Upcoming Open Studios...

I've recently updated my own website, with images of new works, and also a 136 image video of the making of "Lewesdon Tree".

These days I open my studio to the public every Saturday from 11 to 4pm, and I'm joined on the first Saturday of the month by Caroline Ireland and David Brooke, who open their studio next door.






















We're now preparing for our next BIG open studios, when at least a dozen artists will take part, due to take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, that's Sat 27 to Mon 29 August, from 10 to 5pm daily. Visit www.stmichaelsstudios.com for more information.

Other news:

Saatchi times two

Guardian Feature on Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi has remade the British art market three times, most famously by championing young British artists such as Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas. But was he lucky or did he have true vision? And more importantly can he do it again?

















Also, art critic Brian Sewell writes in the Evening Standard on Charles Saatchi's influence on art...


































Malcolm McLuhan - The Medium is the Message / Massage

Also check out this McLuhan project, ABC Pool, a creative, collaborative platform for creating and sharing media, that has hunted down some rare, never-before-released ABC Archival footage of Marshall McLuhan from his 1977 visit to Australia and published it under a Creative Commons license.












The Hobbit Video Diary

And in the latest behind-the-scenes clip (which was filmed in part back in June) from the set of The Hobbit, Jackson, along with his tirelessly working cast and crew (it will take a scheduled 254 days to shoot both films) discussed what they’ll be doing with their, well, summer vacation. Gandalf himself, Sir Ian McKellan will be heading back to London, natch, to appear in a play, while Andy Serkis, who is pulling double duty on this project both playing Gollum and taking on the duties of a second unit director (“I’ve crossed over to the dark side,” he joked) will enjoy time off with family. Most of the cast and crew is set to return to New Zealand by Monday, September 5.




Video - Blu, grafitti artist

Wired Italy has just posted the full documentary on Blu, "Megunica," that follows the artist through Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Argentina. After the busy year that Blu has had, painting numerous murals solo and with collaborators like Ericailcane, this is just another fantastic product from a continually interesting and provocative artist.




Art Dealers critique of the Art World

Interview with Michael Werner on Artnet.com, he is one of the most influential gallery owners in the world. Together with artists such as Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, A.R. Penck and Jörg Immendorff, he assisted in bringing international acclaim to new German art, which today is represented by great painting and high prices. But it was not always this way: in 1963 he caused outrage in his Berlin gallery on the Kurfürstendamm by exhibiting the famous Baselitz painting Die große Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night Down the Drain), which depicts a boy masturbating.

Stunning Visual Arts in Bridport

There's a remarkable calibre of Visual Arts on show in Bridport over the next couple of weeks -

* First of all I must invite you to the Official Launch of Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios, taking place from 6:30 to 9pm on Thursday 19 May in the Ballroom at the Bull Hotel, along with a selection of art from participating artists in a show called 6"x9" - which is the size of works that each artist has submitted.


* The actual Bridport & West Dorset Open Studios event starts this Saturday 21 and continues to the following Bank Holiday Monday 30 May.

The event has been brought forward from August this year, and extended in lengh, taking place over 10 days. You can see a couple of examples of my recent works on my BOS page.







As if that wasn't enough, there are a number of brilliant exhibitions on in West Dorset, including -

* The " 2x2x2" exhibition at the Bridport Arts Centre, showing the work of painters Wendy Poole and Alastair Barford... (two videos on these artists below)

* That exhibition changes the following week, and will be showing two new artists - Jollyon Carter and Alice Jones.

"This May Bridport Arts Centre launches a new slot for emerging visual artists from Bridport and around the region. 2x2x2 will feature two artists sharing the Allsop Gallery, for two weeks, twice. Both exhibitions will offer audiences fresh, new ideas from artists who are exploring and developing their practice. For some this will be their first gallery show." Polly Gifford, BAC Director


* Another brilliant exhibition has just opened at Sladers Yard, West Bay, showing a range of paintings by Robin Rae and Alex Lowery.

* Meanwhile, at Artwave West, in Morecombelake, there's a group show, including local artists Jon Adam and Boo Mallinson.


More information about these shows:

Arist Wendy Poole at the Bridport Arts Centre













Wendy Poole is showing a mini-retrospective of her work at the Bridport Arts Centre as part of the "2x2x2" exhibition. She is a remarkable talent, highly recommended!

Video walk-through:



Artist Alastair Barford at Bridport Arts Centre

At just 23 years old, Alastair is definately a talent to watch. This highly accomplished series of paintings will travel down to Falmouth for Alastair's Fine Art Degree Show in early June.

Video walk-through



Finally, here's a video of George Shaw, Turner Prize nominee, talking about his work at the Baltic Centre for Creative Art.

