Creatabot

http://soundcloud.com/stfes/to-the-nighthouse

Area – South East

South East Open Studios – 1st to 17th June 2012

Creative and Art Events

Open studio events have flourished in recent years and can be found in many regions across the UK. Participating artists open their studios to the public at certain times of the year, exhibiting their work and often their creative processes. Visitors enjoy the opportunity to meet the artists and glean something of the artist’s passion and dedication.They can also take part in workshops, view demonstrations, commission a piece of work, buy work on display or simply have a chat with the artist.

Open studio events provide an informal network for artists and are a great opportunity for member artists to meet like-minded people and showcase their work to a wider audience. SEOS (South East Open Studios) is one of the oldest and largest open studio events and encompasses the whole of Kent and the East Sussex borders. Numbers of participating artists continue to rise and now typically reach around 300. Membership is open to all visual artists and crafts-people in the region and includes many disciplines such as painting, print-making, ceramics, textiles, photography, illustration, jewellery-making and sculpture.

There is an annual fee to join but members benefit from group publicity throughout the year and are advertised on the group website and in the annual full-colour printed guide available in libraries, tourist information centres and art galleries throughout the region.There is also help and advice on hand regarding marketing and how to make the most of membership. Other benefits to artists include regular newsletters, information on opportunities/special events, and access to group public liability insurance.

As well as being a platform for regular members to connect with an established audience these events are often an ideal starting point for new artists looking to lay good foundations for their burgeoning careers.

For more information on SEOS please visit http://www.seos-art.org.

Image is of Dani Humberston

Area – South East

Important Video For All Creatives – Creative Commons Copyright

Editorials

Protecting your creative work is important. How do you do this? And how would you protect just some of your work if you wanted it to be shared? This video tells you how. To find out more visit www.creativecommons.org.uk

Area: UK Britain East of England East Midlands London North East North West Yorkshire Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands

Fuse Festival – Medway – 15th to 17th June 2012

Creative and Art Events

Fuse has announced some of the programme highlights for its fun-filled weekend of FREE outdoor arts – filling the streets of Medway with unexpected happenings between 15 and 17 June. Fuse will be presenting a huge array of theatre, dance and musical performances – from Indian circus, a medieval alchemist, 2 roving grannies through to nautical storytelling and even a floating festival choir! It’s a line-up for everyone to enjoy and which promises to bring people out onto the streets of Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham for fun and celebration.

Fuse kicks off with ‘Lighting the Fuse’ – a week of workshops and performances in schools and communities, including a rural tour of Whatever Floats Your Boat, a family show specially commissioned to the Central School of Speech & Drama. Then the river-themed Opening Parade on Gillingham High Street and site specific performances from the Central School of Speech and Drama and Tangled Feet lead into the main Festival.

Saturday 16^th is Street Arts Day on Chatham High Street and the Riverside. The day culminates on the Great Lines (Gillingham) with Barricade, a circus extravaganza by No Fit State, co-commissioned by the festival. The Fuse Big Picnic rounds off the Festival on Sunday, with a day filled with family-oriented activities, workshops and performances at Rochester Castle Gardens.

A spectacular range of performers from the UK and around the world will be visiting this year’s Festival, making it one of the most exciting yet. These include Kawa Circus and the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, all the way from India, No Fit State Circus with their exhilarating show Barricade, Dante or Die with their playful and enchanting promenade La Fille A la Mode and a new performance specially commissioned for the under-fives by Small Wonders– Little Universe, from Fevered Sleep. Two exciting river–themed performances come from local artists receiving Fuse’s Spark Commissions this year – Ri-zound, a floating festival choir project by renowned Jane Pitt and Changes in the Current, a celebration of the River Medwayand its history through dance, photography and the written word, presented by Sophie Fuller, Alix Godden and Rebecca Ashton.

FUSE Medway Festival is for everyone and will be making its presence felt across the weekend and in different locations with numerous opportunities to get involved, including dance, circus and theatre workshops and even a Dance flashmob on the Saturday.

The Festival is jointly funded by Medway Council and the National Lottery through the Arts Council England and runs from 15 – 17 June. For more information visit the website at www.fusefestival.org.uk, or join them on Facebook or Twitter.

Area – South East

A Medway Vision 4 – Blues Misadventures

Editorials

You probably think you know what blues music sounds like. You’ve probably seen lots of bands in pubs with a blues-based sound. You know the sort of thing, tribute acts; white men with a love of the blues singing about what it’s like to be a poor black man in 1930’s America. You’re absolutely right. It sounds good but it’s not REAL blues, music of genuine pain, anguish and hardship. Happily, real blues does still exist. And not just with that Detroit genius Jack White. It’s right here in Medway too. And this being Medway, it’s rather unique and somewhat brilliant.

Sounding like a blues singer from the Deep South, Stuart Turner has one of the most distinctive voices in music. Straddling that fine line between Muddy Waters, Louis Armstrong, Tom Waits and out and out ‘man deranged’, Stuart brings new meaning to 21^st Century Blues. And it’s the first time I have ever heard blues sound scary. Seriously, the combination of the man’s voice and the anguished lyrics take you to places you never thought blues could.

It has been said that to sing the blues you need to have suffered. Well in that case Stuart qualifies. That voice is not just an impassioned howl of feeling. Stuart recalls, “I was diagnosed with cancer in my throat and had fairly extensive surgery leaving me with an interesting singing voice and a lot of things to write about.” Many people would have given up. Turner used this misfortune to his advantage.

After finding his voice again and working how he could use it he began gigging and met with Kris Dollimore (ex Godfathers, Dammed, Del Amitri). They became friends and Stuart went on to produce Dollimores first blues solo album (’02/01/1978′) and helped him set up his own Sun Pier label. In return he offered to put out an album of Stuarts ‘A Gallon Of Water Makes A Mile Of Fog’. Stuart now sees the album as “too long, too odd, too sweary, it got some great reviews, but sold badly” A second solo album, (File Under Carnal Knowledge’) sold better, and he was getting known around Medway as well as gigging all around the country. Stuart met Robbie Wilkinson from Medway band Theatre Royal who became his live lead guitarist, then writing collaborator, then half of the ‘Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society’. Robbie and Stuart wrote and arranged a set of songs and produced ‘Gin and Bitters’ the first STFES album. Released by Medway based Brigadier Records, they then recruited Ray Hunt and Dave Sawicki and gigged the album, recording half a follow up as they went. “It sold modestly” said Stuart “but we got some radio and a good live reputation.”

Photo taken by Phil Dillon – www.phildillon.co.uk

Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society are not just a blues band though. Their repertoire covers rock-a-billy, indie and pop. Not to mention the sax on their last album ‘Gin and Bitters’ sounding a little like the soul of Dexys Midnight Runners. Oh, and did I mention he plays ukulele live too? But it’s the bluesy chug that works best for them, especially when mixed with indie-inspired pop dynamics. Listen to ‘Essex’ from ‘Gin and Bitters’, simply the best 3 minutes Stuart has committed to record so far; it’ cocky, it’s raw, it’s bouncy, it’s all you need from a song.

However, as brilliant as that album was, the curse of the blues musician seemed to be hitting the band hard. Stuart recalls how “Mark Lemar quit his radio show just as we were negotiating a session, gigs got cancelled from under us, ill health forced Dave out

of the band and his replacement Jez, while a good player, never gelled as well and there was a personality clash with Ray” Problems over? Stuart wishes. “Then there were a series of Jez-drunk-and-incapable gigs, Ray quit, just after we finished recording the as-yet-unreleased album ‘On the Brink of Misadventure’ and just after we were really getting a strong live following. At the very next band gig Jez had to be carried from the building during the support act and I was forced to fire him.”

