Event type: Exhibition

The Bluecoat’s Colonial Legacies

Over the last year, the Bluecoat has worked with a group of young people to interrogate the building’s past, to be presented in a new exhibition, The Bluecoat’s Colonial Legacies.

This exhibition will bring to light archival material and research relating to the Bluecoat’s beginnings as a charity school, along with new findings about its co-founder, the merchant Bryan Blundell and his family.

We have worked with a group of 14-18 year olds, who have produced a selection of creative work that will be on display alongside a newly commissioned artwork by artist Grace Thomas.

A small blue coat, based on the uniform worn by the eighteenth-century Blue Coat School pupils, will be suspended in the space, its threads unravelling. This reflects the unwinding of contested histories, and the ties between two of the building’s central narratives, colonial legacies and the concept of looked after children.

Quentin Blake: Illustrating Verse

Kirkby Gallery will present a touring exhibition from House of Illustration, Quentin Blake: Illustrating Verse – a free collection of 120 works by the world-renowned artist and illustrator, Sir Quentin Blake.

Sir Quentin Blake has been illustrating poetry throughout his 60-year career, creating illustrations for a huge variety of poets. The gallery will be home to a wonderful collection of these works, selected by the artist himself.

Blake is probably best known for his work with Roald Dahl and the images her created for famous novels like George’s Marvellous Medicine and The BFG. A highlight of the exhibition will be his illustrations for Edward Lear’s The Owl and The Pussy-Cat and an illustration for a poem by William Shakespeare – both writers that will be celebrated in Knowsley 2022.

Cherry Jezebel – The Exhibition

To complement Everyman Theatre’s upcoming production of Cherry Jezebel, Homotopia and DuoVision Arts have put together a display of art work which enhances the themes explored in Jonathan Larkin‘s writing.

The exhibition will include work byBen Youdan, Debbie Divine, Tracy Watt, Gozra Lozano, ladypat, Jonathon Beaver, Michael James O’Brien, Sophie Green, Graeme Lavery, Luke Bryant & Jason Carr.

No ticket necessary, the gallery will be open in EV2, upstairs at the Everyman during their opening hours.

Stephen Dixon and Paul Scott: Exhibiti...

The Bluecoat Display Centre welcome this unique opportunity to curate and host an exhibition dedicated to work by Stephen Dixon and Paul Scott, both well known for their research and work in printed ceramic as well as political and social commentary.

Both artists are internationally renowned and have worked in Manchester and in Cumbria for much of their professional careers.

All work featured will be available for sale in the gallery and online from Friday 4 March.

The exhibition runs until 30 April.

 

Kunichika: Japanese Prints

This stunning new exhibition of prints by Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) is an exciting follow up from Lady Lever Art Gallery’s previous exhibition Edo Pop.

Kunichika was one of the most important 19th century print makers in Japan. Born in Edo (present day Toyko), Kunichika was trained by Kunisada, a leading print maker of the time, and went on to be a highly original master in his own right.

Kunichika embraced modern subjects and his prints reflected the great social and political change in Japan at the time. He was best known for his depictions of the Kabuki theatre, capturing the drama and excitement of scenes from popular plays and famous actors.

More than 50 of Kunichika’s hand-printed single, double and triptych prints will feature in this must-see exhibition, which is the first in a national gallery outside of Japan to focus on his work.

For more information visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Image: Kunichika-Ichikawa-Danjuro © National Museums Liverpool, courtesy of Frank Milner

Super Last Minute Studio Show

Super Last Minute Studio Show is an exhibition celebrating some of the wonderful artists they have on offer here at The Royal Standard.

As one of Liverpool’s oldest and largest artist-led organisations, they aim to support and provide opportunities for their studio community as much as possible, and are using this gap in their gallery programme to showcase some of the amazing creativity and talent we house in our studios.

They also only decided to do this last week, and it’s super last minute.

They asked artists to show completed pieces and works in progress, as finished pieces of work aren’t always available at such short notice, and they want to give an insight into where studio members are at with their creative practices in this current moment.

The exhibition will be open for one night only on Friday 25th February, 6-9pm.

M@rt Music Metro Exhibition by Martin ...

Martin Pin Jiang studied as a graphic designer in Newcastle upon Tyne in the mid 1980’s and always had a fascination and obsessive interest in record sleeve / cassette inlay art and design.

The artist also had a similar obsession with collecting maps, folded street maps, leaflets and railway network diagrams (e.g. Merseyrail, the London Underground) from an early age.  Martin would draw and doodle aimlessly making up road and rail networks that didn’t exist, as well as meticulously reproducing street maps of UK cities from the atlases he had in his collection.

