Mayday Mayday!
Responses from 24 artists on Instagram from 29 May to 21 June 2023.
Click here to read the press release, click here to view.
Mayday Mayday!
Responses from 24 artists on Instagram from 29 May to 21 June 2023.
Click here to read the press release, click here to view.
Aldeburgh Beach Lookout
RAG member: Jane Oldfield
Jane has created a triptych of lino prints on sale for £50 to support the Lookout Arthouse, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Image: Triptych, lino prints with collage, framed 29 x 56 cm
Artist Billboard: Decoy
RAG member: Stephen Williams
Decoy: lure, bait, redherring, enticement, inducement, temptation, attraction, allurement, draw, carrot, ensnarement, entrapment, snare, trap, pitfall, ambush. The serendipity of thought and memory – with text and image we understand that a bilateral language is being used. Sometimes obfuscating, sometimes clarifying but essentially it reveals a history of association and thought. Decoy by Stephen Williams has been realised with the support of Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust.
Image: Daimler-Benz AG 1959, L322 short-nosed truck - Falaise, France
Pauline Harding
We are saddened by the loss of RAG member Pauline Harding who died unexpectedly at home in peace on 30 December 2021.
Pauline was Chair of Riverside Artists Group for a number of years, a role which she undertook with diplomatic good humour and seriousness. She very generously hosted meetings in her London flat, found venues and organised exhibitions, including in the Knapp Gallery and The Institute of Physics. Pauline also created what has become an enduring arrangement with the Cavendish Conference Centres, most recently at their venue in America Square where RAG is exhibiting currently as part of the Totally Thames Festival.
Pauline studied at Canterbury and Wimbledon art colleges then trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths College. After graduating in 1967, she began and dropped-out of a masters course in Public Art at Chelsea School of Art going on to make murals in Battersea Park, White City estate, Townmead Youth Club, Brixton with Dale McCrae, and a role assisting David Bratby in his Elephant & Castle subway. Her practice of drawing, painting, printmaking and collage led to exhibiting in group shows and individually, notably alongside Mary Algar first at Merton Abbey Mills and later at Gabriels Wharf with the collective Artshed.
Pauline taught art in schools, facilitated visual arts in youthwork and was a playleader in what used to be called One o'Clock Clubs and on adventure playgrounds. Her son, Anton – also a RAG member – enjoyed the many benefits of all of this in Pauline's endearing presence.
More broadly, her interest in Taoist arts – which were among the many other cultural investigations Pauline revelled in and her radical humanism, e.g. pacifism (CND and latterly Campaign Against the Arms Trade) – advanced most notably when, with the arrival in London of Master Lam and his family, she enjoyed what might be taken as a quantum leap in the standard of training. Pauline's devotions here are estimated by Anton (who also teaches) to have become a practitioner at the highest level. Pauline made two trips to China and tours of Italy and Spain; in Portugal she met Anton's father, Edwardo White, and made two visits to the USA and never enough of those Pennine treks she coaxed the son she would visit in West Yorkshire onto.
She will be greatly missed by all at Riverside Artists Group.
Mini Picture Show, Bankside Gallery 2
RAG member: Sarah Granville
Connected by Colour and Mini Picture Show 1
RAG member: Chloe Fremantle
Chloe has work in two upcoming shows.
Image: Complex Contemplations, Watercolour 25.5x18"
From: 12 November - 23 December
Connected by Colour at the Gallery at Holt, Norfolk
thegalleryholt.com
From: 3 December 2021 - 30 January 2022
Mini Picture Show at the Bankside Gallery, London
banksidegallery.com
I hadn’t forgotten
RAG member: Mike Abrahams
Mike’s moving image ‘I dreamt I woke up remembering I hadn’t forgotten’ has been selected for inclusion in Hackney Museum's forthcoming exhibition Experiences of the Pandemic (working title). Throughout the two year refurbishment of Liberty Hall in Clapton, east London, Mike utilised the hoardings as a giant message board. As we entered the first lockdown in 2020, it became a 'Memori-wall' where people joined together weekly to remember those who had passed away and when the building opened, a regular drumming circle continued to remember.
