This year North Somerset Arts Week has more than 50 venues and 240 artists taking part across the region, so this is just a taster of what will be going on
Blue Room Arts Group
Venue: The Sion, Crown Glass Place, Nailsea.
Opening times vary, check the brochure.
The Blue Room Arts Group is a group which meets fortnightly in Nailsea to share a love of art and painting over some good conversation and cake. The group is specifically aimed at people who are returning to painting after a long break.
Venue: 1 Bourton Mead, Flax Bourton, BS48 1UB.
Open 10.30am – 4.30pm, 28 April–7 May.
Adrienne Hughes has been interested in art for as long as she can remember. She enjoys working with bold colours and shapes to create vibrant pieces. She still loves visiting exhibitions and learning from what she sees. Some of her favourite artists are, Picasso, Kahlo and Hockney.
Amy and Lizzie Tucker
Venue: 14 Rayens Close, Long Ashton.
Open 10am-5pm from, 28 April–7 May.
Amy and Lizzie are exhibiting together in Long Ashton. Amy is a jeweller who works with ethically-sourced silver and gemstones. Lizzie creates original glass mosaics inspired by wildlife. Her designs are also transferred onto cards, coasters and placemats.
Venue: The Refectory, St Andrew’s Church, Station Road, Congresbury.
Open 10am–6pm, 28 April–3 May.
Richard studied fine art in the late 1960s and enjoyed a career in architectural illustration for 35 years.
Alongside his commercial work he has maintained his desire to paint and creates landscapes, seascapes, snowscapes and townscapes, mostly with watercolours but also using oils and pastels.
Professional Artists
Venue: The Barn Gallery, Claverham Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Claverham.
Open 10am–5pm, 28 April–7 May.
Award-winning artists Gail Mason, Claire Hall and Tina Hill will be showing a wonderful range of work from abstracted landscapes to sculptural glass and artefacts made from embossed prints in The Barn Gallery. Professional artists from Burnham, Margaret Micklewright, Sue Hammond-Lovatt and Cora Stock, will be showing paintings etchings and ceramics in the Meeting House.
Weston Super Mare & District Guild of Embroiders
Venue: Cleeve Village Hall, 2 Cleeve Hill Road, Cleeve.
Open 10am-6pm, 5 and 6 May.
This is a friendly, independent group of mixed age artists with an interest in embroidery and textiles. It meets fortnightly at Cleeve Village Hall (except during August), sometimes with an external tutor and sometimes just working together. It welcomes everyone who shares its interests.
Jackie Barwell
Venue: Doubleton Coach House, 22 East Street, Banwell.
Open 11am-5.30pm, 28 April to 7 May, except Sundays which are 2-5.30pm.
Jackie’s current work is mostly created using collage, mixed media, paints and inks with stitch embellishment. She experiments with non¬traditional methods and personally textured papers. Subjects explored are taken from landscape - places and views which hold good memories for her and hopefully will attract and interest others. She also paints large scale canvasses.
Venue: Banwell Pottery, Worle, 58 New Bristol Road, Worle.
Open 10.30am-4.30pm, 28 April–7 May, closed on Saturdays.
Banwell Pottery is part of the Brandon Trust and is a community¬based employment and training project. Everything produced is created by the people it supports, those with learning disabilities and autism. They create tiles, hangers and coasters to sell from their studio, craft fairs and Brandon Trust Charity shops.
The Porthole Room
Venue: The Porthole Room, Clevedon Pier, The Toll House, Clevedon.
Open 10am-5pm, 28 April to 7 May.
Clevedon’s historic pier is hosting three distinct artists, Claire Gutsell, Ruth Ander and Michelle Lucking. Here you will find work that complements the setting, with beaches, seascapes and skies, locally, nationally and abroad. There is a mixture of mediums from digital art to mono-prints, to painting.
Venue: Anchorage, Woodlands Road, Portishead.
Open 11am-6pm, 28 April-7 May, except closed on 2 and 3 May.
Tean Kirby has a life long love of clay as it offers so much opportunity to an artist or designer. Clay is so immediately impressionable and so transformed by the firing and glazing processes, that it is an inspiration in itself. She has always lived on the coast and that landscape is deeply reflected in her work. The work shown here is influenced by visits to the Swedish lakes and archipelago; stretches of water dotted with islands with a gentle low rise of woods on the opposite shores.
Tithe Barn Artists
Venue: Kingston Seymour Village Hall, Ham Lane, Kingston Seymour.
Open 11am-5pm, 28 April-1 May.
There are 17 local artists, 17 different styles and 17 different ‘characters’ painting in different mediums on Thursday mornings at the Tithe Barn, Nailsea. They learn from each other. They comment on others’ work - advise, help, suggest – constructive criticism. The words ‘very nice’ to describe a piece of work are banned.
Also taking place...
On 10 May in Clevedon Library, Somerset Storyfest will be hosting an early evening of song, drama and storytelling performed by pupils from North Somerset schools inspired by the theme of child evacuees. A new story written by Michael Loader will also be told of a boy and girl who are ‘evacuated’ to a seafront town in the 1940s. The event starts at 5.45pm and entry is free (any donations will go towards the Royal British Legion). Space is limited so please contact foolworks@yahoo.co.uk if you wish to attend.
The Art Weeks brochure will be available from Mid-March in all North Somerset libraries and some local businesses.
