All singing,all dancing,drawing,making,watching…..

Hi!

Our Dreams and Fairytales, our autumn exhibition, opened last week and has been causing a lot of excitement amongst The Gallery’s visitors. The exhibition room has been transformed again and couldn’t look more different from the Trace exhibition in August/September. Everywhere you look there is something unusual, fun, or sometimes sinister. Here are a few snaps of the exhibition…

See what I mean? You really need to visit to get the full impact, but I’m sure you will be soon, as Masham Arts Festival opens today!

If you haven’t heard already, Masham Arts Festival is a bi-annual, week-long extravaganza packed with exhibitions, workshops, music and food, with a few crazy interactive sculptures thrown in for good measure. At this point every two years, the festival committee, made up entirely of volunteers, are dashing about putting the finishing touches to everything in time for the big opening tonight. As is the tradition, the festival opens with a preview of the open art exhibition in St.Mary’s Church on the market square at 6pm, showcasing a wide selection of contemporary artists from the area and beyond. The exhibition preview is accompanied by a performance from northern acapella group Voicequad, then at 8pm festivities move to the town hall, for a performance from acclaimed Harrogate-based band The Birdman Rallies (back by popular demand).

…acapella group Voicequad (above) and alternative voice-harmony band The Birdman Rallies (below)…

There are so many more things going on throughout the week, it would take a lot of blogging to tell you about them all, so why not visit the Masham ArtsFestival website, facebook or twitter, or better yet, just come on down tonight.

 

Have a great half term!

Our Dreams and Fairytales

This week we’ll be hanging our Autumn exhibition – Our Dreams and Fairytales. The exhibition features a group of artists working in a vast array of media, inspired by the title. We’ve been receiving the deliveries of work for the show this week, and are really excited and impressed by the different approaches to the theme. So before you start thinking that the exhibition will be all sweet and lovely, remember there is a dark side to fairytales too…..!

This year we’ve welcomed a lot of new work into The Gallery, and Our Dreams and Fairytales is no different. You may recognise Vic Sayers’ work (above) from our Tea and Sympathy show earlier this year, and Colin Smithson‘s paintings and prints (below) have been admired in the gallery for many years. Here are a few artists you will not have seen here before…

Carine Brosse - Ceramics and Sculpture.

Gillian Lee Smith – Textiles and Ceramics.

Fiona Wilson - Printmaking and Sculpture.

Anna Kopp - painting.

Clare Lindley - paper cutting.

Clare exhibited in The Gallery some years ago, so it is a pleasure to welcome her back.

Our Dreams and Fairytales opens on the 14th of October for one month. For more information and images, check out our Facebook page.

If you’re looking for more of a reason to visit Masham this month, here’s a big one. The Masham Arts Festival, a bi-annual week long event featuring creative workshops, music and art events all over town, is opening on friday the 21st for the half term week. There are different events taking place all day every day that week, so if you are planning a visit in the near future, take note!

For more information visit the Arts Festival Website

Have a great October!

Frosty November at The Gallery

We are all feeling a little exhausted this week after last month’s Masham Art’s Festival. The week was a triumph full of packed-out workshops, buzzing evening events and our most successful open exhibition yet. As you can see from the photos everyone who attended had fun, many thanks to everyone who helped organise such a wonderful festival, roll on 2011!

Sculptor Elizabeth Price stole the show at the Arts Festival open exhibition with her tiny ceramic figures dotted all around Masham Church. We’re pleased to announce that we will be stocking some of these lovely ladies in the near future – every home needs one!      Each figure is totally unique and perfect for brightening up any nooks and crannies – they measure approximately 8 inches tall and are between £80 – £95 each.

Back at The Gallery we are hastily stocking up in all our favorite items (and some new stuff too) in readiness for Christmas. We have a bundle of exciting new toys from our much-loved supplier John Crane, gorgeous felt bags from kusan and a lovely selection of Christmas cards. Remember to shop locally as much as possible this Christmas and support your local businesses!

Christmas is not for another five weeks or so, and right now in The Gallery our Autumn exhibition ‘Still’ is open for another two weeks. For those who haven’t managed to drop by and see it yet, don’t delay – it’s a feast for the eyes and won’t be around for much longer! This beautiful original still life by Susan Dennis is still up for grabs at £350.

That’s all from me, see you in December!

Masham Arts Festival 2009

Masham Arts Festival 2009 opens tonight! Kicking off proceedings is the preview of the Arts Festival Open Exhibition at 6pm, closely followed by an evening with David Nobbs, renowned humourist and author of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, at 7.30pm. These events will take place in St.Mary’s Church in the Market Place.

For the next week Masham will be alive with the buzz of creativity and fun.

Each day a number of fantastic events are taking place, aimed at all ages. Practical workshops include Button Jewellery, Mobile Making, Willow Weaving, Chicken Wire Sculptures, Cake Decorating,Printmaking,Art for the Terrified and CD Clocks. The live music line-up includes Mercury Prize-nominated Kathryn Williams, The Birdman Rallies; rising stars from Harrogate whose music has been played to acclaim on Radio 1 and 2, Landermason – a musical duo from northumberland who combine contemporary and traditional folk with jazz, and wrapping the week up are last festival’s most popular act – back by popular demand, The Peace Artists are a Bradford-based street band who really know how to bring the party to life!

