WHAT’S ON

A FAMILIAR FACE – STOKE TOWN 2010 by Behjat Omer Abdulla

Wednesday 14 July – Monday 16 August 2010

Activity: Prize Draw

Cost: FREE

Win a FREE remarkable pencil DRAWING Portrait (50 x 35 cm).

Fill out the details on the entry forms and enter into the box provided.

Box Locations: SHOP (116 Church Street), Stoke Local Centre/Library, Stoke Indoor Market and more will be added.

Following the close of entries we will then contact you in regards to the competition draw and you will be invited to the draw event.

Behjat is working as a Studio Artist at SHOP, to find out more visit 116 Church Street and see examples of his work.

Web: www.behjaturl.tumblr.com

***
BEHJAT OMER ABDULLA

Ongoing

Activity: Studio Artist

Cost: FREE

Born in Iraq/Kurdistan. Lived and working in the UK since 1999

Being in exile is the source of Behjat O Abdulla’s inspiration. His work develops directly from investigation into ID cards, people’s origins and how they are presented through governmental processes. He uses his skills of drawing to listen to people’s specific psychological dramas, to reach a point of struggle between thought and appearance.

Behjat has been asking a number of people to let him use their ID pictures (or to take their ID pictures) as a part of the “In Limbo” drawing project, which he started at the beginning 2010. He started the project with people living in the UK and abroad. These people live in a state of constant uncertainty and delay; being caught in an undefined time.

He considers that art is a way to raise questions about what we are and how we place ourselves in the world. It is a way to bring to awareness our responses to life. He is trying to create something that looks vibrant. It is his way of speaking and he hopes it allows the viewers to translate, decode and change it into their own language.

Web: www.behjaturl.tumblr.com

***

KATE LYNCH: EXPLORING THE GREEN MEN OF STOKE

Saturday 31 July – Saturday 14 August

Activity: Artist in Residence

Cost: FREE

Kate Lynch will be using her time as Artist in Residence to develop her work which looks at ‘The Green Man’. ‘The Green Man’ can be seen in many forms on some of the town’s buildings. Throughout the residency the public will be introduced to the Green Men of Stoke Town through artwork, maps and sight-seeing trails.

Kate is also looking for people to contribute photographs of Stoke Town, particularly Church Street and these will be used to create a piece of artwork.

Web: http://aconversationwiththegreenman.blogspot.com/

***

KATE LYNCH: CREATING THE GREEN MEN WORKSHOP

Wednesday 4 August, 10.30am – 4pm (Drop-in)

Activity: Workshop

Cost: FREE

Create your own ‘Green Man’ face using a range of locally sourced materials including clay, discarded ceramic lithographs, and found wallpapers from around the city.
Other Drop-in Workshops will take place daily, please check Opening Hours (available online or at SHOP).

Web: http://aconversationwiththegreenman.blogspot.com/

***

SUNDAY SHOP

Sunday 15 August, 12 September, 3 October & 31 October, 2 – 5pm

Activity: Meeting & Networking

Cost: FREE

A space to meet other artists, chat, and share ideas.

Bring your own food and drink (Tea and Coffee will be provided), bring yourself and anyone who you think will find it interesting.

The Sunday SHOP will take place between 2pm & 5pm – stay for the duration or just drop by for an hour, whatever suits you on your day of rest.

***

One Small Leap

Friday 20 & 27 August, 10, 17 & 24 September

Activity: Professional Development

Cost: FREE

Inspired by Emilia Telese’s Dodge The Shredder Workshop, Pecha Kucha Nights and Anti-Design Festival, the One Small Leap Workshop offers an original, practical and collaborative method of creative networking, professional development and new business development.

One Small Leap investigates the alternative way of exchanging ideas and working with artists and creative practioners on a one-to-one CPD workshop. The artist gains insightful knowledge, links, networks and individual information designed around the artists practice.

The workshops are 2 hour sessions of practical professional development sessions focusing on the individual artist and designer.

