Let's Try Arts - A New Online Arts Platform

Alex Hobbis ·

Stroud based artist and entrepreneur Katherine Bryan-Merrett has teamed up with Miles Owen one of the founding directors of Ecotopia, and Very Software Directors Sergei Golubev & Vitalij Kudresov to launch Let’s Try Arts. Starting in Gloucestershire then being rolled out nationwide, Let’s Try Arts is an exciting way to search for and book on to creative workshops.

"There are so many fantastic workshops, courses and classes being offered by artists but we rarely get to hear about them. I wanted to make it simple to find out what’s going on in your area by creating a ‘one-stop-shop’ for creative workshops and activities” Katherine goes on to say “making it easy for both the artist and for their customers, our aim is to become the biggest on-line platform for creative workshops.”

Local arts venues such as; Victoria Works Studios, Hawkwood College, Atelier and SIT select  have been some of the first to get involved by adding their upcoming workshops, courses and classes to the Let’s Try Arts website. Not only will the site help local people find out what’s going on but it could also have an impact on tourism.

It is a website for finding creative activities in your local area: drawing, craft, textiles, sculpture, dance, music, writing... you name it! 

"Art has always been a joyful thing to participate in, to watch, to experience, to learn about, to grow with and further develop your own skills and expertise. Our focus here at Let's Try Arts is to make it more accessible to more people. We believe that art and being creative are things to enjoy and have fun with, we want everyone to have a go at something new. Who knows, you might just find a secret talent you never knew about."

As a special launch promotion, Let’s Try Arts are currently offering FREE listings. Arts venues or individuals can sign up and add their workshops, courses, classes or other ticketed creative activities for free for a limited time only. If you are interested to find out more, then get in touch by visiting their website: www.letstryarts.com or by emailing: team@letstryarts.com

Community Photography Exhibition: Call for Entries

Alex Hobbis ·

From Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th April the Crown and Sceptre will be holding a Stroudies and their Wheels photography exhibition as part of their Stroud Unplugged and Craft Beer Festival. 

Sponsored by Pedego the exhibition will take place in the infamous Gurt Yurt and the Crown are inviting the local community to send in photographs which must contain at least one person and one wheel (which could be anything from a tractor, pram, car, motorbike. waterwheel etc). There are various prizes to be won including electric bike rides from Pedego...


Please email high resolution images in JPG format to photowheelsstroud@gmail.com by the 6th April together with a short description of the photograph (20 words max). In return you will be emailed an entry number which you should write in the corner of the entry form (available from the pub or download via facebook event page here), enclose with your £2 entry fee and post it in the Red Post Box in the Pub!


 

Up This Way @ SITE Festival: Open Call

Alex Hobbis ·

Up This Way, the highly unusual and unique furniture and accessories store located in the Merrywalks Shopping Centre, Stroud, will be celebrating SITE Festival’s 20th anniversary of artist led projects by inviting the general public to exhibit 'art furniture' works alongside local professional designers, artists and makers. Entrants are being asked to send in photos of work for consideration and selection for an exhibition entitled Re-Make/Re-Model. The pieces should focus away from mere functionality towards more conceptual art & design, utilising furniture as a blank canvas for the imagination such as; Salvador Dali with his Mae West Lips sofa, Frank Gehry with his corrugated cardboard Wiggle Chair or Damien Hirst with his paint splattered objects.

 “We want to encourage all those super talented people who have been privately making great works but have not had the opportunity or the outlet to share them.” explained co-founder of Up This Way, Jason Wilkinson.“Stroud has a great reputation for artistic and creative talent and we not only want to celebrate that but build on it by allowing people to consider developing their skills as a career”.

The exhibition will run from 1st to 30th April and visitors can purchase any works displayed. For more information about making and entering pieces for the exhibition you can visit www.upthisway.co.uk or email info@upthisway.co.uk

 

SVA Fundraising Art Auction for Refugee Aid Stroud by Rosa Harris Edmonds

Alex Hobbis ·

In light of the current humanitarian crisis, the Stroud Valley Artspace are organising a Fundraising Art Auction in aid of Refugee Aid Stroud at the old Millets Shop on Stroud High Street.
"We’ve wanted to do an Art Auction for a while and given the current situation with the refugees and the fact that we had the opportunity to use the old Millets shop it was a great chance to put them together. We’ve got a great selection of work, I’m really excited about seeing it all and to hopefully raise lots of money for a great cause. It’s also given artists a chance to help if they couldn’t have otherwise" Briony Wilson-Fforde, SVA

Donated by Oliver Marsden 

Donated by Oliver Marsden 

Nearly 50 artists have generously donated art works for the auction, including Antony Gormley, John Wood & Paul Harrison, Cleo Mussi, Dan Rawlings, Oliver Marsden, Juliet Chadwick, Marcus Walters, Colin Glen, Alex Merry and many more! 
 

