Arts Trail & Open Studios Guide Saturday 14th May 2011 - 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Westwood College has had the privilege this year of organising the Arts Trail and Open Studios Day as part of the Leek Arts Festival 2011.  This event is free and is a great opportunity to spend a few hours visiting the town’s art galleries, artists’ studios and shops to view, purchase and to discuss artwork with the artists.   Venue 1: The Gallery Studio, Cross Street Mill, Cross Street, Leek Artists: Krystyna Komar, Milton Delany, Zosia Laudanska, Debbie Carrick and Johny Bermudez   The artists will be working within the Gallery Studio during the Arts Trail Day and all visitors are welcome to view, purchase and to discuss their work.   Johny Bermudez is a portrait artist who works from life and photos using a variety of different media.   Krystyna Komar uses textiles and incorporates other materials to design individual pieces of art. www.krystynakomar.co.uk   Milton Delany is a representational painter striving to capture the wonder of it all without slavish literalism.  www.miltondelany.com   Venue 2:  The Nicholson Art Gallery, Stockwell Street, Leek Artists: The Staffordshire Moorlands Open Art Exhibition   The Open Art Exhibition is an important annual event organised as part of the Leek Arts Festival and gives artists the opportunity to present their work to an independent panel of judges alongside a public vote.  For further information contact Chris Thompson, the exhibition co-ordinator on 01538 387001 or visit www.leekartsfestival.org On Saturday 14th May (10.30am- 3.30pm) students from our local schools will be in the Nicholson Gallery making poppies for The 535 Poppy Project and exhibition.  All visitors are invited to make a poppy and all poppies made will be exhibited in the gallery in 2012.         Venue 3:  John Worthy Gallery, 14 St Edward Street, Leek Artist: Julian Mason Julian spends a lot of his working time in the Peak District, Derbyshire, the Lake District and Cornwall painting in all weathers and seasons.  For many years his work has been exhibited in galleries in Derbyshire, Shropshire, Cornwall and the Staffordshire Moorlands at the invitation of the Gallery owners and is collected by people from around the world who share his great love of seeing the ever changing effects of the elements on the landscape.  His work may be seen in the Gallery during the Arts Trail Day.        Venue 4: St Edward's Vicarage, Church Street, Leek Artists: Borderland Voices www.borderlandvoices.org.uk Borderland Voices was founded in 1998 in Leek, Staffordshire and currently works across the Staffordshire Moorlands. The aim of the group is to promote mental health through the arts and to raise public awareness and understanding of mental health issues by delivering accessible arts projects and offering creative space for self-expression within a mutually supportive community.  Borderland Voices will be exhibiting in St Edward’s Church Vicarage during the Arts Trail Day and will also be making poppies as part of The 535 Poppy Project.  Visitors are invited to have a look at the work on display, make a poppy and relax with a cup of tea.     Artist: Jean Byatt Local artist, Jean Byatt, will be exhibiting her work in St Edward’s Church Vicarage as well as providing watercolour demonstrations in The Gallery. Jean uses watercolours to capture local landscapes and her work can be viewed in the Vicarage and The Gallery. Artist: Sue Blatherwick Sue is a ceramic artist, environmentalist and teacher.  She is concerned with safeguarding the environment and ecological issues are central to the way in which she works.       Venue 5: The Gallery, 17a Broad Street, Leek Artists: The Society of Staffordshire Artists  The Society of Staffordshire Artists was founded in 1933 in the Potteries area of Staffordshire by the amalgamation of several local arts groups and held it’s first exhibition the following year.  The aim of the Society is to foster artistic talent, skills and creativity in the Visual Arts within the county of Staffordshire by staging selected exhibitions of members’ work.   Jean Byatt, local watercolourist, will be providing watercolour demonstrations and exhibiting her work in The Gallery on Saturday.   Venue 6: Colloco, 5-7 Sheepmarket, Leek Artist: Jane Clowes Jane Clowes teaches Art at Westwood College and is a conceptual textile artist working with ideas of time and trace.  During a three month Artist in Residency programme in Mino,  Japan, Jane explored the traditional craft of making Washi paper which has helped develop her own textiles practice. Jane will be selling her “1000 Origami Cranes” (individually and in strings) and demonstrating how to make them in Colloco during the Arts Trail Day.  All proceeds raised will go to the Japanese Relief Fund.     535 Poppy Project To be entered into the Westwood College Prize Draw, visitors are invited to take part in the 535 Poppy Project which will be running in the Vicarage with Borderland Voices and local students in the Nicholson Art Gallery on Saturday 14th May.  Visitors are invited to make a poppy to celebrate the names that are listed on our famous war memorial in the centre of Leek.  The Leek Town Council wishes to raise the profile of the Nicholson War Memorial and have just received a Heritage Lottery Funding grant to renovate the monument this year.  The Pupil Pyramid Arts Council, which is co-ordinated through Westwood College, came up with the idea of making 535 poppies which will be exhibited in the Nicholson Gallery in 2012.       The Leek College Art Department, textiles rooms, photography studio and related areas will be open for the Leek Arts Festival on Saturday 14th May from 10am until 1pm. Tours of the College will be on offer and attendees will have a chance to view student work, learn about the artistic history of Leek College School of Art and find out about courses on offer to them. The College Coffee Shop will be open for Coffee, Tea and Cakes.

© Leek Arts Festival 2009