Interest area: art

Drink & Draw: Life Drawing (Make ...

Join the group for their monthly life drawing class at Make Hamilton Square, where you can have fun doodling and sketching in a relaxed setting. Held in the cozy Nettle café, sessions include a cheeseboard and glass of wine to help you feel at ease.

Open to anyone 16 and over, regardless of experience level, this untaught session welcomes both beginners and seasoned artists.

Bring your preferred materials, from charcoal to biro, and enjoy a chilled-out environment for practice.

Arrive at 5:45pm to chat and secure a spot, with a 20-minute break halfway through.

Please observe standard life drawing etiquette to ensure a comfortable experience for their model.

Drink & Draw: Life Drawing (Make ...

Join the group for their monthly life drawing class at Make Hamilton Square, where you can have fun doodling and sketching in a relaxed setting. Held in the cozy Nettle café, sessions include a cheeseboard and glass of wine to help you feel at ease.

Open to anyone 16 and over, regardless of experience level, this untaught session welcomes both beginners and seasoned artists.

Bring your preferred materials, from charcoal to biro, and enjoy a chilled-out environment for practice.

Arrive at 5:45pm to chat and secure a spot, with a 20-minute break halfway through.

Please observe standard life drawing etiquette to ensure a comfortable experience for their model.

Drink & Draw: Life Drawing (Make ...

Join the group for their monthly life drawing class at Make Hamilton Square, where you can have fun doodling and sketching in a relaxed setting. Held in the cosy Nettle café, sessions include a cheeseboard and glass of wine to help you feel at ease.

Open to anyone 16 and over, regardless of experience level, this untaught session welcomes both beginners and seasoned artists.

Bring your preferred materials, from charcoal to biro, and enjoy a chilled-out environment for practice.

Arrive at 5:45pm to chat and secure a spot, with a 20-minute break halfway through.

Please observe standard life drawing etiquette to ensure a comfortable experience for their model.

David Clapham: The River Runs Through

Two decades since he last lived and worked in Merseyside, artist David Clapham is returning to Birkenhead with a new exhibition, The River Runs Through, at Williamson Art Gallery.

Harrogate-born Clapham lived in Birkenhead Park for twelve years in the 1980’s and 90’s, including six years in Birkenhead Cricket Club. He made a significant contribution to the arts on Merseyside, as a Fine Art lecturer at John Moores University for over 20 years, and as a freelance filmmaker working for a variety of broadcast media including Granada TV. It was Clapham who invited Yoko Ono to Liverpool to perform her famous ‘Music of the Mind happening’ at Bluecoat Chambers in 1967. In 1976 he went on to co-found and manage the Bridewell Artists Studio complex, still thriving today on Prescott St in Liverpool.

The River Runs Through includes some of Clapham’s most recent works, alongside selected pieces from over two decades of development. The recurrent images of water and rivers are unifying themes from different periods in his life and different places that he has lived and worked, including London and Portugal. The exhibition features work in a range of media, including ephemeral large hanging installations which play with transparency.

Although they are landscapes based on real locations, Clapham is interested in the feelings beyond what we see. He says that “I’m looking at nature through the lens of history and recollection that sets in motion a series of memories, such as of a moment in time, or a particular quality of light, that affects how we live and feel in a place. That series of associations represents true reality.”

The River Runs Through will run at Williamson Art Gallery 6th April – 15th June.

Joshua Clague: At night, I lock the do...

Joshua Clague will perform At night, I lock the doors, where no one else can see, which has been created specially for his exhibition at Bluecoat.

During his performance, the gallery is transformed from a quiet space of contemplation and reflection, into a joyful space in which a carousel of dance routines by Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Janet Jackson are projected into the gallery.

Event

Clague, skilfully re-enacts each of these iconic performances. We’re led to thinking about what fandom means, and how pop culture can shape us. This shaping occurs both mentally and physically, from the perception we have about who we are and where we fit in the world, to the muscle memory of imitating the idols that we love.

The Sefton Open 2024

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.

Julia Midgley: Bicentenary Sketchbook ...

Liverpool John Moores University will look back on its milestone Bicentenary year at an exhibition of work by artist Julia Midgley created during her residency throughout 2023. 

