Interest area: art

Joy – Faith Bebbington

From 10th – 16th November visit the iconic Royal Liver Building on the ground floor between 12pm – 5pm to see the work of renowned local artist Faith Bebbington, whose work was not only the most popular ever seen on The Liverpool Plinth in 2021 but was also one of the selection panel for Liverpool Art Fair, and was interviewed as part of a special event on site in August.

“I studied sculpture at Winchester College of Art, set up my Liverpool studio in 1993 and now work nationally creating public artworks and exhibiting my sculpture. I also devise art projects in partnership with local schools, communities and cultural organisations such as Culture Liverpool and Dadafest.

My artistic practice initially stemmed from having cerebral palsy, a disability that has made me curious about how people and animals move. I explore this through figurative sculptures playing with balance, the process of falling, and capturing sequences of movement whether human or animal. In 2014 my artistic perspective shifted radically after surviving ‘terminal’ cancer! I stopped working with fibreglass resin as my main medium and focused on more sustainable, environmentally friendly ways of working, particularly re-using plastics by breaking the component parts down to then reconstruct them.” Faith Bebbington

This will be the first time since showing with dot-art in 2017, that the public with be able to purchase a Faith Bebbington sculpture, something that has been reserved for public commissions only during that time. With sustainability at the heart of Faith’s practice, purchase of the sculptures supports the ethical value of artwork that prioritises working with recycled materials.

Faith has a diverse range of sculptures on show including works from her Joy collection which inspired the title of the exhibition. Faith’s work acknowledges our need to find JOY, as we navigate through tough times. Sixteen new small-scale recycled paper sculptures will be presented, all created with wastepaper as the key material. The patterned papers used to create the paper mâché surface were collected over time by neighbours, friends, and colleagues.

Faith has created many animal sculptures over her career and now debuts five new hybrid, domestic pet-like Creatures. These sculptures of stretching, growling and slinking creatures have fur coats made from waste plastic milk bottles.

As you visit the exhibition, you will discover the variety of scales Faith explores, from smaller works to her large-scale public pieces that you may recognise from their temporary homes around Liverpool. “Jimmy” the work horse sculpture shown on Liverpool Plinth in 2021 and “Super Rat” which lived on the Baltic Skatepark wall, offering a chance to see public domain works, up close and personal.

In addition to the exhibition, you will have the opportunity to meet the artist and learn more about her process during the exhibition week from the opening evening, a lunchtime workshop, to informal chats with the artist while in residence. Please do visit our socials for details of these events.

All artworks are for sale. (Excluding public artworks)

Opening times: 12-5pm

Crafted

Kirkby Gallery’s biennial exhibition of contemporary craft, design and fine art returns to the gallery from 30 October – 23 December, featuring a host of artists and makers from across the region.

The Crafted exhibition will showcase metalwork, textiles, fashion, ceramics, illustration, collage, painting and book art from artists and makers including Becky Atherton, Kelly Broughton, Kate Bufton, Hollie Cooper, Julie Dodd, Harry Garner, Heston Isle Press, David Holmes, Sue McLaren, Ali Pickard, Catherine Rogers, Julie Taylor, Kate Tidmarsh, Hilary Marteau and the North West Book Art Group.

For 2023, the exhibition has been co-curated with Liverpool Book Art, celebrating the creative practice of book art through unique hand-made books, stories & illustrations, distinctive notebooks, prints, book sculptures, bindings, and more!

Bringing this to life is a unique exhibition on the ground floor of The Kirkby Centre, of the special collection owned by Liverpool Book Art, offering the opportunity to see how diverse this genre of art truly is. This show runs parallel to the Crafted exhibition so the visiting public can enjoy this until the 23rd December also.

Additionally, Liverpool Book Art will be hosting a series of special events and fringe exhibitions throughout the exhibition’s duration to give people an opportunity to explore the artform for themselves. This includes:

The Liverpool Book Art Fair

Friday 3 November, 10.30am – 4.30pm
Meet a range of book artists, and purchase works directly from them.

Half Term Book Art Workshops

Monday 30 October – Saturday 4 November

Throughout the October half term is a series of free workshops for children and adults offering you the opportunity to learn how to make your own book art.
Contact the gallery for more information: galleries@knowsley.gov.uk

Reading copies of artists books will be available for a much closer look, in the main gallery.

Event

All of the artworks in the Crafted exhibition are for sale with a range of price points available, from smaller affordable works through to major pieces which would be sure to make a unique and thoughtful Christmas gift.

Worst Record Covers

From the unintentionally funny to the completely bizarre, Steve Goldman’s collection of more than 500 record covers are something to behold. Collected over a seven-year period from charity shops and online marketplaces, Goldman’s selection criteria is stringent: Is this one of the worst record covers in the world?

