Dates for your Diary….

Fri 21 Oct: 6.30-8.30pm Private View of  ’Configurations’ – a new exhibition in AF 1, featuring Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clarke. 
Mon 24 Oct:  7pm at AF1 ‘Adventure and Romance in St Leonards!’  lecture on local author Rider Haggard -see Members’ Announcements.
Tue 25 Oct: 6.00-8.00pm Presentation of Stuart Griffiths’ forthcoming book: ‘The Myth of the Airborne Warrior’ at AF1.
Thu 27 Oct:  7.00 for 7.45pm ’Black Power Mixtape’ – the chance to see a re-discovered documentary tape

          ©  Ray McChrystal          recording  the civil rights movement. See Film below.
                                                      Fri 28 Oct: 6.30-8.30 Private View of Ray McChrystal’s one-man show in AF1.

Stop Press….

CALL FOR ARTISTS
OPEN FORUM THEMED EXHIBITIONS: ‘SELF PORTRAITS’ and ‘SURREALISM’
The dates for these two exhibitions are as follow:
‘Self Portraits‘ 18 July – 1 August 2012 in AF1.
‘Surrealism‘ 12 – 26 September 2012 in AF2 .
 
There has been a good response for entries to both these exhibitions but it would be interesting to have more artists taking up the challenge. As the dates are now in place, there should be time to produce much new work! To remind you of the submission details:
 
The Forum is looking for a variety of styles and media including drawing, painting, printmaking, collage etc. For these two exhibitions, however, we are not looking for sculpture (this could be a theme later on) nor photography, video art or multi media installations. These will be selling exhibitions, They will be individually curated and the submissions selected by a team of experts at the beginning of 2012 – the date to be   announced.
 
Would artists wishing to participate in either one or both exhibitions, please let the Forum know by 30 November 2011. Tel: 01424 201636 or email info@hastingsartsforum.co.uk marked ‘For The Exhibitions Committee’. The committee is open to other ideas for themed shows. Please let us hear them.

George Kelvie is at home again after an operation in Eastbourne Hospital for cancer. George is delighted to tell us that the news is good and after six weeks or so, he hopes to be back on his feet and volunteering.

 Knitting Bee for Thursdays: The Post Office Tea Rooms in St Leonards will open every Thursday at 6.30 – 8.30pm  for an evening of knitting. Expert knitters will be on hand to sort out any queries or knotty problems. Tea and (non-knitted)cake available. Cost of the evening will be £3.50 per session. Knitting ‘knights’ (male wielders of the needles) are particularly welcome.

Writers’ Course at Hastings Museum in November – see post by Maureen Connett in Member’s Announcements.

Current Exhibitions

Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clark:  ‘Configurations’ 20 – 25 Oct,  in AF1.

‘Configurations‘ is a joint exhibition which combines the talents of Nicky  Urling Clark who likes to paint figuratively but ”in an instinctive or ‘intuitive’ manner”; Rose Miller’s ” form fitting expression”; and Juanita Homan’s “ambiguous biomorphic imagery”.   
   
Photohub Group, 20 Oct – 1 Nov, in AF2 . The Hastings based photographic group is keeping its skills honed for the Brighton Photo Biennial in Autumn 2012. Grace Lau and Andrew Moran lead this group through to high levels of achievement and it is attracting some high praise. Altogether 24 members are exhibiting. This show has a grant from the Arts Council and is billed as “An interim show….work in progress of members’ projects towards…. Autumn 2012″. Contact Photohub Group on: www.photohubgroup.blogspot.com.

Photohub Group is a coordination group for photographers in collaboration with the Brighton Photo Biennial Fringe photography festival. Initiated in late autumn 2009, the group (Phg), identified a photo-centric community. This group of creative practitioners formed the Hastings and St Leonard arm of the Brighton Photo Fringe. In the 2010 photo biennial they contributed sixteen shows and six talks to the BPF. Through working towards the 2012 Photo Biennial festival Phg, have been granted an award by Arts Council England to aid management of the transition between the 2010 and 2012 Biennial festivals.
 
