Tag: Manx Art

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Isle of Man Art News – 6 March 2017

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The News is kindly Supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council.

 

Did you catch Sarah Hendy’s new show on Manx Radio last Wednesday, ‘Spotlight’? It’s at 5.30 – 6.00pm every Wednesday so a great listen for your drive home from work and a brilliant way to keep up with everything in the Arts that’s going on around the Island. It’s focussing on everything creative from music and visual art to stage performance and artistic hobbies. I was really delighted to be asked to do a regular spot on the show to cover the visual arts and my first contribution will be aired this week. It really feels like there is new and vibrant energy gathering behind our local artists and performers which I hope will continue to build and grow so that the Arts has a more positive impact and plays an integral role in the day-to-day lives of Manx people and visitors to the Island –  and indeed reaches those who live in other countries.

Talking about reaching further afield, local artist Stephanie Quayle is doing a fantastic job of raising the profile of the Island with her artistic skills and is again showing her work in Japan, this time at Gallery 38 in Tokyo. I’m hoping to catch up with her in the not too distant future to give you a better insight into the amazing work she is doing. For now, here are one or two pictures from the Tokyo show.

 

I spotted this video to share with you of Kevin Atherton, posted up by The Sayle Gallery. I think it’s really interesting, and quite fun and thought provoking, that he could have conceived such a piece of work forty years ago and is here using it today. The clip is of a twenty-something Kevin Atherton in conversation with a sixty-something Kevin Atherton in an exclusive performance of his piece ‘In Two Minds’ for UCM art students last week. Kevin is a Manx artist included in the current exhibition ‘Turning Point’ at the Sayle Gallery, where he is showing his work ‘Log 2’, which documents his passage away from the Isle of Man on The Manx Maid. Kevin’s piece ‘In Two Minds’ will soon be shown in The Whitechapel Gallery, London, where Kevin worked as a young man.

 

 

Julie Collins has again had three of her beautiful watercolours selected for exhibition by the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 2017 at the Mall Galleries, showing in London 6th – 22nd April. Congratulations Julie – they’re gorgeous. The Isle Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of Julie’s artwork this Summer. That’s definitely one not to be missed! I’ll keep you posted about dates in due course. Click the pictures to view.

 

Paul Parker posted up this video of himself at work, however, it would seem that the painting suffered due to his preoccupation with his recording facilities! “Painting is now in the bin! Must do better.” Oh dear, I know what you mean Paul, being a novice at the whole recording thing myself. Fortunately for me though my lack of skill in that arena doesn’t have such disastrous consequences.

 

 

 

Sunday 26th March is Mother’s Day. I’m sure you’ve all got this highlighted in your diaries and calendars but in case you need some inspiration as to what to buy these fantastic ladies, Claire Pearse aka Element.Isle is on the case and has been stocking up with some lovely pieces of her distinctive jewellery made from ethically sourced silver. She’s based at Grenaby Studios, Ballabeg, along with Graham Hall and new residents Rosie Glassey and Graham Rider. Graham Rider moved to the Island last year having previously been based in Norfolk. His wide-ranging arts experience includes teaching and he and has worked for a number of years as a visual artist. Graham has some high-profile customers such as Ernst & Young, Guardian Royal Properties and Railtrack and has had his work exhibited in London and the National Railway Museum in York. Graham is now enjoying our beautiful countryside here on the Island and concentrating on landscape painting. You can see some of his work on the new Grenaby blog which is a lovely arty read: grenabystudios.wordpress.com/2017.

Here are a couple of pictures of Claire’s latest pieces.

 

 

Another lady who is geared up for Mother’s Day is Katy Mitchell. Her studio at Lower Bishopscourt Farm, Kirk Michael, will be open on Saturday 25th, 12.00 – 5.00pm where you can purchase her lovely ceramics. You can also buy from her Etsy shop and if you don’t fancy a trip out of town you can pop to the shop at the Manx Museum in Douglas which stocks not only Katy’s work but also several other local artists – in fact it’s a really great place to find a nice gift for whatever the occasion might be.

