Event type: Exhibition

Beneath The Surface

The LAKE Gallery is proud to present ‘Beneath the Surface’, a collection of new paintings from the studios of Nina Archer and Clare Maria Wood.

Both artists have a strong association with landscape; Nina with the hills around her south Shropshire home and Clare with the moors and coastal edges of her native north Yorkshire. Working intuitively, layers and textures are gradually built up to create striking abstract pieces which offer a look beyond what is normally seen.

Nina Archer is an abstract painter, living and working in the borderlands of the Welsh Marches. Her work is very much about her experience of living and working in a diverse landscape combining Welsh and English cultural influences with a distinctive geography of ridgeways, forested valleys, mountains and rivers.

“I spend a lot of time walking and observing elements of the landscape that have become important to me. When I am back in the studio I develop these observations through abstracted forms often defined by the dramatic light, black shapes, the darkness and contrast of the forested valleys, accents of colour and the textural feel of this unique landscape.”

Clare Maria Wood was brought up by the coast in North Yorkshire. She studied Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon School of Art and Goldsmiths University in the 90s, and, more recently, Printmaking at the Curwen Print Centre with Stanley Jones and Chloe Cheese.

“The worlds above and below the ocean’s surface have been my most recent inspiration, which serve as a metaphor for human interactions about love, loss, and hope. I walk each day with my dog, in all weathers. To be at the edge of the elements, where light shifts and dances; reliant and yet independent of the darkness, is exciting. This immersive ritual of walking through familiar terrain allows me time to reflect whilst acquiring sensory information on the way. “

The gallery will be hosting a preview evening on Thursday 7th March between 6pm and 8pm, and all are welcome.

You’ll find the LAKE gallery in the heart of West Kirby, a couple of minutes walk from the train station.

Beneath the Surface
Intuitive responses to the landscape

Nina Archer
Clare Maria Wood

Thursday 7th March – Saturday 6th April
Opening Times: Thursday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm

The LAKE gallery
52 Grange Road, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 4EF
0151 625 6000
thelakegallery.co.uk

Gaia in Birkenhead Park

Organized as a part of the Wirral Borough of Culture 2024 programmed events, Birkenhead Park will feature the artwork “Gaia” created by the incredible UK artist Luke Jerram.

The floating Planet Earth replica measures seven meters across its diameter and slowly rotates like our Earth, allowing everyone to enjoy the detailed view of the Earth’s surface based on the 120dpi NASA imagery.

Gaia in Greek Mythology translates to the personification of the Earth, connecting to Luke Jerram’s objectives of his artwork to gain a deeper connection with our Earth and realize how beautiful and irreplaceable our home is.

Gaia will be displayed just past the Grand Entrance, which is the northeast entrance of Birkenhead Park (the corner of Park Road North and Park Road East), warmly welcoming visitors with the remarkable art piece. Alongside Gaia, Birkenhead Park is excited to include community cultural events across the 3 day event, including local artists and community groups to participate within the awareness of our planet. Dance Around The Globe will start the event on Tuesday 28 May, showcasing an array of dance talent and creativity from local dance schools and groups based in the Wirral. Love Your Earth Day is the second day of the event, Wednesday 29 May. The second day of celebration welcomes Wirral environmental artists and community groups to the park to share sustainable art and address topics about the environment. The final day of celebration, Thursday 30 May is Wirral Sings, where Birkenhead Park invites Wirral singer/ songwriters to the stage to sing their hearts out. Finally as a special treat, on the second and third day of the event, a pedaled Stephenson’s rocket replica, accompanied with six pantomime horses will be touring the park across peak hours of the event.

The featured Gaia display presented in Birkenhead Park is a fantastic opportunity to view the Earth from new heights and to discover how magnificent and valuable our planet is.

In The Window: Conversations In craft

Our In the Window displays throughout 2024 will include a changing selection of pieces ‘in conversation’ by makers working across ceramics, glass, wood, textiles and jewellery.

Throughout 2024.

Everyday Exhibition

This display focuses on everyday functional pieces which can be used in the home. These individually handmade works are a joy to use day in, day out. Works featured could also be gifted to others for them to enjoy.

