This Project » Arts

Beep Wales 2016

Hari McDermott — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 13:06:48 +0000

The touring BEEP International Painting Prize exhibition came to Undegun, a multi-purpose creative space in Wrexham, in October 7 to November 5.

The show included the winning painting, by Hastings-based painter Tom Banks, plus work by the 49 shortlisted artists.

The winner was announced on August 5 in Swansea when the exhibition went on show at Swansea College of Art Dynevor Campus. Banks will receive £1000 and a solo show at elysiumgallery in Swansea.

Visitors to the exhibition at Undegun got the chance to vote for another award: the People’s Prize. After hundreds of votes the winner received £200.

The biennial Beep International Painting Prize is open to artists from all over the world at any stage in their careers. The 50 finalists were selected by BEEP International Painting Prize founder Jonathan Powell, and the overall winner was chosen by Jonathan Watkins, a highly respected curator and director of Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.

“The quality of the entrants was very high,” he said. “In judging the prize I was looking for work that was not derivative, work that was unpretentious and that demonstrated virtuosity.”

BEEP founder Jonathan Powell agreed that the quality of work submitted for this year’s prize is outstanding.

“We’ve had an overwhelming response. This year has seen a huge surge of interest with extremely high quality entries from artists from all over the world. It is a superb show.”

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Hollow

mike — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:32:45 +0000

Hollow

An exhibition by Jenny Hall

Undegun – Regent Street – Wrexham

Wrexham’s creative space Undegun will be welcoming Hollow, by Machynlleth based Artist Jenny Hall, which will delve into new territory for the pop up arts centre, creating a space-within-a-space as a large architectural structure is given form by the artist. The exhibition also challenges the public to experiment with building their own structures from the blocks.

Taking a copper mine as a source of inspiration, this exhibition explores the creative destruction involved in the act of construction. The mine was represented as a large hollow sculpture at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre where loose cardboard boxes represented the ‘ore’ that had been extracted from inside. As the touring exhibition also explores displacement: of an idea, of a material, Hollow has been re-imagined for Undegun in a new form. Cardboard boxes are the perfect material for expressing a thing displaced. These connect together with magnets.

Jenny invited award winning Welsh architecture practice Rural Office for Architecture to create a design using her building block system for Undegun. Their exploded spherical form lends itself to the arts centre’s program of music and dance performance.

Hollow will also be re-imagined when it travels to the Muni centre in Pontypridd. Constructed on a large mirrored floor, it encourages visitors to consider the relationship between the spaces we create above and below the ground.

“Mines have faded in our minds as we no longer reach for the coal scuttle or travel by steam engine, but we continue to rapidly build a world on the surface of the same size if not the same shape as the subterranean world that we excavate.”

The public are invited to move, stack, connect and build with the loose boxes and the scale model to explore building structures and creating empty space.

Jenny is the director of architectural design practice craftedspace.co.uk

‘Hollow’ will be on display to the public from Saturday, 21^st May, and there will be a programme of events and performances during the run of the exhibition providing a chance to meet the artist and Architect Niall Maxwell of Rural office for Architecture to discuss how structures are created and how people identify with and use these spaces.

Opening Hours for Undegun Art Space are Wednesday to Saturday, 12pm to 4pm.

Enquiries: Please email contact@thisproject.co.uk / 01978 345220

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STEDHEAD

mike — Mon, 09 May 2016 12:40:58 +0000

On graduating with a BA in Illustration from Glyndwr University, Wales, Stedhead returned home to the Isle of Man to develop her artistic practice. In September 2014, following a series of collaborations, Stedhead moved to London to further develop her career. Exhibiting at the ICA with DJ and artist Goldie and alongside Jamie Reid and Mau Mau at Eddie Locks The Lock Up exhibition, Stedhead soon found herself engaging with an East End all-female art collective; together with Suzko, Candy Lo and Motor she has scaled and painted large artworks for various events both in and out London. From group shows at Juno in Shoreditch to Notting Hill’s Portobello Film Festival, the D&AD awards at the Truman Brewery, a skatepark in Luxembourg, Street Fest and UpFest in Bristol, and exhibiting with an all Manx (IoM) collective called Dark Seas Wild Mountain on the Isle of Man, Stedhead has been live and kicking with these collectives.

