Wilson Marriage Showcase

A showcase of artworks from Colchester's Wilson Marriage Centre for Adult Education.

Building on last year's very successful photography-only show we have an opportunity to glimpse the wide breadth of different classes hosted at the Barrack Street site.

For more details please contact the Curriculum Manager (Christine.Hill2@essex.gov.uk)

ALCHEMY 3 - 17th April to 4th May

Main Gallery and Back Space Gallery

ALCHEMY 3 exhibition
curated by Paula MacGregor

Alchemy 3 - The latest in the series of exhibitions based around International Earth Day (April 22nd) using found objects and recycled materials.

With special guests ... the Recycled Raptors!

Book Art - Art Book : MA Book Artists Show
27th February to 23rd March

MA Book Art - a show by students, past and present in main gallery at Slack Space.

Nine Lives

Debut showing of the Nine Artists - Heirloom Box project

27th February to 23rd March

Stand Tall - Giraffe Painting

1st March to 30th April

As part of the Stand Tall event to celebrate 50 years of Colchester Zoo artists will be painting some massive giraffes in the main space at Slack Space.  Pop in and see how they are progressing and the stages needed to create a work to be installed into the town later in the year.

For more details of Zoo related events see

http://www.colchester-zoo.com/index.cfm?fa=content.list&page=505&section=22

Gallery open Wed - Sat, 11am - 6pm.

Slack Space Open 7

The seventh Slack Space open exhibition. An exciting show featuring the work of upcoming local artists including: -

Wendy Bailey
Silvia Beasley
Sergio De Bernardo
Jim Bidwell
Mick Brannan
Sultan Caliskan
Peter Chillingworth
Carol Dawson
Charlotte Frost
Andrew Howell
Lauren Kelly
Joe Lloyd
Arfon Owen
Laura Pompili
Suraj Rai
Mary Sedwell
Elise Wortley

Carrying the Torch

An exhibition of artwork from Colchester schools celebrating the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Colchester
Wed – Sat 11am – 6pm
A wonderful selection of work produced by schoolchildren in Colchester, reflecting their feelings and aspirations around this once in a lifetime event! Featuring beautiful banners and other large scale work, as well as a myriad of other interpretations, this must see exhibition features work from:

Broomgrove Junior School

Montgomery Infant School

St Thomas Moore Primary School

North school



Note: Torch Day - The 6th July sees the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Colchester and we celebrate with a special early opening and Private View - featuring performances, refreshment and an Inspire accredited craft workshop! All are welcome.

The Great Glass Bead Game 13th June - 30th June

The Great Glass Bead Game
13th June - 30th June
Slack Space @ Victoria Place
Open Wednesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm

Bubbles and beads.

Cast, flame and blown glass work

Glass sculpture

Fused, vitreous and iridescent. Mirrors, minerals, web and wire

Wall mounted

Ice, light, clear

Space marbles, glass peacocks, spiders webs and life size men

Beads of sweat, tears

Pure and impure

An exhibition of glass work and imagination featuring submissions from:

Red Flower Glass

Carola Smedjebacka

Liz Wotton

Dominique Hodges

Jean Muir

Ellison Art Glass

Carol Hennahane

Jane Ostler

Claudia Uller

Steam Punk Glass

Caroline Moiret

Dorian Kelly

Stained Glass work from Adult Community Learning group led by Carol Hennahane

The Colchester Glass bead!

From 13 – 30 June 2012 Slack Space presents a very special exhibition ‘The Great Glass Bead Game!’ This exhibition is part of Colchester Carnival and Sparks Will Fly, the official Essex Cultural Olympiad event, and features some very exciting activity!

In May a 12ft high champion Marina (a stilted performer and chariot) arrives on a sail barge to Harwich. She is met by local dignitaries and others. The Champion is here to play ‘The Game’ and must collect 12 giant glass beads from across Essex.  A few days later another Champion, Boris, arrives via Stansted Airport and is greeted with the full state welcome! Boris too is here to collect glass beads and play ‘The Game’. For the next month the two Champions go all over Essex, never meeting each other, joining in a big event in each town and finding beads. Each time they visit a town they grow bigger and by the time they get to Colchester they are 12 foot high!

