CALL FOR ARTISTS

Already a vibrant and well loved area of Cambridge, Romsey is set to become part of the cultural quarter of the city, highlighted this summer with the first ever Romsey Art Festival.  This will celebrate and showcase the rich way of life in the area.

The Festival will take place primarily on Saturday 3^rd August, with some fringe events happening at later dates. Confirmed events include pop-up cinema, poetry workshops, mural paintings, an art market in Hope Street Yard, exhibitions and much more.

Cambridge Art Salon is now looking for more artists who would like to get involved in running an event as part of the festival. Some limited funding is available to pay artists to lead workshops, particularly with local community groups.

Other events require voluntary participation. The Art Salon team can assist with finding venues, but essentially we are looking for artists who have the initiative and drive to deliver well-organised events that inspire and celebrate the local community.

We are looking for participating artists for:

Open Studios – do you live in the Romsey area? Would you be willing to open your studios for the day of the festival?

Wheelie Bin Art – need a lead artist to find residents who would like to participate and arrange a group of artists who would want to help create artwork on bins

Art Market at Hope Street Yard – 10 spaces are available for market stalls for art or crafts. Stall hire is £35. Applications will need to be made to Ceri Littlechild – misslittlechild@gmail.com

Film-making  – we are looking for a film-maker to document the main events of Saturday 3^rd August.

Fanzine – to create a lasting legacy of the festival and published representation of the local community.

Charity Auction of Art Works – this would require an artist to source works for auction, arrange the venue, publicity and auctioneer. Proceeds could go to local community groups

Alternatively, if you have an idea for an exhibition, workshop, event, or performance that you would be happy to organise and arrange for Saturday 3^rd August, please get in touch with Cambridge Art Salon to ensure that it is included in the publicity for Romsey Art Festival.

For any further information contact ellie@cambridgeartsalon.org.uk

or  romseyartfestival@cambridgeartsalon.org.uk

@romseyartfest

“Descent” is an exhibition and drawing installation by the artist Juno Doran, currently working from a studio at Cambridge Art Salon, using the media of drawing on paper and photography.

This series of works had developed as an artistic response to a profound personal experience of loss, whilst simultaneously searching a form of iconographic representation of raw human pain in a wider sense.

Juno Doran is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Cambridge, England, using a variety of media in her work, including drawing, text, painting and film, exploring core issues of personal existence, memory and identity, as well as wider issues with a global context. Throughout her artistic career she has exhibited internationally, including theUnited States and South Africa, as well as in several venues in England and Scotland.

For more information visit the artists website here

This April students from Romsey Mill’s alternative education programme will profile their art work at the Art Salon.

The Mill’s alternative education programme supports young people, 13-16, who have struggled to engage with mainstream school and the completed pieces are a part of the student’s study towards an Level 1 Arts Award. So if it’s a fine collection of oil landscapes and acrylic portraits you’re after look no further…

Romsey Mill is a Cambridgeshire Charity creating opportunities with young people and families to overcome disadvantage and social isolation

To findout more, visit their website here

Eleven visual artists who work at the Fitzwilliam Museum are putting together a joint exhibition of their art work for an exhibition in April 2013 at the Cambridge Art Salon. The artists work at the museum in a variety of different jobs from specialist technicians in Antiquities and Applied Art Departments, Educators in the Education Team, Image Management Team and a few of the museum’s freelance artists. Their work is often inspired by the museum and the fascinating art work and artefacts they work with every day.

Artist and Education Officer Sarah Blake says ‘The Fitzwilliam is a fascinating place to work, full of intriguing objects and art and I often find time to draw and paint from the collection, we are a friendly group of artists and get a real buzz from inspiring museum visitors’.

Ruth Blundell, Ali Ayres, David Evans, Chen Xi, Josie Camus, Nathan Huxtable, Ian Crighton, Anna Betts, Rob Law, John Wiltshire, Sarah Blake

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

A new exhibition showcasing the very best local artisans launched at the Cambridge Art Salon last week. Lydia Fallon paid a visit.

Cambridge’s vast array of creative talent is perhaps one of the city’s best kept secrets. If you look hard, really hard, you’ll find a vibrant art scene, brimming with sparkling homemade jewellery, beautiful prints and stylish ceramics, a hub of quirky gifts, just waiting to be snapped up for Christmas. But too often the very best things are the hardest to find. Mandy Knapp and Karen Jinks, the brains behind Cambridge Creative Network (CCN), hope a new exhibition will give local artists their chance to shine.

“We always actively encourage our artists to be at the very top of their game,” Mandy enthuses. “We want to showcase that here in the East of England there are some really great artists, as it can be seen as a bit of a wilderness.”

Running from November 15-27, the Narrative exhibition is an exciting mixed show featuring a selection of artists who belong to the CCN. Whether you fancy a browse to pick up ideas for your own work or are on the hunt for the perfect gift, the exhibition has a little something for everyone.

From stylish vintage-inspired jewellery by Mummybird Pretties to charming illustrations by Jo Clark, each display is curated in an elegant and considered way, revealing the provenance behind the work.

“We feel very strongly that all our artists have a story behind the work,” says Mandy, explaining how the narrative theme came about. “We don’t like to make our artists work to a ‘theme’ because we want the work to be from the heart. We thought that by making the theme of it narrative, they can really express what they are feeling through what they are making.”

The creative duo are also keen to make art, which can often be seen as overly high-brow, more accessible to the general public. During the exhibition there are a number of drop-in workshops available for kids and grown-ups alike. From bookbinding to festive postcard making, the ladies hope that the workshops will help people engage with the exhibition and maybe even inspire a few to pick up a paintbrush too.

Narrative runs from November 15-27 at the Cambridge Art Salon on Cromwell Road. For more information about the exhibition visit the website at www.narrativeart.co.uk. You can find out more about Cambridge Creative Network at www.cambridgecreativenetwork.co.uk.