Martin is a keen music fan, being an aspiring drummer from childhood, so the art of record covers was always close to his heart and he would compile his own mix tapes and CDs and design and print out his own versions of sleeves.

At the end of the 1990’s, he started drawing again by hand his diagrammatic railway network maps, with the aim of translating them into a musical context. Thus was born the whole concept of customised rail network maps, based on albums by different bands.

Fast forward 20+ years to the present, and some of these earlier embryonic versions have since been upgraded and redesigned to a much higher standard and comprise some of the examples that are being exhibited at Mersey Arts Zone.

Why Music Metro Maps? Martin always regarded listening to an album as a bit like a trip you are embarking on. It might sound trite of course but that was precisely what it was, the excitement as a youngster, of putting on a LP record or indeed cassette tape which you’d just bought from WH Smiths, Woolworths, HMV or wherever else, and just listening to the tracks sequentially one after the other.

It was just like embarking on a sonic train journey and it struck him at the time that very few others would equate the two in such a way: one ‘station’ after another before the final number which is the terminus. Martin made that connection and never lost sight of it since”!

Mersey Arts Zone is open Wednesday to Sunday 10-5pm

Space, The Universe and Everything

An immersive art experience, known as ‘Space, The Universe and Everything’, is set to transform the inside of Liverpool Cathedral with an extraordinary display of lights, projections and sound, which will see visitors surrounded by the awe-inspiring wonders of the universe as they walk through the building’s vast splendour. 

The breathtaking installation will come to life after dark as the stunning Gothic architecture of Liverpool Cathedral becomes a canvas for an incredible exploration of space and the universe, with a spectacular son-et-lumière performance taking place every evening between Friday 18 – Sunday 27 February 2022.                                                                                                                 

Combining the dazzling projections of sculptor, Peter Walker, with the beautiful atmospheric sounds of composer, David Harper, ‘Space, The Universe and Everything’ is the work of award-winning artistic collaboration, Luxmuralis, the team behind ‘Angel Wings’ and ‘Peace Doves’ at Liverpool Cathedral.

Photo Credit: Gareth Jones

Bruce Asbestos: OK! Cherub!

The Bluecoat’s famous courtyard will soon be getting some fun new residents when it becomes home to OK! Cherub!, a group of new artworks by artist Bruce Asbestos.

Newly commissioned work by Bruce Asbestos includes three giant inflatable sculptures: a yellow worm, a collection of frogspawn and a giant arm.

Each sculpture represents, and takes its name from, a different aspect of positive mental health. A giant yellow worm represents Rest, a group of green frogspawn represents Community and a giant cartoon arm represents Connection.

The work has been developed in response to the Bluecoat’s historic building and courtyard, particularly the architectural features such as the cherubs that adorn the façade.

Discombobuloscopy by Roxy Topia and Pa...

A part of Convenience Gallery’s 21/22 ‘In Cahoots’ programme

‘Discombobuloscopy’ is an experimental collaborative painting, made in relief from hand cut MDF, metal and polymer clay. Mounted as a tri-fold modesty screen made specifically for the Convenience Gallery modular framework, it sits in a tradition of decoratively carved and painted screens and room dividers that dates back thousands of years, including those used for the privacy of medical examination.

The painting depicts an imaginative, unfolding body as landscape for contemplation; part self-examination, part costume change. Inspired by cartoonish representations, medical models and body imaging, body horror movie prop design and the melting, colour driven animism of psychedelia; the piece meditates on how conscious we have become of our bodies and whether it’s possible to build a coherent picture of them? Do we view our bodies as just a vehicle and what or who is along for the ride; are we just relay nodes for the micro-organisms we house? How best do we live in ourselves as a site for transformation?

Topia and Gould have exhibited and undertaken residencies across the UK and internationally. Selected exhibitions include RMAC, Roswell, USA, Studio 1.1, London, Studio 2, Todmorden and Bunker Gallery, Manchester. Their most recent solo show in 2021, ‘Pause for Living’ was held at CBS Gallery, Liverpool. They also founded Pink Sands in 2018; an independent press for Artist publications. Their latest book release ‘There’s Always Things Falling Out the Sky’ is a fully illustrated long form poem and was created in collaboration with Artist Sammy Playford. They are based in Birkenhead.

All donation based tickets funds are reinvested back into current and future creative programming. This will support them in creating more opportunities for both people in the creative industry and the wider community. All “In Cahoots” core programming is free to attend and donations are optional.

Opening Night: Friday 25th February 6:30pm-late

Show runs: 25th February- 11th March (Monday-Friday 10am-6pm)

Location: Bloom Building, Birkenhead, CH41 5FQ.