BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.7//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:8109@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20240123 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20240211 DTSTAMP:20240123T221837Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/arthouse-gallery-strands-and-tan gles/ SUMMARY:ArtHouse Gallery: ArtHouse Gallery: Strands and Tangles DESCRIPTION:STRANDS and TANGLES\nGroup exhibition: Norrie Beswick-Calvert\, Anne Burman\, Serah Stringer and Mervyn Thomas\nArtHouse\, 65 Eastbank St reet\, Southport\, Merseyside\, PR8 1EJ\n23rd January – 10th February 20 24 \nLaunched in 2009\, the Southport Contemporary Arts network was origin ally established to embrace the fact that the town is home to a wide spect rum of independent art practitioners working across various disciplines an d techniques\, including painters\, ceramicists\, textile artists\, filmma kers\, photographers\, printmakers\, sculptors\, jewellers\, musicians\, p oets and performance-based artists.\nAfter several years of pop up exhibit ions and classes around the region\, Southport Contemporary Arts decided i t was finally time to establish a more stable home for their escalating ac tivities and moved into and refurbished the building in Eastbank Street in which ArtHouse is now housed.\nThis completely self-funded\, voluntary or ganization continues to go from strength to strength under the guiding lig ht of its four passionate artist/directors: Norrie Beswick-Calvert\, Anne Burman\, Serah Stringer and Mervyn Thomas.\nNorrie Beswick-Calvert confirm s\, “The success and longevity of ArtHouse is testament to the passion o ur community has for art and contemporary craft and we look forward to con tinuing to offer this opportunity for creatives of all ages and working in all artistic genres”.\nTo launch the ArtHouse 2024 programme of events\ , the four directors have decided to reveal their personal enthusiasm for their own respective medium in an imaginative and engaging joint exhibitio n: ‘Strands and Tangles’.\nNorrie explains: “Our exhibition is not o nly a showcase of our individual creative practice and interests\, but als o a conversation between our preferred materials and techniques. The conve rsation that takes place within each of the processes and the joined up pr actice that results\, is what has intrigued us as we come together for the first time in this way. Each of us has an interest in the ‘found’ and the environment\, and this exhibition will see work reflecting that as we ll as giving us the opportunity to create co-joined pieces”.\nBorn in St irling\, Norrie Beswick-Calvert can’t remember a time when she was not a ctively involved in Art: “From a very early age I have always drawn. My mother was always encouraging and at the point at which I had to choose Fu rther Education options she new the value of the Creative Industries and h elped me follow my passion for creativity into College and University. I h ave been incredibly lucky to have had a really fulfilling career in an are a that I loved as well as be able to adjust my artistic working life once my children were born and I moved up North. Whilst I’m always drawing\, my first love is textiles and I’m always experimenting with different te chniques. If left to my own devises\, I always seem to start mixing techni ques together and enjoying the unexpected outcomes.”\nIn particular\, No rrie is constantly attracted to the potential within the dramatic coastlin e that she encounters on her repeated rambles by the sea: “My influence is Nature based and within that\, it’s mainly the coastlines and their s trand lines that can capture my attention for whole days at a time (as my family can testify!). I usually reignite my creative activity during and p ost a trip or walk somewhere and really enjoy the small details\, contrast s of colour and textures. Working in a mix of media enables me to try and capture the essence\, beauty &\; interest of the natural details I find and see”.\nOne of her exhibited stitched pieces\, created last Summer\, benefits from this direct contact with her subject: “My new passion for free machine embroidery drawing was inspired from yet another walk along the shore in one of my favourite places\, Anglesey. I love that I can be c reative\; not just doing but seeing as well. It really can lift my spirits and enable me to enjoy so much more in my environment than I would otherw ise.”\nThe same passion for Nature can be seen in the distinctive potter y of Mervyn Thomas as it repeatedly provides the motivational springboard for his unique artisan creations.\n“As the son of a gardener\, and forme r student of agriculture\, my interest in Nature has always influenced my ceramics.”\nMostly self-taught\, Mervyn has been working with clay since he first studied pottery growing up in the Midlands: “In the 1960’s I was lucky enough to go to a Technical School in Birmingham where\, aged 1 1\, I first met up with clay. I found that I had an aptitude for making po ts\, and ended up studying Ceramics to A-level. I really enjoyed pottery w hich acted as a counter to the stresses of my other more academic subjects .”\nHowever\, pains in the backs on his hands suggested that working wit h wet clay might not be a career option and for the next 35 years Mervyn w ent into farming.\n“Throughout my working life\, I still retained my lov e of and interest in ceramics. Occasionally I studied pottery at evening c lasses\, but the sessions were few and far between. Nevertheless I maintai ned my enthusiasm primarily through reading ‘Ceramic Review’ magazine and by studying various books on ceramics.”\nWhen he retired\, Mervyn qu ite naturally reconnected with clay and now fills his time making his own distinctive pots in-between managing and tutoring at the ClayWorks studio in Southport where he generously passes on his skills to newcomers.