For one fleeting moment, Los Angeles, seemed to be the centre of Great Western Studios life in February. A collision of unexpected coincidences. Sean Alexander had some work in the first show in LA to be put together by Adrian Palengat since Apart traded in life on Portobello (via life on Westbourne Grove) to life just off Venice Beach. If Sean was there then that explains why Alice Tait (soon to be Alexander) was there. Joining the private view for the show were Jo Ratcliffe, Felicity Warbrick and Lizzie Deshayes. The latter 2 being there courtesy of Lizzie's company, Fromental, installing some of their wallpaper.
Later in the month, ex-Great Westerner, Toby Ziegler had a solo show with Patrick Painter also in LA; and the city has also fairly recently been made the home of also-ex-Great Westerner, Sarah Stitt. For Sarah's take on Hollywood life you can read her excellent blog here.
It turns out that Sean's work in the exhibition has been attracting the attention of another ex-pat.
Still on foreign soils, the work of Fromental was featured in the April edition of Elle Decoration in the home of a Milan stylist.
Back in London it is David Ben White month. His work is featured in a 3 man show entitled Planetarium at APT Gallery in Deptford which runs until March 24th.
In collaboration with Justin Hibbs he has also co-curated another exhibition, Working Space, at the Arts Gallery at 65 Davies Street, W1. This group show of 5 artists, including David and Justin opens on Monday March 17th and runs until April 18th; it is open Monday - Friday from 9.30- 18.30 each day.
Mary Grant is heading (north)Westward again for the Art Ireland Fair, and will be exhibiting works that she did when she was last in Kerry.
The ever expanding slew of Art Fairs includes the Affordable Art Fair which is on this weekend (March 16/17) in Battersea Park. Foss Fine Art will be featuring Liza Campbell's dark, comic boxes on their stand.
Also taking place this weekend, but in sunnier climes, is the Transforming Spaces tour in the Bahamas; while I don't quite understand how it works, Lynn Parotti's work will feature somewhere along the way.
Last months Sound and Vision event at Abbey Rd Studios featured work by Kate Gibb and Tommy Penton and was reported in the Independent.
Meanwhile, the second, house and home collection by Toast, once again features Brickett Davda's work. Their classic, muted tableware found a place in April's edition of Country Living.
Lastly a request of assistance:
Westminster City Council is developing a new Strategy for Arts & Culture. A consultation draft can be found on the following page of the council's website.
We welcome your comments on the draft. There are consultation questions at the beginning of the document for you to respond to. The deadline for all responses is 20th March 2008. Please send comments to cfergusson@westminster.gov.uk with the words ‘Strategy Consultation’ in the subject heading.