Phg have used this funding to develop their mentoring programme run by Martin Everett and to support a book launch by Stuart Griffiths in collaboration with Photoworks, Brighton and the setting up of a group blog.
Phg have also funded materials for two photographic projects: one with disadvantaged young people in Hollington through Buzz, proposed by Amanda Jobson; and the other giving a voice to a sensitive health issue proposed by another Phg member.
 
Further mentoring, monthly seminars and a website are in train as well as a project including local school students. Further collaborations are being explored within
the group as we move into the 2012 Biennial festival year.

Forthcoming Exhibitions

Ray McChrystal:  ’Overland, Overwater, Overlaid’  27 Oct- 1 Nov is the title of Ray’s one man watercolour show in AF1 from 27 Oct to 1 Nov.
 Ray was at Bristol Polytechnic and studied Fine Art in the seventies. Since then he has moved around a creative career, including prop-building for theatre, film and tv, teaching and interior design; but under all these hats, he has always painted and exhibited. Recently he went to Camberwell School of Art to do an MA in Paper Conservation so is now committed to conserving and restoring works of art on paper.
This coincided with a situation where he had to move out of his painting studio in St Leonards, effectively losing the space needed for an oil painting based output. Faced with a long period of waiting, he decided instead to start working in watercolour, and so three years later, is working entirely on location and exclusively in watercolour on paper. Ray says: “My intense work as a Paper Conservator has had a direct effect on my work as an artist and vice versa.”
.
Continuum – A Sense of Place. 15 artists from across the south-east will be exhibiting in AF 1 from 3 Nov – 15 Nov. This exhibition is a collaborative project by Studio 21 featuring a group of textile and mixed media artists, whose aim is to push the boundaries of traditional expectations in textiles. All members of the group are graduates of the Higher Ed. Diploma in Stitched Textiles at Bucks New University.
 
Whereas many think of embroidery as ‘women stitching and decorating a piece of cloth’ – this group has developed the medium as an art form in its own right. They use a variety of materials, including wire, plastic and paper in the construction of their work, some of which give a strong 3-D effect. See their website:  http://www.studio21textileart.co.uk/. The group has many recognised international artists in the textile field and who teach and exhibit in the UK and abroad. Several have written books, which are regarded as benchmarks. They come together to exhibit regularly and their last exhibition was at the NEC, Birmingham in August 2011.
Exhibiting members include Arnarjeet Nandhra, Anne Froggatt, Annette Collinge, Dawn Thorne, Debbie Lyddon, Jacky Russell, Jill Flower, Judy Drysdale, Lynda Gleave, Liz Heywood, Marion Glover, Mary Morris, Samantha Harvey, Sandra Meech and Susan Chapman.

   
© Samantha Harvey                                 (detail)

An excerpt from the Studio 21 website about Samantha gives a fair example of what one may expect  from the group as a whole

“…Sam is interested in creating work to make you smile and look. Her current body of work explores the unexpected diversity, beauty and quirkiness of the fragile under-water gardens found at the edge of the sea in small stitched sculptures. Each individual piece is constructed from odds and ends such as milk bottle tops, vegetable bags, string, glow-in-the-dark threads, LEDs and wires...”

Ian Francis: Paintings and Drawings in AF 2, from 3 Nov – 15 Nov; preview 6.30-8.30pm 4 Nov.

         
         © Ian Francis

Exhibitions Elsewhere...

Laetitia Yhap is displaying a selection of her drawings and paintings in the Undercliff Cafe at Rock a Nore. and at Hastings Museum.

