Community Post Type: News

A joint exhibition by talented local artistic sister and brother, Carole & Martin Dawber will open at The ArtHouse in Southport at the end of May, with a display including stitch, collage and ceramics, each reflecting their individual perspectives on contemporary arts and crafts.

Now living in Birkdale, both are graduates of the celebrated Liverpool Art School (now Liverpool John Moores University) from the 1970’s – a time when former student, John Lennon’s initials were still in evidence carved into the Lecture Theatre desks.

Carole describes her time at Liverpool as ‘magical’.

“All I did all day was draw and paint, work with fabric, design clothes and be pioneering by taking risks and having fun. The most inspiring artists, tutors and musicians surrounded me. It was awesome. There were no limits to imagination.  I met such amazing people, all of whom just loved creativity for the idea of invention.”

Education was also key to pointing Martin towards the right path.

“I owe where I am today to my six formative years in art education.  It subsequently spring boarded me all over the world and I would always urge anyone to stick to their dreams and do the same.”

During the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, Carole’s research into fabric dying from natural sources, while still a student at college, earned her the accolade of being awarded a lifetime Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts.  Carole’s final garment collection at Liverpool was subsequently put on display in London at the Dickens and Jones store in Regent Street and was applauded by fashion editor, Prudence Glynn, in a TIMES’ editorial.  However, she confesses that her lasting memory will always be selling knitwear samples at the ‘INDIGO’ trade fair in Paris to none other than the Yves Saint Laurent Couture studio.  “I loved every minute of it!”

Attention to colour has always played a vital role in Carole’s design ethic.

“I love the alchemy of colouring cloth through dye. Even before undertaking my journey through Art School I learned to stencil and print images on my own clothes.  Using my mum’s twin tub washing machine (causing a myriad of tints in the weekly white washing load!) I experimented with very rudimentary tie-dye techniques.  The Aladdin’s cave that the Dye Lab opened up at the Art School was just further encouragement in my need to colourise fabrics for my art practice. The training I received in mixing commercial dyes, and extracting and experimenting with natural dye stuffs, has lead to a life long passion of transforming yarn and fabric into jewel-like colours.”

As a freelance fabric designer during the 80’s, Carole regularly exhibited at trade fairs in Europe.  “Dying my own yarns rekindled my love for the inner glow that Acid Dyes brings to wool and silk fibres. The luminosity in the shades of colour that emerges within the fibres is so intense that it often takes my breath away. Often in a week of dying I would become addicted to what would emerge from the next dye test.  It was at this point that I finally let go of the rulebook and allowed instinct and, perhaps experience, take over.”

Carole has now thrown off the commercial demands of industry and believes she has discovered her ‘own’ artistic voice that allows her to unrestrictedly articulate her personal concepts and ideas.

“Composition and content have been a struggle because design training focuses on pattern, rhythm and repeat rather than allowing a single unified image the indulgence of its own space. In developing ideas I usually work within linking themes.  Often they overlap, or emerge from previous stimuli, that I have exploited throughout my creative journey.”

For her exhibited stitch pieces on display at The ArtHouse Carole advises:

“My starting point as always has to be revisiting my previous painting and collage research. My go to style of work when painting is always that of abstraction to convey feeling and mood more than reality. The trigger also must involve assessing earlier artwork and finding elements that can be developed further and accomplished in new ways. For reference, although I rely on previous sketchbooks, colour experiments and computer ideas, by not slavishly following them I’m letting the fabrics dictate their own form in loose landscape constructs so that the viewer can find their own story.”

She further explains: “My process for this recent series of work has been to create a palette of newly invented silk cloth, felted using a dry felting embellisher, that turns some of my vast range of dyed silk via fusing and felting into fabric sheets. I then employed these as fabric collages to shape the fractured Vorticism influenced landscapes. Using this technique helps drive and inform the dynamism of these freshly abstracted landscapes. The quick mark making achievable with paint I am able to translate through free machine stitch to create a distressed stitched line that generates less surface visibility by being buried in the construction of the pre-fabric. This allows me to ‘draw’ the rhythm of the composition but only hint at what ‘could be’ in the landscape for the viewer.”

Martin, best known as the international author of over 10 books including the BIG BOOK series (www.amazon.co.uk/martin-dawber) that he describes as ‘a type of Yellow Pages of inspiration for artists and practitioners”, also says he owes a lot to his initial training.

“Opting for art at the Grammar School in Wigan was a not viewed as a serious career pathway, and it was only when I went on to Liverpool Art School and subsequently to The Royal College of Art in London, that I felt that I was in any way being taken seriously. My years in art education pointed me in the right direction.  It never ceases to amaze me what a trigger that proved to be.”

Entering the world of ‘art’ from a sheltered and traditional academic background threw a lot of unpredictable surprises his way.

“The shock of being offered a drink of tea in a glass jam jar at my Art Foundation interview in Liverpool through to drinking a different beverage five years later with the likes of David Hockney at the RCA in Kensington Gore are memories that I will always hold dear.”

Although now ‘officially’ retired, Martin has no signs of letting up from his heater-skelter existence that has seen him conveying his skill across the world, from exhibitions across Europe to academic work at institutions in Istanbul and Singapore.

Currently, he has swapped his pen and paper for the modeling tools and wet clay on offer at Southport Contemporary Arts ClayWorks workshops which he attends weekly and where has generated the decorative bowls and vases that will be on display.

“Although I don’t possess any traditional training in ceramics (throwing on the wheel, etc) I enjoy the tactile and almost therapeutic value of working with your hands in wet clay.  My hand-crafted bowls and vases, featuring contemporary patterning and glazing, could equally be well employed as wine-coolers and for housing fresh fruit or cut flowers”.

From Both Sides Now will be on display 27^th May – 14^th June 2025 at The ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Tues thro Fri 10.00 – 15.00 and Sat 11.00 – 16.00.

 

May Half Term Arts & Crafts at Liverpool Cathedral 🎨

Join Liverpool Cathedral for free family-friendly craft sessions this 27 & 28 May, led by their brilliant Education Team!

⏰ 45-minute sessions at 11am, 1pm & 2pm
🎟️ FREE entry – just pre-book your space
🧒 Ideal for children of all ages
⛪ Explore our incredible building while you’re here!

Spaces are limited, so don’t miss out!
👉 Book now here.

The subject of firesetting is to be explored for the first time for audiences in a gallery space, as part of a photography exhibition opening in Liverpool in September.

Firehawks opens from 26 September to 16 November 2025 at Open Eye Gallery, one of the UK’s leading photography galleries. Photographer Stephen King’s exhibition will feature approximately 20 photographs, aiming to bring about an understanding of firesetting and the complexities of trauma associated with this destructive behaviour.

The exhibition is the culmination of years of work for Stephen, who himself has a lived experience of firesetting in his younger years. Beginning as an Arts Council-funded research project in 2021, Stephen and the exhibition’s producer Angharad Williams, have worked closely with Open Eye Gallery’s social practice team and leading specialist in the field of child firesetting, Joanna Foster, to develop a larger scale project, looking at firesetting, its triggers, impacts and personal stories of those affected.

Most recently, this has involved Stephen undertaking four short residencies with London Fire Brigade, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Merseyside Probation Service as well as numerous conversations and workshops with individuals, to develop an exhibition of work that will veer away from the documentary style that one might expect. Filmic and dreamlike in quality, the images won’t depict individuals’ stories but will be an amalgamation of different people’s experiences, told through a creative visual language, allowing audiences to connect with the issue of firesetting in a metaphorical way.

Stephen said: “From a deeply personal point, I have reflected upon early experiences with firesetting and the often-criminal framing surrounding it. This exhibition specifically explores the complex psychology of child trauma and its connection to firesetting, offering an overview of the evolutionary aspects of this behaviour. The work attempts to examine the broader relationship between children and fire, shedding light on the intricate psychological processes that shape our understanding of this primal connection, and why they are drawn to this element during a traumatic experience.

“Carrying out residencies with a number of teams from fire services across the UK, including shadowing front line engagement with young people with firesetting behaviour, individuals with lived-experience and professionals who work within the sector such as psychiatrists, researchers and academics, I have been struck even further by the need to tell their collective story. The language of photography has the ability to bridge barriers and destigmatise what is an incredibly sensitive subject, and the culmination of this project will hopefully bring a positive platform to those who are working through their trauma, those who have overcome it, and show audiences that the work of frontline services goes much further than ‘putting out fires’.”

