November News

The invitations for Open Studios are hot off the press and winging their way around the globe. If you know of someone who would like an invitation mailed to them then please let us know via the website.

The event has been featured in the Westminster Arts bulletin and also in the ResCard autumn edition - more press to come.

We also get our annual mention in the Time Out Shopping Guide; sandwiched this year between Frieze Art Fair and the Hidden Art Fair.




The New York Times recently ran a piece in their travel section about spending 36 hours in the Bahamas (as you do). One of their top tips was to go and see Blue Curry's work at the National Gallery in Nassau.

I missed this reportage off the October news by mistake - it was taken at the show Happy Days part curated by Katherine Lubar and featuring studio artists Nick Dawes and David Ben White.



New Works by Clare Parry, Yukako Shibata, Laura Green, Sarah Dwyer and Jo Chate held in the gallery space at Great Western Studios was also a roaring success. The photos though make it look as if no-one was there which is far from the reality of the night.




Sarah Dwyer's show Something there Somewhere opened on Tuesday this week and continues through to December 21st; the venue is The Gallery @ Adventure Ecology HQ, 125 Charing Cross Road.

Mat Sant's exhibition of his new work took place in the gallery at Great Western Studios last week. Phenomenally well attended, the show looked great and had a real buzz about it.



Tarka Kings works in the studio outpost but this month has a show of her work opening at the Fine Art Society. Leading up to this she has garnered 2 bits of press for the exhibition; one in Vogue and the other in Grove.





I have finally received delivery of the two copies of turps banana magazine I ordered an age ago . . . and it was worth it. Issue One features an article written by Neal Tait on Luc Tuymans and Issue Three has David Ben White interviewing Luc Tuymans. So . . . if you see the two of them together in the corridors of the studios you can probably make an educated guess as to what they are talking about.



Mary Grant is having a busy old time. She is off to Art Ireland for November 15th & 16th. After that she has a solo show at Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Moore and last month the Jill George gallery were exhibiting her work at the Toronto Art Fair.

At the risk of running with a generalisation, the Japanese love a bit of Zakee Shariff. So much so that Make Art Your Zoo created a temporary installation in Tokyo in her honour - it was actually more of a renegade-guerilla-stand-alone-store-type-thing. Had you been in Tokyo and entered the hallowed portals of the store and you could have bought more things bearing the Zakee Shariff hallmarks than you would have thought possible - tableware, clothes, toys, accessories, sneakers and clouds; ok, the clouds thing is a lie but I'm sure she's working on it.




Julie Goldsmith's show, Gas Lane, curated by the dynamic duo of Simon Dawe and Danny Wootton, at the Water Point was a blast.



The Diaspora Gallery are taking Lynn Parotti's work to Art Basel Miami which takes place from December 4th - 9th.



Our ex-pat artist in Houston, Gabriela Trzebinski, has work in a group show titled Little Known Facts at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston. The group exhibition opens on November 16th and runs until January 5th.

Lastly - as if there wasn't enough talent in the studios for Open Studios there are also our lovely guest exhibitors: Anna Steinberg, Mizuyo Yamashita, Emma-Kate Francis, Virginia Dorey, Vanessa Cohen and Huggermuggers.

October News

At the risk of everyone getting bored of this - GWS Open Studios is on December 1st & 2nd this year. If you get this newsletter link by e-mail you will get an e-invite in November - if you access the blog independently and want an e-invite please drop me an e-mail.

There, reminder over.

We are nearly at the end of playing host to an exhibition of work by Kevin Parissien. The mixture of painting and sculpted works ran from October 8th and continues until October 17th.



After this a group of 4 current studio artists and one ex-of-the-studios are putting together a show that will run from October 29th until November 4th. The artists involved are, in alphabetical order, Jo Chate, Sarah Dwyer, Laura Green, Clare Parry and Yukako Shibata and the exhibition will take place in the gallery space at the studios.




Coming up are a slew of studio artist exhibitions in the capital. Sarah Dwyer's show Something There Somewhere opens on November 13th and runs untli December 21st at The Gallery on Charing Cross Road.



Sean Alexander has a piece of his work in an exhibition at Cosh on Berwick Street where all the works take the humble rabbit as a starting point. If you can get to the show you can also meet 2 very sweet rabbits, one white and one black. It's worth going for that alone.



Lynn Parotti had new work in a group show at the RAC from September 24th until October 12th.



Cristina Rodriguez's exhibition at the Chelsea Arts Club is still up and viewable until October 29th.


Julie Goldsmith has a forthcoming exhibition (curated and produced by the dynamic duo of Simon Dawe and Danny Wootton of Wootton Dawe enterprises) at the Water Point in King's Cross. The opening is on Halloween . . . . which seems rather apt for Julie's mystical creatures. If you haven't been to the Water Point before it may be advisable to take a map - see below for location.





The behemoth that is über chic retailer Toast continues to garner press for Brickett Davda's ceramics - this time in Elle Decoration.



In demand illustrator, Alice Tait, has been slaving over a whole host of illustration commissions of late. As well as her weekly illustration for the FT she has also illustrated the type for the Charlotte Church autobiography, the cover of The People of Privilege Hill and a piece for the Australian magazine Gourmet Traveller




The art jamboree has been in town for Frieze, Zoo et al. Those with keen eyes may well have spotted the following Great Western Studios' artists: Darren Almond, Neal Tait, Katy Moran, Jeremy Dickinson, Justin Hibbs.

Zakee Shariff is one of three artists who have been selected by Early Griffin to launch their ongoing series of artist screenprints. They are producing a limited edition run of 50 of each work - and you can get your print here.


Kate Gibb's relationship with the music industry continues apace; she has recently finished working with Patrick Duffy of No Days Off on a campaign for raved about artist Sonny J.



Vogue magazine features 2 studio creatives this month. Fromental are featured in an article about the trends in silk and Jo Ratcliffe has art directed a shoot on new fragrances.





Back in the annals of time - a couple of weeks ago - Fashion Week hit London. Before After continued their longstanding working relationship with Anya Hindmarch by designing her show space for the week. The space they used is to be one of 2 new London stores for the renowned handbag and shoe designer - so, on the theme of producing a Blueprint for the store, they put together the space.




Anne Musso crops up in World of Interiors this month in an article on bowls.



Finally, long standing friend of the studios Willy Borrell has, once again, been up to good/no good depending on your take on the situation. He has featured in the Holy Moly mailout not once, not twice, but three times since he last graced these pages. The finest of his missives can be seen here.

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.