September News

The annual art-departure from London seems to be done and dusted and the art/design season is about to kick off again. The trade design shows go first; Top Drawer saw Lisa Jones Cards exhibition again, 100% design follows this with Fromental. Art London takes place in Chelsea between October 4th and 8th - the Art Movement will be exhibiting Cristina Rodriguez's work, and Sieff Gallery will be showing Sandra Shashou's work here - Frieze, Zoo et al take place from October 11th - 14th.




The relative newcomer to the art/design fair calendar is Form London. Emma Underhill, ex studio-holder at Great Western Studios is advising them on the fine art content of the fair and you can apply by using the forms here.

The Seer website was started a few years ago to provide an online directory of artists and designer makers working in specific London boroughs. Westminster have recently signed up to be part of The Seer as well and to mark this event they are holding an open evening on October 9th at London Print Studio between 6-8. The event will coincide with an exhibition at the Print Studio and will demonstrate the capabilities of the site and why as many artists should be involved as possible.



Sean Alexander has re-vamped his own website to shift some emphasis to the new print series that he has made.



Kate Gibb has recently had 3 prints selected to be sold online by Product of God. One of the free london papers picked up on this and have labelled her the "one to watch".



As well as having her work at Art London, Cristina Rodriguez has a solo exhibition at Chelsea Arts Club which runs from October 1st - 29th.




Sean Henry's work, Couple, was finally installed through the night on August 17th. This landmark piece of public art in the North West was greeted by a flurry of press coverage: You and Yours, Front Row, Five Live, BBC news 24, local BBC news, ITV, the One show, BBC 6pm news, the Guardian, Independent, Times and . . . Hello.





Neal Tait has work in a group show titled Like Leaves which opens on September 15th at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York. The group show is curated by Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith the critic and lecturer from University College Dublin.

Also across the proverbial pond, Blue Curry, had work exhibited at Diaspora Vibe in Miami. According to the 2 reviews that Blue sent me his work was the most widely celebrated of those displayed - although you may have to bear in mind that these are the only reviews he sent me! You can read, and judge, them yourself here and here. Opening on September 25th and running to October 7th he is also exhibiting in a show in Vienna titled Failure Notice - the exhibition intends to show the work of "three emerging London artists".

The September edition of Computer Arts Projects features two Great Western illustrators: Alice Tait and Jo Ratcliffe.





The super-slick on-line shop, Toast, has just launched it's homeware collection - bringing a selective taste of the Welsh valleys to the world. Brickett Davda's delectable tableware fits in perfectly with the overall aesthetic, despite bearing no connection to Wales at all.

Their work has been singled out for praise by 2 bits of press: Marie Claire and the Evening Standard.






The mysterious figure of Pete Gleadall has also surfaced in a recent article in Future Music. Pete is widely cited (in the world of the internet) as the 3rd Pet Shop Boy; having worked with them for well over 10 years. Pete's interview with the magazine states that the main reason that he chose Great Western Studios as his base was the parking - he makes no mention at all of the scintillating, inspirational company of his fellow studio holders, or for that matter the wondrous, tasty and nutritious food served up in the café!



Great Western Studios has been facebooked. Please feel free to join the group - and get your Great Western news by yet another medium.

Lastly - it's the art world equivalent of Jennifer's Diary and Bystander (Tatler and Harpers respectively) it is the backpages of Art Review. And . . . making it on to those hallowed pages in the September edition are Darren Almond and, everyone's favourite (male) studio assistant Connor Linskey.


In the exhibition Great Western Studios: A History which took place this May the introduction to the show contained the following paragraph:

"To talk about the history of Great Western Studios is to talk of the story of the artists and craftspeople who have been based in the building. There are professional stories and there are personal stories - alongside career development there have been relationships and births . . . but, as yet, no interstudio marriages."

Step forward Alice Tait and Sean Alexander to save the day.

August News

Firstly, some dates for your diary. Open Studios at Great Western Studios will be held on December 1st and 2nd this year. Open Studios provides and ideal opportunity to banish the high-street from your list of feared places to do your Christmas shopping and instead purchase individual, original and inspired objects and gifts directly from artists and designers. The ever-brilliant studio café will be open over the weekend for lunches, drinks and afternoon tea and we may even ply you with a warming cup of mulled cider when you get to the building.






