Elaine Edge | Manx Art Directory

Well I’m back on the Rock and as promised last week, normal service is now resumed! The holiday was fab and despite having spent a week in the Costa del Sol with temperatures of 30 degrees plus I’m sure I’m still not as brown as Rob Jones who attributes his tan to good old Manx sunshine. Ferg (my dog) survived being looked after by the kids and I do believe she looks a bit slimmer, which I certainly do not, and the day job – it’s Sunday afternoon as I write this – is now only one sleep away. Whilst it’s back to ‘the norm’ for now, there is lots to look forward to and these are exciting times for both myself and the Artists listed on the website as from 1 October I will be reducing my hours at work to spend more time on the Directory and help Artists to promote and sell their work. Huge thanks to my current employers, Tufton Oceanic, for being so supportive and allowing me to do this.

The other exciting thing that is happening is that I have entered the Directory into the ‘Innovation’ category of the Ashgrove Creative Awards competition run by Ashgrove Marketing as the publicity will be a fantastic way to help raise awareness of the website and the Artists listed. The People’s Choice Award is sponsored by Ramsey Crookall and is your chance to have a say on the marketing campaigns submitted.

I would be really, really grateful if you could please vote for the Directory if you have not already done so (and get all your friends to vote too!). To vote, all you have to do is go to Ashgrove Marketing’s Facebook page and ‘like’ (or love if you feel so inclined) the post with the Directory on it and if you want you can also leave a comment.

To those who have already voted and commented, thank you so much! So many of your comments make me feel very humble indeed as I’m just really enjoying what I am doing. Without the support, trust and belief of the Artists in this venture the website would not be where it is at today. With your support in this competition I hope to take the website to the next stage of it’s development and to make it an invaluable resource for everyone with an interest in the Visual Arts.

I’m loving Rebecca Odessa’s latest work. If you follow this blog regularly you may remember that Rebecca spent a week at The Slade in London recently so I’m guessing that these pictures are implementing some of her new thinking. Having seen some of Rebecca’s early work, less is definitely more in her case as some of her early work seemed to be too busy. I really like the simplicity of these, but don’t get me wrong! Whilst they look simple I am quite sure that the majority of us non-artist human beings could never conceive producing something so pretty. (Click the pics to view in the Lightbox).

Colleen Corlett is busy preparing for her new solo exhibition which will be at The Sayle Gallery in October. It’s going to be a mixture of different media – watercolours, pastels, sandblasted glass, stained glass, tapestries, quilting and ceramics. Colleen posted up some pictures on FB which as you would expect were looking great, but it wasn’t those that caught my eye this week. It was another FB post of hers – a portrait of a friend. I had no idea she was such a great portrait artist but I think this goes to show just what a talented lady she is.

Check out the latest MakeMarket events coming up this week. Bethany Williams, Alice Fayle, and Lisa Angwin will be in the Market Hall Thursday/Friday this week to talk about their blossoming careers, how they are making it in the competitive fashion world, and to inspire others to follow in their footsteps. To read the full press release follow the link above.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Sayle Gallery is planning to hold a month long exhibition between 8 September – 7 October, celebrating the life and work of the late and much missed artist Simon Buttimore and is asking for your help. The gallery is working to track down Simon’s artworks which he produced over his 40 year career. Everything loaned will be treated with the greatest of respect, the owner will get full accreditation and the item will be safely returned once the exhibition is over. Please call Carola Rush at The Sayle on 674557 if you have any of his artwork that you would be happy to loan to the exhibition or, if immovable, you are happy to be photographed.

simon-park-photo-simon-buttimore — Simon Buttimore – photo by Simon Park

Dates for your Diary:

On now – Hodgson Loom Gallery – Summer Symphony of Silk

On now – The Isle Gallery – Juan Moore’s ‘Odd Days’

On now – Studio 42 – Summer Show (Win Norton and Catherine James)

On now – The Sayle Gallery – Art in the Park Display

16 August – The Isle Gallery – Children’s Workshop ‘Animal Portraits’

16 & 17 August – Silver Willow Studio (Erica Kermode) – Summer Ceramics (limited places so please book)

18/19 August – MakeMarket at Douglas Market Hall

20 August through to 19 November – Manx Museum – ‘Islands and Bridges’ The Art of Roger Dean

and, if you happen to be in Guernsey next month, Jeremy Paul’s new exhibition will be at the Coach House Gallery, St. Peters, Guernsey from 4 – 30 September.

Here are a few images I’ve saved from social media over the past week. Click on the pictures to open in the Lightbox. Enjoy.

bruno-cavellec-belshazzar — Bruno Cavellec

alice-fayle-pressed-flowers-velvet — Alice Fayle

If you enjoy these news updates, please Share them with your friends and colleagues on FB and Linkedin to help raise awareness of our very talented local Artists.

Have a great week!

Jane

Keep up-to-date by ‘Liking’ the Facebook Page or by ‘Following’ me on Linkedin or Twitter @manxart. You can also ‘Subscribe’ using the button top right of the screen.

svetlana-cameron-Portrait of Richard Sowler2

I do hope you are enjoying these Isle of Man Art News updates – I’m getting lots of positive feedback so far but please feel free to comment at the end of this post. We have such amazing talent on the Island but for all that the Manx grapevine generally works pretty well it can be hard for Artists to get their work in front of the right audience (that’s you, folks). So please do keep following and sharing and telling all your friends and colleagues about the Manx Art Directory, because the more people who know about it, the more useful it will be and the more likely our fabulous Artists are going to be able to keep doing what they do best. If you would like to help me to do this by sponsoring the News please do get in touch: jane@graceandhall.com (tel 450997).