Visitors to Birkenhead’s Williamson Art Gallery & Museum will be able to make up their own minds when they go on display in November. Worst Record Covers is a unique celebration of some of the most questionable design choice in music history.

Goldman explains that to get into his collection, a cover “has to make me laugh! There are plenty of covers which are bad for the wrong reasons – sexist, homophobic, racist, gory et c- you won’t find any of these. I want records where the designers have tried to do something that’s gone horribly wrong”.

Visitors will have the opportunity to have their say on which is the best – or worst – via a public vote to select a favourite. This is an exhibition which can be enjoyed by the whole family, and younger visitors can enjoy games and activities, including designing their own worst record covers.

Goldman is a stroke survivor and is staging the exhibition in aid of Different Strokes, a charity helping younger stroke survivors.

The exhibition’s opening will also mark the publication of Goldman’s book “The Art Of The Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve”, published by Easy On The Eye Books. The text is written by Simon Robinson at Easy On The Eye, who has produced many sleeve designs himself (happily none of which feature in Steve’s collection!) with a foreword written by comedian Stewart Lee.

The exhibition is open November 15th 2023 – January 27th 2024 at Williamson Art Gallery.

On Friday 15th December they’ll be holding a very special Worst Records Christmas Party! In the spirit of the show, the team from Birkenhead’s own Skeleton Records will be spinning the best, worst and most unexpected records to get you in the festive spirit, with a bar by Homebrew Bottle Shop, Oxton. Free tickets are available to book through the Williamson’s website.

Family Weekend November

Join Bluecoat for a host of free family activities exploring the environment and the air that we breathe.

Join them for two days of free family activities where your little artists can get creative.

They’ll be working with an artist to explore our environment and the air that we breathe. More information to come soon.

Free, drop in

Suitable for all ages.

Autumn Alchemy

AUTUMN ALCHEMY EXHIBITION
ANGELICA VANASSE & SQUASH CREATIVES

11AM – 3PM SATURDAY 28TH & SUNDAY 29TH OCTOBER
& 12-4 PM WEDNESDAY 1ST NOVEMBER (SAMHAIN)

Squash, 112-114 Windsor Street, Liverpool L8 8EQ
For more information visit their website – squashliverpool.co.uk

Free pop-up exhibition for all ages

A pop-up exhibition sharing what has grown & been gathered throughout this 8-fold year*, celebrating local land-based rituals, artworks, produce and creativity. Coming together, we will make time and space to nourish ourselves through connecting to our creativity, the natural world and seasonal change in a welcoming and contemplative space. We will activate our space through making, sharing, cooking, engaging our senses and intention setting. Participate and celebrate with us by cooking on the fire, exploring the L8 apothecary, mark making with autumnal inks, and concocting natural balms and salves.

*The 8-fold year is a celebration of the Earth’s yearly cycle of change – life, death, growth and transformation. At Squash we have celebrated the 8-fold year for over 10 years through marking the Quarter points – Winter and Summer Solstices & Spring and Autumn Equinoxes and the Cross Quarter Points that fall at seasonal peaks (the Four Great Fire Festivals) of Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas/Lughnasadh and Samhain. These 8 chapters create the Wheel of the Year that connects us to the continuous cycles and changes in nature and ourselves. To us at Squash and our Windsor Street community this has become the ‘L8-Fold Year.’

This exhibition weaves together marking the ongoing L8-Fold Year with the creative processes and practices rooted in the Grapes Garden through the work of the Grapes Gardeners and artists rooted in this space. In 2022, artist Angelica Vanasse created and facilitated a series of land-based sessions working with nature and community in the garden that have become a part of our seasonal cycle. Autumn Alchemy is a collaboration with artist Angelica Vanasse to share what has grown and been gathered throughout this 8-fold year, celebrating land-based rituals, artworks, produce and creativity through activations, rituals and conversation. It brings together ritual, intention, land-based processes that are aligned with the 8-fold year in a contemplative space to be experienced.

This exhibition builds on her playful series of art-making sessions with community gardeners last year, exploring human identity and place in urban nature. In the front room at Squash you will be able to explore and experience the learning and outputs from a year of land-based, featuring activations and creative contributions from gardeners and artists Hellen Songa, Jackie Swanson & Jason Hughes and the Grapes Community Gardeners.

Event

Designed & produced in collaboration with Clare Owens and Becky Vipond, social artists & Squash Co-directors.

Marc Davenant: Outsiders

Birkenhead’s Williamson Art Gallery & Museum are proud to host Outsiders, a documentary photography project by Marc Davenant.

With Outsiders, Davenant aimed to capture a snapshot of homelessness in modern Britain over a six-year period. The project was done in partnership with the charity Shelter and included environmental portraiture together with personal testimony from participants. The national project covered locations in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Brighton, Kent, Hertfordshire and Norwich.

This exhibition displays a selection of the resulting photographs, alongside this personal testimony. All of the participants taken by Davenant gave informed consent.