Members’ Announcements

Jane Metcalf posts: two Art Workshops led by Robin Holtom are being offered by local arts Charity, Shaping Voices of which I am co-founder. The workshops, free to anybody over 50 living in East Sussex, will be held in St Leonards-on-Sea on the 26th October and Bexhill on the 28th October. The workshops will explore self-expression and style through the media of pastels, water-based paints and clay; the day will be guided by the varying abilities and needs of the group. All materials will be provided and a small charge will be made on the day. Details of venues and how to book a place can be found on the Shaping Voices website:www.shapingvoices.org or by telephoning Caroline on 07836 738 820.

Maureen Connett posts: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in Bohemia Road is holding a Life Writing and Literature Course called: ‘I Remember, I Remember’  for participants aged 55 plus. There will be three sessions offering an opportunity to write about your own (or someone else’s) life experience and to read from ‘Great Expectations’. This is billed as a course for those who enjoy reading from classic literature and would like to develop their own writing skills. It may also appeal to anyone interested in preparing a biographical account to pass on to their children or grandchildren
 
The course is free of charge and will be held on Tuesday mornings 10.30 -12.30 am; the dates will be: 8, 15 and 22 Nov 2011at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. Registration is essential as numbers will be limited to ten. Apply to the Museum if you are interested.

Vanessa Fowler posts; On a Wednesday night between 7.00 – 9.00 Vanessa Fowler has started evening classes for adults, all levels welcome at her gallery/shop/studio at 6. Marine Court. At present there are 4 students. The groups are small, max 6. At present making will be in terracotta allowing brightly coloured glazing. A short course of 8 hours costs £60, materials extra. Vanessa has been a tutor at the college for 22 years but has recently left to pursue her own business and making. Please check FB page Adult Pottery Classes – St Leonards on Sea – Vanessa Fowler for further information or contact vanessanfowler@yahoo.co.uk or call 07732987643.

Liz Allen posts:  Adventure and Romance in St Leonards! …explore tales of savagery and necrophilia, masculine anxiety and coastal erosion via the life and writings of Rider Haggard, author of She and King Soloman’s Mines, who lived in North Lodge, St Leonards Gardens  Monday 24 October at 7.30, the Arts Forum. This is one of this year’s lecture series organised by Burtons’ St Leonards Society and will be presented by Dr Elizabeth Allen. £2 for members, £4 non-members to include a glass of wine. 
  
Film…

Thurs 27  Oct: ‘Black Power Mixtape’ 1967-1975. 1hr 40mins - Lost in an archive in Sweden for 30 years, ‘Black Power Mixtape’  is a compilation feature documentary film that displays the story of the African-American community between the years 1967-1975. Told with sparkling and beautiful footage as well as music by The Roots and Michael Jackson and singing by Erykah Badu, this is an amazing chart of the civil rights movement. Arts Forum. Doors open 7pm.

Poetry…

The Poetry Group will meet on Sat 5 Nov at 4 pm – note the earlier time this month. The theme for this session will be ‘Fire’ in recognition of Bonfire Night – although this may be interpreted as freely as you wish. As always, if this particular theme doesn’t ‘fire you up’, do feel free to choose another subject that inspires you. 

All Eyes Skywards
Ahh- the peppery, Proustian whiff of potassium sulphide;
The collapsing crackle of a fire at last alight;
As teeth clenched on the aching sweetness
Of cinder toffee,
Adults lumber like bears
Around the strangely unfamiliar garden
And mittened children dispel their fears
By clutching nearby trouser legs 
And shrieking with delight.
All eyes skywards.
Lips apart and faces bright:
Remember
Remember
Remember
My dear:
The flask of Laphroaig
And the blanket
If you intend to light MY fire
In the silent woods
In November
Tonight.
 