Her latest show ‘Beauty Marks’, held at Montys on Brick lane at the end of 2015 was her first independent London exhibit. Her latest experiments conjured up bodies from calligraphy like swipes of a fat, chisel tipped permanent marker. All artworks were drawn under her own steam—which is to say, drawn from her own liveliness, celebrating the movement of bodies through bold strokes of marker. Inspired by motion, music and the beauty in our contours. Her unique style dictating the jutting of limbs, jaws and hips as silhouettes, marks and lines, achieve character born of the artists intuition. These spirits enhanced by brilliant flashes of azure, and gold threading through the scene, demonstrating the energy of the human form.

For Focus Wales, Stedhead will be including her Beauty Marks Exhibition, as well as some brand new pieces.

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Artist Opportunity

Kirsty — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:31:42 +0000

An opportunity for an contemporary artist to share their skills and knowledge with a young persons art masterclass has arisen through criw celf, the art crew of Flintshire.

The day is Saturday 7th May at Rhosesmor village hall, Rhosesmor, Flintshire CH7 6WF. (access from 9:30).

We are looking for a one-off day that offers this group a pre-arts foundation course, high quality

experience. We are particular interested in a contemporary arts related experience for the group.

Work from most of the masterclasses will be exhibited in an exhibition (in Holywell Arts and Crafts Mill, Opening is the evening of 23rd June.

The artists fee available is £200 for the day, with a healthy materials budget also available.

Artists will need to be registered self-employed, have an up-to-date CRB/DBS and Public Liability Insurance to be employed, via Flintshire County Council, in this capacity.

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Nonarchy

Kirsty — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 10:52:46 +0000

The work of nine artists – the Nonarchy – gently spreads misrule throughout the former JJB Sports at Undegun from April fools day until the end of the month.

Working across a range of approaches, including film, installation, animation, interventions in the landscape, drawing, painting and sculpture, they present something of a flow of ideas between the cultural and artistic foci of Undegun in Wrexham and The Creative Network, at Arts Alive Wales in the Black Mountains.

Nonarchy will be Undeguns second exhibition of the year, and will be looking at how these nine artists react and respond to the creative spaces of Undegun. After visiting the Wrexham based art space in September 2015 the group of artists from Brecon Beacons were inspired in numerous ways and from that point went off to create a body of work to be exhibited from Friday 1st April 2016.

The building, on Wrexham’s main shopping thoroughfare, Regent Street, has a rich and colourful history, which the artists will explore. From the building’s opening in the late 19^th Century as the Maelor Hotel associated with the temperance movement, then later becoming Astons furniture store 1970s, then turning into the towns JJB Sports shop which closed down only four years ago when the company went into administration. Since then the building has been transformed into the amazing pop-up arts centre – Undegun – featuring an exhibition and event space, with 20 artist studios on site. But despite the changes, all around Undegun are reminders of its history, from the Adidas sign above the entrance to the original 70’s floral theme wallpaper in the old hotel rooms on the second floor.

Part of the excitement of this collaborative venture arises from the diversity of approaches of the artists. The challenge consists in responding to the venue itself, creating new work, or re-exploring established work in relation to the site and to the developing responses of the other artists.

Opening event: 1st April 2016, 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Closing event: 30th April 2016, 2:00pm to 4:00pm

See www.thisproject.co.uk for more details

Undegun

11 Regent Street

Wrexham

LL1 1SG

Wednesday – Saturday 12-4pm

The show is supported by Brecknock Arts Trust and The Creative Network

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Zaru ‘Zhubat’ Jonson featuring at Voicebox

Kirsty — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 15:51:47 +0000

After kicking off 2016 in style, we’re bringing the very best of Welsh Spoken Word with:

Zaru ‘Zhubat’ Jonson!

Our (in)famous open mic kicks off at 7pm with a host of the best Spoken Word, Musicians, Comedians and more!

As always it’s £3 on the door with our picnic buffet at Un Deg Un. 8th February 2016

Zaru Jonson has been performing words regularly since being awarded the second place and audience vote prizes at Literature Wales’ John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry, 2009. Under various names, he has since read at the Edinburgh Free Fringe, Dinefwr Literature Festival, Cheltenham Poetry Festival, and two or three hundred-odd other open mics, exhibition openings, protests, hip-hop nights and miscellaneous events, often clustered around Cardiff. During 2014, he took part in the ‘Dylan Live / Dylan ar Daith’ tour in celebration of Dylan Thomas’ centenary, playing at eight universities around Wales, the Dylan In Fitzrovia Festival in London, and the PEN International Literature Festival in New York City (alongside Mr Phormula, Martin Daws and Professor Daniel Williams.)