Elizabeth Wewiora, head of social practice at Open Eye Gallery said: “It is so exciting to see the ‘Firehawks’ project become a reality this year within our galleries, as we’ve been discussing the project with Stephen for more than five years. Like most good, socially engaged projects however, this shouldn’t seem a surprise, as working collaboratively with communities to shape and visualise stories which are important to them takes time. And ‘Firehawks’ is a very particular story, which needs to be explored with care and sensitivity; something we hold real value in at Open Eye Gallery.

“Stephen’s approach considers the anonymity of all involved whilst still opening up a visual conversation for our audiences as it explores why people can be drawn to fire during traumatic experiences in their lives, and moreover how wider society and our frontline services respond and deal with this. Stephen’s photographic work leans into the metaphorical and surreal which is also a welcome alternative approach to socially engaged photographic imagery, which can tend to sit more within a documentary style. We can’t wait to see the work come together in the gallery this September.”

The root of the exhibition’s title links to the phenomenon of the Firehawk, an Australian bird that creates bushfires by dropping already burning sticks in an attempt to direct prey fleeing an original blaze. They actively transform their landscapes to ensure their nourishment in times of drought and trauma. The Firehawk bird has never been digitally captured, and most accounts are from first nation experts in Australia. As well as exploring the psychological triggers of firesetting, Stephen’s exhibition will explore the correlation of the act of the Firehawk bird with children and adults who set fires in the UK.

Reflecting on the project to date, Joanna Foster, author of ‘Children and Teenagers Who Set Fires: Why they do it and how to help’ commented: “I was very cautious when first approached to collaborate on this project; a man named Stephen King contacting me via my website with an intent to produce photographs about firesetting behaviour conjured up all sorts of macabre images in my mind. Happily, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Stephen has approached the subject with a curiosity and empathy that is allowing this often deeply misunderstood and very hidden behaviour to be brought into the light in a compassionate, creative and much-needed way”.

Development of the works for the exhibition will continue over the coming months following the residencies for the project and will be supported by a public progamme of events and in-person learning opportunities during the seven weeks of display at Open Eye Gallery.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

 

This Ean Flanders photographic exhibition at the Everyman Theatre is part of a wider exhibition and pays tribute to outstanding creatives, artists and activists of African and Caribbean heritage in Liverpool.

People from the African and Caribbean communities have shaped Liverpool since its early origins and have formed the UK’s oldest and longest established Black communities going back generations to the 1730s.

Plan your visit: https://everymanplayhouse.com/visit/

Africa Oye present two classic bands at two Merseyside fundraising shows in June ’25

Orchestra Baobab
Sunday 15th June 2025, Doors 7pm / Concert 7:30pm
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

“Responsible for some of the world’s most sublime and truly distinctive music”  – Black History Month UK

TICKETS ON SALE – CLICK HERE

The critically acclaimed Senegalese group Orchestra Baobab will play the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this summer, as part of a fundraising series of shows for the Africa Oyé festival.

With a historical mix of Afro-Cuban style, international pop, and traditional griot music, and an after-dark nightclub ambience of lilting, mellifluous rhythms, Orchestra Baobab are now embracing the 21st century with a renewed international fame, sure to get both old and young audiences dancing to their classic tunes in Liverpool.

Orchestra Baobab’s story began back in the 1960s. In a fashionable club in Dakar, built around a baobab tree, the band developed their distinctive take on a raft of styles – and set the tempo for a new era of Senegalese and African music.

“It is this willingness to consistently push their lush yet imaginative sound forward that stops Orchestra Baobab simply existing as a nostalgia act.” – Songlines

Described by The Guardian as ‘one of West Africa’s most iconic musical acts’, Baobab’s show on 15th June is presented by Africa Oyé and Liverpool Philharmonic.

Orchestra Baobab themselves said: “We can’t wait to play at the iconic Philharmonic to celebrate the Africa Oyé festival. We can’t wait to premiere some of the new music live, and to introduce you to our new members”.

Orchestra Baobab plays the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 15th June 2025 with doors opening at 7pm. Tickets are available now from the venue’s website.

Black Uhuru
+ support TBC

Friday 27th June 2025
Future Yard Garden (outdoor show), Birkenhead

TICKETS ON SALE – CLICK HERE TO BOOK

Roots reggae legends Black Uhuru will take over the Future Yard Garden on Friday 27th June in association with Africa Oyé as part of the Liverpool festival’s fundraising season of shows.

The pioneering second generation outfit are set to perform on the outdoor stage under the Wirral sun this summer before they make their way down to Glastonbury.