© YVONNE REES 2011

 

 

Dates for your Diary….
Sun 16 Oct: 11-5 Dani Humberstone will be painting in AF 2. See Stop Press.
Fri 21 Oct: 6.30-8.30pm Private View of  ’Configurations’ – an exhibition featuring Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clarke. See Forthcoming Exhibitions for further details.
Mon 24 Oct:  7pm at AF1 ‘Adventure and Romance in St Leonards!’  lecture on local author Rider Haggard -see Members’ Announcements.
Tues 25 Oct: 6.00-8.00pm Presentation of Stuart Griffiths’ forthcoming book: ‘The Myth of the Airborne Warrior’ at AF1.
Thurs 27 Oct:  7.00 for 7.45pm ’Black Power Mixtape’ – the chance to see a re-discovered documentary tape recording the civil rights movement. See Film below.

Stop Press….

Dani Humberstone is bringing her easel and paints to AF 2 on Sun 16 Oct. Dani is stewarding the exhibition “11 artists at the Arts Forum” all day between 11am to 5 pm and will be pleased to talk and discuss her work with viewers. Many will know Dani from the art supplies shop she runs in Wadhurst.. with a studio at the back of her shop. 

George Kelvie was operated on in Eastbourne Hospital last week and is recovering well. George is in Sovereign Ward and is hoping to be released next week. Sandra says all the news is positive and that George is happy to receive visits in the afternoon. Visiting hours are 2 – 8pm.
 
Knitting Bee for Thursdays: The Post Office Tea Rooms in St Leonards will open every Thursday at 6.30 – 8.30pm  for an evening of knitting. Expert knitters will be on hand to sort out any queries or knotty problems. Tea and cake available. Cost of the evening will be £3.50 per session. Knitting ‘knights’ (male wielders of the needles) are particularly welcome; the Tea Rooms’ own David and Philip recently appeared in a feature on men who knit last weekend in the Independent on Sunday.

Hastings Arts Forum agreed to transfer all assets and liabilities from the “Hastings Arts Forum” to “Hastings Arts Forum Ltd” at a Special General Meeting held in the Forum on Sat 8 Oct. The meeting approved  the motion by 70 votes to nil with one abstention. This exceeded the required majority of 66.6%. Figures were also produced showing an operating loss of £898.76 for the Financial Year Jan-Dec 2010 and an operating surplus of £2,951.26 for the first nine months of 2011.

Writers’ Course at the Museum in November – see post by Maureen Connett in Member’s Announcements.

Current Exhibitions…

“11 Artists at the Hastings Arts Forum”  until 18 Oct 2011, curated by Clare Winchester, an RA exhibitor this year,  Clare has assembled 11 artists from Kent, London and Sussex for  two weeks in both galleries.  Kathleen Fox, Cameron Foye, Dani Humberstone, Alex Leadbeater, Corinne Lucas, John Napier, Gavin Roweth, Will Taylor, Alison Trask,  Andrew Whamond and Clare Winchester are the artists. This exhibition, billed as “exciting and vibrant “, has attracted a lot of interest and displays a variety of sculptures, prints and a range of paintings up to a size of 6 ft x 5ft.

Forthcoming Exhibitions…

Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clark:  ‘Configurations’ 20 – 25 Oct,  in AF1.
‘Configurations‘ is a joint exhibition which combines the talents of Nicky  Urling Clark who likes to paint figuratively but ”in an instinctive or ‘intuitive’ manner”; Rose Miller’s ” form fitting expression”; and Juanita Homan’s “ambiguous biomorphic imagery”.   

Photohub Group, 20 Oct – 1 Nov, in AF2 . The Hastings based photographic group are keeping their skills honed for the Brighton Photo Biennial in Autumn 2012. Grace Lau and Andrew Moran lead this group through to high levels of achievement and are attracting some high praise. This show has a grant from the Arts Council and is billed as “An interim show….work in progress of members’ projects towards…. Autumn 2012″. Photo Hub Group: www.photohubgroup.blogspot.com.

Ray McChrystal, 27 Oct- 1 Nov, one man show in AF1.

Artist Statement :  ”I went to Bristol Polytechnic and studied Fine Art in the seventies. Since then I have moved around a creative career including prop-building for theatre, film and tv, teaching, interior design, etc., but through all these changes I have always painted and exhibited. Recently I went to Camberwell School of Art to do an MA in Paper Conservation so I am now conserving and restoring works of art on paper.