Bad luck indeed, but thankfully Stuart and band are raring to go and ready to put their new superb album out. It will be out in April and if this album does not sell by the bucket load then there’s something wrong with the world. The usual combination of urban distress, bouncy blues and indie attitude makes this a great record. Listen to a sneak preview of the track ‘To The Nighthouse’ here:

With gigs lined up, Stuart says “this is a point of flux and anything might happen, it really is worth fighting to get this album heard” Perhaps, and most remarkably of all, Stuart accepts that this is what he HAS to do. It’s that Medway Vision again, that desire to create. There’s no giving up for an artist like Stuart, the music is in his blood and if fame comes then that’s a bonus “if I only ever play the Man of Kent a few times a year, but those gigs continue to be rammed, then in some way I have an ongoing achievement. Hopefully though we can go on to do more than that.”

I’m a big fan of Jack White and when I saw Stuart Turner for the first time I had that similar feeling of wonder, that feeling you get when you know you’re seeing something special, someone who means it, someone who is singing from the soul. Jack White is, famously, a fan of Billy Childish and his raw rock and roll. One suspects that if Jack had the pleasure of hearing Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society he would have another favourite Medway band. This is not karaoke tribute blues as witnessed in so many bars up and down the land. This is as real as it comes. Stuart Turner has lived a life, he’s seen the bottom and because of that he’s breathing new life into the blues. Once again we’re seeing a Medway Vision, an artist who makes the music because he has too. His bad news is good news for the rest of us.

Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society release their new album ‘On the Brink of Misadventure’ on Brigadier Records later this month.

For more information visit: http://www.myspace.com/stuartjamesturner

Mr Young

Independent Filmmaker

Area – South East

A Medway Vision 3 – Authentic Legend

Editorials

Every now and then you hear of someone who should be more well-known than they are. Medway painter and poet Bill Lewis is one of them. I’m not talking about seeing some ones work and thinking, ‘oh that’s quite good’ rather, I’m talking about someone who, once you realise what he has done, you realise he is a legend.

Bill Lewis is one of the founding members of both The Medway Poets and The Stuckist Movement of painting. The Medway Poets were founded in 1979 by Lewis along with those other Medway legends Billy Childish and Sexton Ming.

Stuckism was founded in the 1990’s by Bill and 12 others (again Billy Childish) in response to the post-modern ‘event’ art of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. In fact, the name ‘Stuckism’ comes from a conversation Emin had with Childish. During a phone call, Emin mocked Childish and his painting friends for being ‘stuck, stuck, stuck’ in the past. And the name, well, stuck. Bill Lewis and the other original Stuckists, or ReModernists, decided that this new art lacked authenticity.

When asked if he still considers himself a Stuckist, there is little doubt he knows that he will always be one of the founding members of that group, “but I’m more interested these days in the wider aims of the ReModernist experiment. The integration of spirituality into art and the attempt to avoid slipping back into post-modernism”.

When asked about his painting style Bill says “some people have called it Magical Realism but I’m not sure that fits. My paintings are like a magic mirror that I hold up to see what I am like inside. The imagery in them often takes years for me to decipher. Sometimes I never fully understand them”

“Some writers and artists tell me they have no influences but then humans have a great capacity for self denial. They think they are being original. Nothing is original. The best we can hope for is to be authentic. Authenticity comes from love. The things we love influence us the most”

I have always made pictures but I did not start writing until I was at school. I used to draw on everything as a kid and after covering the wall next to my bed my parents bought me sketch books to stop me drawing on the rest of the walls. But poetry and fiction are my main artistic outpouring.

For me, his paintings are fascinating. One in particular reminded me of the Inuit art I had seen from the Canadian Arctic when I was making my first feature film, East 3. However, it’s his writing that appeals most of all. It seems that this is where his true voice is. Looking at some of the poetry on his website www.billlewis.co.uk it strikes me as very honest. It carries that element of all great poetry in that it seems to speak to you personally without ever knowing who you are. It carries a beat to it that is often missing from modern poetry, Bill notes “we have lost the music in our poetry. Poems should sound good to the ear as well as work on the page” This is probably why his work sounds so good when performed as his YouTube clips testify.

If there is indeed, a Medway Vision, a new spirit of independence and artistry then Bill Lewis, quite simply, is one of its godfathers.

A new book of poetry “In The House Of Ladders” by Bill Lewis is out now and published by Greenheart press (an imprint of WOW Medway magazine). Price £10.

Mr Young

Independent Filmmaker

A Road of Marvels – Talk by Philip Kane – 24th May 2012 – Chatham Library

Creative and Art Events

Myth and folktales are the subject of a talk by Chatham-based author, poet and storyteller Philip Kane at Chatham Library on the 24th May.

The talk entitled “A Road of Marvels” will argue for the continuing importance of myth and folktale to our imaginations and to our everyday lives.

Philip, who is the author of The Wildwood King, and a founding member of the London Surrealist Group, will give an engaging talk, interspersed with retellings of several traditional stories.

The talk is on Thursday, 24 May at 7.30pm at Chatham Library.

Places are free, but booking is essential.

Phone 01634 337799 or email chatham.library@medway.gov.uk

Local Artists From The Past Exhibition – Strood Library – May to July 2012

Creative and Art Events

Medway libraries in Kent are hosting an exhibition about forgotten artists of the Medway area during May and June. The exhibition covers the work of artists between 1850 and 1950 including Richard Dadd, Henry Hopper, Charles Spencelayh, Donald Maxwell, Frank Algernon Stewart, Henry Hill and Evelyn Dunbar.

Their lives were as event-filled as they were varied, as two of the artists worked during war time and produced war inspired by their experiences. If you were thinking that there were no artists in the Medway until the 1970s, this exhibition proves otherwise! The exhibition will be at Strood library during May and will move onto Wigmore library at the beginning of June where it will stay until mid-July.

If you are interested in exhibiting your own work, Strood library is one of three libraries in Medway that holds an exhibition space that is available for use by local artists for free. These are Strood, Wigmore and Rainham libraries. If you have any questions about this exhibition or the exhibition space, please call Strood library on 01634 335890

Area – South East

Where to Find Creative Jobs and Commissions in the UK

Creative Opportunities

Keep an eye out on the artist wanted section of Creatabot https://creatabot.co.uk/category/creative-artist-wanted/

Without a shadow of a doubt the jobs section on the arts council website should be your first point of call when looking for jobs and artist commissions. http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/

Another place to look is on the Guardian website – http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/jobs/arts-and-heritage/

The Stage Newspaper and Online is not just for actors and actresses – http://www.thestage.co.uk/recruitment/

Creative Boom have a jobs section – http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/jobs/

A smaller site – http://www.periscopeuk.com/

For film and production – http://www.filmcrewpro.com/uk/jobs.php

This is an open article – please add where you also find is useful in the comments box below.

Californian Based “Blackbird Blackbird” To Play In Brighton – 15th May 2012

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

Blackbird Blackbird (formerly Bye Bye Blackbird) is the moniker/musical outlet of San Francisco, California guy Mikey Maramag.

His reverb-laden musical collages tend to lean towards anthemic, inspirational, and dream-driven themes. Maramag’s influences range from various ends of the musical spectrum. Blackbird Blackbird often tweaks nature-samples and mixes electronic textures with organic instrumentation (guitar, drums, synths, vocal-harmonies). Ghostly female vocals are chopped and screwed, spun around a paint-splattered collage of sound.

Maramag’s deep, textured, and hypnotic pop songs pay homage to the psychedelic pop that the Beatles could have imagined but cannot make today. Blackbird Blackbird’s music is made with the warmth of analogue instrumentation spliced with digital bells and twinkles.

Blackbird Blackbird’s debut album Summer Heart was self-released by Maramag in July 2010, and was really just a collection of his past EPs: Happy High and Let’s Move on Together. His standout singles “Pure” and “Hawaii” received the most attention, and his single “Ups and Downs” helped Mikey capture the ears of Pitchfork, Transparent, Prefix Magazine, The Fader, Brooklyn Vegan, and other musical tastemakers.

Support from Us Baby Bear Bones and English Bore.

15th May 2012 – 7.30PM – At Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 9-12 Middle Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1AL // Map

£7 advance // £8 door

TICKETS // WeGotTickets // See Tickets

Facebook Event

Source – Tea Concerts

www.blackbirdblackbird.com

Area: UK Britain East of England East Midlands London North East North West Yorkshire Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands

Coventry and Warwickshire Society of Artists Celebrate Centenary Year

Creative and Art Events, Creative and Art News

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This year, Coventry and WarwickshireSociety of Artists (CWSA) will be celebrating the organisations one-hundredth anniversary.

Founded in February 1912, by the Mayor of Coventry, Colonel William Wyley, CWSA’s history has been studded with many successes, as well as many frustrating trials and tribulations. Disheartened by the fact that so little was being done for the visual arts in Coventry and the surrounding area, Wyley proposed to expose the wealth of talent in the region by founding a society and an art gallery and museum for Coventry and North Warwickshire.

The beginning of this initiative was marked by CWSA’s debut exhibition at the Corn Exchange (no longer in existence), where a good 354 works were displayed. The then President Solomon J. Solomon RA, sent a large painting entitled ‘Eve’ which had to be delivered by carriage as he was unable to attend.

The society worked hard to secure an art gallery in Coventry and was eventually rewarded when Sir Alfred Herbert, a philanthropist and local manufacturer, offered to fund the project. However, despite enormous efforts, together with the advent of World War II, this dream was not fulfilled until 1960, sadly after the death of Sir Herbert. But, this fortune was to be relatively short lived, and, despite a lengthy campaign to save their hard-earned exhibition space, the society were forced to seek alternative exhibition spaces.

Today, the Herbert Art Gallery’s permanent collection still contains a significant number of works donated by members, patrons and other people who were involved with the CWSA, and the actual existence of the gallery is certainly thanks to the early endeavours of the society’s members.

A number of highly distinguished artists have supported CWSA over the years, including the first woman President Dame Laura Knight, David Shepherd, Sir William Orpen, William Roseblade, and the watercolourist Herbert Edward Cox, whose paintings of old Coventry (1930s) can be seen in the Herbert Art Gallery.

In more recent times, a number of CWSA members have received awards, including Sheila Fitzgerald who received The Chancellors Medal for her outstanding service to Warwick University and Vivienne Robinson, who won the Warwick Business School Logo Competition in 2011.

Initially, CWSA was an extremely selective organisation, open only to artists, but over the years the organisation has adapted to the ever-changing times, collaborating with a variety of arts organisations, museums and galleries on a national and European scale, opening its doors to artists and art lovers alike. Today, the original spirit and objectives of the organisation continue to live on, and, to mark their centenary, CWSA will be holding a variety of exhibitions and events in the local area.

The celebrations will commence this summer, when the society will be exhibiting in the MOSAIC Art Trail, in May, Art on the Edge2 in June, and “The Tiltyard” in August, under the umbrella of BRINK, where the society will be presenting a special anniversary showcase. But, the most exciting event will occur in October, when the CWSA will hold their centenary exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery.

“This is a very important and exceptional year for us. We are absolutely delighted that we will be able to hold our Centenary Exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery in October and it will be an incredible opportunity to showcase the wealth of local talent that exists in Coventry and Warwickshire today. To date the CWSA has 93 members, many of whom will be exhibiting at the Herbert in October. The artists and our committee are working very hard in preparation for this event, which will be feature painting and sculpture by both past and current members” states CWSA President Jane Powell.

You can find out more about the events that will be happening this year at www.covwarsocart.co.uk

By Musing On Spines

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Information On Images –

1 – Consortium Exhibition: The Tower, hand-built in ‘Freckled Stoneware’ clay by Sheila Karran is frost proof, so ideal for the garden. It is constructed in four parts, fitting together rather like Lego with embossed and engraved embellishments. In one window sits a small bird gazing out on the world around.

2 – CWSA’s Christmas Exhibition at the Library in Kenilworth 2010.

3 – This was CWSA’s Annual Exhibition 2011 and shows the Mayor of Solihull and his wife flanking Exhibitions Secretary Jacqui Smithson who was awarded the Ralph Brassett trophy for her quirky ‘Pots and Grasses’Acrylic on paper and Cynthia Chandler who was presented with The Silver Salver for her superb oil painting ‘Amboseli Reserve’.

4 – CWSA’s Christmas Exhibition at the Library in Kenilworth 2010. Wendy Cook is shown talking with Rik Middleton. This was opened by renowned playwright Andrew Davies and his special award went to Susan Moore for her painting of Humph.

Area – West Midlands

A Medway Vision 2 – Spontaneous Soundscapes

Editorials

Since my first article I have been absolutely overwhelmed by people recommending talented creative people to me, or people agreeing with me about the Medway independent scene. It does indeed seem that I’m onto something here. Medway is on the march. So let’s continue with our list of its artistic generals.

This week I have been introduced to the sound work of a band known as Hand of Stabs. A band? Like a rock band? No. Not at all. Imagine a soundtrack to a surreal film. Or a soundscape to an evening walk in the woods where you THINK you’re alone but you’re not sure. Hand of Stabs are avant-garde, yes, but don’t let that put you off by thinking that the music is impenetrable. It has a beat, but it’s the beat of nature, the beat of darkness, the beat of Medway. For that reason alone, this is essential listening.
Mind you, they probably won’t thank me for calling them a band. They call themselves a ‘sound art collective’. Hailing from Rochester their site-specific improvised work is recorded at points of significance around Kent and the South East providing a connection to sacred history and landscape. Inspired by regular, often night-time explorations through these spaces, they are creating a series of ‘aleatorical’ soundworks. In other words, much of their work is left to chance. Spontaneous. Improvised. Directly from the soul if you like.

Hand of Stabs are called, intriguingly, Captain R. Standish, Jocelyn von Bergdorff and James Worse. Standish and Worse have both been active in a number in bands and von Bergdorff was active in the cassette underground during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The idea of playing together came together around year ago. Their work is influenced by the writings of the historian naturalist and engineer, William Coles Finch (1864-1944), Resident Engineer of the Brompton, Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester Water Company and his vivid descriptions of Edwardian Kent in his books ”In Kentish Pilgrim Land” and ”The Medway River & Valley”. Their sound is a reflection of the significance we place upon our surroundings.

One recent performance at the Hulkes Lane Brewery came about because their friend’s great-great-grandfather a storeman at the Brewery in 1863, hanged himself there. He had been barred from the Brewery’s social club over some minor infraction and the ignominy was too much to bear. His death meant that his wife and nine children, who lived in a two-roomed tied-cottage on Hulkes Lane, were made homeless and sent to the workhouse. The feelings that these stories evoke allow Hand of Stabs to create their soundscapes. Less story-tellers, more mood-tellers.

Other performances so far have included, the open air at Kits Coty and at the studios of Turner Prize nominated artist Yinka Shonibare as part of an installation by Luke Otteridge. Hand of Stabs are continually looking for opportunities to play in interesting spaces to interested audiences and are very receptive to suggestions. Think about your favourite places and now imagine it with the emotions of the location played out in sounds. Like a dream. Or a nightmare. Powerful stuff.

