Firstly, Open Studios is taking place on December 6th & 7th from 12-6pm on both days.
This Open Studios marks a milestone in the history of Great Western Studios as it will be the last Christmas Open Studios to be held in the building. In July 2009 we will be moving from our current building to 65 Alfred Road a mere stone's throw from the Lost Goods Building. This exciting news means that we will have the opportunity to create a more permanent base for artists and creative businesses to work from in Westminster.
Please come and support the artists at our Open Studios - there will be plenty of exciting, individual and beautiful things to look at and buy, there will be free mulled cider to keep you warm, there will be delicious food available in the café, there will be an exhibition on the 14 year history of the studios and . . . if you happen to time your visit right there will be entertainment by the Great Western Choir!
Before Open Studios, Josephine Kabula is curating an exhibition of work by studio artists to take place on Wednesday November 19th from 11 to 9.30 in the gallery space at the studios. The exhibition will feature work by Natalie Baker, Mat Sant, Maibe and Josephine herself.
The following week the gallery space is once again being put to work hosting an exhibtion of photographs by Phil Shepherd. The exhibition runs from Tuesday November 25 to Thursday November 27th.
Away from the studios and happening this weekend is The Homeworks Christmas Sale in which Jemima Cotter is participating with her Canny Capers. The sale takes place at the 20th Century Theatre on Westbourne Grove and is open on Saturday November 15th from 10-5 and, if you're quick off the blocks, is also open tonight (Friday) until 9pm.
If you are due normally get your Open Studios invite in the post then you will note our lovely Jo Ratcliffe designed envelopes. If you haven't seen Jo's work before then try and get hold of a copy of December's Vogue as she is all over it with a series of specially designed and created fonts. Click on the image below to see the scale and beauty of what she has produced.
Adrian Palengat and his Apart Gallery are back in West London with a take over of 133-137 Westbourne Grove for November 20th -23rd. The exhibition, House of Yamake, features the customisation of something called a Yamake (correct me if I'm wrong). According to the website it is based on Nokia's Yamake Game philosophy: Play, Make and Share. To be honest I'm none the wiser, but come next week and seeing it in the flesh I might be. Yamake customisers include Sean Alexander, Jo Ratcliffe, Tommy Penton and Jay Burridge.
Katy Moran has an exhibition of new works at the recently opened MIMA - Middlesborough Insitute of Modern Art. The press release for the exhibition says that Katy is "rapidly becoming one of the most talked about painters of her generation". The show at MIMA is her first exhibition in a public gallery in the UK, and will feature some old works alongside new paintings.
Reinforcing the gallery's opinion was an article in Time Out at the end of October in which she was named as one of their most exciting artists under the age of 40.
Salisbury Cathedral is the location of an exhibition of new work by Emily Young titled Angel Heads: Seven and a half heads for seven and a half centuries. The temporary installation of these works marks the Cathedral's 750 year anniversary and the pieces are made of the same stone (Purbeck marble) as the Cathedral. If you want to see these 7 1/2 stone archangels then they are in and around the Cathedral from November 20th until February 9th next year.
Running from December 8th to December 22nd is a joint two-person show featuring Lynn Parotti and Paul Vanstone. There work is being shown at Unit 6, Imperial Wharf in Fulham and is titled The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower. The Dylan Thomas poem from which the title is taken is one that both Lynn & Paul see as resonating with their work.
Outside of the UK, three Great Western Artists have exhibitions this month. At Sies and Höke Galerie in Düsseldorf Neal Tait is having a solo show. The exhibition runs from November 14th to December 12th.
Jeremy Dickinson has a show, Fishbowl Histories, at the Sara Meltzer Gallery in New York. His show opened on November 13th and runs through until December 20th.
Lastly, Darren Almond has a solo show, Nail to Nail, at David Patton Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition runs from November 22nd to December 20th.