This coincided with a situation where I had to move out of my painting studio in St Leonards, effectively losing the space needed for an oil painting based output. Faced with a long period of waiting, I decided to start working in watercolour, and so three years later I work entirely on location and exclusively in watercolour on paper. My intense work as a Paper Conservator has had a direct effect on my work as an artist and vice versa.”

 Exhibitions Elsewhere...Lorrain Mailer is holding a solo show called ‘Landfill (art)’ — described as funny, intriguing, and poignant visual statements on 14 – 20 Oct at the Nucleus Arts Gallery, 272 High Street, Chatham ME4 4BP. Further details on: www.nucleus-arts.com  or Tel: 01634 812 108. The exhibition will be open Mon – Sat 9-5pm (Closed Sun) admission FREE.
 *Print out this bulletin to claim from the cafe your FREE complimentary coffee/beverage.   

Members’ Announcements…

Jane Metcalf posts: two Art Workshops led by Robin Holtom are being offered by local arts Charity, Shaping Voices of which I am co-founder. The workshops, free to anybody over 50 living in East Sussex, will be held in St Leonards-on-Sea on the 26th October and Bexhill on the 28th October. The workshops will explore self-expression and style through the media of pastels, water-based paints and clay; the day will be guided by the varying abilities and needs of the group. All materials will be provided and a small charge will be made on the day. Details of venues and how to book a place can be found on the Shaping Voices website:www.shapingvoices.org or by telephoning Caroline on 07836 738 820.

Maureen Connett posts: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in Bohemia Road is holding a Life Writing and Literature Course called: ‘I Remember, I Remember’  for participants aged 55 plus. There will be three sessions offering an opportunity to write about your own (or someone else’s) life experience and to read from ‘Great Expectations’. This is billed as a course for those who enjoy reading from classic literature and would like to develop their own writing skills. It may also appeal to anyone interested in preparing a biographical account to pass on to their children or grandchildren
 
The course is free of charge and will be held on Tuesday mornings 10.30 -12.30 am; the dates will be: 8, 15 and 22 Nov 2011at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. Registration is essential as numbers will be limited to ten. Apply to the Museum if you are interested.

Philip and David of the Marina Post Office Tea Rooms post: Friday night will be fondue night on 4 Nov, 9 Dec, and 6 Jan…£20 per head for three courses; bring your own wine or beer, no corkage. And looking ahead to the festive season: the Tea Rooms are offering the chance to enjoy a traditional Christmas meal with good food and a relaxed friendly atmosphere: Christmas Day is £55 per head (five courses) plus a gift; Boxing Day £35 per head (buffet party) plus gift. Food allergies catered for; not suitable for  children under 12. Check it out on www.postofficetearooms.com/xmasmenus. 

Liz Allen posts:  Adventure and Romance in St Leonards! …explore tales of savagery and necrophilia, masculine anxiety and coastal erosion via the life and writings of Rider Haggard, author of She and King Soloman’s Mines, who lived in North Lodge, St Leonards Gardens. Monday 24 October at 7.30, the Arts Forum. This is one of this year’s lecture series organised by Burtons’ St Leonards Society and will be presented by Dr Elizabeth Allen. £2 for members, £4 non-members to include a glass of wine. 
  
Film…

Thurs 27  Oct: ‘Black Power Mixtape’ 1967-1975. 1hr 40mins - Lost in an archive in Sweden for 30 years, ‘Black Power Mixtape’  is a compilation feature documentary film that displays the story of the African-American community between the years 1967-1975. Told with sparkling and beautiful footage as well as music by The Roots and Michael Jackson and singing by Erykah Badu, this is an amazing chart of the civil rights movement. Arts Forum. Doors open 7pm.

