Event type: Exhibition

Bluecoat Display Centre offers a platform for a diverse range of selected contemporary craft makers to showcase their work through selling exhibitions.

All our makers demonstrate amazing levels of skill, a high quality of making and have a unique voice which is informed by the material, a sense of place, culture, background and narrative. Makers are at the heart of the Bluecoat Display Centre and we continue to be leading advocates for the continued appreciation of their wonderfully crafted work.

Scroll down to find out more about our current and upcoming selling exhibitions.

Or browse our rich archive of exhibitions and displays that have highlighted the work of contemporary craft makers from the North West, across the UK, Europe and internationally for over six decades.

The LAKE Gallery is delighted to present their latest exhibition.

‘ANIMATE’ is an extraordinary portrayal of our natural world and the animals within it by four artists concerned with the spiritual as well as the physical.

Featuring delicately-coloured tempera paintings from John Elcock, Louise Pallister’s dynamic drawings and prints of birds, animal-inspired sculptures and paintings by Kim Harley-Griffiths and impressions of the landscape by printmaker Vidah Roberts.

The exhibition opens on Thursday 3^rd July and runs until Saturday 9^th August.  Opening times: Thurs – Sat, 10am – 4pm

 

John ElcockJohn is a visual artist based in Liverpool whose work explores symbolism, birds and the numinous in a multidisciplinary practice centred on painting and conceptual sculpture. His work has been exhibited nationally with paintings featuring in the ING Discerning Eye and Wales Contemporary. He is a founder member of the Material Matters collective.

Louise PallisterBrought up to respect and take an interest in the lives of other animals, Louise has found her niche making work that concerns relationships with our animal kin. Following BA degree studies in sculpture Louise Pallister worked in museums, galleries and design studios around the country before returning to her own work. She completed an MA Fine Art at City and Guilds of London Art School in 2014. Since then, her practice has expanded to include drawing, printmaking, photography, animation and writing.

Vidah RobertsVidah Roberts, a Wirral based artist, is best known for her figurative drawings and etchings.  In all of her pieces, whether of individual trees, landscapes or portraits of people, the overall feeling is of a focussed, attentive, stillness.  ’My recent work is essentially focussing on the feelings of life held intensely in living, growing spaces.  Drawing allows me quiet time to engage with the myriad intriguing aspects of the landscape and most particularly with trees.’

Kim Harley-GriffithsGrowing up on the edge of an ancient woodland in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, Kim was immersed in the sounds of nature and the otherworldly calls of animals from the nearby Welsh Mountain Zoo. As night fell, these primeval soundscapes sparked vivid dreams and fuelled her imagination, leaving a deep and lasting impression on her creative spirit. This early connection to the natural world, tinged with mystery and mythology, continues to shape Kim’s work today. ‘I want to portray how animals and birds move with power and natural grace. This is what I strive to achieve through drawing, painting and sculpture.’

In this free exhibition, Mohamed Gohar utilises his artistic visual language alongside architectural and heritage experiences.

He examines the dynamics of present-day Alexandrian society and their influence on the evolution of the city’s urban and built environment. The aim is to observe and analyse the communal behaviours of the city users, focusing on fostering an objective understanding of the changing values and cultures.

The exhibition runs throughout the festival’s duration.

Join us for an informal artist talk (and a complimentary hot or soft drink!) on Wednesday 16 July, at 4pm.

Free Entry

Venue:

Yamama Café & Bar, 31-32 Parliament St, Liverpool L8 5RW

Following on from a debut group exhibition at Cass Art in 2022, this new display shares a range of works exploring the diverse interests of Studio Me artists including nature, pop culture and architecture. The works show the variety of media the artists have explored in their supported studio at the Bluecoat, including painting, collage, printing making and pastels

Studio Me is a development of Blue Room, the Bluecoat’s long-running inclusive arts project. The project supports learning disabled and neurodivergent artists to develop their creative practice and share work with new audiences.

Exhibiting artists are Laura Aquilina, Alfred Beesley, Tess Gilmartin, Joshua Henderson, Andrew Mellor, William Richardson, Tom Rooney, Ottman Said, Jean Smith, John Steele, Norman Tomlinson, Jane Walsh, and Veronica Watson.

Location: Cass Art, 18 School Lane, Liverpool, L1 3BT

Open Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm & Sun, 11am-5pm. Free entry.

