Bank Street Arts : Louisa May Parker

I was invited to take up a residency at Bank Street Arts after I submitted a work for the Sheffield Artists Book Prize show and was disqualified for contravening the regulations (no special installation) Naturally, John Clarke, the creative director at Bank Street Arts, knew a good thing when he saw one and offered me the opportunity to show the disqualified work, Table/Book, at another time and also offered a residency to explore drawing and performance. The Table/book became part of my solo show Grey Area – Table, Book and Other Drawings in January/February 2012.I have used the residency as an opportunity to make drawing work on a larger scale than I can in my studio space and to experiment with drawing which expanded the experience for both artist and audience.After visiting the centre and discussing ideas with staff and other resident artists my first work for the residency was installed in Gallery 2 and titled Please find… This intricate and extremely delicate wall drawing which hovered around the edges of visibility was impossible to view in its entirety from any single viewpoint. White material on white walls and tiny pencil lines mapped out a series of experimental forms which viewers followed around the space, each new movement revealing a new aspect, positioning the drawing as a physical encounter.After this I developed a solo show around the Table/book, and perhaps in response to the lightness of Please find… the new work relied on darkness, low contrast, gleam and formal similarities. I developed some new drawing and explored new themes for the show, presented in Gallery 1 for a month, which was well received.Next, I used the project space in the basement to present a collaborative work with an artist from Bradford, Phill Harding, who works with sound. Our work, Nimbostratus, gradually obscured his 2005 sound-work Ubiquitous, with a high definition recording of my wall drawing, which can still be viewed.During the residency, from September 2011 till May 2012 I explored the uses and possibilities of drawing and performance. Drawing as a spatial, multi dimensional realm which takes in the traditional formal elements: line, tone, texture, contrast, composition etc. but merges these aspects with conditions such as intimacy, responsiveness, collectivity and humour.I will be making some small interventions which might become part of the fabric of the building, leaving traces of the process of working. There will also be a second collaboration with another Leeds Artist, Phillipa Dobson. Watch this space for details. The support of all the staff at Bank Street Arts has been great and extremely valuable to me in terms of developing my artistic practice, trying out new methods and processes and meeting other artists.You can follow my progress on twitter @skiptomyloulou and you can view images of my work in progress here on my website.

via Bank Street Arts : Louisa May Parker.

Poetry Cafe

Ground Water

A small group in February, but we spent 3 hours talking about poetry and writing.  It was wonderful.

The next workshop at the Bank Street Arts Poetry Cafe is 7th March, 12pm until around 3pm.  Bring copies of your poem as usual.  We’ll be discussing Matthew Hollis’s Ground Water in the reading group, which I’m looking forward to.  This is a link to his poem “Wintering” on the Poetry Archive website.

And here is an interview with Matthew Hollis soon after Ground Water was published, posted on the Textualities WordPress site.

We’ve got a couple of new reviews going up soon, so keep an eye out on the reviews page.

See you in March!

via Poetry Cafe.

Twitter / Recent images by @andrewdconroy

Twitter / Recent images by @andrewdconroy.

lizsearle

Week 3 at Bank Street Arts

Last week I didn’t do much; I brought my friend Kitty Harris to look at the jewellery makers’ workshop cooperative. This Tuesday I was determined to do lots of work, and so I did!

I got a saw and cut up five more heads at various angles, experimenting with profile, 3/4 and half profile. I peeled the outer plastic off the inner foam and will try covering the foam with PVA glue next time. I painted them with white undercoat and did some lighting tests-from underneath and above.

We looked at the walls to decide where the piece could go. I’m learning as much about DIY as I am about sculpture here. The perfect wall would be plasterboard where I get to the back. In searching we found what may be a boarded up SECRET PASSAGE! Hopefully it will contain a ghost and some jewels.

Passers by were still disturbed by the sight of me cutting up the heads, which is quite gruesome. I also do children’s facepainting so holding a head and moving the hair out of the way is quite natural but in this case, quite horrible as I’m going at it with a saw.

The residents’ meeting in the evening was great too; a chance to meet the others working here and discuss projects and possible collaborations. Karen is looking at the history of the building, which interests me as we are putting things-people’s faces-into the wall just as she is extracting their stories. I’m making solid ghosts.

via lizsearle.

the culture vulture » 21st Century Living

E. H. Cocker explores a defiantly beautiful ‘broken Britain’ in Si Barber’s exhibition at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield.In February 2011 Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech targeting social reform in the country, promising to mend “broken Britain” by making it easier for people to volunteer, and asking them to sign up to The Big Society. It was Cameron’s vague notion of providing the masses with the means to contribute to a community, laden with the nostalgia of a by-gone era, that inspired Si Barber’s current exhibition at Bank Street Arts.Taking its title from The Big Society, Barber’s own version of 21st Century Britain forges links with reality that cut through the crass politics of conservatism, and expose the day-today lives of an enduring people. As Barber says, this collection of honest, raw imagery highlights the differences between “how we live, and how we think we live.” Perhaps the dualism implied in this observation is also an accurate critique of Cameron’s own behaviour. In response to the young politician’s membership of the Oxford Bullington Club, in which drunken and unruly behaviour were a must, Cameron was quoted as saying “We all do things when we’re young and we deeply regret them.” There’s how we live, and how we think we live.The exhibition of Barber’s own broken Britain stems from his publication, in which a number of photographs from across the country were beautifully bound together in a landscape format book. In the book relationships emerged in an almost linear narrative. In the gallery, however, images take on new meanings and establish conversations across the room, encountering one another in brand new formation. Decisions about where each image should sit in relation to another are occasionally formal, and often explorative. One of the joys of taking the photographs from the book and putting them into the gallery is the surprise invoked by their juxtaposition.A photograph of a repossessed home in Hampshire sits neatly by an image of a caravan covered in the Union Jack – a Royal Wedding remnant left in disrepair. Sex workers, trolleys and tattoos talk between walls, and visitors are confronted with both the hopeless and the hopeful. Life emerges from the rubble, and Barber’s keen eye invites you in to witness it. Documentation of people at work, people in conversation and people at social events are shot through with an inquisitive gaze. Barber is a social commentator and political enquirer, but first and foremost he remains an observer of the human condition.The unpretentious hanging of these images, tacked lightly to the walls, is reminiscent of the transient nature from which they stem. The fragility of a country, in which the majority cling onto their walls in the hope that the powerful few won’t knock them down, is reflected by the simple yet striking way each photograph sits unframed, in simple alignment with it’s neighbour. But for all its unostentatious presentation, there is a potent vitality inherent within the content of this work. Each image carries a power, which speaks of the relentless attitude of British culture, to ‘keep calm and carry on’. With a quiet determination and powerful undercurrent, Si Barber’s work reminds us that the true beauty of Britain lies not in The Big Society, but in the powerful determination of a small and diverse country.The Big Society by Si Barber, curated by Photographer in Residence Andrew Conroy, can be seen at Bank Street Arts from 15th November 2011 –to 13th January 2012.

via the culture vulture » 21st Century Living.

Surviving the Will of the Powerful « Andrew Conroy Photographs

Surviving the Will of the Powerful

In the introduction to his book The Big Society: Snapshots of 21st Century Britain, photographer Si Barber notes that ‘The notion that humanity is subservient to the market is so huge and all-encompassing it appears to be part of the natural order.’  The fallout of this notion is made all too apparent in the photographs that follow, which manage to examine the everyday effects of the recession with equal parts outrage, compassion, warmth, and wry humour.

If you’re in Sheffield between November and January you’ll be able to see for yourself- Si has very kindly agreed to exhibit photographs from the book at Bank Street Arts. Below are just a few of the 40-odd images that we’re putting together for the show, which I’m very pleased to note will also include a number of new, previously unseen photographs:

Si will be coming to Sheffield to do a Q&A session about The Big Society and there’ll be a series of related events to tie in with the show. Details are tbc, and the best way to find out about where and when and everything will be happening is to follow me on Twitter.

As well as being a timely piece of work given the recent unrest in England’s cities, The Big Society is also testament to one photographer’s determination to bring his vision to the wider world: not only has The Big Society been an enormously labour-intensive project for Si, he also produced and self-published the book that the exhibition is based on through his own Eye Ludicrous imprint. Click here to buy a copy for the outrageously decent price of 12 quid.

Follow Si on Twitter here and view his website here. You can also read an interview he gave about The Big Society here.

via Surviving the Will of the Powerful « Andrew Conroy Photographs.

blobbioke – build blobby (work in progress) – when the red red robin

Here’s one Stuart made earlier….

P A N D E M I C ! | The Audacious Art Experiment

PANDEMIC!

Saturday 5th – 12th November

Pandemic has begun its spread and it’s expected to get serious. An infectious programme of events is under construction; details of which will be released very shortly. It will include visual art, music, performance, talking and whatever else you want to happen. There is plenty of space for you to take part in and become PANDEMIC, and anyone can be written into the program at anytime. The confirmed spaces are Bank Street Arts, The Riverside pub, and one other location not far from the other 2. There will also be performances and actions around the city centre. The city’s vast and maybe due some reformation, even if it’s short-lived. Let’s see what continues to resonate after PANDEMIC appears to have left town.

Get in touch at:

pandemic.sheffield@gmail.com

via P A N D E M I C ! | The Audacious Art Experiment.

PushPull

Thank you!!

Our first PushPull event took place at Bank Street Arts in Sheffield on Thurs 20th Oct, and we were overwhelmed by the number of people who submitted work for consideration, and by the response of everybody who braved the chilly weather in Sheffield to come along and support us- thank you all so much for contributing to what was a wonderful night. We can’t wait for the next one!! We really must also say a big thank you to Daren and Sam at Kinematic in Sheffield for their technical support, guidance and expertise, not to mention their kindness and generosity.

We screened slideshows by:

Gary Geboy

Josep Echaburu

Amanda Mason

Lena Adasheva/ Miriam Aziz

James Luckett

Matthew Ellis

Katie Griesar

Veronika Lukasova

Kate Pearson

Our next screenings night is at S1 Artspace on Thursday 24th November, starting at 7pm. Details of how to get to S1 are here. Keep an eye on our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for updates, and by all means let us know if you’ve come across some work that you think we’d be interested in screening!

If you want to submit a slideshow for consideration we’d love to see it. Click here for our guidelines on submitting work. We’ve got a rolling submissions policy, but the sooner you’re able to get your work over to us the better.

See you next month!

via PushPull.

Poetry Cafe

Back to Levine

The next meeting is the second Wednesday of the month this time, as we’re a bit late putting the information out.

On the up side, we’re going back to look at Levine’s Selected, as we didn’t get chance to discuss him last time.

So that’s Wednesday, 9th November, 12-3pm. As always, bring copies of your poem to workshop, and if you want to discuss Levine, we’ll start the book club by 2:15pm, with a fair wind.

BTW, Antiphon has its first issue online and it looks great!

via Poetry Cafe.