Poetry…

The Poetry Group will meet on Sat 5 Nov at 4 pm – note the earlier time this month. The theme for this session will be ‘Fire’ in recognition of Bonfire Night – although this may be interpreted as freely as you wish. As always, if this particular theme doesn’t ‘fire you up’, do feel free to choose another subject that inspires you. 

I’ve got a ‘concept’ !
Whatever shall I do with it?
Why ! The Turner Prize, that’s what.
Its tricky. But aanything goes.
Elaine Short.   

                    

 

 

                                    info@www.hastingsartsforum.co.uk

Dates for your diary

Fri 7 Oct.         6.30-8.30pm Private View of  ’11 Artists at Hastings Arts Forum’. See details
                         in Current Exhibitions. 
Sat 8 Oct.       10.30am. Special General Meeting in AF1 to disband the Hastings Arts Forum and transfer its
                          assets to Hastings Arts Forum Ltd.
                          1100. Kid’s Film Show at Christchurch Centre, London Rd, 
Thur 13 Oct.   7.00 for 7.45pm. Film: ‘The First Grader’. Details in Film.
Fri 21 Oct.       6.30-8.30pm Private View of Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clark in AF1.
                          See Forthcoming Exhibitions.

Stop Press…

Special General Meeting. The SGM, set for 10.30am on Sat 8 Oct in the Forum needs your support. We need to transfer the assets and liabilities of Hastings Arts Forum to Hastings Arts Forum Ltd. This is an important meeting essential in the process of activating our charity status and we need a minimum of  around 50 members so please make the effort to attend. If absolutely impossible, then you may appoint another member, who is attending, as proxy for your vote. Please send in your form with your name and address together with the name and address of your proxy. Attendance ought not to be for longer than 30 minutes.

Call for artists !!!  The Forum’s Exhibitions Committee is planning a series of ‘Themed’ exhibitions to be shown during the second half of 2012 from July to December. 
The first two themes are firstly: Self Portraits; and secondly: Surrealism. 
The Forum is looking for a variety of styles and media including drawing, painting, printmaking, collage etc. For these two exhibitions, however, we are not looking for sculpture (although this could be a theme later on), nor photography, video art or multi media installations. These will be selling exhibitions. They will be individually curated and the submissions selected by a team of experts at the beginning of 2012: the date to be announced. 

Would artists wishing to participate in either one or both exhibitions, please let the Forum know by 30 Nov 2011.
Tel: 01424 201636 or email info@hastingsartsforum.co.uk  marked “For The Exhibitions Committee”.

The Sid Beynon memorial mosaic and plaque were unveiled by the Mayor of Hastings on Saturday morning 1 October 2011. A small group of Forum members and  Sid’s family gathered for the occasion in bright, sunny and warm weather and later retired to Relax Cafe. The mosaic may take some time to ‘weather’ and show its natural colours. A small group of children was given some mosaic – making instruction by Jamie Stapeley and Mary Dawson.

Congratulations to Catherine Kemp on being awarded a £10,000 grant for Telling Stories: Margate; (Private View 7 – 9pm Friday 7th October).  Hastings artist, and Forum member, Cathryn Kemp has received a grant of £10,000 from ACE, (Arts Council England), for Telling Stories – the exhibition she’s organised and curated. This will allow the show to expand to include seven Hastings and seven Margate artists who together will spearhead the Coastal Currents festival 2012. The Hastings artists are Alexander Brattell,  Dawn Cole, Sinéid Codd,  Martin Everett,  Cathryn Kemp,  Louise Kenward  and Lucinda Wells. The exhibition all kicks off with a live performance by Hastings dance artist Yumino Seki.

Philip Bray and David Wishingsky of the Old Post Office Tearooms (they of the knitted cakes in the window fame) and  our close neighbours, will be featured in the “Independent on Sunday”  this week-end, 9 Oct, in an article on “Men Knitting”..