With two CDs already out “The Geometry of Dust” and “Aktion #2: Hulkes Lane Brewery”, this year has just seen the release of a lathe-cut vinyl LP featuring Hand of Stabs and a collaboration with Medway legend Sexton Ming in his alter-ego of Jude Hagg entitled ‘Old Bluster saw the Beauty’.

Two weeks in and we have discussed two new groups, both creating dark sounds. Is this a theme of Medway? Exploring the dark side of life? It certainly appeals to me as a filmmaker. But as I’m finding out, that’s the great thing about the Medway Vision. It’s diverse. The dark side of life is there for sure, but as we shall see in the coming weeks there is also a lighter side. Keep listening because darkness needs light.

“The Geometry of Dust” and “Aktion #2: Hulkes Lane Brewery” are out now priced £10. For more information on Hand of Stabs contact: spoon-unit@blueyonder.co.uk

Mr Young

Independent Filmmaker

Area – South East

A Medway Vision: Words and Sounds

Editorials

Let me explain myself. I’m an independent filmmaker living in Rochester. Over the course of, well, however long they allow me to write these articles, I’m going to highlight one of Medway best kept secrets. One at a time I will focus on a local artistic talent within the Medway towns.

There seems to me something brewing around here. Whisper it, but it might even become a ‘Medway Scene’. Filmmakers like me, poets, musicians, visual artists, photographers, writers are busy creating. That, taken on its own, is nothing new. But there is a buzz, a real sense of artistic change in the air. The Fuse Festival is fun but this is something else.

I have lived in a few places, big places like London and Birmingham and for a little while now I have felt something unique about Medway. The art that is being made around here feels raw, exciting. It’s an independence of spirit and a DIY ethic. The NEED to create. It feels like Medway means it. It feels like Medway has something to say. A Medway Vision. Over the coming weeks I hope to prove that…

First off, let me introduce a group of beat poets I have been working with. There are three of them, they call themselves, perversely, a trinity. I can’t tell you their names. They work in secret. Determined to only write poetry and discuss nothing else, they asked me to produce their first CD of poetry. The go by the moniker of 7th Adventure Recordings and mix a surreal and dark set of words to an even more surreal and darker set of beats and noises.

I have worked with one of them before, secretive even then, he went only by the name of Polarghosts. He provided soundtracks to three of my short films. I liked his style, dark and dream-like, nightmarish really. When he told me about his interest in beat poetry my ears pricked up. He had grouped up with two others who shared a passion for beat poetry and together they wanted to redefine what poetry and beat poetry was. Beat poetry came out of the post-war USA in the 1950’s. Using music, often jazz, as a backdrop the poets usually performed stream of consciousness writing to a hip crowd. The legacy lived on but transformed and the melding of music and spoken word paved the way for rap music in the 1970’s.

Beat poetry in its own right kind of fizzled out. But the works of Kerouac and Ginsberg are still revered. 7th Adventure Recordings are presenting, what they call, beat poetry for the 21st Century. The music is still sometimes jazz in form, but it’s all electronic minimalism and has more in common with techno music. The words are not about 50’s America and the post-war lost ’beat’ generation but do share the stream of consciousness feel that those earlier poets had. Even the sub-title of the new CD ‘Poetry for the Blank Generation’ conjures images of the original beat poets but repackages it, Generation X-style, for a new generation of misfits.

Their new CD is something of an ‘EP’. 8 short poems with distinct identities, 9 minutes running time. Their words strike to your very soul. It’s like listening to a character in a dream. You can hear them and understand but you are never quite sure what they mean. Partly scary, partly uplifting, the CD is unusual in that it looks and feels like a new EP from a band including cool artwork. But it’s poetry. This really is poetry with a difference.

I have seen poetry performed a few times. It was ok but pretty dull and bourgeois. I was always attracted to beat poetry as it contained a raw energy. And who can resist the romantic image of the beat poets from 50’s America, travelling, drinking, free to create and thereby define a generation. Ok, I’m guessing that this bunch of Medway beat poets won’t be defining a generation, but if you want to explore a dark and surreal underbelly rather than listen to poems about funny people on a train or how the pretty the countryside is then this group might just become your favourite new poets.

7th Adventure Recordings seem destined to remain secretive and have no plans to perform their work live. That seems a pity, but, as with so many Medway artists currently at work, their vision is what makes them tick. Their vision is what makes them vital. Their vision is what is making Medway bubble with ideas and passion. And we wouldn’t want that to change.

Their new CD by 7th Adventure Recordings, ‘Curious Fascinations – Poetry for the Blank Generation’, has just been released and is available from www.themoontheeye.co.uk or www.7thadventurerecordings.tumblr.com priced £3.

Mr Young
Independent Filmmaker
www.themoontheeye.co.uk
www.twitter.com/Mr_Young
www.facebook.com/themoontheeye

Interview With Rebecca Crosbie – Photographer

Featured Creatives

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If you know me well, you will know I love abandoned places, I love urban exploration and I love photography of anything linked with either. That is why I was really excited when I stumbled across some small images by photographer Rebecca Crosbie in Wow Kent magazine. I had to find out more so got in touch with Rebecca and asked her some questions to find out why this subject also appealed to her, as well as finding out more about her creative background…

Hi Rebecca, tell us more about your creative background and how you got into photography…

I have grown up in a creative environment from a very young age, with a father who specialises is scale drawing and design and a mother who started as a dress-maker and upholster and now practices as a potter and porcelain jewellery maker. My mother was always a keen photographer and from a young age I became interested in photographing my surroundings. Having grown up on a farm I became an avid explorer recording my every discovery.

Throughout my school life my interests seemed to revolve around fine art and resistant materials, and in my spare time I was fascinated by philosophy, Foucault in particular. I went to Kent Institute of Art and Design, Maidstone (now UCCA) for six years, studying a Foundation in Art and Design, NCFE Creative Craft and then followed on to complete a BA Hons Photography and Media Arts and was awarded a scholarship for MA Artists’ Film, Video and Photography which I completed in January 2011.

What other career paths have you taken?

Despite the fact I am only 25 I have had many jobs. I like to keep busy and learn new things. I am particularly interested in people and have had lots of jobs working with people. On and off I work as an in house photographer for the metropolitan police and have done work for various charities, and for some time was a carer for the elderly. I then spent a year living in Belgium photographing various locations and making a living being a nanny for a new born baby. I now reside in my local 400 year old pub (Drakes Cork and Cask, Maidstone) where I live and work part time whilst writing my book (philosophy based about peoples perception of space) and collating my photographic works.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

Much of my inspiration has come from French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in his writings ‘The Poetics of Space’ and the memorising photographic work of Francesca Woodman.

If you could explore and photograph any building what would it be? Past and present?

If I could explore anywhere it would be North Brother Island a 13 acre forgotten island on the north river in New York. The island is home to a hospital which opened in 1886 to treat contagious illnesses becoming famous in the 1900’s for being home to Typhoid Mary. The clocks were stopped on brother island in 1962 when the city pulled the plug on the island.

What is it about urban exploration and photographing abandoned places that you love?

The thing I love about urban exploration is being able to watch and record the way nature takes hold of what we have forgotten and is always more powerful than the man made structures it takes hold of. The decay of the structures I find endlessly picturesque, so many new textures are born through the weathering and neglect. I am also curious to see what it is that man has left behind and the impact they have had on the architecture over time.

What is the most unusual or bizarre things you have found whilst on a photography expedition?

Not necessarily bizarre to the location but unusual for me to find at this time of modern medicine was a straight jacket in one of the asylums I visited. To see such an object which used to be used to frequently opened a new reality to me regarding the practices which took place in the hospitals in the past.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

My aim for the future is to keep exploring and recording these places. I would like to, in the future, create a series of publications sharing the beauty of these buildings.

