Last night I went to a private view in Runcorn. Yes, Runcorn! So its not quite ‘art in liverpool’ but it was a show by a group of about a dozen artists known collectively as ‘Markmakers’ some of whom are based here. I should get out of the city more often, Runcorn is less than 20 minutes away from Lime St, I’m not familiar with the place so I was glad that I bumped into Arthur Roberts (his exhibition’s still on at the Loop gallery) on the train so at least we could get lost together.
We got there early so we found a pub and had a drink. All the pubs here are called Railway or Bridge and are stuck in a 1970s time warp, decor, carpets, beer, food (only got peanuts) and music – all date from 30 years ago. The Brindley Arts Centre, on the other hand, is a splendid modern place. A bit like a small version of The Lowry with a Theatre, Gallery, Bar and Cafe overlooking the Bridgewater Canal.
The exhibition is called ‘All in a Days Work’. The idea is that the artists spent 24 hours on their piece, 24 hours in total, not all at once. As usual with group shows there was an eclectic mix of paintings, sculptures, drawing, photography, textiles etc. All very interesting, I particularly wanted to see Barbara Jones’s origami ‘Peace Cranes’ which you can see pictured here. She started making these during the Biennial and was still making them last night! People were welcome to join in, one of the ones hanging up was one that I made earlier so I’m very pleased with myself.
The exhibition finishes on Feb. 20th.