Community Post Type: News

Bathed in Light is Martin Stilwell’s first solo EP – an eclectic debut collection of homemade recordings, taking in alternative pop, melodic folk, and electronica.

Rooted in the traditions of classic song-writing, with echoes of Neil Young and Elliot Smith, these songs are delivered through a decidedly English filter, with production influenced by the likes of Four Tet.

Stilwell is a singer songwriter who has been making music for over 20 years. He first started writing and performing as a teenager, and went on to front the Liverpool-based outfits Alterkicks and Dead Cities.  He has performed all over the UK, including shows at Glastonbury and T in the Park, and has worked with Stephen Street,

After an 8 year hiatus, Stilwell is now breaking out on his own.

Bathed in Light is available to stream from 27th May, 2022. PRESAVE HERE

Bathed in Light is available to download / purchase here from 27th May, 2022.

Kaleidoscope Festival is a week-long festival celebrating neurodiversity and the unique abilities and talents of people living with a learning disability.

Highlights include Open Mic Nights, Disco Club Nights, a Mini-Fest for kids, a Red Carpet Awards and a night of short films made and chosen by people living with a learning disability, autism or Aspergers.

Kaleidoscope kicks off with: Chester Disability Pride Parade

Chester is one of only 2 places in the UK to hold a Disability Pride Parade, which raise awareness of the 14.1 million people living with a disability in the UK.

The parade will fill the city with a blaze of colour and sound as it moves from Eastgate to Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre. Monday 11 July, 10.30am-2pm.

For festival tickets and to find out more, see here

LOOK Photo Biennial returns in 2022 for the first time since 2019. The biannual photography festival takes place in venues across Liverpool and the North West and runs in opposing years to the Liverpool Biennial.

Since 2017, LOOK has been delivered by Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. Taking place in sites across the North West, LOOK’s programme operates as a cultural exchange both locally and internationally. The Biennial acts as a stage for sharing ideas in dispersed venues and locations across the North West.

The LOOK Photo Biennial 2022 theme is ‘Climate’, building on from Open Eye Gallery’s ten week long exploratory LOOK Climate Lab which took place between January and March 2022. For the lab, Open Eye Gallery invited researchers, artists, academics and visionaries to take over the gallery and use it as a lab space, showing work in progress, inviting the public to engage via workshops and talk through ideas to tackle climate change.

LOOK Photo Biennial 2022: Climate is formed from partnership projects and ideas that began as micro commissions, community projects and research ideas during these LOOK Climate Labs. It aims to explore the agency of people within a sometimes overwhelming climate emergency, maximising the accessibility of photography to transcend languages, borders and cultures.

The LOOK Climate Lab has been preserved as a virtual reality exhibition which can be viewed online here.

LOOK 22 will take place across various sites including: RHS Gardens Bridgewater (Manchester), New Adelphi Gallery (University of Salford) and World of Glass (St Helens). LOOK will also exist in public spaces across the North West, such as charity shops across Chester and green spaces across the Liverpool City Region, highlighting climate prescient topics like textile recycling and environmental protection.

Exhibited in these spaces will be the project Are You Living Comfortably?, Steve McCoy and Stephanie Wynne’s ongoing collaborative photography project with University Salford Art Collection and Energy House. These images, data, and interactive elements offer suggestions and guidance on how we can make small, everyday changes to make our houses more energy efficient.

Another project for which the Climate Lab was a testing ground was the collaboration between the artist Andrew Broadey, photographer Kevin Crooks and a group of Carmel College students. LOOK will see their visual research using archival imagery from the industrial North West speculate how images can guide us to navigate the ecological crisis.

Each biennial, LOOK also partners with local and international artists to explore variations on a theme. This year, LOOK will exhibit the project On The Ground: The Story of Trans-Nzoia Through The Trees, the work of a two month residency in the Kitale forest, Kenya, by photographer Frederick Dharshie Wissah. The photographs depict food and water insecurity alongside the local communities aiding in preservation and conservation.

The full list of LOOK Photo Biennial 2022: Climate artists and partners will be released in June. In the run up, Open Eye Gallery has launched an Open Call for photography focusing on themes of climate change and environmental issues to be exhibited in the festival.

This summer, renowned land artist James Brunt is coming to Knowsley to create a number of land art installations in some of the borough’s most loved parks.

The project – United by Land – is part of Knowsley’s celebrations as the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture.

James along with several other accomplished land artists will descend on the Borough in August to work with local people and communities on a number of outdoor installations at Halewood Triangle, Stadt Moers, Mill Dam and Bowring Parks.

James will also be working with a number of schools in the coming weeks on smaller land art projects within school grounds.

James commented:

“I am so excited to be involved in this work in Knowsley and to bring the joy of land art to new people and new communities. The Borough of Culture celebrations are so exciting, and I am thrilled to be part of that and to make sure that nature and the outdoors is also celebrated this year.

“Knowsley has some amazing parks and open spaces and is the perfect setting for us to put our creativity to work. My approach is all about utilising what nature provides to create something truly remarkable and most importantly it is something that everyone can join in with.

“There will be lots of opportunities to come along and get involved in creating these artworks and I can’t wait to meet lots of Knowsley residents in the coming weeks and months.”

James creates bespoke land art using natural objects like stones, leaves and shells. From the simplest of materials, James creates mesmerising patterns and mandalas and has more than 100,000 followers on his Instagram page (@jamesbruntartist). He has worked on hundreds of projects across the UK and on bespoke commissions for organisations including ITV.

Cllr Graham Morgan, Leader of Knowsley Council commented:

“This is set to be such an exciting project and I am so pleased that James has agreed to be part of it. His work is really quite amazing to see. To think that Knowsley’s parks and schools are set to host some of this wonderful art is just great and something that families and individuals will be able to enjoy over the summer months.”

As a warm-up to United by Land James is working with a number of Knowsley Primary school pupils in May and June to create land art within school grounds. He has also promised to create some ‘pop-up’ land art in secret locations across the borough over the summer months – meaning that anyone taking a stroll in Knowsley might just stumble across a hidden gem of creativity.

Dates and locations for United by Land community events and workshops will be publicised in due course.

In the meantime, if you want to see more of James’ work visit www.jamesbruntartist.co.uk or follow him on Instagram.

As part of Dementia Action Week taking place from 16 – 21 May 2022, the Bluecoat will be hosting events, workshops and a video artwork by artist Suki Chan.

The programme relates to two exhibitions currently on show at the Bluecoat until Sunday 12 June, CONSCIOUS by Suki Chan, and group exhibition Where the Arts Belong: Making Sense (Of It All).

To mark Dementia Action Week, the Bluecoat will present a new commission by Suki Chan. FOG is a 360º video work that delves into the world of writer Wendy Mitchell, who wrote her first book after being diagnosed with early-onset dementia at the age of 58. Mitchell, who also features in Chan’s film Fog in My Head, describes dementia as a ‘fog descending on the brain’.

In this new work, available on YouTube, Wendy’s home emerges from a cloud of fog as she explains how she uses visual signifiers around the home to trigger her memory and help live her life as independently as possible. The viewer can control the camera and navigate the rooms of Wendy’s house, giving a glimpse into how dementia affects consciousness.

Later in the week, the Bluecoat will host A Coffee Morning with Wendy Mitchell and Suki Chan on Thursday 19 May. They will discuss CONSCIOUS and Mitchell’s new book What I Wish People Knew About Dementia (2022) as well as her best selling memoir Somebody That I Used to Know (2018).

On Monday 16 May, Project Lead Tabitha Moses will jointly facilitate an online discussion with the Bluecoat’s Head of Programme, Marie-Anne McQuay and some of the leading artists whose work is displayed in the exhibition. Artists Francisco Carrasco, Gav Cross, Alan Dunn, Roger Hill, Brigitte Jurack, Mary Prestidge, and Jonathan Raisin will share their processes and experiences working on this groundbreaking artistic project.

In the upstairs gallery at the Bluecoat, The Brain Charity will be running a series of workshops with people affected by dementia. Music Makes Us! is an initiative which brings music-based therapy to people living with dementia, their family, friends and carers. They will be running weekly singing and speech & language therapy sessions at the Bluecoat from Sunday 22nd May at 12.30pm.

Suki Chan (UK/HK), b.1977, is a critically-acclaimed artist and filmmaker whose work uses moving image, photography, and sound to explore our perception of reality.

CONSCIOUS brings together different perspectives from scientists and ordinary people which shake up our preconceptions about individual and collective consciousness. Within her wider study of consciousness and perception, Chan worked with people living with dementia to explore how memory loss can destabilise our understanding of the present, while opening up other realities. The artist discusses this exhibition in a film by the Bluecoat.

Alongside CONSCIOUS is an exhibition exploring our ongoing Where the Arts Belong project which saw a group of artists work creatively with people living with dementia on a wide range of artistic activities. Where the Arts Belong (Making Sense Of It All) shares insight into the processes, artist works and responses created across this period, including photography, ceramics, audio works, handmade books, a reading area and a space for visitors to respond creatively to the project.

Events Listings:

Mon 16 May – Where the Arts Belong in Conversation
Online
Free, booking required
Book here

Thu 19 May – A Coffee Morning with Wendy Mitchell and Suki Chan
£5/£4, free for Carers and Support Workers
Book here

Sun 22 May – Sun 12 Jun, 12.30pm – Music Makes Us! Workshops (Weekly)
To register, please sign up on The Brain Charity’s website calendar, email kym@thebraincharity.org.uk, or ring 0151 298 2999, and ask for Kym.
FREE

Artwork and Exhibition dates:

Suki Chan, CONSCIOUS – Showing until Jun 12
Where the Arts Belong (Making Sense Of It All) – Showing until Jun 12
Suki Chan, Fog – Showing online from Mon 16 May – See a preview of the work here

Families, sports clubs and football fans are invited to Liverpool ONE this Saturday (14th May) to show their support for the England Women’s Senior Football Team, ahead of this summer’s tournament.

Thanks to Continental Tyres, Official Partner of the England Lionesses, those who go along can get tournament-ready with a free fan pack complete with Lioness mask and matchday clappers.

There will also be chances to win exclusive prizes in an exciting target shoot challenge, a reaction challenge and more.

The action-packed event is on from 10am until 4pm and marks the next stop of Continental Tyres’ ‘Grip the Nation’ tour – set to travel the country for the next two months and ignite football fever in England’s key tournament cities.

Pete Robb, Marketing Director at Continental Tyres, said: “The Lionesses are heading into summer in fantastic shape, and we want people right across the country to rally behind them.

“There’s no better feeling than when football fever grips the nation – and moments like this also play an important part in inspiring young people to play the game.

“Saturday’s event promises to be great fun and we’re looking forward to a big turnout. Liverpool – come and show your pride!”

A recent survey conducted by Continental Tyres found that watching a professional female athlete or team in action has inspired more than half of girls to take up a new sport.

See the Liverpool ONE website here