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

My favourite website which I love to keep up to date with is a local blog. It looks at everything from fashion, furniture and art, to food and lifestyle. http://lot316.blogspot.co.uk/

I am also very fond of the site HypeBeast

Thank you so much for telling me more about yourself Rebecca, I really look forward to seeing more of your work and will probably be investing in some of your work one day to display on my walls! If only I lived in a abandoned theme park…

You can find out more about Rebecca at www.rebeccacrosbie.com

If you to love urban exploration then the website 28 days later is a MUST.

All images belong to Rebecca Crosbie – permission must be asked for use.

Area – South East and Nationwide

Win an Illustration by Ben Cameron – Closing Date 7th May

Creative and Art News, Creative Opportunities

Ben Cameron has a competition running to win his illustration “Bugsy Alone” drawn in black ink on 230gm acrylic paper.

We think it is a lovely piece of art and anyone would be lucky to own him.

All you have to do is Tweet about the competition and make sure you include a couple of things.

1. Ben’s Twitter name @ben_cameron needs to be in the tweet, not right at the beginning though.
2. A link to website strangepaul.com

He will accept RT’s as entries too. They’re sometimes a bit tricky to monitor but he said he will do his best!

If you are not on Twitter then email your details to bencameron@me.com

He will pick a winner at random from a hat/bowl/human skull on Bank Holiday Monday, the 7th May.

The prize will be posted (or hand delivering if you’re local to Medway) in a nice tube, 1st class the day after the comp ends.

If enough people enter he will try to sort something out for a runner-up(s) too.

Any questions or feedback, please get in touch.

If you’re not in UK but still want to enter, please feel free to do so if you’re happy to pay for the postage.

Find out more about Ben Cameron at http://strangepaul.com/

Introducing a New Creatabot Contributor – Jack Bulmer – Game Designer

Featured Creatives

We like to include all types of creatives in Creatabot which is why we are really pleased to have Jack working with us. Jack is a game designer from Rainham in Kent. We wanted to know more about how and why Jack got into game design so ran a few questions by him…

So Jack, have you always been creative?

Well, my Mum always said I was born with a pencil in my hand so I guess it started from there, although to be fair it was probably a few years later before I actually picked up that pencil and did useful stuff with it. I’m pretty sure she’s still kept a load of my old drawings, that’s embarrassing. I sort of pottered around until I left school, not knowing what path to take.

How did you end up working in game design?

I studied Art and Design at GCSE and enjoyed it, but it felt more restricting than creative. Its more luck than anything that I fell into games. There was a course in Games Development just starting that year at Canterbury College, so I did that instead of going to Sixth form. This just naturally led onto Games design at degree level. I won a design competition at university that allowed me to work on and publish a game, so in five years or so, I went from no experience just leaving school to being a published game designer.

What other career paths have you taken?

I had a brief stint where I wanted to be a teacher abroad, but apart from that, I’m pretty focused on becoming a Game Designer. It’s a competitive industry, so I think I’ll have to put my all into it to really succeed. I’ve toyed with things relating to game design, animation, computer art and 3d modelling. I think I would be happy doing anything creative really, but I suppose my dream is to design games that are fun to play and carry a message of some sort.

Who inspires you both locally and universally?

It’s cliché to say, but you can get a good idea from anything if you think hard enough about it. For example there are a load of pieces of paper in front of me, you could take the properties of paper (foldable, light, stackable, you can draw on it) and apply this to something completely un-paperlike like, a man, and hey presto, you’ve got the basic idea for some sort of origami warrior videogame. You can couple this with any combination of other objects for interesting results. It makes the world a lot less boring when there are potential characters and game mechanics everywhere!

Locally, I think Medway is good because it is varied. In ten minutes I can be sitting by a river or be in the middle of a busy town. It’s certainly a good place to get a change of scenery fast!

What would you like to achieve in the future?

I’m working on a game right now with a team spread around the world. I’d like to see this project to completion and release it for free in the near future. My dream is to own my own game development studio and create games that are fun. I think the best work comes through collaboration, so I’m always looking for people to work with!

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

I have two! Polycount is the first one, it’s a forum for game art, mainly. Specifically if you want to begin creating game art and have no idea what to do, it’s a great starting point. I think just being exposed to it has passively improved my skills. They run competitions and tutorials so you can improve yourself, and the whole site is forum based so it’s designed for you to post a piece of work and ask for critique.

DeviantArt is another favourite. It’s really popular, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically an online gallery where anyone can upload anything. You can sort by category, so if you need some inspiration, it’s perfect.

We really look forward to reading articles by Jack and seeing how his work progresses.

You can keep up to date with Jack through Twitter.

Area – South East and Nationwide

Introducing A New Creatabot Contributor – Badge – Artist

Featured Creatives

Badge is a unique artist from North Wales who has just joined us as a contributor. Badge will be interviewing creatives and talking about what is going on in his area. He was christened ‘Badge’ back in school for reasons unknown and adopted it as an alias for his artwork when he started college. We posed some questions to him so you can all get to know him better…

Badge, tell us more about your creative background…

Art was always by far my favourite subject in school, even in Primary School every project I did revolved around art. Towards the end of High School I’d become a bit disenchanted with it as a subject, it’d become very prescriptive so I never did an A-Level in it, and I almost went to university to study English Lit instead, fortunately I was convinced by friends to check out the art courses at the local college, and that’s where I ended up.

My time in Llandrillo College was amazing, I loved every second of it, and thankfully they prepared us well for the big bad world of art! I completed my Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Llandrillo and then nearly went onto uni to study something else I wasn’t sure about, so I took two years out from art education again, all the time filling up sketchbooks!

I then ended up back in the same college on the FdA in Art & Design – taking Fine Art as a major, loving every second of my time on the course and made some amazing friends and contacts! I topped that up with a nightmare final year at a university to give me the full BA hons.

What made you start making art?

I’ve always drawn/painted/coloured/made things ever since I can remember, I used to draw a family of teapots when I first started Primary School, and it quickly became second nature to draw and make things, I can remember begging for Skeletor’s Snake Mountain and the Thundercats Lair and never getting them so I built my own versions using cardboard boxes and papier-mache. Fortunately my folks were both very encouraging of my creative side and approved of my ‘Art Attack’ approach to toy related dilemmas!

I also used to spend hours poring over encyclopaedias’ – usually reading up on things like natural disasters, cannibals and apocalypses – normal kid stuff! But it was also there I first realized that people actually made art for a living – and it was there the idea of becoming an artist set in.

As I got older I started to use art as a way of dealing with all the things floating around in my head, I used to have really bad nightmares as a child [no wonder considering the things I used to read!] and I’ve suffered with insomnia since I was little too, so dream and reality blur – art has been a great way to channel that and has proved a rich source of inspiration!

What career paths have you taken?

I’ve had ordinary ho-hum day jobs since I was 14 [cleaning hotels, retail, gardening etc] when I graduated I was fortunate to be invited to be part of an artist co-operative on the North Wales coast [Oriel Scala Artists Co-operative] complete with an artist run gallery. It quickly became a crash-course and very steep learning curve in maintaining a commercial gallery and community arts projects, I took on the marketing and online publicity – which having no real previous experience of was a true baptism of fire, but we banded together and I came out of it with far more confidence about myself and my artwork, and having a regular space to show/sell my work was a huge boost especially just after coming out of art school!

