Event type: Exhibition

Kate Bigley’s ‘In A Past Line’ is an interactive installation set in Birkenhead’s former Marks & Spencer. Until 2018, M&S occupied the now-vacant space and served as a popular department store for shoppers and residents. Its closure has left the community feeling discouraged about the future of Birkenhead. ‘In A Past Line’ aims to breathe life back into the building and evoke memories of M&S’s bustling retail environment.

With the aim of reimagining the space as it once was, Kate uses industrial materials to fabricate retail displays and browsing shoppers. Through the manipulation of electrical tape, she draws silhouettes of customers onto translucent polythene plastic sheets that are suspended from the ceiling and scattered throughout the space. Attendees are encouraged to engage with these ghostly figures as they occupy much of the gallery’s communal space. The tape continues throughout the exhibit and serves as a malleable and bold, yet temporary omnipresence, reminding people of the impermanence of things, particularly within this Marks & Spencer location.

The process of creating the work within the space allowed Kate to incorporate elements of the building’s architecture and remnants of the shop into her piece. In doing so, the space’s history informs the work and evokes a sense of nostalgia, enabling Kate to explore the more creative and playful aspect of her practice.

Launch event: Saturday 11th may 5:00pm -10:00pm

Exhibition open after launch: Wednesday – Friday 10:30am-4:00pm

FIT IT is a new site-specific work by artist Leo Fitzmaurice at the Convenience Pop Up in the Old M&S on Birkenhead High Street, as part of The Town is the Gallery programme.

Leo has said: “As with much of my work it is really a response to existing material – in this case the physical fabric of the store itself. In particular the wall paneling, which struck me as having a satisfying logic to it – as many functional things do. Taking these simple linear panels to form a housing for a paired down alphabet – I then lined the walls with words associated with the original function of the space.”

The result of this process and practice is a large-scale installation of text work that can be read simultaneously as text or viewed as a graphic pattern.

Launch event: Saturday 11th May 5:00pm-10:00pm

Exhibition opening after launch: Wednesday – Saturday 10:30am – 4:00pm

The Worst Record Covers in the World is a hilarious collection of over 650 dreadful record sleeves Steve Goldman has collected.

In Steve’s own words:

“To get into my collection the covers have to be unintentionally funny. I want a record where the designers have tried to do something that’s gone horribly wrong. It can’t just be a performer in bad clothes or with an ugly face – though there are a couple that have got in that were just irresistible. And it all has to be good clean family fun – I don’t collect any record covers that are disgusting, gory, violent, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or racist.”

You can hear what the records sound like – the weird, the funny, and occasionally, the good. They’ll hold a vote for your favourite Worst Record Covers. There are kids’ activities too – match the record to a part of its cover, and dress up as a sleeve. And there’s a book of the exhibition too.

A display of ties designed by local artist Fred Monks (1912-1982).

Fred Monks started his artistic career as a designer at Crosfields soap factory in Warrington before becoming a cartoonist for the Guardian newspapers and then a watercolourist known for his spontaneous local paintings from nature. But unknown to all but a few, Monks also had a second prolific career as a graphic artist including his designs for novelty ties.

On show in the museum are a selection of the luminous ties Monks designed for sale during the early 1950s. These examples have been treated with zinc sulphide-based paints and would glow in the dark after having been held up to the light for a few seconds.

Also on show in the library are a further selection of ties Monks designed for sale during the early 1950s, including some commemorating Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and cowboy hero Roy Rogers.

Bluecoat Display Centre’s In the Window Installation and selling display for Pride in Liverpool 2024 showcases the work of local ceramic artist Simon Dredge, as part of the celebrations for Liverpool Pride.

Simon Dredge is an English ceramic artist, based in Liverpool whose work explores the impact of history in shaping our cultural understanding.

For the Pride window Simon wanted to celebrate the diversity of the gay and queer community in Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area.

Simon wants to bring distant and unheard voices to his work, so for this collection he wanted to include both historical figures interwoven with more modern and well-known people.

For Simon including people who were trailblazers and forward thinking for their time is so important as these are the people who made living now as open and proud LGBTQIA++ possible.

Simon’s plates are made in both porcelain and architectural clays, he uses ceramic body stains, underglaze, acrylic inks, acrylic paints and spray paints on his work.

Meet the Maker Event.
Saturday 27 July 2pm-4pm

Join them for an informal afternoon where you can come along and have a chat with Simon about his work and have some refreshments with us.