BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:7211@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230315T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230408T150000 DTSTAMP:20230315T134437Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/arthouse-gallery-spring-open-2/ SUMMARY:ArtHouse Gallery: ArtHouse Gallery: Spring Open DESCRIPTION:Wonderous World\nArtHouse Spring Open 2023\ncelebrating the thi ngs that we've seen around the world or wish we'd seen\; the natural world that inspires and uplifts us\nOnce again Southport Contemporary Arts’ g allery\, the ArtHouse in Eastbank Street\, will be showcasing a wide spect rum of creative and captivating works of artwork during its 10th Anniversa ry Spring Open Exhibition in 2023.\nProfiling not only SCA members\, the S CA Spring Open traditionally also offers the wider artistic community the opportunity to display their work in the gallery.\nSCA already has a reput ation for bringing together a range of high quality contemporary art and c raft from both emerging and established artists throughout the year and th is celebratory exhibition will demonstrate the scope of creativity and art istic talent across the region.\nCo-Director of SCA\, Norrie Bewick-Calver t explains this year’s theme\, ‘Wonderous World’\, will “encourage participants to consider the incredible wonders of nature that they have seen or would love to see”.\nShe adds: “Everyone benefits from engagin g with the natural world\, and with so much negative energy coming at us f rom other areas of our lives at the moment\, we hope that this exhibition will inspire and uplift everyone. As always with our Open Exhibitions\, bu t especially in our 10th year of the ArtHouse Gallery\, we are excited onc e again to offer this opportunity to an inclusive collection of local arti sts and display the diverse range of creative practice that will make up t his year’s special exhibition".\nLanguage\, storytelling and found mater ials underpin Serah Stringer Grech’s work. An MA Fine Art graduate from Liverpool JMU\, Serah’s practice originates in the habitual collection o f objects and a desire to intervene in and build with\, organic forms: “ My work sits in the space where the natural world meets the man-made so wh en thinking of what I find ‘wondrous’ in this world\, all I had to do was look through my studio to find some of my favourite natural elements l ike snake skin\, insects and bones.”\nA self-confessed magpie\, Serah ha bitually collects all sorts of specifically chosen natural elements and at times is given natural treasures by people who know her practice.\n“Usi ng these elements with man made materials like resin\, ceramic or glass al lows me to tell stories. With this show I wanted to look at the world in i ts maximalist form - the universe and beyond\, micro - the world as we see it and macro - the world invisible to the naked eye.”\nBy creating “a n infinite opportunity for the exploration of the unfamiliar”\, Serah is “able to speak without censorship”.\nFreelance artist and printmaker\ , Mike Goodwin from Litherland\, who works mainly in pen and ink to bring his detailed humorous graphic illustrations to life\, offers his own perso nal take on this year’s theme.\nMike\, who likes to jumble text with ima ge\, uses his idiosyncratic draughtsmanship to exploit popular culture ref erences when imaginatively depicting his various characters in unusual hab itats: “I have taken the definition of ‘wonderous’ - something 'unex pected' or 'extraordinary' - to provide a slightly offbeat take on the 'na tural world' exhibition brief”.\nDescribing his work as a mixture of rea lism and stylised caricature\, Mike’s earliest artistic influences were the great comic artists of ‘The Dandy’ and ‘The Beano’\, notably D udley D Watkins\, Leo Baxendale and David Law\, which is reflected in the illustrations currently on show in the ArtHouse.\n“Text remains an impor tant element in my work. Often the first step is for me to think of a titl e that sounds good or I might be inspired by a line from a song. I like my images to look amusing\, quirky or enigmatic so that they work visually w ithout the text\, but more often than not\, I will add some text to the im age\, or maybe a caption\, in addition to the title”.\nDespite no formal training\, Mike was a past winner of the Sefton Open Arts competition and continues to exhibit locally: “My pen and ink drawings often take weeks to complete. I’m not a fast worker and tend to be a bit of a perfection ist\, so I have to be quite patient in order to get it right (in my eyes) ”.\nBoth ‘Doris!!’ and ‘Teddy Again!!’ feature Teddy Boyle\, Mik e’s 87 year-old rock 'n' roller\, who recurs throughout the series\, coi ffured with or without his giant wig. Leaning from his bedroom window\, Te ddy spontaneously bursts into song as he marvels at the ‘wonderous world ’ outside. Incorporating direct references to Elvis\, Old Mother Riley a nd James Cagney\, ‘Tango’ takes its title from the pointillist styled orange background and the dance that the unlikely couple are performing.\n After being employed for a few years as a graphic designer\, graduate of L iepāja University in Western Latvia\, independent artist Anna Poholoka so on realised that art was her first passion and eagerly became a profession al painter.\nNow based in Bootle since 2014\, although Anna still enjoys e xploring a wide variety of media\, her favourite technique is painting in oils: “I found myself truly willing to express myself through painting a t a young age. Inspired by old masters\, I started to learn classic painti ng and explore the ways to present and share their art skills.”\nAnna’ s current process is driven by her interest in “conceptualizing the intr icate layers of self-understanding and the position of mankind within the natural world”.\nHer atmospheric painting\, “Freeborn and Freedom” i s a symbolic reminder of the paradox that continues to probe the values of liberty and freewill: “While working on this picture\, I was thinking a bout the question inherent in us\, I believe\, by nature itself. I think e very person at least once in his life has wondered if real freedom is achi evable. Does freedom always have to be lonely? Should it require sacrifice ? Looking at nature\, we can easily see that her creatures are already fre e in their own existence. Remaining inseparable from the world\, they are already free\, by just being themselves.”\nThis year’s Spring Open wil l run from 15th March until 8th April at ArtHouse\, 65 Eastbank Street\, S outhport PR8 1EJ. Opening times: Tuesday – Friday: 10am-3pm &\; Satur day: 11am-4pm. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2023/03/Mike-Goodwin-Doris-and-Teddy-Again.png LOCATION:ArtHouse Gallery\, 65 Eastbank Street\, Southport\, Sefton\, PR81E J\, Southport\, United Kingdom GEO:53.645169;-3.004323 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=65 Eastbank Street\, Southp ort\, Sefton\, PR81EJ\, Southport\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TI TLE=ArtHouse Gallery:geo:53.645169,-3.004323 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20221030T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20230326T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR