Spirit of Bridport - Business Forum - Weds 27 April

Spirit of Bridport

Business Forum

Spirit of Bridport is hosting a Business Forum
from 6-8pm on Wednesday 27 April 2011 at the Bull Hotel, Bridport

A free Forum for local high-street and market-traders, tourism, and business promotion will meet for the first time from 6-8pm on Wednesday 27 April at the Bull Hotel. Organised by the Spirit of Bridport, the event aims to find ever more effective ways for businesses to work together to promote our town and support our local economy, culture & community.

Bridport is a thriving market town, but like all small towns, our traditional high street shops and assorted small businesses face increasing competition from supermarkets, the internet and growing economic pressures. We believe that the best way to promote Bridport is to tap into the huge the resource of insights and experience that we already have within our local business community.

"Our local traders are quite rightly aware of the uniqueness of that they offer, and there are a range of business people who have got some brilliant ideas for how to develop the town. We want to get them together so they can look at what they can do to promote their businesses together. The Spirit group will host the forum, but it's important that the ideas come from the business community themselves – that’s what this evening’s event is about." Ross Kayes, co-chair of Spirit of Bridport.

We hope you will join us for this informal and stimulating evening of inspired discussion, sharing of ideas and productive networking, complimented with a free buffet of local food. You're then welcome to stay on to network and socialise with a drink in the Venner bar.

We want this Spirit Business Forum to:
* Provide a forum to connect & engage our cultural, commercial & business communities
* Harness untapped entrepreneurial ideas & insights from within our business community
* Stimulate discussion & encourage the sharing of skills & resources between businesses
* Develop new creative partnerships, business collaborations and cross-promotions
* Create wide-reaching promotional projects to help raise the profile of Bridport locally and nationally, through the Press, the Internet and Social Media
* Devise a Promotional Business Plan for Bridport.

The Spirt of Bridport Business Forum takes place from 6-8pm on Wednesday 27 April at the Bull Hotel. There are limited places available, so if you operate a local business and would like to get involved in this promotional initiative, please visit spiritofbridport.org and fill in the online Business Forum application form. Alternately you can call the Forum organiser Kit Glaisyer on 07983465789.

We look forward to seeing you at 6pm on Wednesday 27 April 2011 at the Bull Hotel.

Save the Cafe Royal, Bridport

It's been a busy old time in Bridport...

I'm currently devoted to my "Save the Cafe Royal" campaign, with our iconic Cafe due to go to auction this coming Friday 26 Feb. However, we're hoping to pursuade the West Dorset District Council to postpone the auction, and allow the local community to make them the first offer...

Community Group Offers to Buy the Cafe Royal

A consortium of local people from Bridport is hoping to save the Cafe Royal for the benefit of the community. The group has come together with the express desire to buy, repair and refurbish the Cafe Royal, so that it can continue to serve the town and also grow to become an iconic destination for travelers to the South West.

Representatives from the consortium are now in negotiations with the West Dorset District Council in the hope that they will be allowed to make an offer for the properties before they go to auction on 26 February. They believe this is their last chance to safeguard the future of the Cafe Royal for the community.

The consortium includes several antiques dealers from the Vintage Market on the St Michael's Trading Estate. They are keen to reinstate the period & retro furnishings in the Cafe and believe it could become a really popular destination, attracting hundreds visitors to the town from across the country - just as the Ace Cafe, in North London attracts thousands of bikers.

Kit Glaisyer, who started the campaign to save the Cafe Royal says "this iconic building should really have been offered to the local community before going to auction. I really hope the WDDC decides to postpone the auction and give local people the first option to buy the Cafe Royal, so that it can continue to serve both visitors and local people. I'm particularly concerned that if it goes to auction this much-loved local asset could be sold to an unsympathetic developer who would just knock it down to build more houses. Instead, we should take this opportunity to let the community refurbish the Cafe into a brilliant retro venue, which would soon become a huge asset to the town."

He goes on to say "we've had an amazing public response to our campaign, and what's really exciting is that we now have a group of local people eager to buy the Cafe, who appreciate it as a unique and valuable local asset, and want to make it into the iconic destination it deserves to become."

To join our Save the Cafe Royal Facebook Campaign, click here.

To give you an idea of what's possible with a refurbished Cafe Royal, I've attached some photos of the Ace Cafe in North London, that attracts thousands of bikers and vintage car enthusiasts throughout the year...

The Ace Cafe is a popular destination for bikers from across the UK

Kit's Saturday Open Studios

My Saturday Open Studios are continuing this week.

Apologies to those who came last week, I was caught up in the "Spirit of Bridport" launch at the Bridport Arts Centre (which went very well). You can find out more about the Spirit of Bridport in my previous post, and at the website www.spiritofbridport.org

The other important issue I'm concerned about is the upcoming auction of the iconic Cafe Royal in Bridport. You can read join the Facebook group, and read more about it at the Real West Dorset blog.


On a lighter note(?) is the imminent release of the new album by local girl PJ Harvey. I was fortunate to see her play live at Eype Church - where she recorded the album - in December, and you can catch a number of interviews with her, include NME, 6 Music, Radio 4 and the Culture Show. You can also listen to her entire album online, here.

For see more of my art visit my website, or visit Bridport.org to see what else is going on art-wise in Bridport.

Official Launch of the Spirit of Bridport

Spirit of Bridport Launch

Saturday 5 February 2011, 10am onwards

Saturday 5th February sees the official launch of the Spirit of Bridport at the Bridport Arts Centre. Spirit of Bridport was created by Councillor Ros Kayes in 2007 to maximise the potential for the Bridport economy while the Olympics are being held at Weymouth.

The group has now grown in scope, with representatives from across the community working together to offer a forum to support local organisations and promote the Best of Bridport leading up to 2012 and beyond.

There are 3 events taking place on Saturday 5th February - a Community Market at the Bridport Arts Centre in the day, then an invitation-only official Launch Event in the evening - followed by an informal get-together & networking event at the Hayloft, behind the Bull Hotel, Bridport.

1 Community Market 10am to 2pm
From 10am to 2pm there will be a Community Market at the Bridport Arts Centre, at which you can find out about the wealth of events, activities & opportunities on offer in Bridport. There will be a number of performances, presentations and demonstrations by local organisations, with something that should appeal to all ages, including:
2 Evening Launch 6:30 to 8:30pm
The evening event will start at 6:30pm with Bristol-based band “Bucky” premiering a new song about Bucky Doo, along with video projections of a newly-commissioned moving-image work by artist Sue Palmer - who worked with young people at PVA MediaLab and familiar faces from around the town.

This will be followed by an invitation-only Launch event to introduce local groups & organisations to the Spirit of Bridport, and will include an introduction by mayor Geoff Ackerman and short talks by Ros Kayes (Spirit Chair), Polly Gifford (BAC Director), Gary Fooks (Team Dorset), and Candida Blaker (Earth Festival Lyme Regis).

If your organisation has not yet received an invitation to the Launch event please contact Linda Bullock at Bridport Town Council on 01308 456722

3 Informal get-together & networking event 8:30pm onwards
The Launch event will then be followed by a chance to relax at an informal networking event at the Hayloft, behind the Bull. Everyone is invited to join us, meet new people and catch up with friends, from 8:30pm onwards.

To find out more visit the website www.spiritofbridport.org

Rob Ridge demonstrates his amazing BMX skills outside the Bridport Arts Centre between 10am to 2pm on Saturday 5th February


A detail of the painting "Spirit of Bridport" by 19th Century artist Fra Newberry - inspiration for our group

Thoughts of a painter...

When a painting has gone to start a new life...

Well, the new owner of "Lewesdon Tree" picked up the painting this afternoon... and I'm gutted!

I guess that over 7 months I establish quite an intimate bond with my work, and we went through a real emotional roller coaster together.

The painting process is unpredictable and ever evolving, there are surprises and disappointments, discoveries and irritations, and eventually something remarkable and unique is created.


This was a challenging painting, which is exactly how I like my work to be - always pushing myself to greater accomplishment, to becoming a true master of the medium, and creating something that will last the test of time.

The intensity of thought that these paintings put me through is immense. Even when I've been miles from my studio it's been on my mind, playing with me. I guess this is because the first place I paint is in my mind - I'll have an idea and then paint it in my imagination first, before working it on the actual canvas.

So now I'll be directing all of that focus somewhere else... onto the next painting, the next project, the next exhibition. But it's made me remember that, at some point, every painting deserves the artists full attention. I also remember this when I've got several paintings on the go - which I have to do, as they take several months to make. You still have to give them each your undivided attention when you pick them up to continue to work on them. And every painting has a unique quality or character, and it's own demands. You can't simply jump from one to the next. You have to let yourself be absorbed by the mood of that particular painting. Because only once you feel it's 'spirit', only then can you know where it's leading you. It's like fine-tuning an instrument. Only it's a new instrument every time, and the tuning could be anywhere on the scale.

Every painting is the result of hundreds (or thousands) of choices - darker or lighter, intensify or subdue, proceed or remove, comfort or discomfort? And it's also a matter of degree - how bright, how moody, how loose or tight? And every choice is a moment of intensity, a moment of destiny. Sometimes you can wipe off the paint while it's still wet, and sometimes you can't because you find you've achieved something along the way that you don't want to sacrifice.

Well, bon voyage to "Lewesdon Tree". I hope that you're loved by generations to come. I put 7 months of my time into you. And that 7 months was a focus of the 12 years I've lived in Bridport, and that's on top of the still deeper connection that I can trace all the way back to my experience of growing up in the countryside of north Dorset.

And you know what? I love the Romance of this, I love the emotion and my passion for this place. I love that my painting relates to the entire history of landscape painting, from the Dutch 17th Century painters, to the European Romantics, artists of the Sublime and the Hudson River School. I love how it also relates to the French plein-air painters, and to Cezanne and the Impressionists. Paul Cezanne in particular, who like me, left the city to live in the country, and then returned to paint the same scenes over and over again.

Cezanne understood that a painting is always more than a depiction of something. It is also a thing in itself, an object that has it's own identity, and yet it can somehow capture the very experience of looking. I've never heard a critic talk any real sense about Cezanne, so I'll tell you this: stand in front of one of his paintings and just look at it. Stop trying to decipher it and just let it wash over you. Somehow it comes alive, you can feel the wind through the trees, you can feel the heat of the sun, and feel the textures of the rocks.

You have to realise that Cezanne set art off in a new direction, or you could say, in many directions. Van Gogh took it one way, Gauguin another, and Picasso still another. But there is no 'linear' track in art, which means that an artist today can draw inspiration from Cezanne and take painting on a whole new trajectory in the opposite direction to Modernism, Post-Modernism, etc.

This is what I'm doing. I'm taking Cezanne in another direction, and I'm taking Constable in another direction, and Casper Friedrich and Frederic Church. And I'm willing to do the work, to put in the hours, to do the research, to develop the skill, to look and learn and evolve.

Until next time.

"Lewesdon Tree" unveiling this Sat 8 Jan

A Happy New Year from Bridport!

The first thing I have to mention is that after 7 months of work, I've finally finished my latest landscape commission.

I will unveil "Lewesdon Tree" tomorrow, Saturday 8 January, from 11am-5pm, at St Michael's Studios, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3RR

"Lewesdon Tree" is a 42x56inch oil painting on linen, and is a commissioned painting that has been seven months in the making. It captures the intricate subtleties of a late spring evening, as the sun sets between Pilsden Pen and Lewesdon Hill, and is the latest in my ongoing series of west Dorset landscapes inspired by my experience of living in the West Country and by my memories of growing up in north Dorset.

Saturday Open Studios

I will continue to open my studios to the public on Saturdays from 10am to 3pm throughout the Spring. Please contact me if you would like to discuss a commission or arrange a studio visit at another time.

If you're thinking of a commission...
If you'd like to discuss commissioning a painting then this is how it works - I'm always preparing new ideas (photos, collages and sketches) for paintings, and these form the basis of a discussion with the patron about what could be my next work. We tend to quickly find a subject that inspires us both, and then we agree on the size and price. So, if you would like to discuss some ideas, please contact me and we'll arrange a studio visit.