Still lead by their founder, Derrick “Duckie” Simpson, the iconic group have earned several achievements in the music industry including winning the first ever Grammy Award for reggae music. Their long success along with having the highest reggae record sales after Bob Marley – and the most songs sampled by other artist over the years – has allowed them to become true ambassadors of reggae music and culture.

Black Uhuru play Future Yard in Birkenhead on 27th June 2025 with doors opening at 7:30pm. Tickets are available now from the venue’s website.

Africa Oyé’s Paul Duhaney said: “With no Oyé festival this year we jumped at the chance to team up with the Philharmonic to bring this iconic band to Liverpool and then with our friends at Future Yard to bring some bonafide roots reggae legends to Birkenhead. Both nights are set up to be the perfect summer evening and the success of these shows will help Africa Oyé come back stronger in Sefton Park for 2026 so please bring all your family and friends to enjoy these amazing bands this summer”

Liverpool composer and multi-instrumentalist Neil Campbell will release his forthcoming album, The Turnaround, on Friday 30th May.

Produced with Jon Lawton and Marty Snape, The Turnaround is Neil’s sequel to his 2021 Klee Records vinyl release The Great Escape, and consists of a series of 13 travelogue-style instrumental tracks. These include collaborations with After the Flood musicians Roger Gardiner (Overwater bass) and Marty Snape (guitars/production) and two tracks written with and featuring trumpet player Martin Smith (Wizards of Twiddly/The Weave).

The 13 cuts explore a range of styles not only referencing Neil’s own work, as musical sequels, but also the music of artists from whom he particularly draws inspiration, including Ennio Morricone, Nick Drake, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Philip Glass.

The pieces range from compositions for solo guitar to full blown production epics, taking the listener through the realms of classical music, jazz and soundtrack music.

The Turnaround will be released on CD and in digital format on Friday 30th May and will be available to listen to and purchase at: https://neilcampbell.bandcamp.com/album/the-turnaround.

Neil can be contacted directly at neilcampbellcomposer@gmail.com and his artist website is https://neilcampbell.music/

A neglected changing rooms facility in the grounds of an historic South Liverpool estate has been lovingly restored to community use for 2025, as a centre for therapies and wellbeing.

Originally the animal husbandry block for the Sudley House Estate, The Changing Rooms were used as a facility for sports teams playing on Sudley Fields until the early 2000s when they fell into disrepair.

Growing Sudley CIC, a not-for-profit community business that’s been working to revive the abandoned walled garden on the estate since 2017, successfully secured public funding and social investment to redevelop the derelict Liverpool City Council changing block.

A major retrofit took place between 2020-2024 using ecological construction approaches and renewable energy systems to create a healthy and low carbon building for the future.

The building runs on air source heat pump technology and – thanks to a Heritage Lottery funded volunteer training project – is clad with zero carbon natural building material, Hempcrete.

There are seven therapy rooms in total and the building has already become home to a thriving community of high-quality holistic, functional and talking therapists.

The therapies currently available include: Thai massage, holistic bodywork, yoga therapy, physiotherapy, aromatherapy, craniosacral treatments, Ayurvedic consultation and talking therapies from a range of integrative counsellors and clinical psychologists.

Massage therapist, Kathleen, says: “Having practiced locally for 30 years, I find this a sensitively run space that caters to the wellbeing of my clients and myself. It’s nurturing and cocooning – my favourite place ever to offer therapies!”

Lucy Dossor, Co-founder from Growing Sudley, which also led two community crowdfunders to get the project to completion, says: “Politics, the pandemic, price rises and shortages meant it was quite a journey to get the building completed in the end but thanks to support from the community, we made it.”

“Now that the doors are open, we’d love as many people as possible to come and experience what’s on offer here in this unique urban oasis, which is part of a long term community-
driven aspiration to care for our greenspaces and environment, and empower people to support their wellbeing.”

All income generated by The Changing Rooms will be reinvested into Growing Sudley CIC’s work to operate the thriving Therapeutic Garden next door to the building, and provide activities for all ages to support health and wellbeing through nature. The garden is host to a wide range of offers, including Forest School holiday clubs, toddler activities and services for people of all ages with additional needs and disabilities.

Therapists and health professionals interested in delivering services from The Changing Rooms should email thechangingrooms@growingsudley.com

To find out more about the therapies available at The Changing Rooms and book an appointment, visit https://growingsudley.com/the-changing-rooms