May Art in West Dorset

After organising a successful Business Forum with the Spirit of Bridport last week, I'm now back in my studio, busy working on new paintings for an exhibition in Edinburgh this coming August.


NEW PAINTINGS IN PROGRESS... !

You're welcome to see the development of my latest body of work. I open my studio to the public every Saturday from 11-4pm. I'm located at St Michael's Studios in the Art & Vintage Quarter of Bridport, on the St Michael's Trading Estate, DT6 3RR. Visit my website for more details.


BRIDPORT OPEN STUDIOS 21-30 MAY

I'm also preparing for our annual Bridport Open Studios event which is coming up at the end of this month. It's been brought forward from August this year, and extended in lengh, taking place over 9 days between Sat 21 to Mon 30 May 2011. You can see a couple of examples of my recent works on my BOS page.











ARTIST ROBIN RAE

I'm particularly looking forward to an exhibition of recent paintings by Bridport artist Robin Rae, at Sladers Yard Gallery, West Bay, starting May 14. Check out Robin's website here.







ARTIST WENDY POOLE

Another great artist to see is Bridport painter Wendy Poole, showing a mini-retrospective of her work at the Bridport Arts Centre next week, as part of the "2x2x2" exhibition. She is a remarkable talent, highly recommended!









TWO BY TWO BY TWO - FOUR ARTISTS OVER FOUR WEEKS AT BAC






"This May Bridport Arts Centre launches a new slot for emerging visual artists from Bridport and around the region. 2x2x2 will feature two artists sharing the Allsop Gallery, for two weeks, twice. Both exhibitions will offer audiences fresh, new ideas from artists who are exploring and developing their practice. For some this will be their first gallery show.

The first exhibition, from 10-21 May with a preview on Wednesday 11 from 6-8pm, will feature Alastair Barford and Wendy Poole.

The second exhibition, featuring Alice Jones and Jollyon Carter, will run from 24 May – 4 June, with a preview on Wednesday 25 May from 6-8pm."


PJ HARVEY LIVE VIDEO

Local girl PJ Harbey performed at Coachella a couple of weeks ago, watch the entire set here.







PICASSO & MARIE-TERESE

Here's an interview with Diana Widmaer Picasso, art historian and granddaughter of Pablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse, and Picasso biographer John Richardson, discuss organizing the Gagosian Gallery’s new exhibition, Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou. It brings together the paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints inspired by one of Picasso’s most ideal models and enduring passions. She became the catalyst for some of his most exceptional work, from groundbreaking paintings to an inspired return to sculpture in the 1930s, yet her true identity remained a secret from even Picasso’s closest friends.


JALOPY PIZZA UP FOR AWARD

Our local based Japolopy Pizza van has been shortlisted for the British Street Food Awards, and is also featured in the this article by the Guardian on "The 10 best budget food venues in West Dorset".

"A car park in a back-street trading estate doesn't sound too promising a venue, but Bridport's St Michael's estate is home to a community of artists' studios, a regular vintage market and, on Friday evenings, the roving Jalopy Pizza van. A quirky little Peugeot JZ, imported from the south of France complete with wood-fired oven and some 30 years of service, Chez Jalopy is usually manned by two Aussie cooks. In their cramped mobile kitchen, they roll out fresh dough, load the toppings ("special" tomato sauce and Italian mozzarella, plus all the classic extras – mushrooms, prosciutto, pepperoni), before whipping crisp-thin pizzas out of the oven and into cardboard takeaway boxes. On busy evenings, it has a reputation for operating on Dorset time (as in slow), but locals get into the spirit of the thing: take wine and company and just hang out. Jalopy, incidentally, has just been shortlisted for the British Street Food Awards and a second van is in the pipeline. "


IS DORSET THE NEW CORNWALL? LOL

Of course, there's also the usual press hyperbole about Dorset, by journalists who have suddenly discovered that there's more to life than London. This article in the FT is called "Is Dorset the new Cornwall?"




HOW GENIUS WORKS

Read what inspires artists in this project called 1st Drafts by the Atlantic

"Great art begins with an idea. "Sometimes a vague or even bad one. How does that spark of creativity find its way to the canvas, the page, the dinner plate, or the movie screen? How is inspiration refined into the forms that delight or provoke us? We enlisted some of America’s foremost artists to discuss the sometimes messy, frequently maddening, and almost always mysterious process of creating something new."

NY POSTMORDERNIST PAINTER

New York artist David Salle in an interview with Artnet magazine.







THE UNIVERSE

Inspiring - here's a new collection of 'out of this world' photos by NASA.









FUNNY!

And finally, get a daily dose of comedy from Jerry Seinfeld, his new website offers up 3 clips a cday from his entire back catalogue of tv appearances. Great!

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