 

 

 

 

Petros Moris explores how fragments of history can help us think differently about the future, transforming remnants of the past into symbols of renewal.

The ‘ALONE’ project is inspired by a personal encounter which the artist had in an abandoned urban playground in his home city of Lamia, Greece – a site that was left unbuilt due to archaeological discoveries. Here he found a marble tile mosaic crafted by his parents in 1985 which had been painted over by a local graffiti artist with the word ‘ALONE’.

Moris was fascinated by how this intervention transformed the original work into a multilayered artefact comprising the work of different people, raising questions about authorship and collaboration, and of the fates of urban spaces, craft traditions and personal heritage. He continues and builds upon this legacy through ‘ALONE’ – the outer layers of these recent works are tiled with discarded marble stone which he collected from his parents’ mosaic studio.

Created using a mixture of digital fabrication and traditional techniques, the hybrid shape and animalistic forms of these five sculptures combine and layer different attributes, including references to ancient artefacts which are exhibited in an archaeological museum in his hometown.

Further works from the ‘ALONE’ series are exhibited across other Liverpool Biennial 2025 venues Bluecoat and Walker Art Gallery.

Courtesy of the artist, with thanks to TAVROS, Athens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel Nolan draws inspiration from a diverse range of different sources to create her artwork, including religious relics, architectural plans, literary and historical figures, and human and animal behaviour.  These artistic investigations are driven by intensive research, but the result is always deeply personal and open to different interpretations.  

Built in 1813, St Nicholas’ stood on Copperas Hill and served as Liverpool’s Catholic Pro-Cathedral until 1967 – the upright section of Nolan’s work is loyal to the original tracery of the east window. The other half is geometric – reminiscent of the windows in Lutyen’s Crypt, which sits beneath the Metropolitan Cathedral. The Crypt is all that remains of an earlier design for the building, after plans were redeveloped following financial issues due to the Second World War.  

Lying here on its side, the piece might evoke ideas of architectural ruins, yet the bright colours – a nod to stained glass and industrial steelwork palettes – suggest possibility and ambition. For Nolan, the piece attempts to claim space for these buildings that have ultimately been lost, or which represent that which was never realised – repurposing something once functional to reflect on rich histories of Liverpool. The piece draws not only the past and present, but also the real and imagined, together. 

This work is temporarily located at the John Lennon Art and Design Building at Liverpool John Moores University.

Further work by this artist is located at The Walker Art Gallery.

Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Art Fund and Culture Ireland. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Gonzalez Noguchi’s art practice is informed by her cross-cultural heritage, particularly her relationship with her Japanese grandparents, who often inspire the materials used in her work. She attempts to preserve fragmented memories and experiences from her childhood – including their glitches and inconsistencies – as a way of identifying with her biography and heritage.

The artist combines machine and hand-made objects, some of which are found and some created new. She layers them on top of one another to give them new life and purpose, referencing how our memories can often change or take on new meaning over time. The works have a nostalgic quality, reminding us of both treasured family mementos and kitsch souvenirs. A continuous presence in the artist’s works are references to plants and fruits, including cut-outs from her grandfather’s gardening magazines and buttons in the shape of flowers. These botanical symbols act as a metaphor or memorial to the impermanence and fluidity of identity.

A major outdoor sculpture by the artist is exhibited at Mann Island.

Courtesy of the artist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Odur Ronald uses aluminium printing plates to explore ideas of free movement, migration, access, belonging and identity.

The material has always been important to Ronald, ever since he was child when he would collect scrap metal to sell for extra pocket money to buy toys.

His practice centres around repurposing and testing the possibilities of this aluminium metal, which he manipulates through hand-stitching, weaving, denting, burning and layering.’

No Hurry’ was made during an art residency at Silhouette Projects in Kampala, Uganda, during which Ronald reimagined and recreated objects which he interacted with and which he felt were important to him in his daily life. The work is based on a memory the artist has of his friend turning up to meet him at the airport in battered old trainers. The artist presents the work as a playful anecdote, claiming that his friends and, more generally, other Ugandans, would usually rather arrive late than sacrifice looking good.

Work by this artist is also on view at Bluecoat.

Courtesy of the artist and the Martin Kharumwa collection. Supported by SEVENSTORE