Zaru likes dogs, believes in a god, and is incurably sincere. Recently he returned from Canada, where he avoided everything and picked hazelnuts.

Original link to post: https://voiceboxwxm.wordpress.com/voicebox-nights/

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Lets talk RISK, lets talk PERICLO

Kirsty — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 16:41:10 +0000

If you haven’t heard already about Oriel Wrescam’s latest platform for experimental contemporary art then look no further, as we walked down the road (literally) to talk to OW’s James Harper to talk about what has been going on at PERICLO (meaning risk in Latin).

So to back track a little, the project has been ongoing since 11^th September 2015 with its first instalment ‘GIRLS’: Rebecca Gould & Lindsey Mendick at 10 South Arcade, Chester Street this being the first out of the four exhibitions that program coordinator and curator James Harper has set up.

This exhibition came at a controversial time for Oriel Wrecsam and PERICLO as plans for the creative Hub where under fire from all quarters, but in the spirit of cooperation with market traders cosmetics retailer Beauty Box were invited to lend a hand, and were only too pleased to be able to get involved. The staff at Beauty Box worked with the artists to select a palette of colours that were connected to the exhibition, and then set up a stall to provide nail art for the day. This partnership proved to be a great success, and allowed businesses in the market, and the public to engage with the exhibition in a new and interesting way.

From this more open dialog between the gallery and the traders that later on took part in a private viewing for the second instalment featuring Alfie Strong: ‘Heart Shaped Like A Baseball Bat’ on the 6^th November 2015 and found it was successful with the discussions about the art work.

With Heart Shaped Like A Baseball Bat, Alfie’s installation looks at the distortion of memories by crossing the line within his mind, that he likes to reference as a television set. The exhibition is a living portrait of memories once experienced and moments not yet to obtained. This is achieved with walls painted in the colour of heather, and a tapestry of the Scottish Highlands on the stairs representing the spot where Alfie’s father wishes his ashes to be scattered This is a place where Alfie has never been but only seen represented in images. The installation is full of these Easter eggs that reference his everyday memories with a childlike element of masks and make believe attached to them.

In the next couple of days the third instalment of the PERICLO line up will be with us. On the 8^th January 2016 from 6pm which will be the launch of ‘Super Market Sweep’ (Bonus Round) curated by Owain McGilvary and Yan White, running until the 20^th February. The looks will capture the 90’s nostalgia of the TV program and references the ‘theatrical’ elements that surround supermarkets.

Followed shortly by ‘Harnis Your Hareth’ which translates to longing for home that you can no longer return to, this will be curated by James Harper and will look at the art of documenting and using Wrexham as the first inspiration towards this exhibition.

Whilst talking to James, as well as us discussing the program at length and how he has found integrating PERICLO and working with the market traders, I also asked what was the different between coordinating a program compared to curating an exhibition. James suggested that with coordinating the program for PERICLO he was simply bring together groups of artists that he believed would push the boundaries of contemporary art within the already bustling scene in Wrexham. This is the aim of PERICLO’s program at Oriel Wrecsam.

James then talked about how for him curating is like being a good referee*, and how if you try to take over and interfering too much you just end up frustrating those around you and not bring out the best performance in those individuals, but if you step back, directing only when needed, then everyone can enjoy the game. Know if you just replace the referee for James and the football players for artists this makes complete sense in trying to make that harmonious balance that a curator has to consider when bring together an exhibition.

With PERICLO as whole the instalments in the program have been interesting addition to the Wrexham art scene, and how it is supporting its community in a unique way by involving the market traders and breaking down barriers that exist, and look at how they and others perceive certain aspects of art.

*If you have ever meet James it is no surprise that he likes using football references to describe his curatorial role as he is a massive Everton fan (just shows even curators don’t get it right all the time).