From: February 2022
Hackney Museum, 1 Reading Lane, London E8 1GQ
To watch the moving image click here
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2
RAG member: Sarah Granville
Open days at Studio 5
RAG member: Máire Gartland
Come and view the artworks produced in the community workshops held in August and September as part of the Totally Thames 2021 festival supported by Arts Council England, Thames River Trust and the Museum of Water & Steam.
Claire Ireland will be showcasing her new wearable ceramic sculptures and freestanding pieces on 11 December at her nearby studio and Ken Gartland’s stained glass lanterns will light the way and be on sale for Crisis at Christmas.
Friday 10 December, 1 - 5pm
Saturday 11 December, 11-6.30pm
Contact: Máire Gartland mairegartland@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 07925 954183
Studio 5, Museum of Water & Steam, Brentford (entrance on Green Dragon Lane TW8 0EN)
Oasis – a new charity initiative
RAG member: Joanna Brendon MBE
Paintings in Hospitals has launched OASIS (Original Art for the Socially Isolated) in the Guildford and Waverley area this November. It is a pilot project created to ease social isolation and loneliness at home by connecting participants with art, creative activities, and communities of like-minded people while lending a supportive ear or offering advice to others experiencing similar struggles. The project aims to place meaningful artworks, specially produced for individuals, directly into people’s homes and to enable participants to make new social connections through a range of guided conversations and group activities.
Joanna, the founder of the initiative who brought the concept of OASIS to Paintings in Hospitals, knows the struggle people face in isolation from her own complex health challenges. “I’m an all-too-frequent visitor to hospital. Initially, it was here where I discovered the work of Paintings in Hospitals. Coming home, I realised how fortunate I am to be surrounded by art, including my own, the creating of which is hugely important to my wellbeing. This led me to think that, while patients benefit from art in hospital, it is those isolated at home who really suffer from the lack of it, whether to soothe or stimulate. This isolation pre-existed the pandemic but the virus shone a spotlight on it and exacerbated the problem for vulnerable people: people with chronic, and sometimes terminal, illnesses who don’t often visit hospitals as there is nothing there to improve their clinical experience or outcome. I’m in my mid-seventies, and still regard myself as very much alive, but I am realistic about my health conditions, so it was very important that whatever I set up was sustainable."
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1
RAG member: Lynn Beel
Lynn had her image Hope shortlisted for this years show.
Image: Hope (detail)
Winchester Cathedral and Karamel Autumn Hues exhibition
RAG member: Lucille Dweck
The Licoricia of Winchester painting has been completed and handed over, showing Licoricia in the great hall at Winchester meeting with King Henry III. The plans for it are not yet finalised, but it will be published in a book about Licoricia and may be hung in the Great Hall, or possibly the Winchester museum.
Image: Licoricia of Winchester, Oil on linen 16 x 12"
For more information click here
Lucille also has a watercolour, Light Tunnel, 9x7" in Karamel/Collage Arts Autumn Hues exhibition.
For more information click here
Christmas Fairs
RAG member: Natalia Bobrova
Natalia's work is featured at these various fairs and events.
Christmas Art and Design Fair: 12-13 November
Artists at Home Charity Auction: 17-28 November
The Zero Emissions Art Market: 28 November and 12 December
Latymer Foundation Christmas Fair: 4 December
Tree Of Life
RAG members: Brian Deighton and G. Calvert
From: 18-26 September
Electro Studios, Seaside Road, St Leonards-on-sea TN38 0AL
Private view: 17 September
electrostudiosprojectspace.co.uk
Open studio
RAG members: Shona Elrick, Máire Gartland, Saadeh George, Janey Hagger and Felicity Swan
The exhibition will include paintings, sculpture and a piece by Saadeh George made from plastic recovered from the Thames. The open studio is part of a series of new art projects and community events with a river theme. The events take place from September along the Thames from Brentford to Tower Bridge as part of Totally Thames 2021 festival.
Image: Saadeh George
Saturdays and Sundays through September, 12.30-5pm
Contact: Máire Gartland mairegartland@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 07925 954183
Studio 5, Museum of Water & Steam, Brentford (entrance on Green Dragon Lane TW8 0EN)
Brentford Community Clay Workshops
RAG members: Máire Gartland with Janey Hagger
Come and join one of the workshops to help make an installation of clay figures and other items to represent the local community. These workshops are free and open to all ages and abilities from five years of age. Young children must be accompanied by an adult. The installation is an ongoing project supported by Arts Council England and Thames River Trust as well as the Museum of Water & Steam.