Kit Glaisyer,
St Michael's Studio, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3RR
Tel 07983465789

Website www.kitglaisyer.com + Twitter @kitglaisyer

Coming Up next time...
In my next post I'll be sharing news of the first "Spirit of Bridport" launch event at the Bridport Arts Centre, on Sat 5 Feb, also looking into controversial new plans to develop the St Michael's Trading Estate. I'll also post some pics from a rare gig by PJ Harvey at Eype Church that I went to in December... plus reveal details about my upcoming Edinburgh show this summer 2011...

St Michael's Xmas Open Studios this coming weekend

St Michael's Xmas Art Open Studios, Sat 4 & Sun 5 December 2010

Explore the studios and galleries of a dozen artists at St Michael's Studios in Bridport, for an Open Studios exhibition on Sat 4 & Sun 5 December, 10am to 5pm. The open event offers art lovers and collectors an inspiring taste of this remarkable community of award-winning painters and illustrators at the forefront of the growing Bridport art scene.

A dozen artists are taking part including Kit Glaisyer, Caroline Ireland, David Brooke, Paul Blow, Prue Heward-Morgan, Jan Zajac, John Boyd, Philomena Harmsworth, Marion Taylor, Annalisa Renee, Sally Davies and Marion Irons. (More details about all these artists can be found at www.bridport.org)


Kit Glaisyer will be showing his latest commission, "Lewesdon Tree" that he has been working on since the summer. It is part of a series of paintings of views across the Marshwood Vale that each take from 6 to 12 months to complete. He works in a large scale with oil on canvas, using multiple glazes and a highly refined technique to create powerful evocations of light, space and mood. www.kitglaisyer.com


Marion Irons has recently moved into a bigger studio, and is inspired by the beauty of the Dorset coast and landscape, exploring the textures, forms and surface qualities of the natural landscape. She says "I paint the way light and the force of the natural elements affect the landscape, and I use mixed media to interpret what I see in a more expressive and tactile way."


Annalisa Renee is the most recent artist to join St Michael's Studios. She has just started a new body of work based on the horse, following the magnificent tradition of horse painters from the past, such as Rosa Bonheur, Landseer and Degas. She says "I've drawn horses since childhood, but never spent time painting them. They have such strength and wonderfully fluid shapes and a also such a rich mythology."


Philomena Harmsworth has been working on a painting of the well-known local potter Katkin Tremaynet making her 'salmon” pottery', which explores the conflict between the imprisonment of routines, and the need to create. Philomena says "I have been considering how people can make a journey in their heads. Children make it quite naturally, slipping easily into play and imagination. Adults have to work more consciously to achieve it, by being creative." www.philomenaharmsworth.com


Caroline Ireland has been working on a series of still life paintings using pastel on black paper. She says "this really makes a gorgeous and vibrant combination, I try to reduce everything I see to a map of patterns and lines and blocks of colour. I think composition is really important, but for me this is more instinctive than organised. I paint lots of pots of flowers as I love the contract between natural forms and human artefacts."


David Brooke is a former president of the Society of Graphic Artists, and will be showing his acrylic paintings, including "Growth", a painting loosely based on the theme of the Green Man, which is a symbol of regeneration, but can also appear as strange and confusing.


Marion Taylor will be showing a series of landscapes depicting Dorset's ancient hills. She says "I am fascinated by variations in the landscape bought about by changing seasons and I strive to portray the lyrical and sensual spirit of the landscape bought about by thousands of years of use by man & beast."


Jan Zajac comes from a family of Belgian artists; his uncle was a leading painter of the Ostend school based at Marienkerke. These painters tended to paint maritime subjects, often with a knife, and Jan has started to do the same, also painting portraits and nudes.


Sally Davies is an artist who likes to push boundaries with her work. She says "I'm interested in Art Deco and Art Nouveau, and my themes vary from nature to spiritual. It may be trees in the shape of a cathedral or a Green Man somewhere in the sky behind a tree with magical light coming through."


St Michael's Studios is located in Bridport's Art & Vintage Quarter, on the St Michael's Trading Estate, in a red brick building with a tower, visible from the Waitrose car park.

The Xmas Open Studio will run from 10am to 5pm on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December 2010. Visit www.stmichaelsstudios.com for more information.