Claire Weetman took part in Platform‘s pop-up studios on the weekend of 14th May, and has been tentatively developing some new drawings based on sketches created during her 2008 trip to Japan. These are initial works that will hopefully lead to further works in this series.
‘Well’ an installation by Paula Weetman features in the Liverpool John Moores University Fine Art Degree Show, Curated by Lorenzo Fusi.
Thursday 26th May 2011, 5pm – late
LJMU Art & Design Academy
Duckinfield Street (Off Brownlow Hill)
Liverpool
L3 5YD
0151 904 1216
Exhibition continues 31st May – 3rd June 2011
Open 10am – 4pm, Free
Renaissance Film Productions, members of St Helens group Platform, have released this promotional film highlighting the work that Platform are doing in order to set up affordable studio space in St Helens.
Platform Pop-Up Studio Event from Renaissance Film Productions on Vimeo.
Claire Weetman’s graphite on paper drawing ‘Passing, Watching, Waiting, Following’ will be exhibited at the Liverpool Open Exhibition at Editions Gallery, Liverpool alongside a plethora of artists from the Merseyside area.
The Liverpool Open Exhibition ’11
7th April – 7th May 2011
Editions Ltd, 16 Cook Street, Liverpool
www.editionsltd.net
Opening Hours are:
9.30 am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday
11.00am – 4.00pm Saturday
Claire Weetman has been working with Aspire Trust to project manage ‘Perception:Deception’, part of Four Corners 2011. Read on for more details…
How are young people in Alt Valley perceived?
What stories do they have to tell?
As part of Four Corners 2011, Aspire Trust have been working in the Alt Valley neighbourhood, using film and performance to uncover stories, challenge stereotypes and highlight the positive work carried out by detached youth groups in the area.
Four Corners is Culture Liverpool’s major community participation arts based project and in it’s 6th year arts organisations are working across the six neighbourhoods of Liverpool to engage and explore Liverpool’s communities, challenging issues such as perception and acceptance of crime and low expectations. Aspire Trust have engaged with two detached youth teams in Alt Valley in the following projects, which will be showcased at the Four Corners Exhibition at Liverpool John Moores Art Academy in Liverpool city centre during April.
Is everything as it seems? Are the lives of young people always carefree? This ghost walk encounters stories written by members of Fazakerley 506 youth project – From a Victorian boy’s story inspired by the haunted Fazakerley cottage homes to a modern young man who enjoys a night out with the lads, these tales tell of the trials and tribulations that young people have faced throughout history.
Walton Youth Project and tenants from St Luke’s Court have been working together to challenge stereotypes. They have previously worked together on a gardening project and arts and crafts sessions which brought young and old together. They have reflected on these experiences and now use poetry, filmmaking and role reversal to ask you ‘Are we all the same?’
Four Corners 2011 Exhibition
Private View: Tuesday 5th April 5pm-7pm All Welcome
Exhibition Continues:
Wednesday 6th – Tuesday 12th April 2011
LJUM Art & Design Academy
Duckinfield Street, Liverpool, L3 5RD
Monday-Friday: 10am-5pm Saturday: 12pm-5pm
Proud winner of the St Helens Creative Arts Award (Professional Practice) is Claire Weetman, in recognition of her work locally and regionally in the past year, including exhibitions at home and abroad and commissions for clients including Liverpool Biennial. Claire received her award on a glittering evening at St Helens town hall from BAFTA winning screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst and performer Stephanie Davis from BBC’s Over the Rainbow.
Commiserations go to fellow short-listed nominees Stephen Ball, whose upcoming Soapbox event in St Helens looks to be an exciting addition to his work with Don’t Think Twice collective, and Tony Garner whose evocative industrial landscapes have won him awards at the annual St Helens Open art competition.
The complete list of award winners is as follows;
St Helens Creative Arts Award (Professional Practice)
Claire Weetman – Artist
St Helens Voluntary Arts Sector Award 
(Group/Organisation)
Dual Diagnosis – Drama Group
St Helens Voluntary Arts Sector Award (Individual)
Enid Pennington – Drama Practitioner
St Helens Arts Development Award
MASH Gallery – For the creation of new art space
St Helens Heritage Award
St Helens Townships Family History Society – For their work in local history
St Helens Sporting Volunteer Award
John Fairhurst – Junior Football
St Helens Sports Coach of the Year Award
Peter Blood – Judo
St Helens Sporting Hero Award
Harold Swift MBE – Rugby League
St Helens Sports Club of the Year Award
Seneley and Garswood Juniors Football Club
St Helens Cultural Event Award
UC Crew for ‘International Break-Dancing competition the Northern Hordes’
St Helens Special Award for Services to Culture
Roy Jones – Sport
Posthumous Award
Peter Jackson
Light Bite took place on the lamp posts of Nottingham last Friday. Here’s some images of the event and an article featured in the Independent.