That experience helped me to secure a temporary position in the Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno working in the craft shop, and then to a permanent position as a gallery assistant, I’m still there as front of house and assisting on exhibition changeovers, and my studio which I share with 3 others from work and two from college is right next door – which comes in very handy! The studio [casc artist studios and project space] has a project space in the front which we use to stage exhibitions and workshops for ourselves and other artists, we’re hoping to develop its profile and make it a hub for the artistic community.

Who inspires you both locally and internationally?

We’ve got some amazingly talented folks in North Wales; I met an illustrator called Karen Cheung last year on the annual open studios trail and fell in love with her drawings of specimens in jar drawn in science museums and her quirky semi-autobiographical rabbit cartoons.

Bedwyr Williams is also a big favourite of mine; he mixes self-deprecating humour and observations of Welsh culture with installations and performances, I was lucky enough to be taught by him as a visiting lecturer in college.

Also…Glenn Brown, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Conor Harrington, Audrey Kawasaki, Frida Kahlo, Goya, Antony Micallef, Jenny Saville, Eelus, Mark Titchner, Derek Riggs, Ian Francis, Egon Schiele, Edvard Munch, the list is endless!

I tend to draw inspiration from a lot of places, music is big one for me I’ve always got music on in the studio, headphones on the bus home, and for each project I’ll make a soundtrack that I’ll listen along to whilst working and more often than not lyrics end up being used as titles. Popular culture, literature, fears and science also inform my work.

What would you like to achieve in the future?

The dream for me is to be in the financial situation where I can just be in the studio 7 days a week painting and making, but at the moment I need the day job, however I’m very lucky to work within the arts so it’s not too bad – I can network and get inspired/sketch whilst in work so it could be worse!

I’ve always said I want to help encourage the art scene in North Wales, we have a real variety of media and styles here it needs showcasing to a wider audience! So if I can somehow aid that I’d be very happy with myself 

Can you recommend a creative website you love?

www.juxtapoz.com is a must! The magazine is also somewhat of a Bible to me!

www.myloveforyou.com is also great for finding quirky and unusual creative’s!

We are really glad Badge is working with us and we really look forward to hearing more about the creative scene in North Wales!

To find out more about Badge please visit :

www.badgemakesart.co.uk

Badge on Facebook

Badge on Twitter

Area – Wales

Introducing A New Creatabot Contributor – Jennifer Denty – Illustrator and Designer

Featured Creatives

We welcome a new contributor to Creatabot – Jennifer Denty is a freelance illustrator and designer from Hertfordshire and we are really glad to have her input on Creatabot. Jennifer will be posting articles about events and creatives in her area as well as the creative subjects that interest and inspire her. We asked Jennifer some questions to find out more about her…

So Jennifer, who inspires you?

That’s a big question! I’m inspired a lot by what’s around me, people I encounter on a day-to-day basis, bits of conversations, vintage and retro design style. Illustrators and artists wise, Quentin Blake, Mary Blair and Amano Yoshitaka. Mainly line artists that use bright and bold colours, I remember being awed by Naoko Takeuchi’s illustrative style when I was a lot younger.

Do you have any pets?

I personally have a Hedgehog, not the garden variety, an African pygmy breed. But I also currently live with 3 cats and a dog (a time-consuming Malamute).

Any claims to fame?

I definitely invented the DVD player. I distinctly remember drawing a CD player that plugged into the telly..then the drawing mysteriously went missing, right before the DVD player came out!

Maybe you can predict the future…do you have any other predictions for future technology?

Haha! I do! I see a future filled with floating holographic signs stuffed full to the brim with advertisements, there will be no escape!

Whats planned in the not too distant future for you?

I’m in the process of creating a ‘Sew-Your-Own’ range, using some of the surface pattern designs I’ve created recently. So I’m really wrapped up in getting that packaged up and finding stockists at the moment.

You can find out more about Jennifer at:

http://jenniferdenty.com

and

http://jenniferdenty.blogspot.com

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Area – Nationwide, London, South East

Short Films of Mr Young – Screening – 26th May 2012 at 4pm – Chatham

Creative and Art Events

To celebrate the release of the new compilation DVD ‘Caged Fire – The Short Films of Mr Young’ – the UCA Pop-Up Gallery, Chatham, UK, present an evening devoted to Mr Young’s short films.

Mr Young has seen 6 of his films broadcast on UK TV and screened at over 30 festivals and screenings over the world.

The event and DVD release draws a line under past achievements for Mr Young who is currently developing two new feature films.

Is this the end for Mr Young’s short film adventures? Probably not. Two new short films have already been written and there is a couple of new music videos in the pipeline with up-coming Medway bands.

The DVD release will contain a new version of his very first film, plus a rare chance to see the first ever video by Brighton indie band The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.

Mr Young will present each film and there will an opportunity for a Q&A with the acclaimed filmmaker and copies of Mr Young’s first feature film DVD East 3, his CD collaboration with 7th Adventure Recordings and the new Caged Fire DVD will be available to buy.

Location – UCA pop up gallery – upper level of Pentagon Shopping Centre – Chatham

Time – 4PM on 26th May

Area – South East

Fashion On Trial – Presentation and Discussion -19th April – Rochester

Creative and Art Events

FASHION ON TRIAL is all set for Thursday 19th April. It will be held at the Good Intent pub, John Street, Rochester, from 8pm (in the back bar, accessed via the garden). Come and join Medway Mutiny in the middle of London Alternative Fashion Week, for an evening of discussion and entertainment on the theme of…you guessed it…fashion. We’ll be talking about clothes, brands and nudity; plus there’s comedy, music and storytelling. Including, of course, the ever popular speed debating. And it’s free!

We’ll be hearing from Marta Patlewicz and Abigail Ziering-Dalmedo (fresh from taking part in Alternative Fashion Week herself) about the downside of the fashion industry. Kevin Elam makes the case for nudity. Sam Hall talks about tattoos, and there will be a rant against retro-ism. Abigail will also be contributing on the musical side. There will be stand-up comedy from CO Jones and Mat Wills; and storytelling from Philip Kane.

Most importantly though, FASHION ON TRIAL is all about opening up a space for discussion and debate, a place where your voice can be heard. So come along and take part in the most exciting forum in Medway. Everyone who came to Love On Trial, in February, agreed they’d had a brilliant evening. And hopefully we’ll get even better at this as we progress!

FASHION ON TRIAL is organised and hosted by Medway Mutiny, a loose collective formed in broad sympathy with the Occupy movement. Newcomers are welcome to get involved with the collective, and with planning or participating in the On Trial events – just let us know that you’re interested. If you have something that you’d like to promote at On Trial evenings – whether it’s an event or a cause – and have material (eg flyers) that you’d like to distribute – please turn up as early as possible so that your material can be included in our Goodie Bags, which everyone can take away with them at the end of the evening.

Look out for the next event after this, too. MONARCHY ON TRIAL is due on Thursday 21st June – a good antidote to the Jubilee festival of sycophancy and forelock-tugging! Keep an eye on the blog at http://medwaymutiny.wordpress.com for news and updates.

You can also contact Medway Mutiny direct by emailing medwaymutiny@btinternet.com.

Area – South East and London

Contemporary Art and Craft Fair – Henley on Thames – 22nd to 24th June 2012

Creative and Art Events

The organisers of The Craft and Design Experience are once again staging their contemporary craft fair in June at The Henley Showground within the Hambleden Estate, near Henley on Thames.

The Craft and Design Experience has earned an enviable reputation for selecting only the very best professional designers, artists and craftsmen and, with the resurgence in interest in designer crafts, the event is expected to be as popular as ever. Visitors are able to shop for unusual contemporary items in a relaxing atmosphere, view a wide range of demonstrations or take part in various craft related workshops. For children there will be a storyteller, a make and take area and lots more.