This autumn Kitty Stirling will once again be running painting and drawing classes from Great Western Studios. Following her highly successful classes earlier in the year the next schedule of workshops is listed below. Kitty can be contacted c/o kitty@kittystirling.com.



After taking a couple years break from fronting her own fashion line Zakee Shariff clothing is back, back, back. Her first new collection is now in the shops . . . in Japan. However, Zakee is in the throws of adding an e-shop to her website from which various items from the collection together with other one off pieces will soon be available.



The annual Westminster Open exhibition is currently on at the SW1 Gallery and Claudia Bentley has had her work selected for the show. The exhibition is organised by Westminster Arts and runs from August 3rd through to September 1st.



If you happen to pick up a copy of Grazia magazine on the shelves of all good newsagents on August 28th you will also get a sample edition of Lucy Mangan's novel Hop Scotch and Hand Bags which features a cover by Alice Tait.



Sean Henry's long awaited Newbiggin on Sea sculpture is nearing final installation. Due to be installed completely by the end of August the is set to be the UK's first permanent offshore sculpture.

Sophie Smallhorn has recently finished a commission for a building in Clerkenwell.



Finally . . . long-standing supporter of the artists at Great Western Studios, Adrian Palengat, has now moved his Apart Gallery to LA after over 6 years of being based in W11. Over those years Adrian has exhibited work by a number of GWS artists including Sean Alexander, Mary Grant, Dinah Dufton, Jay Burridge, Tommy Penton, Slipmode, Natasha Laflin, , Lucy Hull, Liza Campbell and Jo Ratcliffe.

July News

It has been another busy month for the artists within the studios - we would normally expect some kind of summer slow down, but as yet there has been little sign of slacking off. That is unless you count the emergence of a studio table-tennis league as a signal of slacking off

Lynn Parotti's show at the Chelsea Arts Club garnered two bits of press; one in the Ham & High (apposite as Lynn's paintings were largely in response to Hampstead Heath) and the second was published in Lloyds List.






Belinda Eade has also received a lot of press recently - I'm catching up with the Country Life piece from earlier in the year and she is profiled in the August issue of House and Garden - for the real magazine anoraks out there (and I count myself as one) she is also mentioned in the specialist publication Grottoes.





Regent's Park is currently playing host to a joint exhibition featuring studio artist Sean Henry alongside the Russian artist Unus Safardin; the exhibition Gate of Multiplicity is within the Inner Circle of Regent's Park until November 27th.




Sean also appeared on Channel 4 News talking about the Newbiggin Couple commission. The interview features Sean in his studio but also in Liverpool where the sculpture is being constructed.



Also out and about in the Capital is the exhibition of Tommy Penton's 10ft Gibson guitar for the Gibson Guitar Town London exhibition which occupies the space around the Mayor of London's Office City Hall on the Southbank until the end of August. Tommy's piece is to be signed by Keane - though quite what the connection between Tommy's piece and their music is is anyone's guess.




Summer Flaunt: The Art Movement An Exhibition of Our Leading Artists is the snappy title of an exhibition at The Art Movement's gallery at 29 Palace Street, SW1 which opened on June 22nd and runs until August 31st and features Cristina Rodriguez.

If you are a fan of Zakee Shariff's design your ship has just come in. If you log on to the US Coca-Cola store you can now purchase the following Zakee Shariff items: entrée plate, tote bag, oversized throw pillow, magazine holder, file box, key chain, cereal bowl, beach towel and many others including a boyfriend pillow (or, as Zakee and Al have recently got married, maybe that should be husband pillow.)



Kate Gibb has joined the world of blogdom. In addition her recent work for both The Chemical Brothers and Cherry Ghost has recently received a lot of coverage in the press and an animated of her Chemical Brothers work is also being shown on TV.



Gordon Langley has exploded his own head. As unlikely as this seems here is the evidence.



His wide and far-reaching talents also extend to writing music and dj-ing. The former of these skills can be found in the pieces that he has written for his friend Daniel Florencio's films - you can watch Daniel's films and listen to Gordon's tracks here.

