FEBRUARY ART BAR 2020 – LISA SCANTLEBURY – 26 FEBRUARY – 7PM RENATOS

Our February Art Bar speaker is Lisa Scantlebury, artist and co-director of Plenderleith Scantlebury fine art fabricators based at Spike Island, Bristol, who will be discussing her art career to date.

Lisa describes herself as an itinerant artist with strong public outreach and is fascinated by what the role of an object is, its aesthetic function, how it operates in a gallery, and its functional function (for want of a better phrase) – or how it operates in the world.

Born in Essex, Lisa grew up next to the clay pits in South Ockendon, where the London Clay was mixed into a slurry and pumped under the Thames to the cement works in North Kent. Privet bushes were her main source of entertainment – she would jump into the dense foliage and enjoy how it caught her impression. She later studied Ceramics at Cardiff Institute where one of the projects was to dig up and study clay from her home town. At the same time she wrote down the recipe on how to make a privet ash glaze, not really recognising the significance at the time. 25 years later she returned to her hometown and collected the privet trimmings (from the same bushes she’d earlier  jumped into), and is currently making a privet ash glazed pot. She has recently had a solo show at Test Space, Spike Island and was selected to show at the ‘167 Annual Open’ and ‘Sculpture Open’ at the RWA in Bristol.

All talks are FREE, no booking required, arrive at 7pm to grab a drink and pizza with talks starting at 7.30pm.

To find out more see https://www.axisweb.org/p/lisascantlebury/ and@lisascantlebury

Image credit: Many Long Slow Waits installation at Test Space, Spike Island, 2019.
Photography by Jo Hounsome Photography © Lisa Scantlebury.

 

JANUARY ART BAR 2020 – MEGAN CLARK-BAGNALL – 29 JANUARY – 7PM RENATOS

Our first Art Bar for 2020 is with visual artist and social maker Megan Clark-Bagnall, a Bristol based artist, who likes to make fun/ny projects with people. Megan will be talking about her style and ethos of art making alongside past and present projects, including a solo exhibition exploring gender, age and playfulness, currently on at The Royal Shakespeare Company.

Megan celebrates the good and the excellent in human nature to create sincerely feel good art – she doesn’t make very serious art, but she is very serious about making art – enjoying smashing together mainstream culture and the art world to create striking large-scale art installations, performances that tell stories and immersive events that everyone is invited to take part in.  Her playful projects tend to be questioning, queer, fun, humorous, bitter-sweet and surprisingly sobering at times. Megan takes a literal and a little bit of a ridiculous approach to her arts practice with her work often dressed up in Fruit Salad chew colours, drowned in bright accents of pink and yellow.

Megan is also known as: Bingo Meg from Carboot Disco Bingo – the lady in that couple who visited every last Little Chef restaurant before they all closed down – the host of pineapple themed dinner party events – someone who has found a needle in a haystack more than several times – an Elvis Presley tribute artist – the artist who combined the ball game pool with the swimming pool – the co-director of an artist in residence programme called M2AIR, designed for children – a dedicated Coronation Street fan.

All talks are FREE, no booking required, arrive at 7pm to grab a drink and pizza with talks starting at 7.30pm.

To find out more visit www.workwithmegan.co.uk  and @ClarkBagnall

Image credit: Rules Don’t Apply. Photo Gina Print © Megan Clark-Bagnall

18 DECEMBER, ART BAR CHRISTMAS QUIZ 2019, 7PM, RENATOS

 

Join us for our annual Art Bar Christmas Quiz on Wednesday 18 December where we’ll be testing your art knowledge and creative skills, including a special ‘making’ round and the famous artists’ parade, with prizes for both the winners and the losers!

Come with friends or turn-up alone and we’ll find you a team. We’ll be gathering from 7pm with time to order a pizza and grab a festive drink before starting the quiz around 7.30pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

 

27 NOVEMBER 2019 ART BAR – ANGIE PARKER – 7PM RENATOS, KING STREET

 

Our November Art Bar speaker is Angie Parker  an award-winning textile artist, who designs and weaves rugs and wall-hangings for lovers of colour. 

Angie trained as a rug weaver at art college in the early 1990’s, after initially getting side-tracked by a career in costume for theatre and television. The arrival of her children brought about the opportunity for her to revisit her passion for weave and colour, and she has spent the last 5 years (or 25 years if you go back to the start), establishing a niche brand working on commissions and exhibiting her textiles in contemporary craft galleries.  

