Pop Up Shop

It's been a while since we had anything in the gallery - this month saw the Pop Up Design Shop open + lots of people have been coming down and enjoying the show, some have even been spending Money.

This exhibition was a joint exhibition with Hunky Dory Home a super cool and friendly internet company who does 'gorgeous quirky things, for gorgeous quirky people' we also invited some of our studio holders

and friend of Mushroom Works to show some of their products too.

This event is part of the Design Event North East festival which is supported by the Arts Council, England and Northern Rock Foundation. The festival takes place from 22-31 October 2010 throughout the North East region and the theme this year is Conversation. There will be a range of exhibitions and events covering all aspects of design from product design to graphics, fashion and architecture.

below - Owls teatowel by Lisa Jones Studio

Come and learn at Mushroom Works

Our Life Drawing classes are set to start again next month at long last. It's been a while coming and we have been waiting for it to warm up a bit! Come June, Thursday nights are Life Drawing nights. places have filled up fast, but we still have a few places left if you are interested. there also may be a chance to run a Saturday morning class if people are interested, let us know if you are!

Also next month we are starting some other classes in drawing and writing. These are beginners classes for those who feel they need a little encouragement. We have teamed up with Jodi from NE:ART to bring you these classes. Jodi is a Fine Art graduate specialising in painting and drawing; she has been working in museum and gallery education for a number of years working with children and adults.

to find out more - or to book a place, check out our website

Whats been going on this April??

Just in case you were wondering what’s going on with our resident artists this April, here’s your chance to find out…

Celebrations are in order for painter, Joanne Wishart, who’s won the Women into the Network award for Best Creative Business. This award recognizes the innovation and entrepreneurial success that Joanne’s had with her stunning coastal collection.

Illustrator, Bethan Laker is working on a little something for Newcastle Library’s upcoming birthday, has it really been a year already?

Last week saw Natalie Bell and Eva Bauer put on an impressive show at the Revolving Gallery’s Spring Collection Exhibition. If you missed it visit the Revolving Gallery website to check out what was on display.

Best of Luck to Nick James, who has just been nominated for Best Creative Business by NEbusiness

...One last thing, if you haven't already then come down to the Mushroom Works this week and take a look at Jane Smallcombe's gorgeous applique designs, they won't disappoint.

The next chapter...

Seems like lots has been changing round our way recently, Lara left the flock for pastures new + Justin and Graeme joined the team. We were VERY sad to see Lara go but also very excited by the fresh blood and enthusiasm Justin and Graeme bring, they are already shining bright after only a few weeks!

Last week we opened out latest show Applique, an exhibition of fantastic textiles by Jane Smallcombe. The reaction to the show was great and people showed their appreciation by buying lots of the work on the opening night.

You can see more of the the exhibition on our flickr page

We are going to Living North LIVE!

During the last weekend of March you’ll be able to catch some of our studio holders at the Living North LIVE fair held at Newcastle Racecourse. The fair, which focuses on interiors, homes, gardens, lifestyle and food, takes place over Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28th March. As well a variety of regional exhibitors there’ll be demonstrations and talks, one of which features our very own Nick James, Sarah Blood, Michael Armstrong (AFID Design) and Bettina Nissen.

Here's some information about the artists, if you didn't know already...... Nick James is situated in Studio 1 in the Mushroom Works and is a designer maker of high quality, unique and creative furniture. Also sharing Studio 1, Michael Armstrong runs of AFID Design provides a commissioned based service producing beautiful, modern, hand-made furniture. Next door in Studio 2 you can find Sarah Blood, a visual artist whose primary medium is light, explored through neon and mixed media. The final artist taking part in this event is Bettina Nissen, a product designer who specializes in witty, thoughtful and very desirable designs!

The Mushroom Works artists can be found at stands S45 & S46 in the Tattersall Hall of the Home & Gardens section, so keep an eye out if you're popping along, and make sure you say hello!

Speaking of keeping an eye out, we have new faces in and around the Mushroom Works these days! Graeme, who started just today is Mushroom Works very own caretaker, making sure the place looks spik and span and Justin, who started with us on Monday will be helping us with a few new workspace developments (more on this later!) .

Have a little nose around ...

Ever wondered what our studio holders are up to as they beaver away … take a peak at their blogs, updating you on their latest works and ponderings here is a few snippets that might help you get clicking …

Illustrator, Bethan Laker is excited about her new project for Tyneside Cinema, working with writer Rob Walton.  You can follow her latest sketches as her project develops.

Joanne Wishart lets us know about her brilliant time at the NEC Birmingham Spring Fair, where her gorgeous new coastal card designs went down a storm.

On a more peculiar note Jim Edwards gives us the background story of his latest contribution to our ‘Home Sweet Home’ exhibition, read about the tricky elements Jim came across when painting portraits on snail shells!

Sarah Blood, herself one of the featured snail portraits, chats about her thoughts of Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art’s exhibition of Jenny Holzer as well as the reopening of the Kitch-en gallery.

Nick James and Lucinda Kelly will update you on their latest work, Lucinda previews her drawings whereas Nick documents his wooden wonders.

