During the month of November, local artists will decorate the hoardings that cover the recently closed York Road Market which was originally built in 1919 to provide work for soldiers returning from the WWI.
The initiator of the project and Founding member of Southend Credit Union, Christine Robinson, said: ‘Art enable us to give expression to our deepest feelings. With daily news of more soldier deaths, it seems appropriate to mark their sacrifice…”
The artwork should be completed by the end of the month. If you’d like to take part in the project, get in touch with Christine on seachange AT talktalk.net
For one day only TAP plays host to CoExist’s Open Studios and Winter Art Fair, an eclectic marketplace featuring locally-based Artists and Craftspeople offering gifts you most definitely won’t find on the High Street.
Email coexist AT hotmail.co.uk for more information on being part of the event!
Stop by at TAP this Thursday between 7-9pm for the opening of all three new shows there.
Main Gallery: GOSSAMER, SEEC Foundation A&D Live Project
Winch Room: DUNCAN CROSSLEY
(c) Duncan Crossley
Duncan Crossley is Drunk on Freedom. His first solo show is set to confront the public with the breadth and intensity of his vision. No subject is immune to Crossley’s amazed gaze, from national variations in jailhouse weapons to canine haute couture. In a series of extraordinary objects – engineered to an insane level of precision – Crossley presents a world where Formica flowers, industrial weaponry and baseball collide in a celebratory manifesto for the joyous weirdness of contemporary existence.
The Small Gallery: STUART BOWDITCH – WINDOWS MEDIA PRAYER V4.0
Windows Media Prayer is an ever expanding collection of photographs taken of and through windows. They explore the different shapes and settings in which windows can be found, as well as the different environments that they simultaneously join and separate. Windows Media Prayer demonstrates the disparities that can lie just a few millimetres apart, separated by something barely visible. The glass serves as a barrier between the viewer and what can be seen, thus inviting you and denying you in the same instance.
Open 10-2 Thu- Fri & 10-4 Sat & Sun
or by appointment: coexist@hotmail.co.uk
Here you go! Another opportunity for people in Southend that MAKE STUFF and it’s FREE!!!
OPPORTUNITY TO SELL YOUR WORK @ YMCA Indoor Market
12 December, the YMCA ETC shop will be transformed into an indoor market. We’d LOVE to hear from any young people who’d like to trade. If you’re aged between 16 and 25 and create any of the following products and would like a place to sell them, get in touch!:
• Arts and crafts,
• Design your own clothing
• Jewelry and accessories
• Paintings and photography
• Pottery, soaps, and candles
• Are you an artist or in a band with CDs to sell?
• Cards
1st come, 1st served – so if you are interested in having a stall – please either call Jane on 07534 503544 or better still, send an email to: contact AT deliciouspr DOT com
There’s NO rental fee for the space – the SOUTHEND YMCA is offerring you this opportunity to earn some money before Christmas absolutely free.
Southend photographer TJ du Plessis is exhibiting on the first floor of main The Southend Library on Victoria Avenue from 9-21 November. Most of his works in the show are B/W photos featuring local scenes that explore the use of digital manipulation and enhancement, ‘throwing an exciting twist on traditional landscapes and city scenes’.
‘My aim is to add a sharp, yet elegant edge on the use of light and shade in the image, creating a striking picture with that little something different,’ says du Plessis.
Do you have a child interested in art? They will be able to learn new skills and develop existing expertise in drawing and using the digital cameras and editing software in our Digital Workroom.
Sessions run on Saturday mornings between 10.30am and 12.30pm.
14, 21, 28 November and 5, 12 December.
Cost £5 per person, or £20 for five sessions. Booking is essential.
The newly Chalkwell Hall in Chalkwell Park is open to public this week until Saturday to celebrate the attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous line of bunting. The 2158metres of bunting was created by Southend’s individuals and groups and its length corresponds with the length of Southend’s pier.
The Southchurch Hall is hosting a number of free events this week until Saturday. Every day, you can learn about the food of our ancestors through the talks and demonstrations of the objects from the Hall. On Thursday, the focus is on Victorians, whilst on Friday, you can find out more about the Tudor times.
Most popular among the kids will probably be the spooky storytelling which is on the Halloween – Saturday, 31 October, between 12-3pm.
Additionally you can take part in The Big Draw national event by sketching the Southchurch Hall’s mysterious cooking objects or colour in food for the grand Victorian table. Staff will be on hand to give tips on sketching and there will be free badges for all.
Southchurch Hall Museum / Southchurch Hall Close, T: 01702 467671
ENCHANTED CIRCUIT installation by Clare Lynn, review by Idea13
It was intensively dark yet magical in the Hockley Woods last night, despite the waxing moon. As soon as we arrived at the car park, we could see the streaks of tiny lights in the woods in front of us and hear the voices ahead. Not being able to see the path, we followed it trustingly like in the Hansel & Gretel fairytale.
800 LED light in total, they were hang in strings from the trees as well as placed in glass jars which the visitors were encouraged to take away. We walked among the trees and the light, bewildered by the dreamlike quality of the experience. Excited shrieks of the kids and quiet, lonely, meditating figures moving slowly, taking care not to bump into one another.
Slightly jealous of those who equipped themselves with torches for the journey, I begun to think their experience was spoilt somehow. The installation wasn’t about the ability to see, quite the contrary, it was about what you imagine.
After her installation on the Southend beach this June, Clare Lynn comes with another project – Enchanted Circuit – a one-off event in the Hockley Woods which can be viewed on Sunday between 6.30 – 9pm. Here Clare answers few questions for us:
What has led you to do this project?
As you may already know through other installations, I have gained a curiosity with certain locations that we avoid once darkness falls. Environments we would might become fearful of due to the lack of light be it natural or artificial, not only that they become ignored or forgotten lost in the darkness. I began to investigate woodland environments due to my own fear of entering a dark forest. They have an enchanted attachment to them and I want to play on that with this installation.
Is this an experiment for you or for the audience, how important is the audience for you?
It is meant for people to come and see. I want the viewer/audience to come and explore the installation and let their imagination run away with them and gain access to an area they would avoid in a normal situation.
What is the installation made of?
I will be using approximately 800 LEDs this time, along with glass jars and plenty of nylon thread – the rest is a surprise for the viewers. It is one of my most challenging projects to date, with a great deal of planning involved, along with applications to Rochford District Council, who have kindly let me use the woodland.
Directions: Hockley Woods - when you enter the car park (just before the Bull Inn), head for the far side and there will be signs and lights.