Makers include:

  • Textile homewares by Anne Knight, Mr.PS & Margo Selby
  • Ceramic tableware by Megan Cox, Nicola Gillis, Vicky Hageman, Muchelney Pottery, Eva Radulova, Michael Taylor & Emma Westmacott
  • Ceramic homewares by Jean White
  • Kitchen & dining ware by David Mellor Designs
  • Wooden homewares and furniture by Nick James, Christoph Kurzmann & Chung Tyson
  • Prints & collages by Amy Quinn
  • Leather bags by Sally-Anne Thompson

A curated selection of work is also available through our online shop: bluecoatdisplaycentreshop.com

Tree Story – Liverpool One Outdo...

A new pop-up exhibition at Liverpool ONE tells the history of the Liverpool City Region, its people and green spaces through trees and calls on locals to share their own pictures and stories.

Today (Friday 16th February), a 20-metre-long art display on School Lane and multiple tree integrated displays on Paradise Street were unveiled showcasing photographs, stories and poems about trees submitted by residents across the region.

The images and stories have been submitted via Tree Story, a project set up by local art galleries Open Eye Gallery and dot-art back in 2020 during lockdown.

They invited people living in the Liverpool City Region to take photographs of trees that were special to them in some way and submit their story explaining why, which were then uploaded to an interactive map.

Now, the galleries are working with Liverpool ONE to showcase a selection of these stories and encourage visitors to get involved themselves.

Passers-by can scan the QR code shown on the pop-up exhibition and on trees along Paradise Street to submit their own pictures of trees relating to their family histories, memories, and daily lives.

And, to celebrate the exhibition’s launch, The Mersey Forest marked this occasion giving away tree saplings for visitors to take away and plant.

Donna Howitt, Place Strategy Director for Liverpool ONE, said: “Our city’s green spaces have a profound effect on the wellbeing of residents. Connecting with nature is incredibly beneficial to our mental and physical health, which is why at Liverpool ONE we take proud in looking after our green spaces for visitors to enjoy alongside our ever-growing retail, dining and entertainment offering.

“We’d love our visitors to take this opportunity to stop and connect with nature through the stunning images on display and contribute to the Tree Story project with their own experiences of nature.”

Lucy Byrne, Managing Director of dot-art, hopes the display at Liverpool ONE will inspire visitors to think about how nature has benefitted them through hard times such as the Covid pandemic and in their day-to-day lives since.

She said: “Tree Story is a fantastic project which has already engaged hundreds of people of all ages across the city region since its launch during lockdown. Many of us gained a renewed appreciation for the outdoors while we weren’t able to do the activities we usually enjoyed, and this seems to have stuck with us.

“We are absolutely delighted to bring together a selection of the Tree Stories so far uploaded to our interactive map and showcase them in such a prominent and high-profile location as Liverpool ONE.

“We can’t wait to see what fascinating and thought-provoking new stories will be shared by visitors.”

Maria Gulina, Communications and Content Producer for Open Eye Gallery, said: “We were fascinated by all the heart-warming Tree Stories shared with us. Urban trees are crucial in mitigating climate change and also reflect our cultural heritage, as they bear witness to historical events and our everyday life. Trees, parks and green areas are invaluable for our mental health, and they help us form meaningful connections with the place where we live.

“We are looking forward to reading new Tree Stories from all across the Liverpool City Region, and we are grateful to Liverpool ONE and The National Lottery Heritage Fund for making this amazing project possible.”

For more information on the pop-up exhibition visit https://www.liverpool-one.com/treestory

To submit your stories and pictures about trees visit https://treestory.me

Artwork hand in day

The Sefton Open is an annual exhibition celebrating the creativity and artistic talent across the borough. The exhibition takes over The Atkinson’s art gallery in an eclectic salon-style hang and features a wide variety of works from individual artists and local groups. Each year the exhibition attracts thousands of visitors to The Atkinson.

The Atkinson’s longstanding partner, Southport Palette Club, select the work from individual artists for the Sefton Open. The club was formed in 1921 to champion the work of local artists and this will be their 98th annual exhibition.

A wide variety of media is welcomed, including film, sculpture, craft, paintings, prints and textiles. Artists may submit up to 3 original artworks for consideration by the Council of Southport Palette Club. There is a non-refundable £5 handling fee for each work submitted. No more than 4 works can be displayed by any individual artist in the Sefton Open, this includes works displayed with Southport Palette Club and works displayed with local groups.