All this and so much more – whether you want to learn a new creative skill, explore the history of Masham, discover some great new music or take in some fantastic art – it’s all here.

For more information on the schedule, or to find out how you can book a place on any of the events, please visit the Masham Arts Festival website

www.mashamarts.com

or phone

01765680200

October-Fest!

Autumn is definitely here – we had gale force winds here yesterday and Masham is littered with piles of leaves and the odd broken tree branch.  As always the Gallery is an ocean of calm – particularly in one of our windows where we have a beautiful display of delicate and intricately patterned lampshades by Lush designs. The shades are made from hand-printed paper designed by Maria Livings and are available in a range of sizes, colours and designs.

To accompany the lampshades we have these lovely hanging wooden birds (also by Lush designs). These come flat packed and are easy as pie to put together – they look great in windows or hung from your Lush lampshade!

We’re tapping into the vintage trend this season with some new jewellery. Lost and Found necklaces are made mostly from recycled jewellery and other intriguing objects (look closely and you may find some hand-cast resin with tiny treasures encased inside). Each piece is hand-made and completely unique – prices start at around £20.

Forget the ocean of calm, now that I think about it there’s loads going on! Don’t forget the two most exciting events this October – the start of our next exhibition, ‘Still’, is just around the corner. For more information visit our site or check out September’s blog.

If that wasn’t good enough, this month sees the long-awaited arrival of the Masham Arts Festival 2009. From the 23^rd to the 31^st of this month Masham will be overrun with fun, frolics, music and lots of creativity. There are simply far too many amazing events packed into the week so check out the Festival’s website and don’t forget to book for the events you like – tickets are selling fast!

That’s all from me, have a great October and a happy Halloween.

For Masham Arts Festival info:

www.mashamarts.com

For us!

www.mashamgallery.co.uk

Make – At – Home Project 1: Funky Flower Brooch

Welcome to The Gallery’s new Make-At-Home section where we will be igniting your creativity with a series of exciting craft activities. Follow the simple steps and you’re your very own unique craft items.

This quirky and eye-catching brooch is incredibly simple to make, and is a great way of using up any old bits of fabric, ribbons, buttons, beads or sequins you have lying around (as we all have these lying around I’m sure). You have free reign to decide the size, shape and colour of your creation   – to demonstrate I’m using blue and yellow felt (pansy – inspired) with matching buttons.

You will need:

At least 3 pieces of fabric (you may need more if the fabric you’re using is particularly thin) for the main part of your brooch (and a tiny amount for the backing).

Buttons, beads or sequins of your choice for the added decoration.

A brooch back (easy to come by in craft shops, on ebay or off your old brooches)

Or, if no brooch back is to be found, a medium sized safety pin is a decent substitute.

A needle and thread, or for the super speedy approach, super glue.

STEP ONE:

Your three pieces of fabric will be layered on top of one another – decide which you would like on the bottom/middle/top. Cut each piece of fabric into a simple flower shape. The bottom piece needs to be the largest, the top piece needs to be the smallest, and the middle needs to be…well, somewhere in the middle.

STEP TWO:

Arrange your fabric pieces on top of one another like so:

STEP THREE:

Grab a handful of your buttons/beads and arrange them on your fabric flower. To attach, sew the buttons through all the pieces of fabric so that they become attached together. *

*If you are using super glue only you will need to attach each layer of fabric together with a blob of glue in the centre of each piece.

STEP FOUR:

Turn your flower over – there will be a tangle of crossed threads on the back. To cover this unsightly mess, cut a circular piece of fabric and attach with super glue.

If you have a brooch back, attach to your brooch with super glue. If, like me, you are using a safety pin, cut a small rectangle of fabric, thread through your safety pin and super glue to your brooch. Make sure the opening side of the safety pin is facing up!

And VOILA! Your very own unique flower brooch! Attach to anything you like (we’ve used one of The Gallery’s lovely bags to demonstrate).

Remember to check out the website regularly for more Make – At – Home ideas.

For fun art and craft workshops check out Masham Arts Festival 23^rd – 31^st October 2009.

www.mashamarts.com

February at The Gallery

The Gallery has had a great start to the year. Despite the erratic weather (we appear to have un-meltable snow), it’s lovely to see that so many of you are willing to brave the conditions and drop by, thank you. Over the last month our exhibition schedule has taken shape, and it looks like it’s going to be an exciting year. Below is some teasing information about have we have lined up, for more details please keep checking the ‘exhibitions’ section of our website. And speaking of the website, we’ve been working hard in order to make our online facilities an accessible and enjoyable experience for you all. Check out our links section for some funky and creative websites we’ve come across, including Gallery artist Ian Scott Massie’s new blog.  Incidentally, Ian is also our new featured artist – for a chance to glimpse the inner workings of his brain, and his studio, just go to the ‘pick and mix’ section of our website.

Coming soon; a wider range of our toys, jewellery and ceramics will be available to view online, including the work of ceramicist Elizabeth Price, whose charming and intimate sculptures are a constant joy to be around.

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