Loraine Mailer has entered her illustration  ”Went to Sea” into Saatchi’s Drawing Showdown Fall 2011 –  she asks for your vote and voting has now started!!! It is one vote per person per day until Tue 18 Oct: place your voles on -   http://www.saatchionline.com/showdown/view/showdown/8/artist/90516

Current  Exhibitions 

“11 Artists at the Hastings Arts Forum” 6 – 18 Oct 2011, curated by Clare Winchester, an RA exhibitor this year,  She has assembled 11 artists from Kent, London and Sussex for  two weeks in both galleries.  Kathleen Fox, Cameron Foye, Dani Humberstone, Alex Leadbeater, Corrine Lucas, John Napier, Gavin Roweth, Will Taylor, Alison Trask,  Andrew Whamond and Clare Winchester are the artists. This exhibition is billed as “exciting and vibrant ” and displays a number of sculptures, prints and a range of paintings up to a size of 6 ft x 5ft.

Derek Treacher continues his one man show of prints in AF4.(The Forum at the Azur). 

Forthcoming Exhibitions

Juanita Homan, Rose Miller and Nicky Urling Clark, 20 – 25 Oct,  in AF1.

Nicky writes ” I  like to work from the object.  The image is figurative but takes form in an instinctive or ‘intuitive’ manner.  My interest in exploring the physical qualities of the paint prevails.“

Juanita comments: “De Kooning regarded ‘Abstract Art’ as a wonderful, unsure atmosphere of reflection’ – a poetic frame where an artist could practise his intuition. I work in oil and in this series of quasi-abstract paintings I work intuitively using freely associated imagery.  I find my inspiration in Nature, poetry, photography, other painters, especially contemporary ones (ie. Bacon, De Kooning and Diebernkorn). I have made extensive studies of the rich paraphernalia of the Stade for these paintings and hope that the experience will seep through and enrich – my own personal mythology to create an ambiguous biomorphic imagery. My major concerns in painting continue to be aesthetic ones – texture and treatment, pigment, space. plane and boundary.

Rose’s poem about her art:
Image making.
Take the elements, the starting point, the subject.
Worry it, work it, find the fit,
Or pull it apart.
Obliterate.
Then slowly restart.
Tracking traces in a new configuration.
It’s getting closer now, emerging,
Form fitting expression,
Relentless disclosure.
Present.

Photohub Group, 20 Oct – 1 Nov, in AF2 . The Hastings based photographic group are keeping their skills honed for the Brighton Photo Biennial in Autumn 2012. Grace Lau and Andrew Moran lead this group through to high levels of achievement and are attracting some high praise. This show has a grant from the Arts Council and is billed as “An interim show….work in progress of members’ projects towards…. Autumn 2012″. Photo Hub Group. www.photohubgroup.blogspot.com.

Ray McChrystal, 27 Oct – 1 Nov in AF1. 

“Continuum - A sense of Place” 3 – 15 Nov in AF1

Ian Francis- Paintings in AF2

Exhibitions Elsewhere…

Steven Bullen will be holding his very first solo photography exhibition later this month in the Dragon Bar, Hastings. All twenty photographs in the exhibition will be for sale, in limited-edition runs of twenty prints each. Details on: www.stevenbullenphotography.com.

Members’ Announcements..

Grace Lau of Phothub Group posts.  Stuart Griffiths gives a presentation on his forthcoming new book:  ‘The Myth of the Airborne Warrior’ on Tues 25 October, 6pm – 8pm at Hastings Art Forum.
 
Entry: free for Phg members/£3 for non-members. Wine will be available.
Please email: gl@gracelau.plus.com by 18 Oct  to reserve your place.

