Bishops Castle Open Studios 2018

Bishops Castle Open Studios 2018
Art & Antiques Weekend
Friday 8th - Sunday 10th June 2018
10am - 5pm, free entry
www.bcopenstudios.co.uk

A weekend of artists' Open Studios and artisan shops in and around the town of Bishops Castle. To include Printmaking, painting, Textiles, Jewellery, Sculpture, Ceramics, Stained Glass, Contemporary & Vintage and More!

Spring Exhibition 2018 - Report

Our spring exhibition at St. Laurence's church resulted in a bumper sales figure of £2,680 which is our best spring exhibition result since 2012. Thank you to all who took part: organisers, helpers, and participating artists. Prizes were awarded as follows:

Twenty Twenty Gallery (£50 cash) to Peter Bishop, for Cader Idris & the Mawddach Estuary

Chang Thai (voucher) to Rob Leckey for Tramcar 1813 Approaching La Scala

Castle Bookshop (£25 for artists' materials) to Mary Loewenthal for Lilies in Willow Pattern Jug

President's Choice to Samuel Bebb for Wigmore Castle 1

Mayor's Choice to Lily Wang for Orange Street Light

Thanks to Pat Innes for counting the votes for the public's favourite exhibits. Results are as follows:

1. Quayside at Whitby by George Loades – 27 votes
2. Motte and Moat Farm by Martin Dutton – 18 votes
3. Coming Home by Val Littlehales – 18 votes
4. Sunset in Winter by Lily Wang – 18 votes
5. Spring Sunshine by Lesley Connolly – 17 votes
6. Harvest Moon by Val Littlehales – 16 votes
7. King of Kings by Stephen Foxx – 15 votes
8. Orange Sun Streetlight by Lily Wang – 12 votes
9. Olive Grove 6 by Sam Bebb – 11 votes
10. Skiddaw by John Willetts – 11 votes

Other votes received:

