SPARK: Artist Interventions in a Time of Crisis
An exhibition of a network of North-West artists concerned with intervention in the climate crisis
Rogue Project Space
2-6 Barrass St, Manchester, M11 1WP
PV: 8th December, 2023, 6-8 pm
9th December – January 13th
Opening Times: Saturday, Sunday 12-4 pm
Or by appointment
Curated by Sophy King and John-Paul Brown.
Featuring: Artist A & Artist B, Chris Alton, John-Paul Brown, Eleanor Capstick, Nerissa Cargill Thompson, Maya Chowdhry, Helen Clare, Louise Ann Clarke, Sara Kristina Davies, Sarah Feinmann, Sarah Grant, Anthony Hall, Jackie Haynes, Tracy Hill, David Jacques, Adele Jordan, Nick Jordan, Lizzie King, Sophy King, Jane Lawson, Helena Lee, Ruth Moilliet, Rob Mullender-Ross, Mike Perry, Sam Pickett, Gwen Riley Jones, Lucy Roberts, Heather Ross, Rae Story, Steve Sutton, TEA, Debbie Yare
SPARK is the first exhibition by members of the SPARK Artists Network, who have been meeting since June 2022. Their monthly events have included guerilla gardening, moss walks, exploring urban and rural ecologies, tours of political sites and exhibition visits.
The exhibition aims to engender conversation and collaboration and foster the cross-pollination of ideas. The artists examine how their interventions can affect change, questioning whether art can be productive with or without overt activism. The exhibition, programme and conversations deriving from them will shape the future direction and plans of the Spark Artists Network.
There will be a programme of events alongside the exhibition:
8th December, 6-8pm, Private View with Performances from Artist A & Artist B, and Maya Chowdhry
9th December, 11-4pm SPARK #18: Talks and panel Q&A by invited speakers Rebecca Chesney, Liz Postlethwaite and Debbie Yare
16th December, 4-6pm Observed Ecologies: A programme of short films exploring the interconnections between human activity and the natural environment, selected from Braziers International Film Festival by Nick Jordan
7th January 2-4pm What is the Role of the Artist at the End of Time?: Workshop led by Rae Story
13th January 10am SPARK #19: Forest Bathing Walk with Niki Colclough. Part of the project ‘Rituals for Tomorrow’ by Jenny Steele. Followed by a Spark meeting – Where Do We Go From Here?
13th January, 2pm, Photography Talks and Networking – Climate Aware Photography Projects with Helena Lee
The SPARK Artists Network is open to all. Their meetings are usually on the first Saturday of the month. You can follow them @sparkartistsnetwork on Instagram or Facebook or email sparknetworkmcr@gmail.com for more information.
shifting ground
paintings by Margaret Cahill
Rogue Project Space
4 Barrass Street
Manchester
M11 1PU
November 4 – November 25
Open Saturdays & Sundays 12 – 4pm
P.V. Saturday November 4, 2-5pm
Shifting Ground is a retrospective exhibition of work resulting from projects undertaken in Europe in the last two decades alongside recent new paintings.
The work draws on the artists experiences of places containing resonances of social, political or historic changes. From an abandoned Russian airbase in Estonia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s through post conflict Kosovo to the 1936 Olympic village outside Berlin.
The images from these sites become the starting point for paintings of spaces balanced between the real and imaginary that look beyond the landscape to distil the essence of a place capturing the sensations it evokes.
The paintings are rooted in the experience of these places but at the same time are mediated notions of landscape refracted through memory.
The exhibition explores themes of memory, history and place and reflects on our relationship with landscape in a shifting and unstable world.
For more information or to arrange an appointment outside opening times please contact
Margaret Cahill at: margaretcahillartist@yahoo.co.uk
ROGUE OPEN STUDIOS 2023
Rogue Artists’ Studios & Project Space
4 Barrass Street
M11 1WP
Opening Party 2-5pm
Saturday 30 September 2023
Open Studios
12-5pm
Saturday 30 September & Sunday 1 October 2023
The ‘Rogue Open Studios’ is an opportunity to visit the workspaces of more than 85 leading contemporary artists. Rogue artists work across media including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, collage, glass, textiles, film, photography, sound art, performance and assemblage, and will be on hand over the weekend to welcome visitors to our magnificent Grade 2 listed buildings. In addition to the Open Studios, Rogue’s Project Space, acclaimed by Time Out Manchester as one of the best art galleries in the city, will host ‘TEES’, an exhibition exploring the T-Shirt as art form. In our brand new Platform Space on the first floor Rogue artist Joe Hancock will present ‘Working in Progress’. All are welcome to the opening party on Saturday 30 September from 2-5pm.
Free entry and parking.
Coffee stall
Wheelchair accessible (ground floor only).
Or contact: rogueartistsstudios@yahoo.co.uk
Rogue Project Space
Ground Floor Gallery Space
2-6 Barrass St
Manchester, M11 1WP
TEES
An exhibition exploring the t-shirt as art form
Preview: 30 September 2023, 2-5pm
Show runs until 31 October 2023
Opening Times: 12-4pm
Or by appointment
Curated by Mike Chavez-Dawson & Co. Assisted by; Jamie Kirk, Grecia Balassone, Vincent Patterson, Maggie Stick and John Paul Brown.
Featuring Sir Peter Blake, Jeremy Deller, David Shrigley, Bob and Roberta Smith and artists from Rogue Artists’ Studios, Paradise Works, Suite, Bankley Studios, AWOL Studios, Islington Mill and beyond..
Ten Obstructions are a porous group of ten artists that came together in late 2019 through bOlder, a Castlefield Gallery artist development programme. This is their sixth group exhibition and they continue to offer each other support critique encouragement and friendship. The exhibiting artists are:
Maya Chowdhry, Jane Fairhurst, Sarah Feinmann, Sabrina Fuller, Claire Hignett, Christopher Rainham and Ian Vines.
In Gladly Beyond Ten Obstructions embrace the opportunity for experimentation that Rogue Project Space offers. The title comes from ee cummings, himself a radical experimenter with form: ‘somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond any experience’.
Gladly Beyond journeys literally, visually and imaginatively through time and through space. It explores the possibilities of visual representation: through light, through simplification of form, or by playing with scale. It delves into the nature of perception, the process of looking, the connections and dialogue between visual representation and the natural world – capturing a feeling, a pulsing life essence.
Journeys of the imagination take us from fabled and mythic magical gardens to speculative fictions. We leave behind the constructs and fictions that justify existing hierarchies and inequalities – all responding to the inexorable march of man-made climate change.
Rogue Women Returns.
An exhibition bringing together and celebrating the work of women artists from Roque Studios plus invited artists from around the UK.
Please join us for our PV on Friday 5th May 6-9pm
Exhibition runs from Sat 6th May to Sun 28th May
Open Saturday & Sunday 11am – 4pm
Weekdays by appointment only
Ground Floor Gallery Space
Rogue Artists’ Studios CIC
2-6 Barrass Street, Higher Openshaw
Manchester M11 1PU
In November 2019 in response to the gender imbalance in the arts we organised and co-curated a hugely successful exhibition of all female artists entitled ROGUE WOMEN. This was shown in the large ground floor Rogue Studios Gallery Space with most female members taking part.
As the dialogue surrounding the inequality of women in the arts continues, we have decided to create ROGUE WOMEN 2.
We have a 50% representation of female artists practicing both nationally and internationally here at Rogue and the exhibition will showcase the talent of up to 40 of the women members alongside a small number of selected guest artists from around the UK.
Throughout art history women have been largely invisible, ignored and excluded. Our aim is to place women in the spotlight, show solidarity and to continue the discourse around these issues.
Our guest curator will be Natasha Howes,
Senior Curator at Manchester Art Gallery
Spring as a Rebel, Act I & Act II
John-Paul Brown
Act I 01.04.23 – 16.04.23
Act II 22.04.23 – 29.04.23
Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6pm*
*excludes Easter Sunday
Evening Performance with artist Kelly Jayne Jones
18.04.23 6-8pm
John-Paul Brown explores what it is to communicate in an age plagued with disinformation and polar opinion; how the present day written word and verbal languages are failing to connect, unify, inform and address the climate emergency. A rise in climate-related anxiety is effectively shutting down social capacity to sustain a collective demand for change, and feel optimistic for our futures.
Embracing a no blame, no shame approach to discussing carbon footprints, he aims to create a safe space for open dialogue and shared learning, juxtaposing global issues such as deforestation, mass migration, permafrost, new energy etc, with notions of self care, resilience, and future affirmations.
Taking inspiration from the ancient visual languages of cave art, and the Rosetta Stone in the age of short-hand emoji chat, he has produced a series of symbols and signifiers to encourage climate curiosity, self education and continued conversation. He explores alternative ways of low-carbon art-making through material choices, utilising non-recyclable materials, and post-art recycling considerations.
The show is presented in two acts. Act I offers research and development through a series of installations, climate equations, AI sound, and painting. Act II explores performance and ritual meditation with artists Kelly Jayne Jones, transformation of Act I materials, and regeneration of self.
About John-Paul Brown
John-Paul Brown (b.1981) graduated with a BA (Hons) in Photography from Blackpool & Fylde College in 2004. His practice ranges from documentary photography and drawing, to large scale installation and social engagement. His work addresses concerns relating to the climate and ecological emergency, non-recyclable materials, urban environments, and low-carbon art-making.
He combines research with personal experience to create layered narratives of social present, exploring the material choices and positive roles artists can play in tackling the climate crisis.
About Kelly Jayne Jones
Kelly Jayne Jones is a Manchester-based artist making work that combines performance, installation and sound. She is self-taught and began working in DIY experimental noise music. Her practice has expanded to include sound installation, dance, gesture, sonic drawings, stone sculpture and film scores.
She is interested in creating multi-sensory experiences that create possible conditions for communication and exchange. She is currently exploring animist ideas around the breath and spirit of mountains and rivers and how we can reconnect with our planet by means of ancient and modern rituals.
Thirty years of making art and running projects and programs in France and the USA
Artist’s talk with Alun Williams and Claire Lesteven
Rogue Residency Studio Friday February 24 at 7pm. Admission free.
Alun Williams
Alun Williams was born in Manchester, UK and studied painting at the University of Wales and Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. He has exhibited internationally, and his paintings are represented in private and public collections in Europe and the USA, where he has lived since 1998, dividing his time between New York City and Brittany in the north west of France.
Since more than a quarter of a century, Williams has devoted much time and energy to running non-profit organizations offering time and space to artists, including the Triangle Arts Association, New York, where he has been a Board member since 1993, and is currently co-chair, and Triangle-France in Marseille (of which he was a founder in 1995). He was also a founder of Parker’s Box, an experimental gallery in Brooklyn (2000 – 2013) and more recently a new project, Minoterie21 in Brittany, France organizing various contemporary art projects and residencies.
Williams has lectured or taught in numerous art schools and universities in Europe and North America. Most recently he was artist in residence/ visiting professor at the School of Visual and Media Arts, University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada.
In 2004, Alun Williams was honoured by the French government with the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in recognition of services to international culture.
He is represented by Galerie Anne Barrault in Paris.
www.galerieannebarrault.com/en/artiste/alun-williams/
Claire Lesteven
Born in Paris where she spent her childhood, Claire Lesteven then lived in Brittany, then in Nantes where she studied at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. After a new period in Paris, she moved to Marseille where she became one of the founders of the Triangle France Association, whose mission is to support artists through an experimental program of projects, residencies and exhibitions.