Stuart Griffiths began taking photographs whilst serving as a British paratrooper in Northern Ireland in the late 1980s that evoked the fear and frustration felt by the young soldiers; he started to question the validity of the British Army’s position: “The pride of being a Paratrooper after time turned to self-questioning, this turned to self-loathing”. The eventual outcome is an intensely personal account of the trauma and personal conflict he experienced, powerfully expressed in his photographs and his newly published book The Myth of the Airborne Warrior. http://www.photoworks.org.uk/programme/publications/the-myth-of-the-airborne-warrior

His work on injured veterans ‘Closer‘ won the 2010 Brighton Photo Fringe Open and in the same year Stuart was awarded a grant by the National Media Museum.  The documentary film ‘Isolation‘ about his personal work was released in 2009 at the Edinburgh film festival.  He continues to work on self-initiated photography projects and for national and international titles.
                                                                                               

Mark Fisher posts : I have a few places left on the following days at my studio in Sedlescombe.
Monday 10th October. Figure/life drawing theory and practice for beginners- £20 for day course.
Monday 17th October. Figure/life drawing theory and practice for beginners with a model- £25 for day course.
Both days are from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Bring a packed lunch.
Ring Mark on 01424 871605 or email mark@markfisherart.co.uk

Nigel Sales posts: I am starting up week-end courses for anyone with an interest in carving stone. Classes will be held in my workshop and will consist of a maximum of four students. Stone, tools. daily transportation.  between the Forum and my workshop, are provided. After moving to St Leonards, I have come out of retirement to resume work and offer my experience. This is a great opportunity to learn the basic technical and practical skills in this ancient and fascinating craft of direct stone carving. For further information contact me on  tel : 0740 735 7301 or  email ns.stncarver@gmail.com

Jane Metcalf posts : two Art Workshops led by Robin Holtom are being offered by local arts Charity, Shaping Voices of which I am co-founder. The workshops, free to anybody over 50 living in East Sussex, will be held in St Leonards-on-Sea on the 26th October and Bexhill on the 28th October. The workshops will explore self-expression and style through the media of pastels, water-based paints and clay; the day will be guided by the varying abilities and needs of the group. All materials will be provided and a small charge will be made on the day. Details of venues and how to book a place can be found on the Shaping Voices website:www.shapingvoices.org or by telephoning Caroline on 07836 738 820.
  
Film…

Thurs 13 Oct:   ”The First Grader” – a film directed by Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl, Bleak House) from a script by Emmy-winner Ann Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia, Nights in Rodanthe, Kit Kittridge),  is a heart warming and inspiring true story of one man’s fight for what he believes is his right in order to overcome the burdens of his past. It is a triumphant testimony to the transforming force of education.
 
In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school: he is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris), supports his struggle to gain admission and together they face fierce opposition from parents and officials who don’t want to waste a precious school place on such an old man. Full of vitality and humour, the film explores the remarkable relationships Maruge builds with his classmates some eighty years his junior and the shocking untold story of British colonial rule 50 years earlier where Maruge had fought to his cost for the freedom of his country.

Thurs 27  Oct: ‘Black Power Mixtape’ 1967-1975 1hr 40mins - Lost in an archive in Sweden for 30 years, The Black Power Mixtape is a compilation feature documentary film that displays the story of the African-American community between the years 1967-1975. Told with sparkling and beautiful footage as well as music by The Roots and Michael Jackson and singing by Erykah Badu, this is an amazing chart of the civil rights movement.

Poetry…

The Poetry Group met on Sat 1 Oct at 5 pm. The theme was “A Bob Dylan Song” and ten members attended. Below is a poem performed by Sue Coates.

“Love is only a Four letter Word”

Love is only a four letter word
At least it used to be, 
Now reduced to only three.
L….U….V

Reduced in other ways than this,
Letters are out of sight,
Only a text so utterly trite : 
C U 2nite.

On the front of his T-shirt I see
“I am your perfect date.”
Oh yes? I think. Thirty years too young 
For a four letter, French letter, red letter day.
But nice legs (for a man)
So I study them as he passes by,
But on his back is written
“I’ll be gone in the morning !”
With an exclamation mark
As though it is in any way funny.

Love for me is a whole dictionary,
Some words we know,
Some words are new,
And some we never meet.

© Sue Coates