Val Alexander: Dinham Weir – 7 votes

Woodend at Henley – 6 votes

Farm Track – 6 votes

Sundown at Topsham – 6 votes

Low Sun at Henley – 4 votes

Summer Memory – 4 votes

Tulip Fest – 1 votes

Thelma Ayre: Winter Farm - 4 votes

Evening Light – 1 vote

Sam Bebb : Willows – 4 votes

Wigmore Castle – 3 votes

Olive Grove 7 – 2 votes

Before the Storm – 1 votes

Dr Peter Bishop: Cader Idris – 7 votes

Mawdach Estuary – 2 votes

Lyn Ca …. - 1 vote

Madeline Broad: Tiger – 1 vote

Sue Campbell: Untitled 2 – 4 votes

Untitled 1 – 1 votes

Rosemary Charles: Move Along the Branch – 6 votes

Robin – 1 vote

Lesley Connolly: Puffins – 4 votes

Tom Crowe: Wood and Pebble – 2 votes

Val Davies: Taking a Rest – 5 votes

Keeping Watch – 3 votes

Boxing Hares – 1 vote

Catherine Downes: Clematis – 8 votes

Primroses – 5 votes

Devon Stream – 4 votes

River Conwy – 1 vote

Martin Dutton: St David's Head – 2 votes

Three Angels – 1 vote

Linda Emery: Elephant – 3 votes

Gretchen Ind: The Hotel Room – 3 votes

A World of One's Own – 2 votes

Open Book – 2 votes

Misty Morning – 2 votes

House on the Hill – 1 votes

Pat Cusack Innes: Casement View: Summer – 5 votes

Trevor Innes Ode to Psyche – 2 votes

Ros Kingston: Rabbit – 3 votes

Thoughtful Cat – 2 votes

Wait – 2 votes

Forest Life – 1 vote

Jacquie Langham: Greta – 4 votes

Sean – 1 votes

Aubade – 1 vote

Rob Leckey: Tram Car – 9 votes

Burling Cap – 4 votes

Val Littlehales Show Day – 10 votes

Crescent Moon – 3 votes

Last Light – 3 votes

Shine and Shadow – 3 votes

Pick of the Crop – 3 votes

Sparrows – 2 votes

New Horizons – 2 vote

Portrait of Ewe – 1 votes

The Mountain Hare – 1 vote

George Loades: Along Cardingmill Valley – 4 votes

Mary Loewenthal: Ploughed Field – 1 vote

Windowblown Summer Garden – 1 vote

Lilies – 1 vote

Fiona Miles Peachey Gerberas – 1 vote

Polly Moseley: Ludlow Station North – 2 votes

Ludlow Station South – 1 vote

Anne Priest: Fetch – 5 votes

Scamp – 2 votes

Elegant Reflection – 1 vote

Fast Runner – 1 vote

Mary Phillips West: Cat – 6 votes

Dave Tedham: Rooftop Strut – 3 votes

Hung – 1 vote

Leaded Lights – 1 vote

Jangle – 1 vote

Ruth Tune: Blue Tits – 1 vote

Larry Turner: Glencoe – 3 votes

Loch Meall – 3 votes

Carn Mor – 2 votes

Val Turner: Winter at Windrush – 5 votes

Cold Moon over sea..... 2 votes

A Worcestershire – 1 vote

Lily Wang: Dinham in Winter – 10 votes

Lady at Work – 9 votes

Clock Tower – 5 votes

Linney – 4 votes

Swans – 4 votes

Sunset in the Forest – 4 votes

Raven Lane – 3 votes

Ducks – 3 votes

Dinham Bridge – 3 votes

John Willetts: Towards Carnedd – 10 votes

Ready to Depart – 6 votes

Plush Hill – 5 votes

Eilean Donan Castle – 4 votes

Pole Cottage – 4 votes

Andy Nash Dispersal Sale

Former art society member Andy Nash and his partner Sandra are selling all their worldly possessions in favour of a mobile art studio (camper van). One thing I spotted for sale is a brand new roll of artists' lino, 2m x 90cm x 3.2mm, for just £50. You can see what else is on offer at their studio on Pepper Lane. Follow Andy at https://www.facebook.com/andynashart1/

Renaissance Centre seeks Artists

Renaissance of Ludlow displays the work of local artists in their Tower Street shop. They currently have space for another 6 artists to hang their work. Costs are £10 a month for a 4 foot square to hang work. Please contact Julie or Richard on 01584 877751 for more details.

Solo Exhibition by LAS Member Rowanne Cowley

The Late Robert Chitham

We are sorry to learn, we have lost an LAS member , Robert Chitham who was a Consultant Architect and Writer --having spent most of his career in the conservation and re-use and design of historical buildings. He was a former Directing Architect of English Heritage and also ICOMOS UK President.   Naturally he enjoyed drawing and painting historical buildings and submitted  a wonderful entry of a watercolour of Ludlow Castle and Dinham Bridge in our special Anniversary Book in 2016.

Hon. Sec. Valerie Turner.

Ludlow Fringe Art Trail 2018 - Take Part!

It's that time of year again! Get ready to take part in the 2018 Ludlow Fringe Art Trail. Now in its 6th year this exciting event brings together local artists at a string of exhibition venues across the lovely tourist town of Ludlow. Open to all artists. For full details see the info pack and entry form here and the optional electronic entry form here. The deadline for entries is 30th April but why leave it to the last minute? Be part of something special and get yourself noticed!

Spotlight: Flying houses

Laurent Chéhère photographs houses, and transforms the images so that each building is lifted from the street, and placed in the sky.  The houses fly.

  They have freedom, and we look at them differently when separate from their usual static placement. We see them as individuals with distinct characters and personalities. When we feel that they can fly, instead of taking them for granted as blocks that will always be there for us to view or ignore at our leisure, we are urged to look at them while we have the chance. They tell stories.

In most of the pictures Laurent Chéhère imbues each building with extra details: a fire is added,, or a different window, or lines of laundry. These additions may look like fanciful embellishments that are not really there, however such features and events are real within a building’s life span. Most dwellings have had active washing lines at some point. Over the years, window frames have been changed, and they have had a variety of decorations and colours beyond those we see now. Many have suffered disasters such as floods and fires.