The finale date is Hylands Park Chelmsford on July 6th when the two Champions meet and battle it out in ‘The Game,’ accompanied by a spectacular fire show. This finale event also celebrates the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Chelmsford.

The puppet Marina will arrive in Colchester on 30 June, Carnival day, to find the Colchester glass bead!

Image: Simon Bruntnell


Level 2 National Diploma in Art and Design - End of Year Exhibition
13th June - 30th June
The Colchester Institute and Braintree College present the end of year show. An eclectic mix of work covering a range of disciplines from 3D design to textiles and graphics.


and....

Open 6

30th May - 9th June - An exciting and inspirational group exhibition of artwork recently submitted by local artists.

Other exhibitions at Slack Space...
Post Room Gallery - Artificial aviary by Chris Andrews
The Long Gallery - Lee Thomas show
Plus ... The Pigeon Hole Project  ... on-going.

Colchester 24: The Great Colchester Photo Shoot 2011

Between noon 21st October to noon 22nd October 2011, 181 people of Colchester took
photos of their lives and the lives of others within the Borough of Colchester. This exhibition
offers a chance to see one photo by every photographer who took part, from school
children to old age pensioners, amateur to professional, jovial to serious. The aim was to
celebrate the rich diversity of life in a modern English town in the early twenty-first century.
The exhibition is accompanied by a slide show of 500 images from the total of over 5000
submitted – a random selection showing the range of life in our town, plus pictures from
the previous photo-shoot of Colchester in 1986, when around 50 photographers took part,
shooting on film.

Colchester 24 runs from the 9th May to 26th May 2012 at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld
Lane, Colchester and will be open Wednesday to Saturday from 11.00am-6.00pm.

Other exhibitions at Slack Space...
Post Room Gallery - Artificial aviary by Chris Andrews
The Long Gallery - Lee Thomas show
Plus ... The Pigeon Hole Project  ... on-going.

New Exhibition at Slack Space

Creating Visions

Slack Space is delighted to announce a new and exciting exhibition in collaboration with a group of talented Adult Community Learners from the Wilson Marriage Centre, Colchester. Located at our new home in Victoria Place, ‘Creating Visions’ features the work of over 20 students and showcases the skills they have learnt through an eclectic mix of photography, digital art and illustration techniques.

The exhibition runs from the 28^th March to 14^th April 2012 at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld Lane, Colchester and will be open Wednesday to Saturday from 11.00am-6.00pm.

FREE WORKSHOP
Creating Visions: Digital Camera Drop-In Session (2-4pm 7^th April 2012)

Ever been puzzled about how your digital camera works? Ever wanted to take better pictures? Take advantage of this two hour session with the tutors and enthusiasts from Wilson Marriage Adult Education. Just drop-in and have a chat or even bring along your camera for more specific help and advice.

New Slack Space exhibition

From Barsham to Albion

7 March – 24 March

Open Wed – Sat 11am – 6pm

Colchester Slack Space, the pioneering empty shops artists collective, is thrilled to have secured the entire archive of the seminal and pioneering East Anglian Albion Fair movement of the 70’s and 80's for an exhibition at Slack Spaces’ new premises in Victoria Place, Eld Lane from 7th March to 24th March.

The exhibition, which is of national importance, is a retrospective and joyful celebration of the legendary Albion Fairs . It is collection of beautiful and iconic posters, photographs, films and assorted memorabilia from the fairs, including the ultimate monthly newspaper of alternative East Anglia, the Waveney Clarion. It will evoke memories for those who were there and will explain the magic and significance of the fairs to those who missed them. Their spirit of creativity, play and environmentalism was ahead of its time and has left a legacy today, not least in the Glastonbury and Latitude festivals. which were directly inspired by the Moon Fair, the Earth , Fire and Rainbow Fairs at East Bergholt, and of course the Rougham Tree Fairs.