If you would like to watch Alfie and James in conversation please feel free to on this link or please feel free to follow PERICLO on Twitter or Facebook

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12 Days of Artists: Omar Bjorn Fjelle Batoctoy

Kirsty — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:38:13 +0000

For the last day of our #12daysofartists we are happy to end this great list on a high with Glyndwr graduate Omar! We wanted to find out what he has been up to since graduating and exhibiting in 2014 at Galeri 3B.

Name :
Omar Bjorn Fjelle Batoctoy

Current Location :
Welshpool, Powys, Wales

Favourite place, and why? :

I can’t say I know or have been to many places. It’s hard to say what my favourite place is because everywhere is different and different aspects of places relate to different parts of me but I’ll give you a bit of an answer.

Of all the places I’ve been, the first place that comes to mind right now is Munich.

This will sound strange but from skateboarding, the surface texture of things like tarmac and concrete become extremely prominent because you ask yourself “would this surface be good for skating?” and if it’s smooth with few pebbles to stop you by surprise from wheel-bite then the thought follows “this place would be good to skate!”. The same way a painter likes a good canvas surface or a sculptor likes a good block of marble (In the case of Michelangelo Buonaretti), the same way a musician picks up an instrument and finds it’s a fine piece of equipment, I’ve never seen so much smooth concrete and tarmac in my life so far.

Favourite Reindeer :

I’ll be honest, the only one I know is Rudolph and I’ve never seen any of his work so I couldn’t comment.

5 Word Self Description :

Vain, opinionated, active, ambitious, honest

What is your current practice and what have you been up to?

For the last few years I have been creating a multitude of compositions. When I was studying Fine Art at Glyndwr university in 2013 I asked myself “how can I compose my work with as much diligence and intricacy as I do with my music?” as back then I was listening to so much music, I could probably express my ideas in my mind as music better than I could with words or even thoughts at times! So I did just that. My artwork took on a whole new reality after I realised that.

When my work became a little more refined the composition of structures became a means of expressing ideas and concepts. At least it was for me anyway.

Rewind about a year from now I flipped the perspective again and applied what Fine Art taught me and I asked myself for the sake of my music “how can I tell a story, express an emotion or idea through the means of sound without the use of words?” it’s a very long question and it isn’t exactly specifically that, but that is essentially what I am trying to achieve these days, months and probably looks like what could be a lifetimes work.

At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be an Artist? :

My parents are artists too and they inspired me very deeply seeing the feats they accomplished and witnessing the processes involved. Around about the age of 9 I absolutely wanted to be a professional dancer, just before I was in my teens, I wanted to be a special effects artist, when I moved here to the UK in 2005, after a few years I wanted to be a professional skateboarder (which is the art of making wood dance beneath your feet while maintaining your balance, grace and style).

After an injury to my right knee when I was 16, I was told I would’t be able to return to such an extreme sport so for the several months I couldn’t walk there was a guitar. After a few years I wanted to be a professional musician. Nowadays though, I’m really happy just to be able to compose whether my work gets sold or not.

Long story short, for most of my life I’ve wanted to be an “artist”

If you could buy your 10 year old self anything for Christmas what would it be?
A Transformer action figure or big load of Lego.. Even now, either of those things would not go a miss!

Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to this Christmas?
This is the first christmas I’ve had a decent income (growing up and being a big boy) so the thing I’m looking forward to the most is giving my family and friends some great presents and spending time with them. I don’t get to see them so much these days so it’s really nice that there’s the opportunity.

Have you got any plans for the New Year?

I have such an abundance of plans that I’m almost overwhelmed. But the general idea is that in the new year my mission is pretty much survive, thrive and be alive… And make loads of music that everybody can download or watch me play somewhere or both. Something like that.

If you could get anything for Christmas this year what would it be?
I would somehow get everybody in the world to be able to read and educate themselves to a point of enlightenment in which we would realise that violence and war is not a solution to any long lasting problem but a catalyst for even longer lasting and more threatening problems. Following that realisation the world would disarm and we would pour our resources and intelligence into improving the lives of every living and non living thing. That would be heaven. I’m asking for heaven.. Failing that, Lego will just have to do..

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12 Days of Artists: Hannah Hodge aka H a n n

Kirsty — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 10:21:36 +0000

For the 11th day of our #12daysofartists the focus is on the youngest member of the collection, fashion designer Hannah Hodge aka H a n n.