Real city buildings in situ, in their modernly-influenced décor, and with a typical level of activity, are so plentiful that we pay them little attention. We find them bland, if we notice them at all.
  There is a metaphor here for how we view people, and how others view us.
  A painting in a catalogue may be described as “180cm x 120cm, 1962, oil on canvas, Modernist landscape.” A building may be described as “Spacious 3 bedroom Victorian town house with parking”, however these descriptions do not get into their character, just as “42 year-old female Australian insurance broker” does not tell you whether you will be friends. Laurent Chéhère uses buildings to convey the notion of appreciating the individual.

Laurent Chéhère works in the advertising industry, on campaigns for fashion and perfume brands such as Dior and Chanel. He feels that this has informed his photographic skills, illustration, and storyboarding: how to tell a story with manipulated photography and design. One might also say that it plays into individuality. In advertising, while each brand aims to have mass-market appeal - or at least to appeal to a section of society - the brand itself needs to appear rather unique. Each advertising concept must convey a personality-like identity, if the viewer is to establish a relationship with that specific brand or product. In advertising this is called “brand identity”. Within an increasingly hectic, consumerist world, which deliberately re-frames our identity and its importance (in ways that advertising depends upon and exacerbates) few of us admire advertising. It is thus rather gratifying to find, in these images, advertising concepts applied artistically to honouring social and emotional identity.

Laurent Chéhère’s images are deliberately designed to be seen from two perspectives. Viewed from a distance they capture our attention with a bold and incongruous vision of adventure, independence, and escape. Observed closely we find many small details: wallpapers bearing marks of now-absent wall hangings and a cross ; a clown who has fallen in love with a trapeze artist ; and an echo of the first time a mime spoke. The pictures encourage closer viewing, and make it rewarding.

Chéhère’s works are not simply metaphors of people. They are also literally about how we view buildings. The pictures suggest that the architecture which supports and influences us is worthy of our attention and appreciation. The flying houses remind us that most of our town and city buildings are dressed in today’s décor styles, and their features meet whatever safety regulations they currently have to comply with – or sneakily resist compliance. The buildings themselves are far more interesting than that, if we wish to explore their details. The manipulated photographs call into stark view just how much we ignore and take for granted, and what may lie within the spirit and history of people, places, and our surroundings.
  We are all timely, and all have history that may not be readily apparent.
  We are all worth paying attention to.

Recognising individuality within communities means celebrating diversity in a broad sense. Individuals have a panoply of varying attributes and wishes in addition to the contemporarily emphasised categories of gender, race, age, religious labels or cultural heritage, etc. We all have aspirations and thought, physique, generosity and neediness, and thousands more characteristics. Like a painting, the full picture of a person is more than what the catalogue describes.
  It is telling that social categorisation of individuals, through a few specific attributes, is termed “diversity”. “Diversity” is literally about separation: divergence. It could be better expressed and appreciated that individual characteristics are not there for the purpose of separation. They are also about convergence, if we wish. Almost all of Chéhère’s images show the flying houses still connected to their neighbourhood by power cables and communication lines. The two exceptions are the house on fire (where the connecting cables are severed), and the caravan of travellers (which has no cables) in which he deliberately makes the point that travellers are disconnected at both ends.

Communities are richer, stronger, and more honest, if they encompass and embrace a full gamut of emotions. Yet social cohesion is often practised by encouraging mainly those behaviours and emotions which are safe as a mild summer’s day, with the occasional light shower to help the plants grow a bit. Nice, and un-dramatic. Social constructs find embarrassment when people or groups exhibit emotions that hurt and crack like an icy dark winter, and those which are so bright and hot that they can burn, and the default response is to chastise and recommend some Factor 50. “Don’t do that, we can’t cope with it.”

A lot of art explores and celebrates what we find unusual or captivating – such as the tones of a petal on a tulip, or the essence of someone’s face conveyed through a sketched line.
  Art is fascinated with individuality in ways that social constructs and politics are not. So there is a tension between the artistic and governance. This is one of the many reasons why we need art: to explore the relationships between individuals and collectives, such as towns and cities and nature’s complex web of life.  As well as to encourage us, as individuals.

Sources:
http://www.laurentchehere.com/laurentchehere.com/FLYING_HOUSES.html
http://museemagazine.com/culture/art-2/features/interview-with-laurent-chehere-intention-of-testimony