Web: http://www.shop-stoke.co.uk/2010/07/onesmall-leap/

***
bITjAM: RESIDENCY WEEKEND

Sat 28 August & Sun 29 August, 4 – 5 September, 11 – 12 September., 18 – 19 September (Saturday’s 12noon – 2pm & Sunday’s 6pm – 9pm)

Activity: Artist in Residence

Cost: FREE

Using audio recordings taken from within the Spode factory bITjAM will be sharing the sound files with anyone wishing to join us on the last weekend in August and the first 2 weekends in September at the SHOP in Stoke town.

bITjAM will be performing improvised soundscapes using the audio and also remixing the video we captured on the day.

Web: http://www.shop-stoke.co.uk/tag/bitjam/

***
Staffordshire Dance Collective at SHOP

Mon 30, Tues 31 August & Wed 1 Sept

Activity: Dance

Cost: FREE

On the 30th, 31st August and 1st September dancers from Staffordshire Dance Collective will be using SHOP as a base for exploring and developing site-specific dance.

Led by Anna Macdonald from Forecast dance – www.forecastdance.org

Window works

A person is invited to come to a window in a particular building at a particular time. There they find a place to sit and something to drink. At some point a woman will come into their view from the window and write something on a piece of paper – she holds it up and they read ‘this is for you’…then she starts to dance.

The residency will begin to explore and develop material for a site-specific dance designed to be seen from a window. Participants will look at ways of working with site, playing with the peculiar romance involved in trying to communicate across a distance. The work will be fun and accessible encouraging dancers to work to their own strengths.

Staffordshire Dance Collective invite the public to come and view this process at any point during the three day residency and will offer an informal sharing of the work in progress on Wednesday 1st September.

For more information about Staffordshire Dance Collective visit: www.staffsdancecollective.co.uk

***

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE – Tom Marshman

Monday 6 September – Sunday 19 September

Activity: Artist in Residence

Cost: FREE

As Artist in Residence, Tom will be asking you to donate items of clothing that you no longer wear, he is curious to know the story behind the item, what happened when you wore that dress, did you get the job because of that
tie, can that old coat warm someone else up?

Please come along to SHOP to donate your item and talk to Tom about the item.

Opening times for donations are:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (6th, 7th, 8th, 9th Sept) Times 11am-7pm

On Thursday you will be invited in to see you item of clothing paraded and its story divulged.

From Friday 5pm SHOP will be open as an exhibition space and will run until Sept 19th.

***

A Proposal for an Urban Farm in Stoke on Trent – Ruth Martindale

Saturday 25 September – Saturday 9 October

Activity: Artist in Residence

Cost: FREE

Artist in Residence, Ruth Martindale will be using a collection of art pieces and research, and using her time at SHOP to look at disused industrial land as potential sites for an urban farm in Stoke on Trent.

Drawing upon ideas about agricultural issues such as, feeding our growing population, sustainability, growth of interest in allotments, grow your own, urban farms in Detroit and regeneration brown field sites within cities.

Thursday 7 October, 6pm

Ruth Martindale is inviting you to come along to SHOP to see the results of her residency.

***
Home from Artist Collective SoTart

Saturday 9 – Sunday 10 October, 11am to 4pm.

Activity: Exhibition

Cost: Free

HOME ….. is the latest exhibition by SoTart contemporary artists, a group of individual artists collaborating to produce exhibitions throughout the area.

Our latest exhibition HOME is based around our ideas of what is a home, where are we at home, is it within us or is it a specific place. Do we think of home where we grew up or do we take it with us as we move on in life, a nomadic home.

We all imagine home to be a safe, comfortable place but in reality is it, do we admit to others that it is not or do we hide behind the locked door.

Does our culture reflect on the style of our property we live in and how we decorate and adorn it.

Do we look at the future to imagine what we will have as a home, will we continue to live as individual families, we continue to develop as a society, as individuals and a species.

These are just some of the ideas and thoughts that have been looked at before producing work, developing individual themes, ideas and styles to produce this group exhibition.

***
The Toy Stories from B Arts

Dates:
Monday 11th October, 4-6pm
Tuesday 12th October, 12-2pm & 4-6pm
Wednesday 13th October, 12-2pm
Wednesday 13th October, 4-6pm

Activity: Event & Installation

Cost: FREE

Fun with toys at SHOP

Make your toy a star by joining in with the animated short film- The Toy Stories

Join our Big Toy Gallery – have TOY’S photo-portrait taken and have your toy entered into our Big Toy Register

Create a 3D setting for your toy and help us build Toy Town inside SHOP

Doesn’t matter if you are Barbie or Ben 10, a fire engine or a farm animal, a dinosaur or a dolly, plastic or plush – come along and join in the fun.