Comfort was far from the norm (ask anyone who attended an Albion Fair about the infamous “long drop” toilets!), the music was sometimes dodgy, there were often far more naked people than one really wanted to encounter at the water standpipes in the morning, but the real ale and the vegan food was always plentiful and in an era when Mrs Thatcher was teaching us all to think of “me, me, me” and where riots had become a common occurrence in the major cities, there was something quite special in being part of several thousand people gathering together in our little corner of rural England to live for a weekend in peace, love and harmony …… yeah man!

Sadly, the festival movement was a mirror of the times. The relative tolerance of a "free festival culture " by government in the late seventies and very early eighties had given way to a far more repressive regime . The “Peace Convoys” -which were anything but peaceful - , had became very prevalent, with their hard drug acid-punk culture, and antisocial behavior, culminating in the notorious “Battle of The Beanfields” near Stonehenge. Free festivals could no longer flourish due to the new public order acts which banned gatherings on public land, and The Albion Fairs were no more.

THE EXHIBITION RUNS From the 7th March to 24th March. It is open from Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11.00-6.00 pm at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld Lane, Colchester.

More from Open 5

Snippets of Open 5

Transforming spaces – Arts use of empty shops and other disused spaces

Saturday 17 March 2012 9.30am – 5.15pm @ firstsite, Colchester

Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex CO1 1JH

£32.40 incl. VAT, lunch and two refreshment breaks. 50 free places available! (email us for a booking form and further details)

A Regional conference hosted by UK premier Empty Shop organisation Slack Space Colchester, in partnership with firstsite. The event will look at working in empty shops and other disused spaces and will combine an interactive focus on case studies and success stories with practical advice and contextual understanding.

This event is suitable for:

Artists

Community groups

Arts and regeneration professionals

Landlords and developers

Outline of day:

9.30 Arrivals. Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant

10.00 Abigail Cheverst (Slack Space) ‘Working in empty shops – possibilities, challenges and opportunities’

10.30 Michaela Freeman (Artside) ‘Artside - curating in the public space’

11.00 Amy McKenny (Tap) ‘TAP – running an artist led studio / gallery space’

11.30 Refreshments (provided)

11.50 Breakouts

12.15 Kayte Judge (We are Bedford) ‘We are Bedford’ – case study’

12.45 Chris Clarke (Slack Space) ‘Slack Space – case study’

1.15 Lunch (provided) with performance from popular folk band The Medlars

2.00 The coalface slots – a series of short presentations from working artists on what empty shops activity has meant for them

2.30 Eddie Bridgeman (Meanwhile Space) ‘New spaces, new ways of working - the meanwhile lease, development trusts and other solutions’

3.00 Dan Thompson (Empty Shops Network) ‘The big picture – presenting the results of a National research and evidence gathering project on disused space activity in the UK’

3.30 Refreshments (provided)

3.50 Breakouts

4.15 3Space presentation

4.30 Plenary / panel discussion – ‘Empty shops, disused spaces – the potential, the pitfalls and where we go next.’ The results of this plenary will be fed into the Empty shops Network National conference taking place later in the year

5.15 Close

Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant

Tour of Slack Space Colchester (optional)

All delegates will receive a copy of the Slack Space Manual and the Empty Shops Toolkit

Partner profile:

Slack Space is one of the premier ‘empty shop’ organisations in the UK and has been successfully putting art and performance into empty shops for over two and a half years

firstsite is a contemporary visual arts organisation based in Colchester with a mission to make contemporary art relevant to everyone.

Artside is a CoExist project featuring two weeks of art and interventions in Southend High Street with artists working directly with venues to create site-led work.

TAP is housed within a converted water works. Currently it houses CoExist Galleries and Studios,The White Bus, MEET, Solug and Open Arts.

We are Bedford is a community collective. The group put on the Castle Quay Weekender in March 2011, an arts festival in 7 empty shops, and run various other successful community events.

Meanwhile Space is led by the Development Trusts Association as part of the Advancing Assets programme, with support from the Dept. of Communities and Local Government.

Empty Shops Network is the National Network for organisations and individuals working in empty shops and other disused spaces.

3Space offer a brokerage service between landlords / developers with empty space and charities or other organisations wishing to use that space.