Joining us here as a studio holder at Undegun in November of this year, Hannah has been a great addition to our wide range of artists and designers at the art space. Here is H a n n to tell us a bit about herself..

Name:
Hannah Hodge: Clothing name H a n n

Current location:
Wrexham

Favourite place and why?
Either the cinema or fabric shops especially the big ones! It’s like a play ground for me.

Favourite reindeer?
Rudolph because he’s the most colourful!

Describe yourself in 5 words:
…? wow minor identity crisis there. That’s five words though!

What is your current practice and what have you been up to?
I design and make unisex outerwear. I usually make a lot of one offs, your limited edition pieces so people can really get something unique. At the moment I’m finishing up a job at Fact in Liverpool and working on creating an online shop on houseofhann.com.

How long have you been practising for?
I started making clothes when I was 14, I was pretty shameless about wearing what I made regardless of how shoddy/handmade it looked. I had always been interested in art and making things so it was a natural progression from other things I was doing.

At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a designer?
I wanted to act for a long time and was part of a youth theatre, I really thought that was what I wanted to do (which apparently isn’t uncommon with designers ) I started making clothes when I was about 14 but I was 16 when I knew that’s how I wanted to go on. I really loved the whole process and seeing something go from an idea to solid object. I also went to see a Vivienne Westwood exhibition in Sheffield and thought that it was definitely for me. Every now and then something happens or I see something that confirm it for me and usually that ends up in a design somehow.

If you could buy your 10 year old self anything for Christmas what would it be?
A trip to India. I used to be obsessed with going there!! I read The Little Princess and while I don’t have a princess complex ( maybe a queen complex) I got completely caught up and read everything I could about India and ended up doing a school project on the food etc.

Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to this Christmas?
Watching films and eating. That’s it.

Have you got any plans for the new year?
I want to create a larger collection of clothing and have the online shop finished and looking good! I also want to expand the range to include clothing made solely from fair trade and ethically sourced materials. That’s something I really want to get into.

If you could get anything for Christmas this year what would it be?
A trip to Seoul! They are killing it at the minute with art and fashion! So many talented people coming out of that city and one of the biggest art festivals is held there. Also the food, the food , the food. sigh.

If you would like to see more of Hannah’s work or by updated about her shenanigans then follow her on Twitter: @hann_clothing, Instagram: @hann_wears or her website www.houseofhann.com

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12 Days of Artists: Annie Lewis from Dancing Shoes

Kirsty — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 10:58:01 +0000

Todays #12daysofartists features the director of Dancing Shoes, Annie Lewis! Running for almost ten years, here at THIS Project we wanted to find out a little bit more about the dance group and how Annie is finding the festive holidays.

Name:
Annie Lewis

Location:
Wrexham

Favourite place, and why?
Plans Talgarth Country Club – go there every November for a chance to chill and relax and a chance to catch up on paperwork and updates that need to be done.

Favourite Reindeer?
Got to be Rudolf – he gets there in the end.

Describe your self in 5 words
Stubborn – Determined – Fair – Listener – Fighter (for what is right)

What is your current practice and what have you been up to?

Director Dancing Shoes Wrexham – a voluntary group for all ages and abilities ‘Every Child Matters’

How long has Dancing Shoes been around for?

Dancing Shoes has its 10th birthday in January 2016. I have been acting on stage since I was 15.

At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a Artist/Poet/Musician?
Since first acted I wanted to go the stage school but was not the done thing ‘back in day’ so ended up training to be a teacher but dropped out and went into banking – ah well.

If you could buy your 10 year old self anything for Christmas what would it be?
Karaoke machine but they didn’t have them back then – had a folk guitar though which I taught myself to play

Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to this Christmas?
This Christmas. Spending time with family, getting my laptop back from the Curry’s hospital.

Have you got any plans for the New Year?
Planning and putting music together for this years show in July.

If you could get anything for Christmas this year what would it be?
New set of dance mirrors for the 3B studio as current ones were a big expensive mistake, a good video camera to record the shows myself, projector to use in classes, a laptop that won’t die on me …….. the list is endless.If you would like to contact Dancing Shoes then please feel free to follow them on Twitter or Facebook

More details on how to get involved with Dancing Shoes can be found on their Facebook page.

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