Sticking power: The art of the fridge magnet
By Charlotte Cripps
Friday, 25 February 2011
Fridge magnets of Red Sea fish or miniature whitewashed Greek villas are handy purchases when getting rid of foreign currency at airports. But fridge magnet art has never truly been recognised beyond the kitchen – until now.
The Brighton Open hopes to be “the biggest and most high profile” outdoor magnet show ever undertaken in the UK. Event organiser Alban Low will be sticking about 500 magnetic images by over 200 artists along Brighton‘s seafront as part of the Fringe Festival in May.
Members of the public can view the magnets stuck on bollards and railings near the pier, and even take one home for free.
“The fridge magnet is a vehicle for people to get their artwork seen,” says Low. “And because of the low cost of actually producing it, ordinary people can start collecting art. Everyone’s got a fridge. It goes right into the heart of people’s homes. In this age of austerity, with hardly any public funding, it works because we rely purely on sponsorship.”
Low’s ‘fridge magnet movement’ started last year. By allowing the general public to submit up to two images to his exhibition website, he turns them into fridge magnets (5cm x 7cm) for free and exhibits them directly on the streets. The artist also receives a thank you magnet of their own work.
Low’s first outdoor exhibition, in June 2010, saw magnet art mounted directly on the streets of Bath, as part of the Fringe Arts Bath Festival. The following month he put more magnets in Manchester‘s Arndale Centre, where shoppers picked them up. Then, last week, Low exhibited 250 magnets on the lampposts of Nottingham, as part of the Light Night festival.
“A lot of these artists have never had a chance to show their work in public before,” says Low. “Artwork on a lamp post jumps out at you because it’s so unexpected.”
Images include erotic art, nature photographs and still lifes of grapes. Low’s own series of magnets, entitled One-Sided Conversations, are titbits of information overheard on public transport, which he has turned into cartoons. “Councils think I’m flyposting or doing graffiti,” he says, “but this is a great way to give people a voice without defacing anything.”
The Brighton Open is at the entrance of Brighton Pier from 7-8 May. Deadline for entries is 1 April
openfridge@googlemail.com
lightbite.blogspot.com
Come and find our magnetic masterpieces on the city centre streets of Nottingham as part of this years Light Night Festival. We’re exhibiting 250 miniature artworks on lamp posts this February 18th, 2011 from 6pm onwards. Find them, pick them up and take them home. Discover Nottingham‘s finest talent and artists from around the world. Collect their work for FREE and start a gallery on your fridge. Find Claire’s work Static:Moving on a lampost near you.
Contemporary Urban Centre, 41 – 51 Greenland Street, Liverpool.
11-13 February 2011
thresholdfestival.co.uk
Spontaneous, innovative and independent, for three days in February Threshold will transform Liverpool’s CUC into a hive of arty, musical goodies; bands, dancers, exhibitions, flashmobs, photography, galleries and games, by a feast of performers and artists who’re the best of the North West. Watch, listen – learn. Get involved. Step over the Threshold…
Claire is presenting drawings from her series ‘Passing, Watching, Waiting, Following, alongside two works from her time on the Urban Interventions residency in Linz 2010. You can find Claire’s works on the 5th floor between the cinema and Mezzanine bar.
www.metalculture.com
www.alongtheline.net
The exhibition is an experiment in artist’s exchange. The conceptual starting point for these collaborations is Edge Hill station itself, the World’s oldest passenger railway station and the home of Metal Liverpool. ‘State of Perception’ will detail upon the emotional resonance of journeys taken from the space – the potential romance, secrecy, joy or inspiration of travel.
During State of Perception, Claire is asking rail travellers to collaborate with her, documenting their journey from Edge Hill Station using the record function in their mobile phones. Combining audio, soundwaves and mapping, Claire will create an online artwork that traces daily journeys – see www.alongtheline.net for more information on how to take part.
Along the line – exhibited cards inviting the public to participate.
Commercial and handmade print onto card
Chatham Road (Eventually Everyone had moved) now showing at METAL
Hand drawn animation, 3:46
Along the Line – public display of invitation cards on trains and in railway stations
The Private View saw performances by musicians Greedy Jesus and Dogstar Rose and poets Jason Richardson & Garry Kelly Hartley
Contributing artists are: Charles Andersen (UK), Sarah Coventry (USA), Claudia Czimek (Austria), Lee Kendall (UK), Tifany Kendall (Canada), Jacqueline F Kerr (UK), Jet Pascua (Norway), Sue Meyerhoff Sharples (UK), Emma Sumner (UK), Wendy Williams (UK) and Claire Weetman (UK).