\n“Th e main influences on my pottery have been Nature and oriental art\, partic ularly bronze\, jade and the ceramics of China and Japan. Individuals who have influenced my making are Shoji Hamada\, Lucie Rie\, Takeshi Yasuda an d latterly Colin Pearson and John Glick.”\nPreferring to work in white p orcelain\, Mervyn is drawn to the extra challenges - “it has been likene d to throwing with cream cheese!” - the difficult medium presents.\n“M y first love is throwing. Much of my work is based on the wheel. However\, I love distorting and altering what I have thrown. I enjoy producing work \, which is by turn delicate\, brutal\, experimental\, surprising or quirk y whilst always trying to develop and push the boundaries of my knowledge and skills.”\nMervyn’s investigative pursuits recently took him away f rom his wheel: “Last year I took up printing. Initially my idea was to e xplore ways to print onto clay. However the more I learn\, the more I disc over that there are a myriad of different techniques that can be used. I ’m still experimenting - watch this space.”\nBorn in Paris\, Anne Burm an has been a resident in Southport for over 3 decades\, dividing her time between her role as a self-employed professional accountant and involveme nt with SCA both as a director and practitioner. As an SCA co-founder with Norrie\, although Anne admits to no formal arts training\, her gregarious nature has seen her tackle everything from working with glass to ceramics : “If I see something which interests me\, I want to have a go\, which i s how I arrived at weaving. My maths science background gives me symmetry\ , perspective\, pattern man-made or in Nature. But time is my enemy so I a m trying to focus.”\nTextiles remains her passion: “particularly yarns from camel to silk\, from bamboo to seaweed. Whether knitted\, crochet or woven they all have their unique scent\, feel and drape.”\nA frugal upb ringing instilled core values that Anne still retains today: “I have a d islike of waste and like to see things being recycled and repurposed for a good reason not just because it can be done. So\, if I am not happy with a piece\, I will rip it out and restart regardless of how many hours it ha s taken me.”\nAlways willing to expand her skill base\, Anne is open to most challenges that present themselves: “Peripatetic is the best way to describe me as I wander from crochet to weaving to knitting sometimes com bining one form with another. I joined the local Weavers Dyers and Spinner s Guild and became interested in natural dyeing and as a result I have gro wn my own plants for dyeing. I also met local weavers who helped me start my experiments with a variety of different looms.”\nAlways alert to the design potential within her surroundings\, Anne casts her net wide when se eking stimulus for her work: “I can be inspired by anything whether I ca n translate that into a piece of work or not - the colours\, the shape and pattern of brick work\, paving stones\, mosaics\, piles of leaves. Almost anything.”\nThe serendipity of translating this into textiles is key to Anne’s personal methodology: “I don’t think I have a process I just start. I have a dig through my stash or a yarn festival stall to find a t exture or colour that sings to me at that moment. Sometimes it can be year s before I find the right partner for that particular yarn. Some yarns are better knitted than crocheted and the same with weaving.”\nThe newest m ember to the SCA directorship\, Serah Stringer who is originally from Malt a\, moved to Southport to undertake an MA in Fine Art at Liverpool John Mo ores University and liked it so much\, she decided to stay: “I have held my current studio above Black Bat Tattoos on Eastbank Street for the last 5 years and participate in a wide variety of shows both locally\, nationa lly and internationally”.\nDescribing the future as ‘exciting’\, Ser ah’s current artistic practice originates in her habitual gathering of d iverse objects combined with a desire to intervene in and build with\, org anic forms: “I love new materials. These can range from concrete made fr om mushrooms to a new kind of paint that absorbs light making it the black est thing on Earth. I enjoy exploring the intersection of the natural with the manufactured. Within my work the collected objects\, arrangement and meticulously researched narratives are used in order to heighten the senso rial awareness of the participant and the spaces in which they are shown. Although my mediums are varied\, I do have a penchant for resin and oil pa ints”.\nWith a love of rhythm and pattern\, as well as colour\, noise\, well-proportioned and balanced things\, Serah is able to bring form to cha os: “The de-construction of items\, sometimes physically and sometimes b y just understanding their structure or component parts\, keeps my brain e ntertained. This process also allows me to then go on to create metaphors that are always highly present in my work. Being quietly amazed by what ca nnot immediately be seen drives me. The discovery of the inside or the hid den is always exciting. Consequentially I make work that attempts the redi scovery of amazing hidden worlds\, thoughts\, emotions or views. It’s al most like allowing for a story to have multiple outcomes and each viewer t o choose their own ending\, making me simply the facilitator”.\nThis wid e-ranging celebratory showing is certainly not one to be missed. Catch it while you can. The work will be on display at ArtHouse\, Eastbank Street\, Southport from 23rd January – 10th February 2024. The gallery is open T uesday – Friday 10.00-15.00. Saturday 11.00-16.00. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2023/12/Norrie-Textiles.jpg CATEGORIES:Exhibitions 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:20231029T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR