Over 60 people attended the exhibition opening today, I felt really proud! Thank you everyone.
Photgraphy: Stephen Iles
Set up Day!
Had a busy day today setting up my exhibition “In search of the Basque children in Salford and Eccles” at Ordsall Hall.
Exhibition Preparation
Nearly finished making pieces for the game board that will be in my exhibition at Ordsall Hall!
Liminality Exhibition 2016
This exhibition was a group show as part of Islington Mill Art Academy . The subject was Liminality which we could interpret in our own way. For me, I interpreted liminality as the idea development/making space inbetween my being accepted to put on a show at Ordsall Hall about the Basque children in Salford and actually puttting on the show. I use and make blankets to represet protection and safety and used a blanket my Gradndad gave me to display my visual research and samples.
Basque children in Salford – Update 4
It’s been a while since I last talked about the Basque children in Salford, because I’ve had to put my research on hold while I do other stuff. However three exciting things have happened this year, two of them this week, so here goes!
Exciting thing 1) In February I was invited to the opening of an exhibition by the Basque Children of ’37 Association at the Peace Museum in Bradford, and met Carmen Kilner from the Association. We have spoken by e-mail on many occasions, but this was the first time we had met. It was a great exhibition, followed by a viewing of the DVD “The Guernica Children”. In the question and answer section afterwards, I asked if anyone had any information on the children at the Sheffield Colony in Froggat/Grindleford, which is where the Salford children moved on to. Afterwards, Simon Martinez spoke to me, curious that he hadn’t known about this move. He has since researched it and written about the Sheffield Colony, which you can read on the Basque children’s website here .
Exciting thing 2) In January, I took part in a Masterclass through the Ideas4Ordsall project for emerging artists in Salford. We were filmed by Cheryl Twomey as we talked to Amy Goodwin – the curator at Salford Museum and Art Gallery – about geting work into public galleries. (The film can be viewed here.) Anyway – and this is the really exciting bit – I followed all the advice, applied for an exhibition and was accepted! So from July 18th to 24th Sepember 2017 next year, I will have an art exhibition at Ordsall Hall based on the story of the Basque Children in Salford. Whoo hoo…
So thanks to Dr.Jessica Symons, from the Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures at Salford University for organising the masterclass and to Amy for her good advice.
Exciting thing 3) Spurred on by getting this exhibition, I decided I had to find out about the Basque children who, according to the Salford Reporter, went to St. Joseph’s Home in Eccles. So, I spent 5 hours yesterday at the Salford Local History Library staring at the microfilm of the Eccles and Patricroft Journal for 1937, and eventually found some information on them, which I will tell you about in a later post as you must be bored by now!
Mixed Media in Glossop
In conjunction with an exhibition in Glossop of paintings by the artist Harry Ousey (1915 t0 1985) I ran a mixed media class with a really lovely group. Inspired by Harry’s work the group used, stitch, paint and collage to create their own unique pieces, shown above .
Yarn Bombing on The Valley Estate
Have just finished a six week project with a lovely group of women on the Valley Estate in Swinton. This project was aimed at those who are isolated and lonely in the area. The aim was to cover a security camera pole directly in front of the housing resource centre to brighten the place up!
I’ve got a studio!
Really exciting news! I’ve got a studio at last! Well a corner of a studio anyway. It’s at Islington Mill and I’m sharing with two other artists who are members of the Islington Mill Art Academy with me. Have already started to experiment with new work using blankets and working on the ideas from my residency in the Regent’s warehouse.
Bed Quilt for the Radcliffe Bed at Ordsall Hall
Over the last few years I’ve done various work at Ordsall Hall. It’s a really special and interesting place. I think I’m drawn back to it again and again because so much of its history and story is visible and my practice is very much based on the traces we leave behind and the things we choose to keep.The house has had an interesting history and a variety of uses and shows the scars of all its reincarnations. You could look at these as spoiling the original, but without these it would have been destroyed many years ago. In December 2014 a small miracle happened, and an original piece of furniture from the Hall was returned on loan, The Radclyffe Bed which had been lost from history. As a fundraiser for the Hall people were encouraged to have their names embroidered onto a bed cover so I made sure mine was on the list! Today I’ve been to the unveiling and its delightful. The embroidery was done by The Embroideres Guild, including the Manchester Branch which I belong to.
Invite to Islington Mill Art Academy Warehouse Open Studios