Donated by Marcus Walters

Donated by Marcus Walters

All the proceeds raised from the forthcoming Fundraising Art Auction will go to Refugee Aid Stroud, which started as a private Facebook page back in September last year, simply aimed at  getting a van load of donations together to send to the refugee camp in Calais. They have since stopped aid collections and will be focusing their efforts on directing fundraising and volunteers to appropriate bodies on the ground in Calais, Greece, Syria and anywhere else that the refugee crisis flares up."Refugee Aid Stroud is a voluntary organisation, this means that every single penny raised by this excellent Art Auction will be spent directly on food, clothing, building materials or getting volunteers onto the ground." Jesse Carrington, Refugee Aid Stroud

The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 13th February with drinks and nibbles from 12 – 4pm, and will be open on Fridays and Saturdays, 10am – 4pm until Saturday 27th February.
The Auction itself will take place on Saturday 27th February at 6pm. You don’t need to book, but you can save time by registering to bid by emailing rosa@sva.org.uk with your name, email and mobile number (you will then pick up your bidding card on the night!). If for some reason you cannot make the auction, there is also an option to 'live bid' on-line from the comforts of your sofa via www.cotswoldauction.co.uk  
Alternatively, you can pre-bid by dropping your bid into the ballot box at the exhibition. And if you don’t fancy bidding but would still like to donate to this great cause, there will be a donation box at the auction. 

Click here to visit the facebook event page for further information and regular updates!



 

Limited Edition Good On Paper Poster By Joe Magee

Alex Hobbis ·

The poster designed by Stroud based illustrator and award winning film-maker Joe Magee (Bill Bailey, Time Magazine, The Guardian - featured in issue #8 of Good On Paper) for our recent event at the Prince Albert is now available to purchase from Made in Stroud!

It's an A3 limited edition print (run of 100), signed and numbered by Joe for just £10...

The event raised over £600 for Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Visit www.garas.co.uk for further information on this inspirational local charity.

Joe Magee, Good On Paper Issue #8 November 2015. Interview by Rebecca Mills

Joe Magee, Good On Paper Issue #8 November 2015. Interview by Rebecca Mills

If you missed last year's November edition and would like to read the interview it is currently available as a download here

 

 

'The Booth of Truth' Good On Paper @ the Prince Albert, Sat 9th Jan 2016 by James Kriszyk

Alex Hobbis ·

If you would like a print/copy at a 'pay-what-you-like' price, or would like to see further images from the 'Booth of Truth' email: jkriszyk@gmail.com 

Sam Marsh by James Holliday

Alex Hobbis ·

Sam Marsh has his fingers in paint. In an instant, he whips his arms around and drags paint with him. Across the canvas, arcs are appearing as the paint is moved around. It is tubular, snaking over the surface and lacing up and down. It is taken off, scraped back. Not right. His fingers are back in globs of paint and his arms are whipping around and the paint is following. Better. This is a repeated process; it is quick, and physical and replayed. SM moves back and forth across the canvas, removing and reapplying paint. What hangs on the wall is the result of a single frenetic session – but it is also one of many. Frank Auerbach’s drawings are made in the same way: the charcoal from the previous day’s sitting is wiped off and the image is remade. Below each drawing is the faint outline of old marks. When finished, one image stands out but the others linger behind. While SM adopts this method, the thickness of the paint wipes away any ghost. Tubular was the right word to use; the marks appear three-dimensional. They could have been squeezed out and piling up like ketchup on a plate.

Below the manically made tubular paint marks are calmer paintings. This is a slow process and sets the tone for the finished work. Blocks of colour are painted on and areas are masked off. Space for the paint to be dragged is made. Fingers move through the paint, pulling the globs across the surface. As this is done, the colours below come through, staining the marks being made. Where masks have been laid the dragged paint doesn’t go and pre-planned shapes can be seen. Ideas of collage begin to come through. In places, the paint laces and is met by a sharp line or the corner of a hexagon. There is an expected tension between the rapid swirls of paint and the measured calm of a hexagon grid. 

 

Recurring throughout all of the paintings are references, to collage, but also to the imagery of computing and the Internet – particularly with the use of garish colours. They do not move softly into one another but stop and start sharply. The electric colours of early web pages come to mind. Also the marks made with SM’s fingers are reminiscent of graffiti imitated by early Photoshop or Microsoft Paint. Remember dragging a curser over a computer screen and leaving a trail of harsh colour behind? SM’s paintings have the marks we tried so hard to make. 

Sam is currently exhibiting at the new Line Gallery (SVA) until Tuesday 1st December, for further examples of his work visit www.samarsh.com 

www.jamesholliday.wordpress.com

www.linegallery.co.uk

 

 

Photography

OUT NOW: When Spider Kisses Fly - By James Kriszyk

Alex Hobbis ·

A new collection of stunning black and white images by Good On Paper resident photographer James Kriszyk.

Based in Stroud James was born in south London in to a family of diverse European heritage. It was quite late on in his life and whilst at Art College that James found photography, and after some exploration & travelling around with a camera he studied a degree at Gloucestershire University. This gave him an insight in to the mechanics, styles, history and representations of photography but it was through discovering the spontaneity, freedom and theatre of street photography that he fully connected with the medium.

“With each piece of work I do there is a bit of me in it, a record of what I am feeling at the time.”

When we send James off to take pictures to accompany a feature in Good On Paper we always know it’s going to be a difficult task to choose between them. Each image manages to convey the true essence of a person’s character; a testament to the way in which he easily builds an instantaneous connection with his subject.

‘When Spider Kisses Fly’ contains portraits and street scenes in his now instantly recognisable and unique style. They seem spontaneous yet considered and offer a relatable account of the world which surrounds him.

The 27 page book costs £10 and can be purchased by emailing James at jkriszyk@gmail.com and individual prints can be purchased here.

A selection of photographs from the book are currently being exhibited the Centre for Science and Art opposite the Stroud Library in Lansdown, we highly recommend a visit…

Twitter: @kriszyk

Website: kriszyk.com