First up – well known Isle of Man Artist, Juan Moore, is busy beavering away as he has a solo exhibition at the Isle Gallery coming up this summer. You can keep up with what Juan is up to by following his Instagram page, but for now, here are a few pictures of work in progress. (You can click on any of the pictures in the News updates to see them in more detail).

The Isle of Man Arts Council is offering to help promote arts events or activities for children during the TT holidays. They are working on a ‘What’s On Where’ poster for the TT school holidays aimed at young people aged between 5 and 18. The poster will promote arts events and activities happening around the island during the holidays. The poster will be distributed to all the island schools, libraries and youth clubs/projects. If you’d like your event to be included on this poster all you need to do is forward the following information to Kieran Moore at Kieran.moore@gov.im by Friday 29th April:

– The name of the event/activity
– The target age group
– Where and when it will be held
– The price per person
– Contact details for booking (telephone number or email address)

The first IOM Acapella Festival is happening in September 2016. Each year a local artist will be commissioned to design and create 6 trophies and approximately 100 medals for participants in any suitable medium and style. The trophies cover awards including vocal ability, vocal arrangement, stage presence, strongest song choice and best performance from a choir and soloist. The medals will be presented to all participants as a souvenir of the competition. Louisa Thomas, Creative Director of the Festival, would like to hear from local artists who can design hand-finished pieces with musical inspiration and a contemporary twist. She will need an idea of what the trophies and medals will look like, how you have represented a contemporary and innovative musical style and what kind of price you will charge for the commission.

The Directory now has a Twitter account: @manxart, and was featured on the ‘Women Today’ programme on Manx Radio when I was invited to go on the show last Tuesday. Hats off to Beth Espey, Christy DeHaven and Jo Pack – they are so professional and make it look so easy! I had to have two cups of tea and a lie down after the show to recover 🙂 Jo was unfortunately not there on Tuesday – get well soon Jo.

Elaine Edge got in touch to let me know that she has this fabulous mosaic, Archibald Knox inspired, cross for sale. It was made for Tynwald Day with the help of local school children but sadly has not been installed anywhere. Elaine tells me that she has had it in conservatory for 2 years now, awaiting a home. As you can see, it’s not exactly little (about 8ft tall by 3ft wide). It was supposed to be installed in a public space and I think it would look amazing as the centre piece in a large foyer, hotel lobby, conservatory, private swimming pool, cafe, restaurant…… you get the idea. If you can think of someone who might be interested in this piece please pass this on or put them in touch with me for more details: jane@graceandhall.com (or phone 450997).

Kate Jerry announced that her studio will be open during the Isle of Man Art Festival, and along with the launch of new artwork, she will also be releasing dates of the new season of adult art workshops at the Isle Gallery – along with artists Anna Clucas and Colette Gambell. I think I might just enrol on one of those myself since my artistic prowess extends no further than drawing stick figures! Do check out the Creative Network’s Facebook Page and their Website where you can find information on some of the Artists who will be participating in the Isle of Man Art Festival over the May bank holiday weekend.

Wrist bands and guides for the Festival are now available to purchase before the Festival via Noa Bakehouse, the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal and The Sayle Gallery in Douglas, The House of Manannan in Peel, Presence of Mann in Laxey, Studio 42 in Port St Mary and Thompson Travel in Port Erin. During the event, you can also buy them at the Corrin Hall and Artists’ studios.

I finally had a chance to go and have a look at Milen Stankov’s ‘Portrait of Mann’ exhibition which is currently on in Ramsey Town Hall, and I’m so glad I did. It’s a beautiful series of portrait photographs, some very formal and some not so formal, but all of them capture the essence of their subject. What I particularly liked was the brief biography of each person; in those biographies, there was commonality – that the Manx people are welcoming, good-hearted people and that the Isle of Man is a pretty good place to live. But we know that already don’t we? It’s why we live here 🙂 Milen announced that because there has been a lot of interest in the exhibition it has been extended to 19 April, so you’ve still got a chance to see it if you hurry.

Phil Kneen having returned from Japan, made a one-day pit-stop and is now travelling on a 2,200 mile journey through Norway and Sweden. Here is a link to his Blog which I think many of you would very much enjoy, and below a few recent photographs of Lofoten, Norway, from his current travels.

Svetlana Cameron is a member of the expert jury of the European Art Week project for the 2016 season and will be judging an art competition in Ukraine this month. She also hinted that she has an Isle of Man exhibition coming up in July – more details to follow in due course. Last month Keystone Law celebrated the launch of their Isle of Man office. Svetlana exhibited her artworks at an exclusive reception at Laureston Manor in Douglas attended by nearly 180 guests and was very grateful to her clients who allowed her to borrow their portraits for the display.

This busy lady also posted up photographs of two of her latest works, ‘Charlie’ and ‘Portrait of Richard Sowler’. I think you’ll agree they are pretty impressive.