Brita Granström – The Night Swimmer
We're looking forward to seeing Brita Granström's latest exhibition in Newcastle which runs until 31st October 2014.
For this exhibition, The Night Swimmer, Brita draws upon her Swedish roots to blur the boundary between observation and imagination, reality and dream. In a narrative sequence that opens with playful domestic studies and bedroom interiors she leads us at dusk, by way of farmyard and orchard, to a lake where women struggle with storm-blown washing, and a dark jetty awaits the night swimmer.
Brita’s paintings leave room for interpretation and imagination, allowing us to make up our own Midsummer night’s dream; however serene or haunting.
The exhibition runs until 31st October 2014 at University Gallery, Northumbria University, Sandyford Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST. Visit their website for further details.
Brita Granström and Mick Manning also collaborated on a contribution to our fundraising journal Random Spectacular No. 2.
Ed Kluz at Pentreath & Hall
From 4th-14th July 2014 Ed Kluz is exhibiting a series of new works with our friends at Pentreath & Hall, shown alongside a selection of original works and prints by Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden.
Ed is fascinated by the objects of our cultural heritage. He seeks out the eccentric, the lost and the overlooked. Follies, curiosities, vanished buildings and folklore inspire artworks which explore themes of renewal and reinvention.
To date Ed has designed two fabrics for St Jude's, Painswick and Lionheart, with more in the pipeline. We worked with Alun Callender on this film about Ed's work.
Amongst the new works being exhibited are (from top to bottom below) The Rushton Triangular Lodge (scraperboard - £975), Blickling Hall (linocut - unframed £225 - edition of 18), King Henry's Hunting Lodge, Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire (scraperboard - £875), Kew Palace (scraperboard - £745).
From 4th to 14th July at Pentreath & Hall, 17 Rugby Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3QT. Telephone 020 7430 2526. Open 11am–6pm Mon–Sat.
Aftermath
Our friends Jennings Fine Art are hosting an exhibition of British Art produced between 1914 and 1939 at The Art Workers Guild in Bloomsbury from Monday 16th until Saturday 21st June 2014.
The exhibition features work by a number of artists including Eric Ravilious, A S Hartrick, Paul Nash and William Larkins.
The exhibition also features a newly editioned linocut print by Marthe Armitage, commissioned for the exhibition. 'Tiger Moth' was originally cut as a wallpaper repeat but is available from the exhibition in an edition of 25 copies.
Aftermath - British Art 1914-1939 runs from Monday 16th June to Saturday 21st June 2014 at The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT. Open 10am until 4pm.
Further details are available from neil@jenningsfineart.co.uk
William Larkins - Work or Roadmen - etching, 1925
Paul Nash - The Sluice - lithograph, 1920
A.S. Hartrick - On Munitions: Dangerous Work (Packing TNT) - lithograph, 1917
Marthe Armitage - Tiger Moth - linocut, 2014
Away with the Birds
This August Hanna Tuulikki's heartfelt re-weaving of Gaelic song will be performed live on the Isle of Canna.
Away with the Birds will be performed by a female vocal ensemble in the beautiful harbour of the Isle of Canna, where the music reverberates with the bird-calls and the ebb of the tide.
Hanna Tuulikki is a Glasgow-based artist and composer. Away with the Birds is her most ambitious work to date. Selecting Gaelic song from historical archives, she has sought out extracts and fragments which imitate birdsong and rewoven them into an extraordinary soundscape. Each of the five movements represents a different habitat and bird community – wader, sea-bird, wildfowl, corvid, and cuckoo.
Find out more about how you can support this Kickstarter project
Tom Mabon
Painter Tom Mabon has an exhibition of new work entitled Common Ground opening on 7th June 2014 at the Roger Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow.
Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife and trained at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, Tom has lived on the Black Isle since 1985. His paintings document the many seasons he has witnessed. He's won many awards since graduating including the Royal Glasgow Institute Armour Award in 2012 and a major prize at the 7th Cleveland International Drawing Biennale in 1985.
Find out more about Tom Mabon's work
Secret Gardens of Spitalfields
Having spent a couple of weeks living in Spitalfields for the recent St Jude's In the City exhibition, now we're back north it's a shame we won't be able to visit some of these secret gardens of Spitalfields which will open to the public on Saturday 7th June 2014 as part of the National Gardens Scheme.
As Spitalfields Life founder The Gentle Author points out:
"If you did not know of the existence of these gardens, you might think Spitalfields was an entirely urban place with barely a leaf in sight, but in fact every terrace conceals a string of verdant little gardens and yards filled with plants and trees that defy the dusty streets beyond."
Find out more via Spitalfields Life
Tommy Perman & 59 Productions
Our friend Tommy Perman has recently collaborated with 59 Productions on their commission for Sydney Opera House's VIVID festival. Tommy explains:
"A couple of months ago I received an email with the subject: 'Illustrator Task (From Hell?)' from my old friend Leo (co-founder of 59 Productions). The task was to produce a technical drawing detailing all of the tiles of the sails on the Sydney Opera House. 59 would use this drawing as part of their pre-production process for an impressive commission they'd won to light up the famous landmark with colourful visuals for the annual VIVID festival.
I replied to Leo saying "this doesn't look too arduous". I'm used to drawing intensely detailed images but I perhaps underestimated just how many tiles there are on the roof of the Sydney Opera House! But like the brave soul that I am, I plotted on, hunched over a hot graphics tablet for many hours longer than is medically advisable. To retain some sanity while drawing I decided to colour in each tile as I went – I told 59 to just disregard these colours though as all they needed was the position of the tiles. After days at the screen I finished the drawing and sent it off, happy that I'd played a small part in such a cool project.
I have a fairly busy life at the moment and I'd pretty much forgotten all about this job until the other Friday evening, my friend Mark (also of 59 Productions) posted a link to a Daily Mail slideshow of the opening night of the VIVID festival. I was flicking through the images thinking "these are stunning, it's ace that I was involved..." I'd almost reached the end of the slideshow and was wondering how great it'd be to see some of my own work on such a large canvas. And then I came across a photo of the Opera House illuminated with my brightly coloured drawing. I don't think I've felt that kind of jaw-dropping awe since my girlfriend told me she was pregnant!
Apparently 59 loved the colours in my drawing and decided it would become part of the final piece. I'm truly honoured to have my work shown in such a high profile way."
Tommy Perman is an artist, designer and musician based in Edinburgh. A founding member of the artist collective/experimental pop band FOUND, Tommy now concentrates on his own work as artist, illustrator and graphic designer.
Tommy and Rob St. John feature in the second issue of our Random Spectacular journal, with a contribution exploring their recent Water Of Life project.