As Artist in Residence, Julia visited the LJMU campus regularly during the year to capture everything from open days to public lectures, to student projects and graduation celebrations, using her distinctive documentary and reportage style to create a poignant record of a historic year.  

Julia created around 140 individual drawings with watercolour from her time on campus, some of which have been curated for the special exhibition which will also feature large-scale reproductions of the original works, Julia’s sketchbooks and her art materials.   

In bringing the exhibition to fruition, Julia has worked in collaboration with the Bluecoat’s Director of Cultural Legacies Bryan Biggs, one of LJMU’s Bicentenary Honorary Fellows, and final year History of Art and Museum Studies student Madeleine Pedley, brought onto the project through an innovative internship opportunity through the university’s on-campus recruitment agency Unitemps.  

Award-winning artist Julia was a Reader in Documentary Drawing within LJMU’s School of Art and Design and a member of staff for 26 years before retiring in 2013. Julia is also a practising printmaker and is a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition (12 occasions). She has been the recipient of national awards for drawing, painting and printmaking, and is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers and the Royal Watercolour Society. 

Open daily, 8.30am – 4.30pm, except weekends and Bank Holidays.

Bread and Roses

“For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!”

Bread and Roses was a poem written in 1912 by James Oppenheim, about women and children striking for better wages and working conditions.

The metaphor of Bread and Roses is that we all need bread to feed our bodies, but we also need to be nourished by life’s roses: art, music, literature, education, and nature.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, dot-art wanted to curate a group exhibition that showcases the best of affordable art. This show is dedicated to featuring original works under £200 and limited editions under £100. Owning art does not have to break the bank and quality artworks do not have to have eye watering prices.

This exhibition features a wide array of imagery and styles from over 20 dot-art Artist Members. On display you will find still life, cyanotypes, abstract paintings, lithographs, and charcoal portraits. A show for everyone, ranging from the traditional to the conceptual.

Artists such as Caroline Race have responded to the history of the poem and its historical moment. “I have produced a series of affordable paper lithographs on kozo tissue with 22 carat gold leaf embossed onto Fabriano print paper. A series of objects representing the strength of women and their fight for fairness and equality during the suffragette movement of the early 1900’s. I am using warm red tones to represent the blood spilt during their fight, the gold leaf representing their struggle for equal pay and fairer working conditions.”

Susan Cantrill Williams reflects on her personal connection to this exhibition’s theme. “My bread was provided by my Grandmother Hanna Pritchard, an active member of the labour party who marched for women’s rights in Birmingham and ran her own business in a rough part of Aston. She enabled education for my mother and art education for myself, allowing us to experience the roses.”

At dot-art, they are always affordable and have payment plans for works over £250 because they know the value of treasuring special pieces of art by local artists, so do their very best to create the best buying conditions for art lovers.

As the poem says: “Hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses”.

All artworks are for sale.

Join us for the Private View of the exhibition on Thursday 4th April from 5pm-7pm.

All welcome, but please register here: dot-art-breadandroses.eventbrite.co.uk

The dot-art Gallery can be found at 14 Queen Avenue, Castle Street, Liverpool, L2 4TX (just 5 minutes’ walk from Liverpool One).

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm

The exhibition runs 5th April – 1 June 2024.

If Walls Could Talk

Start-Yard showcases artist Daniel Meakin’s solo exhibition of paintings “If Walls Could Talk”.

To preview the exhibition, Daniel will do a Live Painting Performance, allowing spectators to meet him and witness his work in progress in situ.

The exhibition will run until the end of May and the paintings are available to purchase.

Meet and Make: Lino Printing

Spend a relaxing afternoon in Sudley House learning a new skill and getting to know new people.

Using the fantastic artworks on display you will learn more about print making, and try your hand at it to make an artwork to take home. Their friendly facilitator will guide you through the process and there is no need to have any experience, just bring yourself and some enthusiasm. Whilst the works are drying take the opportunity to head to the café for a chat. You never know, you might leave with a new friend as well as a new artwork!

This session is perfect for adults over the age of 18 who are interested and inspired to continue making art. Your £20 Ticket includes materials, facilitator, and a hot drink in the café.

2 – 4pm