The workshops are part of a series of new art projects and community events with a river theme. The events take place from September along the Thames from Brentford to Tower Bridge as part of Totally Thames 2021 festival.
Saturdays 18 and 25 September, 10-12pm
More information: thamesfestivaltrust.org
Tickets: Máire Gartland mairegartland@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 07925 954183
Museum of Water & Steam, Brentford (entrance on Green Dragon Lane TW8 0EN)
Whistler Walk with Martin Ireland
RAG member: Martin Ireland
A walk starting in Ropers Gardens SW3 5AT through Chelsea and Battersea riverside neighbourhoods following the footsteps of the famous artist James McNeil Whistler. The walk is part of a series of new art projects and community events with a river theme. The events take place from September along the Thames from Brentford to Tower Bridge as part of Totally Thames 2021 festival.
Saturday 18 September, 2-4pm
Tickets £5pp: thamesfestivaltrust.org
Contact: Martin Ireland 07946 354852
River Exhibition at America Square
24 RAG members
River at America Square presents new artworks as a direct response to the River Thames, or as a metaphorical interpretation of the nature and influence of rivers. The exhibition is part of a series of new art projects and community events with a river theme. The events take place from September along the Thames from Brentford to Tower Bridge as part of Totally Thames 2021 festival.
Open days: Saturdays 4 and 11 September, 12-6pm
By appointment: Jenny Hullock jenny@cavendishvenues.com or telephone 07932 005264
Contact: Shona Elrick 07796 206695
America Square Conference Centre, 1 America Square, 17 Crosswall, Tower Bridge, EC3N 2LB
RAG Annual 2021 – I Dreamt I Woke Up
34 RAG Members
The artists contemplate the awakening from the dreamlike times that have confronted us. For the visitor, the excitement of a real exhibition set in ACAVA's beautiful top-lit Central Space Gallery in Shepherds Bush is intensified through the textures of paint and the feel of real-space sculpture and assemblage. With each artist providing up to four artworks that are also for sale, it is an opportunity for our increasing audience and collectors to enjoy a range of small to medium sized works.
Central Space Gallery, 23-29 Faroe Road, London W14 0EL
From: 14-31 July 2021 Wednesday-Sundays 12-6pm
Please book your visit by calling Susan Bazin on 07711 670718 or email: susan@bazin5.com
Or, on arrival, you will be greeted by one of our invigilators who will take your details.
Please wear a facemask.
To see the online exhibition click here
RAG River project @studio 5
RAG Members: Maire Gartland with Janey Hagger, Felicity Swan, Shona Elrick, Martin Ireland and Saadeh George
Congratulations to Maire: She have been successful in her funding application for the Arts Council grant for the River community based projects. Maire will be running a ceramic workshop in a school in July to kick start ‘River’. In September she has a further three community workshops lined up with Janey Hagger working with her. These will be at the Museum of Water and Steam in Brentford. All through September we will be showing the pieces from the workshops as an ongoing installation together with a few pieces of River related artwork from some of the Rag River Group at Maire Gartland’s studio, adjacent to the museum. This will include a piece by Saadeh George made from plastic recovered from the river.
Image: Maire Gartland ‘Turner on the Thames’ Mixed media
Open every weekend during September, otherwise confirm your visit with Maire on mairegartland@hotmail.co.uk
Maire's studio: (point number 8) Studio 5, London Museum of Water and Steam, Green Dragon Lane TW8 OEN
The best of times, the worst of times…?
RAG Member: Mike Abrahams
Together with artist Francesca Giuliano, Mike has been commissioned to create a permanent artwork for Kensington Central Library that will be completed in the autumn. The piece entitled The worst of times, the best of times...? utilises the public's responses to a questionnaire regarding their reading habits during lockdown and now (as we emerge from lockdown). The work is part of the Kensington + Chelsea Festival.
From: now to mid August
Everyone is invited to complete the short questionnaire on this link