At Rogue Studios, Clare will make a new work that will be a fusion between landscapes photographed recently, and new landscapes from the Manchester area with a camera-obscura, and distant views borrowed from the history of painting, to include examples from the City Art Gallery collections. http://www.h-gallery.fr/claire-lesteven/
Noses
Rogue Platform Space
1st Floor
2-6 Barrass Street
Openshaw
Manchester
M11 1PU
Ongoing from 13th February – 17th March.
The space is open to the public on Friday 17th March from 4-7pm.
Following the success of their duo show at Manchester’s Holden gallery in August 2022 (curated by Julia Makojnik), Steve Oliver and Jon Whitter will spend 21 days in Rogue’s first floor project space, exploring making and installation strategies in real time. Expect actors, plasterers, 3D scanners and screens.
Free
Access is via two flights of stairs to the first floor
Holding Time
Preview: Saturday 18 February 4-7pm
18 February – 12 March
Open Saturdays 12-4pm and by appointment
Holding Time is an exhibition by Ruth Murray and Linda Hemmersbach. It explores their mutual fascination with the materiality of paint and its ability to evoke places and sensations through colour, surface and touch. Focusing on the relationship between ourselves and the environments we inhabit and through which we move, the exhibition aims to show the many shared avenues that their studio practices have taken. Themes such as landscape, geological matter, deep time, the body and birth, are presented as constellations of memory, consciousness and hope.
How to get to Rogue: 2-6 Barrass Street, Openshaw, Manchester M11 1PU. Rogue is easily accessible by rail. Take the Rose Hill Marple train from Platform 2 at Manchester Piccadilly and alight at Gorton station. Leave the station and turn left. Walk 50 yards and turn left again into Beeth Street. Rogue is straight ahead of you. By car, turn off the Ashton Old Road onto Lees Street towards Gorton Railway Station. After approximately 300 yards take a right turn into Beeth Street. Rogue is straight ahead of you.
Artists in Residence
Alun Williams and Claire Lestevan
Artists Talk Friday 24 February 7pm
Front Nursery building at Rogue Studios
Admission and parking free
Born in Paris where she spent her childhood, Claire Lesteven then lived in Brittany, then in Nantes where she studied at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. After a new period in Paris, she moved to Marseille where she became one of the founders of the Triangle France Association, whose mission is to support artists through an experimental program of projects, residencies and exhibitions.
At Rogue Studios, Clare will make a new work that will be a fusion between landscapes photographed recently, and new landscapes from the Manchester area with a camera-obscura, and distant views borrowed from the history of painting, to include examples from the City Art Gallery collections.
Alun Williams was born in Manchester, UK and studied painting at the University of Wales and Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. He has exhibited internationally, and his paintings are represented in private and public collections in Europe and the USA, where he has lived since 1998, dividing his time between New York City and Brittany in the north west of France.
Since more than a quarter of a century, Williams has devoted much time and energy to running non-profit organizations offering time and space to artists, including the Triangle Arts Association, New York, where he has been a Board member since 1993, and is currently co-chair, and Triangle-France in Marseille (of which he was a founder in 1995). He was also a founder of Parker’s Box, an experimental gallery in Brooklyn (2000 – 2013) and more recently a new project, Minoterie21 in Brittany, France organizing various contemporary art projects and residencies.
Williams has lectured or taught in numerous art schools and universities in Europe and North America. Most recently he was artist in residence/ visiting professor at the School of Visual and Media Arts, University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada.
In 2004, Alun Williams was honoured by the French government with the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in recognition of services to international culture.
He is represented by Galerie Anne Barrault in Paris.
www.galerieannebarrault.com/en/artiste/alun-williams/
Artist Artiste
Board of Directors, Triangle Arts Association, New York
Board / CA Triangle Canada, Montréal
Président, Minoterie21, Guéveneux, Peillac, France
Membre d’honneur, Triangle France-Astérides, Marseille
CA Art Contemporain en Bretagne
www.galerieannebarrault.com/en/artiste/alun-williams/
www.triangleartsnyc.org
www.trianglenetwork.org
www.minoterie21.tumblr.com
ww.artcontemporainbretagne.org