GREATMINDS

Places...

In each newsletter we’ll be taking a look behind the doors of some creative spaces in North Staffordshire to find out what goes on there and to see how it can help support the creative community.

New Generation Space, Newcastle Borough Museum and Art Gallery

Up-and-coming artists can make their exhibition debut at Newcastle’s Borough Museum and Art Gallery following the creation of a dedicated gallery.

The "New Generation Space", formerly the Hall Gallery, is available to people who have never showcased their work before.

The new gallery provides a rare opportunity for artists who have no previous exhibition experience to showcase their work in an established public museum and gallery.

Life As I know It, an exhibition by Staffordshire University art student Marc Tittensor, was the first to be held in the New Generation Space.

Marc from Fenton took up art relatively recently after redundancy left him looking for a fresh start.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council has also won Arts Council funding for the New Generation project, a series of free workshops and seminars to help new artists.

Bursaries of up to £100 are available for 20 people to help develop their artistic skills.

Artists can apply to exhibit in the New Generation Space by visiting www.newcastle-staffs.gov.uk/leisure.

The Borough Museum and Art Gallery is located in Brampton Park on the outskirts of Newcastle town centre. Telephone 01782 619705.
 

and people...

Philip Hardaker

Ceramic artist Philip Hardaker has provided inspiration for thousands of schoolchildren and community groups.

The Packmoor-based artist has worked with 30,000 people on community projects over a 25 year career and the resultant public works are familiar talking points to many residents of Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding area.

“I am passionate about ceramics and Stoke-on-Trent and my work both celebrates the history and craftsmanship of the area while showing that there is a great future for the industry,” said Philip, a Yorkshireman who first came to the Potteries to study art in the 1970s.

“While some of the big names of pottery production have gone, Stoke-on-Trent is still the epicentre of ceramics and we have to both celebrate that and embrace it as part of the future for the area.

“People continue to make the most fantastic pieces of work in this city and we need to shout about them.”

One of Philip‘s best known pieces sits in the grounds of Stoke Minster. The large bench covered in dozens of colourful ceramic tiles celebrates both Christianity and the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

Royal College of Art trained Philip worked with children from local schools to produce ceramic tiles depicting life in the Potteries.

Intermingled with tiles celebrating the River Trent and Sir Stanley Matthews are old ceramic pieces reclaimed by Philip from local shraff tips.

“I have been digging on shraff tips for many years,” said Philip. “Stoke-on-Trent was in many areas built on ceramic waste and using them in my work provides a link with the past.”

“The community art projects are about people changing their environment. It allows people to make their mark on their community which will then stand for generations to come. The finished pieces hopefully then act as a stimulus for children and adults.”

For further information visit Philip’s website at www.philhardaker.co.uk
 

Brave new world

Ruth Tappin Restorations

Great Minds member Ruth Tappin has helped restore cherished pieces of art for clients across the UK.

Her Leek-based business is one of just a handful in the country which specialises in the gilding and restoration of mirrors, picture frames and many other specialist pieces.

A Fine Arts graduate and figurative sculpture, Ruth said: “I specialised in sculpture at degree level and I was then put in touch with someone who ran a mirror restoration workshop who needed someone who could sculpt items such as cherubs which had broken away from ornate frames.

“When the owner moved to France I wanted to carry on and found house with room for a studio in Leek.

“I carry out work for members of the public who have a cherished piece to restore and for several antique traders.

“But I don’t just restore antiques – I gild copper baths in silver and gold for a Yorkshire based company and spent nine months on site in a new Cheshire stately home.”

“I am lucky that I have been able to transform my love of sculpture into a career, I think I am the only person doing this kind of work in Staffordshire.”

To see more of Ruth’s work, log on to http://www.ruth-tappin.co.uk

To promote your organisation or business to the Great Minds community email us on admin@buildup-ns.org.uk
 

News, Exhibitions, funding opportunities, and business events

Artists wanted

The Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford, is seeking entries for their pre-Christmas "Handmade" event. The contemporary style art and craft fair is set to be held on 5 - 6 November, 2010.

The deadline for applications is 30 June, 2010. Email lyndsey.catchpole@staffordshire.gov.uk for further information.

Child Friendly Award

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery has been recognised as one of the most child friendly museums in the UK.

The Bethesda Street venue made the six-strong shortlist for the Guardian Family Friendly Museum award.

Dea Birkett, Director of Kids in Museums, congratulated The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery ‘for deservedly getting on to the six strong shortlist of the Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award; the first time a Stoke-on-Trent museum has done so.

She said: “This is testament to all the pioneering, innovative work being done by the museum. Judges were particularly impressed that families felt free to be chatty and cheerful, even being encouraged to sing nursery rhymes out loud as they went around the exhibitions. This is a long way from the time when museums asked children to shut up and be silent.”

Calling young poets

Budding poets will have the chance to become Stoke-on-Trent’s first Young Poet Laureate in association with the city’s library service.

The city’s library service is seeking a talented youngster between the ages of 11 and 19 to wear the poetry crown.

A shortlist of four will be drawn up and the winner will be chosen at a special event on 9 October, National Poetry Day.

For further details please contact Jayne Stanley or Caroline Lovatt on 01782 238496 or email jayne.stanley@stoke.gov.uk.

Graduation show

Staffordshire University 2010 Art and Design Graduation Show.
11 June - 20 June 2010
Staffordshire University, Stoke campus.

Staffordshire University 2010 Art and Design Graduation Show. The annual exhibition showcases a diverse range of work by students graduating this summer. More than 4,000 visitors viewed last year’s exhibition.

Pop into art exhibition

Peter Blake: Alphabet.
24 July – 4 September
Nicholson Institute, Leek.
A touring exhibition of the work of major British pop artist, Peter Blake who is perhaps best know for his cover design for the Beatle’s album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Alphabet, created in 1991, is a collection of bold and colourful silkscreen prints – one for each letter of the alphabet.

Exhibition: Emma Bridgewater – Spot On for 25 years

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
29 May – 26 September.

The internationally renowned brand of Emma Bridgewater pottery is celebrating 25 successful years with its very first museum exhibition.

See exclusive ware proudly made in Stoke-on-Trent from the Emma Bridgewater archive and original pieces never seen before.
 

Final thought….

All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work ‘comes’ to him.
W. H. Auden.