 

Dates for your Diary

 

On now – Rob Jones’s Drawn Steel Through the Seasons – Milntown Gardens, Ramsey

On now – Western Photographic Society Exhibition at the Manx Museum

On now – 11 March Manx Landscapes and Seascapes at The Isle Gallery (Group Show)

On now – 11 March Hodgson Loom – Isle of Man Photographic Society Exhibition

On now – 27  March – Turning Point at The Sayle Gallery

8 March – Sarah Hendy’s new arts show ‘Spotlight’ on Manx Radio, 5.30 – 6.00pm (and every Wednesday)

16 March – 2.00 – 3.00pm Manx Radio – Women Today with me, Christy DeHaven and Beth Espey

16 March 6.00pm – 8.00pm DED Networking and Skills event for creative professionals at Noa Bakehouse

16 March 6.30pm – 10.00pm – Isle of Architecture – PechaKucha 20×20: On Buildings – The Alpine Cafe, Regent Street, Douglas

23 March 7.00pm – 10.00pm SofA filmclub 07 – EAMES the painter + the architect at the Bath & Bottle

25 March – Mother’s Day Shop – Katy Mitchell Ceramics at Lower Bishopscourt Farm, Kirk Michael

27 March – Jimmy Duggan Solo Show at The Isle Gallery

 

And finally, here’s this week’s round up of images from Social Media. 

 

 

Have a great week!

Jane x

 

Keep up-to-date by ‘Liking’ the Facebook Page or by ‘Following’ me on Linkedin or Twitter@manxart or Instagram @manxartdirectory or Pinterest. To get in touch please email:jane@graceandhall.com. 

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Isle of Man Art News – 13 February 2017

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The News is kindly Supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council.

 

There was lots on this weekend and I had a diary clash between the opening of the new Hodgson Loom exhibition and the inaugural Marshall Cubbon Lecture at the Manx Museum. I couldn’t really be late for the lecture so I decided to be early for the Isle of Man Photograhic Society’s opening at the Gallery instead. I’ve mentioned before that I’m quite a fan of photography as an artistic medium and the show didn’t disappoint, with some lovely photographs by Chris Blyth, Sue Blythe, Jeremy Broome-Smith, Bill Callow, Tony Curtis and Sue Leeming. I really must learn to use my camera. The show is on until 11th  March which is just as well as I really didn’t have a chance to take it in properly, so I will definitely be heading back for a second look.

The Marshall Cubbon lecture entitled ‘The Fight for Beauty’ by Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE was very interesting and I really enjoyed it so it was a shame that the lecture theatre was only around half full. A former Director General of the National Trust, Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England and Secretary to the Council for National Parks, Dame Fiona spoke very eloquently about how beauty has been embraced through the last century and a half, the importance of influencers such as John Ruskin and Octavia Hill and some of the challenges faced by the National Trust, noting how ‘beauty’ has been relegated to the back seat by the all-consuming political obsession for ‘economic growth’. I didn’t think to ask if it was being recorded but I do hope so. I’ll check this week to find out if it was and if so, whether I can share it with you.

 

Sunday saw me take a rather wintery drive to The Isle Gallery for the opening of their new show with a collection including some of the Island’s best Artists – in no particular order – Nancy Corkish, David Byrne, Bruno Cavellec, Petrina Kent, Anna Clucas, Colleen Corlett, and Howard Shimmin to name but a few.

It’s a very nice collection of work and, as always at show openings, a number of Artists were there in person. I had a lovely catch up with Howard Shimmin and his wife Sue and also Colleen and David Corlett. I also had a chat to John Caley and his wife who introduced me to Yvonne Cresswell, curator of Social History at the Manx Museum. All in all it was worth braving the weather. Here is a little taster for you.

 

Of course it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, so it would be very remiss of me not to include a couple of pics as a nod to local artistic endeavours in this area. Skimming through the list of Artists most likely to have produced this kind of imagery, two jumped out immediately – Juan Moore who quite often draws people’s innards and Adam Berry for his gorgeous girls and uplifting style. Sure enough, they didn’t disappoint and I managed to find some hearts to share. I think Juan’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is particularly lovely which is why I’ve used it as this week’s featured image.

Adam’s ‘With Love & Kisses’ T-Shirts are unisex, super soft grey with retro red print and are also available with a dark grey print on a charcoal tee – both available from his website shop – cost £25.

 

I was super-chuffed a couple of weeks ago that Phil Kneen picked my daughter, Ellen, to model for him (he didn’t realise that Ellen was my daughter as we have different surnames). Needless to say, I’ll be keeping these ones!

 

The Creative Network has published some key dates for your Diary. I’ve put them in the Directory calendar and if you go and find them on there you can save them to your own Google calendar. In particular, do note that there is a Social Evening this week and, not to be missed, the Isle of Man Art Festival will be again be held over the May bank holiday weekend. It was absolutely ace last year and I really enjoyed trying to get to all of the venues. I think making it my mission to call in to as many venues as possible made it all the more fun, planning out the most efficient route in advance and taking account of Artists who were only showing on certain days. The planning was executed with military-like precision and much tea and cake was consumed along the way. My friend Sarah, who I commandeered into accompanying me last year, enjoyed herself so much that she was very excited to hear about this year’s event and has already put it in her diary.

Social Evening – 16th February 6-8pm at The Sayle Gallery

Website Update Cutoff – 28th February

IOM Art Festival Entries Cutoff – 31st March

IOM Art Festival Launch – 20th April – Noa Bakehouse

IOM Art Festival 2017 – 29th April – 1st May

 

Dates for your Diary

 

On now – Western Photographic Society Exhibition at the Manx Museum

On now – 24 February – Bob Hitchin’s Digi-rama at the Erin Arts Centre

On now – 19 February – ‘4 Years On’ and ‘Thalloo as Keayn’ (Land and Sea) at The Sayle Gallery

On now – Hodgson Loom Photographic Exhibition

On now – Manx Landscapes and Seascapes at The Isle Gallery (Group Show)

16 February, 6pm – 8pm at The Sayle Gallery – Creative Network Social Evening

21 February – Draw Folks, Fairies & Themselves with Juan Moore at the Manx Museum (ages 8 -16 years)

23 February – Draw Victorious Vikings in Valhalla with Juan Moore at the House of Manannan (ages 8 -16 years) 

Women Today

 

Here’s this week’s round up of images from Social Media. Enjoy.

 

 

Have a great week!

Jane x

Keep up-to-date by ‘Liking’ the Facebook Page or by ‘Following’ me on Linkedin or Twitter@manxart or Instagram @manxartdirectory or Pinterest. To get in touch please email:jane@graceandhall.com. 

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Isle of Man Art News – 23 January 2017

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The News is kindly Supported by the Isle of Man Arts Council.

 

After a quiet few weeks which has seen both the Sayle Gallery and the Isle Gallery doing some routine maintenance and refurbishment to get ready for the coming year things are now starting to hot up again. The Sayle previewed its joint show on Friday evening – ‘4 Years On’ and ‘Thalloo as Keayn’ and there was a fabulous turnout for it. 

 

I got to the preview early and did a bit of a walk around the ‘4 Years On’ side of the exhibition with my phone and spoke to Sharon Beedell and Rosie Wood.  I posted them up on Facebook over the weekend but in case you missed them you can click on the links to watch them. I’ve included the video of the gallery walk around below. Unfortunately it got too busy and noisy to to do the same for the ‘Thalloo as Keayn’ gallery.

 

 

Curated by the Sayle Gallery in collaboration with University College Isle of Man, ‘Four Years On’, features the work of Helen Tate, Kirsti Penzes, Rosie Wood, Ruth Gale, Sharon Beedell and Margaret Buchanan, who first came together as a group four years ago when they were studying for an HND in fine art. Carola Rush was a guest tutor on their course. Since that time, life and differing rates of study split the group with different members working together at different times. Three of the students graduated last year with a degree in Fine art, the other three will hopefully graduate this year. 

Photos below by Helen Fox (all pictures in my news posts can be viewed in larger format by clicking on them).

 

The second exhibition, Land and Sea, is the work of Ruth Blindell and Laura Espinosa. Both artists are inspired by this Island on which they live and work. Ruth has a close affinity with the sea that surrounds us and has linked her maritime imagery with Manx music and traditional songs (in Manx Gaelic) to produce a body of work entitled ‘Manx Musical Seas’. Whilst away studying, Ruth suffered homesickness and a longing for the sea which has influenced her creative output. 

Laura Espinosa’s work has a strong connection with the land, often focussing on trees as an iconic symbol of our Celtic culture. Originally from the Isle of Man, Laura left to study at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design before spending time living in England and travelling across the globe. Laura returned to live on the Island and rekindled her attachment to the place. She discovered that her experiences of far flung lands had helped enhance her vision of home. 

 

Jimmy Duggan has been working on his mural in Guttery Gable (the cut through between Market Street and Strand Street next to TK Maxx. I went along on Friday lunchtime to see how it was coming along and had a chat to him. I hadn’t realised just how busy that pathway is and it was really great to see everyone looking at it as they walked by. While I was there a couple randomly stopped for a chat and asked a few questions about the work which was really good to see. The couple had also seen Jimmy’s work over on the side of Spill the Beans near the Market Hall and it was interesting to hear the lady say that the relative size of the house in that picture had really caught her imagination. It really is encouraging to see people engaging with Jimmy’s street art.

 

We have some incredibly talented Artists on the Island. Stephanie Quayle is exhibiting her monkey sculptures for one week only in her incredible ‘Jenga’ installation at the Fitzrovia Chapel, 2 Pearson Place, London. The Private View is this evening, Monday 23rd January 6-8pm and it is open to the public Wednesday 25th January 11am – 6pm  and Saturday 28th January 11am – 6pm.

“Forty fired clay monkeys of various shapes and sizes will be perched atop the giant ‘jenga’ wooden structure, within the stunning Grade II* listed building, surrounded by its ornate gold mosaic ceiling and marble walls.

Jenga was first commissioned for the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 as part of the group exhibition Vita Vitale, curated by Artwise for the Azerbaijan Pavilion. The Fitzrovia Chapel is recently restored and reopened, and was the chapel for the original Middlesex Hospital which was demolished in 2005. The chapel was designed in 1891 by celebrated Victorian architect John Loughborough Pearson and was completed posthumously in 1929 by his son Frank. They were heavily inspired by the Italian gothic style and in particular San Marco in Venice, and even employed Italian materials and craftsmen to complete the work. Having been originally built for Venice, you are invited to visit Stephanie Quayle’s Jenga in another wonderful Venice-inspired setting.”

Photographs are courtesy of TJ Boulting Gallery and the one of Fitzrolvia Chapel is credit to John Tcr, also taken from the TJ Boulting event page.

 

Jeremy Paul must have been feeling the cold since New Year as his latest pictures all have snowy and icy settings. I can’t help feeling all warm and fuzzy about his subject matter though. Polar Bears and Penguins – just gorgeous.

 

Colleen Corlett has been busy with Polymer Clay and has been ‘doodling dragons and octopus tentacles’ which she can do in the living room rather than her studio, so it’s a bit more sociable.

 

And Adam Berry’s website is now live! It looks great. Also you can now buy the stamp sets from the Post Office with Adam’s designs as these were officially released last week. Here are a couple of pictures he posted up on Facebook which he said were ‘Trump inspired’; ‘Hope’ and ‘Hopeless’.

 

Dates for your Diary

 

On now to the beginning of February – Hodgson Loom Open Art Competition show 

On now – Western Photographic Society Exhibition at the Manx Museum

28 January – Prize Giving – Hodgson Loom Open Art Competition, 3.30pm

9 January – 24 February – Bob Hitchin’s Digi-rama at the Erin Arts Centre

20 January – 19 February – ‘4 Years On’ and ‘Thalloo as Keayn’ (Land and Sea) at The Sayle Gallery

4 February – Manx Landscapes and Seascapes at The Isle Gallery (Group Show)

9 February – Noa Bakehouse at 6pm – IOM Arts Council Pitch for Funding

21 February – Draw Folks, Fairies & Themselves with Juan Moore at the Manx Museum (ages 8 -16 years)

23 February – Draw Victorious Vikings in Valhalla with Juan Moore at the House of Manannan (ages 8 -16 years) 

 

Here’s this week’s round up of images from Social Media. Enjoy.

 

 

Have a great week!

Jane x

Keep up-to-date by ‘Liking’ the Facebook Page or by ‘Following’ me on Linkedin or Twitter@manxart or Instagram @manxartdirectory or Pinterest. To get in touch please email:jane@graceandhall.com.