Claudia Carr has work in a group show at the Jason McCoy Gallery on East 57th Street in New York entitled Options Within Realism.



In Miami, Blue Curry has work in a group show at the Diaspora Vibe Gallery entitled Work! The exhibition runs from August 9th through to September 22nd. The show is curated by Rosie Gordon-Wallace in connection with PopopStudios in the Bahamas.

Matt Booth & Bevan Roper have recently completed the design of 2 events: the preview event for the Summer Exhibition at the RA and the launch of Justin Timberlake's clothing range, William Rast, at Harvey Nichols, for which they worked in collaboration with graphic artist Mr. Pinks.





David Worthington has a piece of work in an exhibition at Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury - home of the "naked gardeners". If you check out the garden's website you can either choose to visit on a "clothes optional" day . . . or not. The exhibition is organised by the Royal Society of British Sculptors and also features work by Julian Wild (husband of Mary Grant.)

The summer of group shows continues at Studio 1.1 on Redchurch Street, E1 whose show Abstract Continuous features work by David Ben White. David's work can also be seen at the Burlington Club until mid August in his show The New Frontier.

And finally . . . he's been out of the red-tops for at least a month but now Will Borrell is back. Everyone's favourite japester is back via the medium of facebook/myspace/social networking sites.

June News

The season of Summer Events at Great Western Studios is nearly over - Peachy continues until June 16th. Each of the exhibitions has had a different emphasis and together provide the shows provide a brief snapshot of what is going on in the building mid way through 2007.

The first of the exhibitions was Behind Closed Doors, featuring work by Mole Browne, Liza Campbell, Julie Goldsmith, Natasha Laflin and Will Warbrick. The private view of that exhibition was also combined with an Open Studios Evening.





Following that exhibition was Great Western Studios: A History, a look at the history of the studios through photographs, press articles and exhibition invitations.






Peachy followed that; showcasing the work of Nick Dawes, Justin Hibbs, Katherine Lubar and David Ben White.





There has also been a flurry of studio-related press and exhibitions over the past month and in the forthcoming month.

Emily Young wrote an article for New Scientist magazine to coincide with her exhibition at The Crypt at St. Pancras Parish Church and she also appeared on Radio 4's Woman's Hour talking about the process of making her work.



Melissa Hunt has an image of her A-Z cufflinks in this week's Time Out.



Slipmode are celebrating 5 years of their business and have re-designed their website to give an overview of the work that they undertake beyond the 'beats graphics motion' tagline.



Also moving further into the world of cyber-enterprise our ex-Great Westerners Folk who have launched an online shop. Their proper shop is also now open at 49 Lamb's Conduit Street - soon you won't be able to move for opportunities to buy their clothes and shoes.




Cristina Rodriguez us exhibiting work at AAF in New York with The Art Movement. The fair is on From June 13th - 17th.



Also in the USA, Neal Tait has a show at ACME in Los Angeles entitled Tambalamb, it runs from May 26th through to June 25th.

Back on home soil Blue Curry and Steve Mepsted both have work in an exhibition titles Domesticalia which is taking place at the Standpoint Gallery in Shoreditch from June 27th - 30th.



Katherine Lubar is co-curating a show at the Vegas Gallery which runs from June 15th to July 15th and also includes work by Nick Dawes.



Thompson's Gallery in Marylebone is hosting an exhibition of new work by Paul Vanstone from June 13th to June 24th.



Beaux Arts on Cork Street currently has it's Summer Exhibition in the gallery which features work by Rachel Schwalm.



The Ice House in Holland Park has in the past hosted exhibitions by studio artists Julie Goldsmith and Mary Kirk but for the period of June 16th to July 1st it is playing host to an exhibition of Anne Musso's ceramics from 11-7 every day.



Pixel Shake is an exhibition tha includes work by those who have recently completed the Computer Arts at Thames Valley University . . . including . . . David Worthington. The show is at Ada Street Gallery, E8 and is open from June 20th through to June 24th.



Sophie Smallhorn has recently completed a commission for the reception of a Derwent London property in Old Street.



Finally you can still catch Lynn Parotti's show When The Bough Breaks at the Chelsea Arts Club until June 25th - she is having a (near) closing viewing of it on June 21st.