Her distinctive and intricate floor art and fabric creations are hand-woven using long established patterns, such as Krokbragd, which she combines with her instinctive approach to colour. It is the creative process of importing a contemporary element to the time honoured techniques of rug weaving and the responses from the viewer which most excite her. A year spent living in India and more recently the dynamic graffiti in her neighbourhood in Bristol have influenced the fabulously gaudy palette which is intrinsic to her weaving. Her colour spectrum primarily ranges from intensely hued to eye-popping flamboyance and sourcing new shades is a key part of her planning.

Angie will be looking at the pivotal moments in her journey, and sharing her experiences of running a growing contemporary textile craft practice. The highs and lows will be illustrated with a backdrop of eye-poppingly colourful examples of her work and the influences behind her creations. 

Talks start at 7.30pm, but we recommend arriving at 7pm to grab a drink, pizza and a place to sit. Art Bar Bristol is FREE to attend.

Find out more about Angie’s practice here.

Images © Angie Parker.

OCTOBER 2019 ART BAR – STEPHEN SNODDY – 30TH OCTOBER – 7PM RENATOS, KING STREET

Our October Art Bar speaker is Stephen Snoddy, artist and Director of New Art Gallery Walsall. Stephen will be joining us to discuss his dual career as artist and curator, looking at curatorial highlights across his career as well as his artistic practice.

Stephen was born in Belfast and trained at Belfast College of Art where he graduated in 1983 with an M.A. in Fine Art. He began his curatorial career with his first job running a small community arts centre in Lisburn, later graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma in Art Gallery & Museum Studies from Manchester University. In 1987 he moved to Bristol to become Exhibitions Organiser at Arnolfini Gallery, where he worked from 1987-91 on an exhibitions programme that included shows from Richard Long, Giuseppe Penone, Rachel Whiteread, Jack B. Yeats and Juan Munoz.

In 1991 he became Exhibitions Director of Cornerhouse, Manchester, where he was responsible for bringing The British Art Show 4 to the city, as well as exhibitions including a John Baldessari Retrospective and a Bruce McLean film. In 1996 he became Director of Southampton City Art Gallery, where he organised Chris Ofili’s solo exhibition which won him the 1998 Turner Prize, and an exchange of collections with the Museum of Fine Art, Bilbao, to coincide with the opening of the new Bilbao Guggenheim. In the spring of 1998 he moved to Milton Keynes to direct the construction of a brand new gallery – MK opened on 8 October 1999 with ‘The Rudimentary Pictures’, an exhibition by Gilbert & George. In 2003 he was appointed Director, BALTIC Gateshead, making organisational and structural changes, refreshing the programme and engaging with artists in the region. In 2005 he began to work on freelance projects, lectured at MMU and continued to be on the VAGA Executive Board as well as serving as Director of the inaugural Contemporary Art Norwich (CAN05). In May 2005 he was appointed as Director of The NAG, Walsall.

After a break, he began painting again in 2013 and is a member of Contemporary British Painting an artist led organisation which explores and promotes current trends in British painting through group exhibitions, talks, publications and the donation of paintings to art museums.

Talks start at 7.30pm, but we recommend arriving at 7pm to grab a drink, pizza and place to sit. Art Bar Bristol is FREE to attend.

Image credit: ‘The Rudimentary Pictures’, exhibition by Gilbert and George at MKG, 1999 © Stephen Snoddy.

SEPTEMBER ART BAR – ANNA FARTHING – 25 SEPTEMBER 2019, 7PM RENATOS

Our first Art Bar speaker after the summer break is Anna Farthing, an award winning producer and consultant. She is currently Arts Programme Director for University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Creating work across cultural forms, she has been a creative producer, director, writer and curator for a wide range of projects and organisations including Hull U.K. City of Culture, the National Theatre, Chatsworth, and BBC Animation. Locally she has been instrumental in the launches of Tobacco Factory Theatre, M Shed, Bristol European Green Capital, Bristol Shakespeare Festival, Cary Grant Festival, Bristol Festivals and numerous independent projects. She began as a dancer and is still inspired by making work on, for and around the human body.

Join us to hear more about Anna’s work, looking back across her career and body of work including a variety of different projects such as her most recent role launching a new arts strategy for University Hospitals Bristol.

Chatsworth Renewed 2018 © Anna Farthing.