“Though the images are beautiful, shot in black and white, they are intentionally provocative, sometimes haunting, and shockingly revealing of how people in marginalised communities are treated and expected to live” – Creative Boom.

Outsiders will run 18th October – 23rd December 2023. Williamson Art Gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday.

Made for Christmas

Made for Christmas at Welly Road Art Studios in Oxton when the residents studio artists/makers and invited guest open their doors to the public to talk about, show and sell their creations.

There will be other studios open in Oxton on the same weekend. Worth planning a trip to the area. Cash and cards accepted. Sold pieces can be taken with you and commissions can placed.

There will be seasonal refreshments and donations will be welcomed.

NB: This is a working studio and there are some issues for accessibility, we will endeavour to help where possible. The entrances to each of the studios has a threshold for a UPVC door and there is a step from one studio unit to another. They do not have an accessible toilet (IE: not able to accommodate a wheelchair but they do have a newly fitted grab handle).

Event

Please let them know if you have concerns and they aim to make arrangements to assist. There is some parking in the courtyard and on street parking nearby (Sunday unlimited, Saturday limited slightly in immediate vicinity).

Arena Open Studios

Arena’s Open Studios event provides a unique opportunity to explore our artists’ studios and engage in conversations with members about their ongoing projects.

View works in progress and completed pieces, including artwork for sale. All welcome.

To access Arena Studios press the buzzer for “ARENA” at the front of Elevator Studios at the entrance to the Arts Bar.

‘Unlocking New Light Art’ exhibiti...

Williamson Art Gallery and Museum are proud to host the launch of the New Light Prize exhibition 23/24.

Established in 2010, the New Light charity celebrates and promotes Northern art, supporting both well-known and emerging artists by offering some of the region’s best awards and opportunities with the biennial New Light Prize Exhibition. It provides Northern artists with an unparalleled platform to showcase their work and reach new audiences.

The New Light Prize exhibition tour 23/24 begins with this show at the Williamson, open 30th September – 22nd December 2023. Free entry, check our Visit Us page for full visiting information.

Following its time at the Williamson the Prize exhibition will tour to London’s Bankside Gallery, The Gallery at Rheged in Penrith, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle and finish at The Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate on 31st December 2024.

‘Unlocking New Light Art’ exhibition tour & talk with Sara Riccardi. FREE but places limited.

Shore, Sea, Sky

Shore, Sea, Sky – the North Wales coast project

In this exciting collaborative exhibition, three artists explore the spaces where the shore, sea and sky meet, responding both to the land and seascape of the North Wales coast and to each other’s work. With contemporary artist Jon Clayton, painter David Kereszeny-Lewis and glass artist Helen Smith

Preview evening is Thursday 19th October, 6 – 8pm, all welcome.

Opening Times: Thursday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm

The LAKE gallery is located in the heart of West Kirby, 2 minutes walk from the train station, opposite the Concourse.

To accompany the exhibition, the gallery will be hosting an artists talk on Saturday 4th November, 2.30 – 4pm. Free admission but please reserve your place via the gallery website.

Jon Clayton

Jon’s art is about places, they can be recognisable, detailed representational images but also, looser, abstract impressions, responses informed by connections present and in memory. Many of his paintings depict places of personal significance where he has spent time, often a lot of time. He particularly loves the landscape of Britain. The same small localities he continually returns to. Their familiarity is their strength – it’s what holds and moves him. Revisiting them – walking, running, drawing and photographing – he feels part of something already known. And yet, still, there is always something new, a fresh source of surprise.

David Kereszeny-Lewis

The son of a miner and part time game keeper, David Kereszteny-Lewis’s work is an autobiographical visualisation of his experiences in the landscapes he has come to know and understand intimately.

‘My work is fundamentally about places I know, the emotional connection I have with them and the physical effect that society has had upon them, especially in mining and agriculture. I look for the physical scars our actions have, such as paths, fields and fences.”

David’s work is mostly based in Cheshire, Cornwall, Yorkshire and north Wales and he has painted landscapes in every season of the year. His work has a constant theme of rain and water that adds its own specific atmosphere. Music also plays an influence in his work, most of the titles of the work start life in the lyrics of songs that resonate with both his practice as an artist and atmosphere created within an aural musical landscape.

Helen Smith

Created from kiln-formed glass, Helen’s tactile glass curves are strongly influenced by place. However, rather than depicting the landscape directly her focus is always on the interpretation of found textures within the landscape in combination with a sense of the atmosphere of a place.

“I was delighted when David and Jon asked me to join their North Wales coast project. The pieces I have created for this collection developed from the initial sketches made by David and Jon on their trips to the coast in combination with observations made on my own visits.”

Helen has been working with glass since completing her degree in Applied Arts specialising in glass in 2013 and regularly exhibits both locally and further afield. She is a co-founder of the LAKE gallery.