Even if you’ve had to put your toys in the attic or lost them years ago, come and share a tale about your favourite toy for our online Toy Stories Library, or just come and play with the characters in The Big Toy Box.

Everyone is welcome to Toys Teatime Wednesday 13th October, 4-6pm. There will be plenty of jelly and cake to enjoy!

All enquiries: Deborah Nicklin at B arts. Tel: 01782 717326 Email: info@b-arts.org.uk.

***
TALKING CITY LIVE with ASK ANNA
A new project for SHOP by artist Anna Francis

Dates: Saturday 16 October to Thursday 28 October 2010.

Activity: Performance, Events & Installation

Cost: FREE

Anna Francis will host an exciting new project for SHOP – ‘Talking City Live.’ The project sees Francis reviving the Talking City Agony Aunt, to host a chat show around the theme of regeneration and aiming to get under the skin of Stoke Town. This time ‘ASK ANNA’ will be asking the questions, talking to local residents, business owners, creative people and those involved in the regeneration. The show will celebrate all that is good about Stoke Town, demonstrating all that the town has to offer.

The programme will broadcast on 3 evenings, from SHOP and will also include Talking City On Location in Stoke Town, where ASK ANNA will lead tours of the Town, uncovering its history and secrets. The Regeneration Agony Aunt will be attending a regeneration meeting held by URBED the Urban Design and Sustainability experts, tasked with the masterplan for Stoke Town.

Episode One: Tuesday 12 October, 5 – 7 pm, Talking City at the Stoke Town and Spode Works Roundtable workshop (ON LOCATION)

Episode Two: Saturday 16 October, 3 – 4pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

Episode Three: Friday 22 October, 7 – 8pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

Episode Four: Saturday 23 October, 1 – 2pm (ON LOCATION: STOKE TOWN)

Episode Five: Thursday 28 October, 7 – 8pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

If you would like to appear on ‘ASK ANNA’ then get in touch to book your interview slot now.

The interviews will be filmed and will be made available to view from SHOP website.

Email: shop@shop-stoke.co.uk.

Alongside the broadcasts with ASK ANNA, there will be a number of free special events:

Saturday 16 October, 1 – 2.30pm: Anna Francis: Walking in the City

Anna will give a talk about her practice to date, which explores the impact of art and culture on regeneration. Anna will discuss the varying activities that she finds herself undertaking in order to operate as an artist in the city.

Saturday 23 October

1 – 2pm: TALKING CITY ON LOCATION in Stoke Town Tour

Anna Francis will lead a tour of Stoke Town, which will attempt to point out parts of the town that are working, as well as picking up on the areas which require most intervention. This is a session for artists, encouraging new ways of looking and seeing. (In attending the tour you will be expected to attend the 2-5pm session).

2 – 5pm: Regenerating Stoke Town with Anna Francis

The afternoon session will culminate in a revisioning of activity – to explore how artists could be involved in the regeneration process underway in the town.

To book onto the sessions email shop@shop-stoke.co.uk.

***
I am an artist? by Michelle Hunter-Gray

Friday 29 October 2010 *Change of Date*

Activity: Performance and Installation

Cost: FREE

*What is art?* * What is an artist?* * What do artists do?* *What is art for?*
*How do you know someone is an artist?*
*Why is ‘this’ art and ‘that’ not art?* * Who decides?*
*What does art do?* * What do you want art to do?*
*Does art play a part in your life?* *Your environment?* * Does it matter?*
*How can art do something for your town? *
Let’s talk about it…

Email answers to these questions or ask some more to: iamanartist@michellehunter-gray.com or call in: Shop, 116 Church Street, Stoke Town, ST4 1BU
to fill in a card or have a chat and a cup of tea.

You can also leave your answers/questions on Facebook.

All the questions and answers received will form part of an installation in Shop from the 1 to 29 of October.

Performance by Michelle Hunter-Gray at 7pm on Friday 9 October 2010.

***