 

JUNE ART BAR – MONA OSMAN – 26 JUNE 2019, 7PM RENATOS

For June Art Bar (our last before we break for summer) we are joined by artist Mona Osman.

Mona Osman has painted and drawn since childhood, using her art to investigate human perceptions and tensions that are often linked to a state of anxiety. Drawing on experiences rooted in her personal history, the artist constructs crowded scenes and narratives that explore universal questions about existence and relational dynamics between individuals. Her paintings swarm with people, patterns, and elements, allowing the viewer’s eye to jump from detail-to-detail, probing the surface of the work through its varied rhythms, unexpected associations and sudden revelations. Her work combines elements of her parents’ heritage, combining Hungarian Judaism and Sudanese Islam, and her own childhood spent in Budapest and Nice. She now lives and works in Bristol.

Osman has a BA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths University and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at: Saatchi Gallery, London (2018); Royal College of Art, London (2017); Art Busan, Busan, Korea (2017); C & amp; Gallery, London (2016, 2015, 2014, 2012); St. David Coffee House, London (2015); GX Gallery, London (2014); May Clerckwell Gallery, London (2013); The Crypt Gallery, London (2012); Cubitt Gallery, London (2011); Lewisham College, London (2011); Yom Hatzmaut, Tel Aviv (2009); Cékl’art, Budapest (2009, 2008). She is currently working on her next solo show opening October 2019 at the Collezione Maramotti in Italy.

To see more about Mona Osman visit http://www.monashack.com

Image credit: Under the Rug © the artist.

MAY ART BAR IS ANITA TAYLOR, WEDNESDAY 29 MAY, 7PM, RENATOS

For May we are joined by Professor Anita Taylor, Executive Dean of Bath School of Art and Design.

Professor Anita Taylor is a practicing artist, curator, educator, writer, and Executive Dean, Bath School of Art and Design at Bath Spa University. She is the founding Director of Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize [since 1994]and Drawing Projects UK [since 2009]. She has extensive teaching, research and review experience, and her academic leadership roles have included; Director & CEO, National Art School in Sydney, Australia; Dean of Wimbledon College of Art, University of the Arts London [UAL]; Director, The Research Centre for Drawing at UAL; and Vice Principal, Wimbledon School of Art. She is the current Chair of the UK Council for Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD), a Trustee of Stroud Valley Arts, and President of Wells Art Contemporary.

Solo exhibitions of her work include: Witness, Young Gallery, Salisbury [2018]; DRAWN, The Customs House, South Shields [2017]; Drawing Projects UK [2016-17]; William Wright Artists Projects [Sydney 2014]; The Drawing Room, Sydney [2011]; Peter Pinson Gallery, Sydney [2009]; The Drawing Gallery [2009; 2004]. Her drawings have been recently been included in exhibitions at Jerwood Gallery [2016, 2014]; The Global Centre for Drawing, Langford120, Melbourne [2018, 2013, 2011]; Victoria & Albert Museum [2009]; Tate Britain [2006]. She has curated exhibitions of drawing, including Drawing Breath [London & international tour 2006-08] and Drawn Together for Jerwood Gallery [2013] in association with the Drawing Prize project; and organised solo presentations/exhibitions by Barbara Walker [Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, 2018-19], Lyndal Jones [Bath, 2014], Sheela Gowda [Sydney, 2010]; Wendy Sharpe, Gerry Davies and Elisa Alaluusua at Drawing Projects UK since 2016. Co-author of Drawing [Cassell Illustrated, first published 2003], she has written for The Guardian/Observer, Craft Arts International, Guardian Culture Professionals Network, and Garageland, with interviews with her featured in After Nyne [2018], Interalia [2016]; Studio International [2014]; Times Higher Education [2013]; the Artist’s Lives, Oral History Collection,National Life Storiesin the British Library Sound Archive. She was artist-in- residence at Durham Cathedral [1987-88], Cheltenham Fellow in Painting [1988-89], and awarded the Malvern Award for Drawing [1993]; Drawing Award, Hunting Art Prizes 1999;First Prize, Hunting Art Prizes 2000. Her work is held in public collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Jerwood Foundation.

Image credit: Drawn, solo exhibition by Anita Taylor, Customs House Gallery, South Shields, 2017, © Anita Taylor.

Art Bar Easter Break

Art Bar Bristol is taking an Easter break, but we will be back in May on the last Wednesday of the month as usual. We will be announcing our next speaker very shortly so check back soon and thank you for supporting Art Bar,  we look forward to seeing you next month!