Interest area: art

Creatures of the Nile

An exciting new exhibition, Creatures of the Nile, is now open at the University of Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum, which explores the fascinating position animals held in ancient Egyptian and Sudanese society and culture.

Creatures of the Nile features more than 250 objects, many of which have never been on public display. Highlights include one of the earliest known depictions of a domesticated dog, a sheet from the 3,500-year-old Book of the Dead and a bronze statue which entombed a mummified cat.

Tiago Da Cruz Solo Show

An exciting new figurative exhibition is scheduled to wow visitors to the ArtHouse in Southport later this month.

Described by the artist as “an amalgamation of personal experiences, cultural influences and the exploration of detachment”, this premiere showcase has been harvested from the creative mind of Portuguese born painter, Tiago da Cruz.

“The exhibition contains some paintings I produced in the last 5 years, and it portrays the passive view of different characters in varied actions”.

Arriving in the UK around four years ago, Tiago’s intriguing subjects are captured with a freedom of expression that impacts on the viewer with almost carnivalesque bravura.

The Atkinson: Eternal Summer: Painting...

From an unpromising start as a Southport painter and decorator, Philip Connard rose to prominence as a successful Impressionist artist and a Royal Academician.

This exhibition charts his career including a remarkable period as a war artist serving on the Navy’s first submarines to an important muralist who created magnificent decorations for the room housing Queen Mary’s dolls house.

This exhibition brings the work of an overlooked artist back into the spotlight, featuring examples of his work from our national collections.

The Atkinson: Edwardian Impressionists...

Philip Connard worked alongside some of the greatest artists of his generation, many of them leading British Impressionists who opposed the artistic establishment at the turn of the nineteenth century.

This exhibition features key works from The Atkinson’s collection, including paintings by Philip Wilson Steer, Walter Sickert, Wilfrid de Glehn and Henry Scott Tuke.

Indigo Cafe: Crafternoon

Craft projects hanging around you promised you’d have finished? Need to find some inspiration for your next painting?

Head down to Crafternoon, sit in their comfy Snug with a cuppa and let the creativity flow.

Its alway nice to create in community … and even better if there are cups of tea available at the end of your finger tips too!

No pressure for anything to be perfect, no pressure for projects to get finished – just come in with friends or to make some new ones!

Convenience Gallery: In a Past line by...

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

Convenience Gallery: FIT IT by Leo Fit...

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

Event

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

Printmaking for Beginners

This 3 week evening course is a perfect taster session into 3 different print techniques; monoprint, linocut & drypoint etching. You’ll learn the basics of all 3 techniques and create prints using each technique.

The course is designed for beginners who would like an introduction to printmaking and those who would like a taster of various techniques before committing to a day course. It’s also great for creating work for a portfolio.

Thu 23 May – Thu 6 Jun

Course Location: Bluecoat Intaglio Studio

Experience Level: Beginner

Duration: This course will run Thursday evenings at 5:30pm – 7:45pm for 3 consecutive weeks. We have multiple courses throughout the year, please see tickets at the bottom of the page for exact dates.

This 3 week evening course is a perfect taster session into 3 different print techniques; monoprint, linocut & drypoint etching. You’ll learn the basics of all 3 techniques and create prints using each technique. The course is designed for beginners who would like an introduction to printmaking and those who would like a taster of various techniques before committing to a day course. It’s also great for creating work for a portfolio.

The course schedule is as follows:

Week 1: You will learn all about monoprint. The session will guide you through the process of creating a beautiful monoprint while learning about the history, tools, materials and techniques used.

Week 2: You will learn all about linocut, and use the session to create your own linocut print whilst learning about the materials, tools and techniques of the process.

Week 3: You will learn all about drypoint etching and be guided through the process of creating a drypoint etch, including using our beautiful 100-year-old press to print your plates.
What’s Included?

All materials you will use are included in the cost of the course, but you are welcome to bring along your own if you choose. Their studios are environmentally friendly where possible and use greener methods of screen printing, such as water-based acrylic inks. Completing this course will act as an Induction to book into their Screen Printing Studio should you wish to.

Do I need to prepare anything beforehand?

All sessions: Feel free to bring along reference images to each session.

The course is available to book for the following dates:

Thu 23 May – Thu 6 Jun, 5:30pm – 7:45pm

Thu 24 Oct – Thu 7 Nov, 5:30pm – 7:45pm

Tickets: £125

Botanical Summer Print Party

Be inspired by the Bluecoat Garden this Summer, using flowers and foliage to create beautiful botanical prints.

Sat 29 Jun, 11am – 1pm & 2:30pm – 4:30pn

Recommended for ages 5+

Participants will begin the session by choosing from a selection of fresh wild flowers and foliage. They will then use a variety of techniques to create beautiful botanical Collagraph prints using our A3 table top relief press.

Children will be able to use the press themselves with a facilitator supervising if they choose to, or a parent/guardian can help. There will be ample time during the session for everyone to make a set of prints and experiment with placement and colours.

Tickets: £15 per child, must be accompanied by an adult.

There will be activity packs available for £1.50 extra and the opportunity to leave the workshop to grab drinks and snacks.

All children must be supervised by an adult. Each ticket admits one supervising adult and one child to participate. If the supervising adult would like to take part in the activity also, please purchase a materials bundle add-on ticket.

What’s Included?

All materials are provided on the day and included in the price of your ticket.

You are more than welcome to bring your own plant materials to the session if you like. Things that have an interesting texture and are flat, such as feathers, textured fabric, leaves, petals etc. will all work.

There are two sessions available:

11am – 1pm

2.30pm – 4.30pm

Tickets: £15 per child, must be accompanied by an adult.

Introduction to UV Screenprinting on F...

Learn the basics of UV screen-printing on fabric and use your own design to create a set of tote bags to take home with you.

Sat 22 Jun, 11am – 5pm

Course Location: Bluecoat Screen Print Studio

Experience Level: Beginners & people needing a refresher into the process

Duration: The course runs for one day (11:00am – 5:00) with a break for lunch

During this one day course you will learn the basics of screen printing, including learning about the materials used and processes involved in creating a UV exposed screen. After preparing your screen, you’ll get time to draw your own image to print (or you can bring a *suitable image with you) before exposing the screen using UV light. You’ll finish the workshop by using their screen-beds to ink and print your tote bag design and creating 2 tote bags to take home with you.

What’s Included?

All materials you will use are included in the cost of the course, but you are welcome to bring along your own if you choose. Their studios are environmentally friendly where possible and use greener methods of screen printing, such as water-based acrylic inks. Completing this course will act as an Induction to book into their Screen Printing Studio should you wish to.

Do I need to prepare anything beforehand?

If you would like to prepare an image to bring with you to print you can use:

Inkjet/Laser Print: Please make sure it is either in BLACK INK ONLY on acetate/transparency

Hand drawn image: Please use opaque ink pens (we use black posca markers) on tracing paper or acetate/transparency for your image to expose correctly.

If you would like to bring your own fabric items to print on please feel free – although they cannot guarantee it will be suitable fabric to print onto!

Tickets: £70