Work will be on sale from exhibitors working in many disciplines including furniture, textiles, jewellery, leatherwork, glass and more. Design of the exhibitors’ products must be of the highest standard to be selected, and must show true innovation and originality ensuring only the very best in UK design is represented.

Opening times are 10 am – 5 pm each day. Advance tickets are now on sale at a reduced price or purchase on the door at £7.00 for adults, £6.00 for over 65s or children 5 – 16 £1.00. For further information and advance ticket sales contact CDE Ltd on 01622 747 325 or visit the website at www.craftexperience.co.uk.

Area – South East

Kent Filmmaker Enters 48 Hour Film Challenge

Creative and Art News

Kent filmmaker Mdhamiri Nkemi is entering the Sci-Fi London 48 hour film challenge. Mdhamiri will be filming this weekend – but he will only receive the brief for the film Saturday morning and have 48 hours to script, film, edit and deliver his piece. All the brief will contain is a title, details of props to be included and a line of dialogue.

A number of locations are allowing Mdhamiri to film at their businesses but the crew would appreciate the addition of any more shooting locations including offices, shops, studios or spaceships. If you would be willing to help please email energy333air@yahoo.co.uk

The competition, which is part of the London sci-fi film festival, will give filmmakers the opportunity to have their film screened at the festival and the winner will get a development deal with Vertigo films.

So far Mdhamiri would like to thank the Golden Chippy in Strood and the coworking space @coFWD in Rochester High Street for their help.

To follow the progress over the weekend use #SFL48HR on Twitter and you can find Mdhamiri on Twitter.

For more information about the 48 hour film challenge please see http://www.sci-fi-london.com/48-hour-film-challenge

Area- South East

Craft In Focus – Canterbury – 13th to 15th April 2012

Creative and Art Events

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Kent based business, Craft In Focus, is staging one of their contemporary craft events in Canterbury from 13-15 April this year at Kent College.

Although exhibitors come from all over the UK, several local makers have been selected. These include jewellers, Dave Kilford from Deal and Sabine Konig from Herne Bay, silversmith Edward Mahony from Faversham, artist Deborah Packebusch from Barming, ceramicists Helen Rondell from Wrotham Heath and Louise Hummerstone from Canterbury and stained glass artist Brenda Norrish from Ashford. Visitors will also be pleased to learn that regular exhibitor, Tim Huckstepp from Ashford, will be attending once again with his ceramic ikebana dishes and. The Kent Potters’ Association will also have a stand at the event selling original handmade ceramics for the home and garden.

Opening times are: 13-15 April, 12 noon – 5 pm Friday; 10 am – 5 pm Saturday and Sunday. Admission is £4.00 for adults, £3.00 for over 65s. Accompanied under 14s free. Free Parking. For further information contact Craft in Focus on 01622 747 325 or visit their web site at www.craftinfocus.com

Venue address: Kent College, Whitstable Road, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 9DT

Area – South East

Attention Film Makers – Virgin Media Shorts Competition 2012 is Here!

Creative and Art News, Creative Opportunities

Virgin Media Shorts is a leading short film competition for the UK and is open to all to enter. Now in its fifth year the competition is bigger and better than ever before giving even better opportunities for filmmakers. With an extra 13^th spot on the shortlist they are ready to uncover the best film making talent Britain has to offer.

Entries will be judged and the top 13 entries will have their work screened at over 200 cinemas nationwide for a year. A Grand prize winner will be chosen by a top panel and this winner will get £30,000 funding to make their next film with the BFI.

There is also a Peoples Choice winner that will by selected by the general public through Virgin Media TiVo boxes, the Virgin Media Shorts app and through the Virgin Media Shorts website. The Peoples Choice winner will get £5,000 towards the making of their next film with BFI mentoring.

Entering the competition couldn’t be easier; simply upload your film (no longer than 2 minutes 20 seconds) to www.virginmediashorts.co.uk between 19^th April and 12^th July 2012. The concept is your choice so surprise us!

If you enter please let Creatabot know and we can add to the promotion of your entry in collaboration with Virgin Media Shorts!

Every entry will be showcased to thousands on the Virgin Media Shorts website, as well as through the iPad, iPhone and TiVo® apps – so even films that don’t make it to the final will get heaps of exposure.

For those who prefer watching films to making them, there are plenty of ways to get stuck in this year. You can vote for your favourite short, join the debate online, win prizes and come along to our swanky screening events. Plus for the first time ever, you can help nudge your favourite film into the spotlight with the ‘Lucky 13^th’ place on the shortlist.

Previous judges for the competition include actor John Hurt (1984, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), director Paul Greengrass (Bourne Ultimatum), director Mat Whitecross (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll), actor Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects) and director Duncan Jones (Moon).

The winners don’t just get their work seen by millions in cinema; they turn industry heads, too – 2009 winner Luke Snellin clinched a BAFTA nomination for his winning Virgin Media Shorts film ‘Mixtape’, and is now working on his first feature. Oscar Sharp, 2010 winner, was nominated for a BIFA for ‘Sign Language’ and his latest short, starring Olivia Colman, will be unveiled shortly!

Area: UK Britain East of England East Midlands London North East North West Yorkshire Scotland South East South West Wales West Midlands

Evolution Of Consciousness – Exhibition – 1st April to 31st May 2012 – Chatham

Creative and Art Events

The UCA gallery in Chatham is holding a collaborative exhibition that explores how if we want to survive as a species on this planet we desperately need to develop our consciousness.

Artists featured include Allegra Ally, Augustinas Neslenas, Carolyn Birchall, Curt Wilhelm Ostlund, Dane Horsley, Helen Butler, Joseph Webb, Luka Lukasik, Michal Janowski, Michael Turley, Natasha Steer, Philip Kane, Simon Pruciak, Vesko Nickolov and Winifred Baker.

The exhibition also features a short film by Mr Young called “The Moon The Eye”

Here is a sneak peak of the exhibition!

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The UCA pop up gallery is on the upper level of the Pentagon Shopping Centre, Chatham.

Area – South East

Artistic Solutions – Exhibition – 28th May to 2nd June 2012 – Historic Dockyard Chatham

Creative and Art Events

Artistic Solutions is an exciting showcase of artworks by University of Kent Fine Art students in their final year of study. The debates brought to issue show that this is just the beginning of the artists creative explorations. Through installation, film, sculpture, painting and drawings, they exhibit contemporary arguments and re-examine older ones, which narrate our 21st Century culture.

For more information please visit any of the following links –

Tumblr page is http://kentdegreeshow.tumblr.com/

Twitter page is https://twitter.com/#!/Kentdegreeshow

Facebook event http://www.facebook.com/events/158250937630536

Area – South East

Celebrate Medway’s Creativity On 23rd June 2012

Creative and Art Events

Medway is the centre of a flourishing creative community and on June 23rd the Nucleus arts centre in Chatham welcomes everyone to join them in the celebration of their 10th anniversary. The day of celebrations will run from 11am to 11pm throughout the town centre and will include a mixture of exhibitions, open artist studios, street performers and live music.

The Nucleus arts centre in Chatham, which resides next to the Trafalgar centre on the high street, opened its doors to a variety of artists in June 2002. Since then over 400 creatives have used the valuable work space to produce their work as well as exhibit to the local community.

10 years ago local sculptor Hilary Halpern found there was a limited amount of creative working space available in the Medway area. After speaking to local artists it was established that there was a great demand for such a place and this evidence was taken to Medway council and the arts council. These authorities gave the go ahead and Hilary found 272a/b in Chatham High Street which was the perfect building for the concept. Previously used for a number of businesses including a health food restaurant, bakery and even a builders yard, Hilary and his daughter developed the building into artist studios and exhibition space. A month after opening the Nucleus cafe was opened at the same site which added a social and community dimension to the studios.