Individual artists are responsible for selecting original artwork for consideration by Southport Palette Club or inclusion with local group submissions, which has not previously been exhibited at The Atkinson or featured in the shop. Local groups can register for entry by contacting jemma.tynan@sefton.gov.uk to receive the groups and societies entry form.

To submit artwork, you must be aged 18+ and either live, work or have been educated in Sefton.

Visitors to the exhibition can purchase catalogues and are encouraged to vote for their favourite artwork on display. The artwork with the most votes will be awarded The People’s Prize. Visitors can also support local artists by investing in their work, most artworks are available to purchase through The Atkinson and the Own Art Scheme.

Get involved

Artwork hand in day: 12 March 2024, 11am – 7pm

Download entry form

In the entry form documents you will find:
• Entry guidelines.
• Information on how to prepare your artwork for submission.
• Entry form.

On the other side

As citizens, we live with systems that are put in place to monitor, control and change our behaviours. In On the other side, three artists consider the impact of these systems: on those who design them, those who administer them, and those who are subject to their enforcement.

Melanie Crean and Katrina Palmer present two new artworks made with participants across Liverpool, York and Rochdale who have experiences with the justice system: imprisoned people and their communities, staff, and those who influence decision makers. Public perception and understanding of the UK justice system varies wildly across media outlets, political positioning, and cultural representation.

Developed between the artists and the participants as experts in their own experiences of the system, these artworks make visible the complex formation of individual and collective identities formed by the landscapes of prison and incarceration.

Alongside, Pilvi Takala presents a multi-channel video installation made in collaboration with former colleagues who worked as private security guards in one of Finland’s largest shopping malls. In it she considers how power is exercised in spaces for the public that are privately owned, and reflects on the roles and responsibilities of security personnel who exert power to maintain social order.

These works encourage us to reconsider the everyday behaviours we learn and conform to, often without question. How might looking at them differently allow us to disrupt or reimagine what we accept as normal?

On the other side includes works from Resolution – a multi-year project to explore how art can affect public attitudes and influence decision-making in the justice system. Resolution invites artists, incarcerated people and their families, prison staff, policy makers and criminology researchers to work together as project participants. Working in this way creates the opportunity for dialogue within the system – and ultimately, a hope for change.

Photo Credit: Melanie Crean, A Machine to Unmake You (M2UY) (2023). Film still. Courtesy of the artist.

Finding Solitude – Exhibition of...

Claire Weetman presents a collection of drawings of chairs that invite you to sit down, but that time to rest alone is just out of reach.

This collection of pencil drawings, created by Claire in 2023 and 2024, began by thinking about how time alone either physically or mentally is difficult to achieve as a parent. Chairs are perched precariously on branches or balanced on top of a tottering tower of bins that need emptying. The chairs are inviting, you’d quite enjoy that seat for yourself, but ultimately, all of these chairs and their offer of rest are unusable.

The drawings are exhibited in the Coffee Stop cafe, St Mary’s Market, St Helens. The works will be part of an online exhibition during March 2024.

Event

St Mary’s Market is open Monday to Saturday 9am-5pm. There is step-free access to the market.

Lost at Sea! Raffles and the wildlife ...

When the East Indiaman ship the Fame sank 200 years ago, Sir Stamford Raffles’ vast collections of natural history specimens and drawings from Sumatra and Singapore were lost forever.

Raffles, a British East India Company official, found fame as the ‘founder’ of modern Singapore. He is also known as the founder of London Zoo and for the ‘discovery’ of Rafflesia, the giant flower of Sumatra.

Why was Raffles collecting animals and plants in Southeast Asia, and how did some birds collected for Raffles end up in Liverpool?

In One Place

“In One Place” is the first ever exhibition by Liverpool street artist, Paul Curtis and it will take place in the very building that inspired his now iconic “For All Liverpool’s Liver Birds”, aka “The Wings”.

Paul has worked with Arts Producer and Curator, Laura McCann to deliver an interactive event that will not only showcase Paul’s existing murals but also offer a range of activities, including Paul painting new artworks live. One of two new freestanding pieces created will then be auctioned and the other will be the prize in a draw, with100% of the proceeds being split equally between Alder Hey Children’s Charity and The Whitechapel Centre.

Times:
10am–5pm (weekdays) (11am- 5pm weekends)