Lee Turner, of Hole Editions updates us on his latest demonstrations of Photolithography at Northern Print giving you the chance to learn a little and maybe give printing ago.

 

Welcome Michaela!

Mushroom Works welcomed a new volunteer last week! Fresh from the studios of Newcastle University's Architecture Department Michaela, is a 3rd year undergraduate looking to get some experience within the Artist/Gallery/Exhibition world. Originally from sunny old Kent, Michaela is a bit of a northern convert planning to stay in Newcastle after her degree. One of the things keeping her up here is the wide range of exciting art exhibitions shown across the city including those held by the Mushroom Works.

 

She'll currently be helping Lara on a weekly basis, doing a range of jobs from the fun, yet messy exhibition re-paint to essential admin jobs helping to keep everything ticking over.

We 'felt' we just had to

This show's only been up a week and we're already wanting to blog about the next one... we're THAT excited about it! During April we welcome to the gallery Jane Smallcombe, a local designer/maker who creates beautiful and unique handmade accessories. Although Jane has previously exhibited with Mushroom Works, during our Perfect Presents show, Applique will be Jane's first solo show.

As many of our blog followers will know, Jane makes really gorgeous one off felt brooches, scarves and hair accessories. Labelled a 'creative whizz with a needle and thread', Jane has designed and made a few new pieces for the show, expanding her ranges to include cushions and framed artwork. We are really looking forward to working with her.

If you can't wait until April to see Jane's latest creations you can always check out her blog, which she regularly updates.

Something's not quite right!?

Last week we posted a few images form the exhibition but for some reason they weren't showing up properly this week. After a little playing around to 'make it better', they disappeared completely so I am reposting them (because they were nice images!) They're from the show Home, Sweet home, which is on now. (T-B Sarah Blood, Castle in the Sky, Eva Bauer, Nostaglia, Jim Edwards, Snails)

Looking for a venue to hire?

We might have just the thing!



Lately we've been hosting quite a few events for folks in the cultural sector as (thanks to a grant from Arts Council Engalnd, North East last year) we have now a great little flexible space for hire.

The space works really well for education workshops, seminars, meetings, courses, you name it - it can pretty much fit the bill! Last week we held Adobe Illustrator workshops (via Cleveland College of Art & Design) for mac users, a couple of months ago we held GLEAM workshops for creative businesses, we've used it for children's workshops and soon for we'll be hiring it to Women Into the Network for a series of seminars.

If you'd like to find out more, like how many people can we accommodate, what kind of set up we can offer, what kind of IT support we have on hand and how much are our rates you can check out our venue hire page or give us a ring on 0191 2244011.

Open for business!

Afternoon folks. You'll be pleased to know that our Home, Sweet Home exhibition is now open! Ignoring yesterday's horrible weather we were joined by a few friends (some old, some new) to celebrate our first Mushroom Works / Brick Works group show in a while. The show will be on until Saturday 20th March, so you've plenty of time to plan a trip down to the Ouseburn.

Home Sweet Home

Hello lovely Mushroom followers! We've been thinking about home a lot lately, mainly because that's the theme of our next show, Home, Sweet Home but also because we've been spending a lot more time there, what with all this super cold weather.

We've been talking about it a lot at tea breaks, whether it is actually a physical place or more a an emotional trigger such as a smell, a sound, a monument, a geographical area or a even feeling of belonging. Home is such a personal space and we each have our own special relationship with it.

Whilst home to Bethan and Lara is all about open fires and baking, Sarah B thinks home is more of a concept - it doesn't matter where she is so long as she has a skype connection she feels at home. Lee thinks of home simply as a stop off between his activities and Jim sees it as somewhere to sleep and store belongings.

We'd really like to know what you think of home. We've been asking our twitter followers to join in by marking their tweets with #HomeTweetHome. (Click on the link to see the responses, or even better, join in!) And we've been asking Facebook fans to join in on the event page. You could leave a comment here, it doesn't really matter how you comment, just so long as you do. We're planning to show all the responses during the exhibition and will be asking visitors to join in too so if you don't comment virtually you can do it pop in and throughout the show.

Right better get back to that wallpapering...


Happy Pancake Day BTW!

Start the year with a bargain or two!

Studio Sales
Sat 9th January – Sat 6th February 2009

Banish the January blues and bag yourself a creative bargain at our Studio Sales. A once-a-year event where you will be able to purchase all the things you really wanted for Christmas at super affordable prices. Featuring work by established regional artists, designer and makers based at the Mushroom Works, including furniture designer/makers, Michael Armstrong and Nick James, illustrator, Bethan Laker and artist, Natalie Bell.

It's a great opportunity to buy work by our studio holders at a fraction of the original selling price (some up to 75% less!) – it's a great way to start buying art and design pieces from established regional artists and designers.

Mushroom Works is part of the Own Art, an interest free loan scheme designed to make it easy and affordable for everyone to own high quality contemporary works of art and craft.

Afid Design WOW! shelves (pictured): were £50 now £35