remembering and recalling. Viewers will have the opportunity to record and leave their own memories on postcards. These will then be displayed and become part of the exhibition, making the whole display a visual representation of memory.

Postcards will be placed around the town centre during the morning of Wednesday, 11^th May for the public to discover. The exhibition will be open to all at the Post Modern Gallery, Theatre Square between 3.00pm and 6.00pm on Wednesday and between 11.00am and 3.00pm on Thursday, 12^th May.

A Fabulous Start to the Literature Festival at 5.30am this morning.

The Literature Festival brochure  features an advertisement for Open Studios on one of their pages and is a the Literature Festival is a wonderful event in it's own right, so I think the magical start of the festival could be mentioned here with a couple of photos taken as the sun majestically rose this morning.
The first photo features the lone piper, and the second one, two fire jugglers. If you don't normally attend, make a note in your diary, the first Monday in May at 5.30am in Lawn Woods is the place to be.

Yes it really was this good.