Since then Nucleus has extended its studios in Chatham and also runs a shop in Rochester and Maidstone. In the future Nucleus want to hold more workshops and educational projects which can support more people within the community. They are also planning to involve themselves more in media such as You Tube and hope to soon have an online store for their artists.

See you on the 23rd of June for the anniversary celebrations!

About The Day

On the stage at the art centre there will be local bands playing for you for free until 8pm. They have a fantastic Stones tribute band, a Jazz band, Acoustic and Folk bands and alternative rock to keep you entertained throughout the day. They also have comedian Nigel Adams and book readings from Wolf Howard and Jim Hill at the Centre. There will be arts and craft stalls along their driveway and portraiture/cartoon drawings as well as face painting and Henna/glitter tattoos for the children.

The Rochester Coffee Company will have food and drink to keep you refreshed including an outside bar and a scrumptious BBQ!! 😎

Along the High Street at various times there will be performances by Circus Street Performers Jugglez and Street Theatre too.

In the Central Theatre between 1pm-4pm they will have the Kent County Choirs and Musicians, Walk Tall Theatre Group, Force 10 and dance groups Dance Alley and Medina Belly Dancers. All of these acts will be performing for you and the whole of this event is FREE.

Finally, upstairs in the Pentagon there will be theatre and dance acts from the Central Theatre performing for you between 1.30-4.30pm.

Here is a slideshow of how the Nucleus art centre has developed over the last 10years.

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Area – South East

Weald Of Kent Craft Show – 5th to 7th May 2012

Creative and Art Events

Held in the beautiful surrounds of Penshurst Place & Gardens, near Tonbridge, this inspiring show will offer some of the finest handmade crafts to spruce up your home and garden.

Over 250 skilled crafts people from all over the region will bring you the very best in handmade gifts and treats. With unusual wares you wouldn’t often find on the high street, there’s something for everyone from ceramics and glass to jewellery and paintings.

Craft experts will be offering a series of Family Craft Workshops including pencil making, woodturning, paper making, decorative ceramics, drawing and pyrography – there will be something for all of the family to take part in.

For more details please visit www.ichf.co.uk/outdoorcraftsalive/

Those wanting to exhibit please visit www.ichf.co.uk/exhibitor_zone

Weald of Kent Craft Show Information

Open 09.30 – 17.30

Tickets:

Adult £6.50 (Advance £5.00) Senior £5.50 (Advance £4.00)

Child under 16 free if acc by parent – otherwise £3

BUY 10 ADULT OR SENIOR TICKETS Get One Adult Free (In advance only)

Combined Weald of Kent Craft Show and Penshurst House & Gardens

Adult and Senior £10.00 (In advance only)

Buy tickets online at www.ichf.co.uk or phone Ticket Hotline 01425 277988

Area – South East

Editors Look At “Craft Central Gets Hitched” – 22nd to 25th March 2012 – Central London’s Handmade Wedding Fair

Editorials

Unlike your average wedding fair this little gem offers a look at the main elements you are going to need for your big day. Due to the exhibitors being craftsmen and craftswomen most items can be tailored to your personal style and ideas. A major advantage is you get to meet the crafters face to face instantly so can discuss personal requirements.

Amongst those showing their work are a number of silversmiths and jewellery designers, some who even hold their own studios in the Craft Central building itself.

Examples of delicious cakes and unique wedding favours are on show to give ideas on how to make your guests happy.

Photographers have samples of their work on display so that you can make sure your special day is brought back to mind with happiness. And of course a number of designers have samples on show to give examples of dresses you could be wearing.

I can’t express enough that if you want your wedding day to be unique this is the most vital wedding fair you need to go to, so make sure you take a look! The venue is inside the Craft central building, easily visible on the corner of St Johns Square, London, EC1M 4DS. The nearest train and tube station is Farringdon but it also isn’t far from Chancery Lane. For more info see our previous article.

Area – London

Rationed Fashion – Talk – Eastgate House – 22nd March

Creative and Art Events

Friends of Eastgate house are holding a talk on Thursday the 22nd of March at 7.30 pm called Rationed Fashion.

Talented groups of people wanted for Fuse Medway Festival 2012

Creative and Art Events, Creative Opportunities

Do you run a dance school, young people’s club, community group, gymnastics group, martial arts classes, drama classes, or play an instrument, just to name a few?

Wightaway – Yarnstorming Bootcamp with Knit the City – October 2012 – Isle Of Wight

Creative and Art Events

Knit the City & Wightaway bring you the UK’s First Ever Yarnstorming Bootcamp – a Fluffy Fest of Sneaky Stitching, Graffiti Knitting and Woolly Mayhem of a Crochet Kind in Ventnor, Isle of Wight October 19th-21st 2012.

For more details visit www.wightaway.com

Area – South East

Interview With Mark Young – Independent Filmmaker – Medway – Kent

Featured Creatives

Medway in Kent is fast becoming the centre of creativity. There are a number of creatives that both drive and support this ever-growing community and Mr Young is one of them. Recently appointed to write about the arts scene in the local area for Medway Times, Mark took the opportunity to tell us more about his past, present and future.

From Aphra Behn to the Angry Young Women – Talk By Sam Hall – 8th March 2012 – Rochester

Creative and Art Events

From Aphra Behn to the angry young women: A top ten of the UK’s women playwrights for International Women’s Day. From Aphra Behn, the first British woman to make a living from writing, to today’s new wave of angry young female playwrights, are women finally breaking through the theatre’s glass ceiling, or have they always been there? A talk given by Sam Hall, playwright and founder of 17Percent, an organisation to support female playwrights.

Thursday 8th March 7.30pm at Rochester library.

Book your FREE place by calling Rochester Library 01634 337411

Area – South East

Public Lecture – The Monkey Puzzle Story – Folkestone – 8th March 2012

Creative and Art Events

Public Lecture

Speaker: Zoë Meyer

Publishing Consultant

University Centre Folkestone

Thursday 8^th March 2012

at 6pm

THE MONKEY PUZZLE STORY:

Intuitive marketing against the odds

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Tuttle 101 – Monday 5th March 2012 – Deaf Cat – Rochester High Street

Creative and Art Events

Tuttle 101 is back and being held on the 5th of March 2012 from 9.30am at the Deaf Cat Coffee Bar, 83 Rochester High Street, Rochester, Kent, ME1 1LX.

Tuttle 101 is a social event that encourages and inspires like minded creative people to share their ideas informally over a cup of coffee (other drinks are available ;). More information is available here.

Artist Sarah Maple Launches Major Solo Exhibition

Creative and Art News

Artist Sarah Maple is to hold her major solo exhibition at the Aubin Gallery, Shoreditch, London from the 9th of February to 9th of March 2012.

Wigmore Arts Weekend – 30th June to 1st July 2012 – Invitation To Exhibit Work – Kent

Creative and Art Events, Creative Opportunities

A community centre in Wigmore are holding a creatively-focused weekend and are inviting artistic individuals and groups to come along to exhibit and demonstrate their skills to the general public.

Passing Reflections – Art Exhibition – February 10th to April 13th 2012 – Rochester

Creative and Art Events

Passing reflections brings together works by textile artist Rosie James, ceramics and glass by Andrea Walsh and fused textiles in glass by Alison Lowry.

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Rochester Writers Retreat – 18th March 2012 – Rochester – Kent

Creative and Art Events

ME4 Writers are organising a one day writers retreat for the 18th March 10am -4pm at coFWD in 161 Rochester High Street. This is a trial, so for this event they will be running on a ‘magic hat’ basis, meaning that you pay what you think the day was worth when you leave.