Strong Island

Architecture & The City

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls

Late last year we spied some photos of the LED changing colour lights on the beach side of the Hot Walls in Old Portsmouth on Instagram and they really caught our eye. The lights form a pattern of different colours on the ancient city and port fortifications and are a striking sight to all visitors arriving to the city by sea.

Local photographer Andrew Whyte has been down on the beach with his camera and capturing these lights in a way that means you can see all of the colours in one snapshot in time, quite a tricky task. Check Andrew’s photos of the lights below and you can visit Andrew’s Flickr to see more of his work.

P.S. To see Andrew’s panoramic photo much, much larger (recommended!) click HERE.

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (1)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (2)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (3)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (4)

Coloured Lights on the Hot Walls by Andrew Whyte (5)

Vintage Portsmouth: The Odeon Cinema in Southsea

The grand, maritime inspired art deco architecture of The Odeon cinema on the corner of Highland Road and Festing Road made it one of the most striking buildings in both the city and the south coast. The cinema was opened in 1937 and was the height of luxury at the time, built to accommodate 1,700 customers with ample leg room plus a grand foyer and balconies. It later changed it’s name to the Salon in 1977 and in 1981 was changed to two screens. Like many smaller cinemas at the time the cinema was hit hard by the growth of home video and sadly closed in 1985 and then demolished. The space where the cinema was located is now part of the grounds of Craneswater Junior School. A real pity such a beautiful cinema such as this was not saved as old cinemas have been in other towns and cities such as The Dome in Worthing.

The photos below show the exterior and the interior and they belong to Portsmouth City Council and the John Maltby collection, which belongs to English Heritage.

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea by John Maltby (English Heritage)

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea by John Maltby (English Heritage)

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea by John Maltby (English Heritage)

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea by John Maltby (English Heritage)

The Odeon Cinema in Southsea - The Salon in 1978

Pompey Talks Pompey Film

Earlier this year Aspex Gallery commissioned artist and filmmaker Annis Joslin to create a film that engaged with local people to try and and discover an answer to a question raised by the gallery in the run up to it’s conference at the New Theatre Royal. The question was: What’s Next for Culture in Portsmouth?

The film is centred around a tour around the city in the back of a taxi where the filmmaker is introduced to the city’s places, people and uncovers aspects of it’s cultural identity. The film received a very warm welcome at the conference and was screened in the gallery for some time after.

Hopefully the whole film will appear online at some point but for now here is an extract that covers the Dinosaur and gives you a good feel on what the film is like:

Portsmouth Cultural Petridish

The Eastney Beam Engine House.

Stuck on things to do at the weekend? Short on dollar due to Christmas shopping? Thankfully Portsmouth and Southsea offers many free attractions dotted around the city, but none more impressive than the Eastney Beam Engine House on Henderson Road. This magnificent Victorian building and working relic of the past is a must see if you are yet to go. Containing a pair of classic Boulton Watt beam engines and pumps faithfully restored to their original 1887 condition. Entrance is free and you can even help yourself to a mug of tea or coffee in exchange for a small donation. You can find further information on the Portsmouth Museums website by clicking here.










BUPA Great South Run this Sunday 28th October

I’ve never actually been down to watch the runners, let alone take part, but I understand it’s quite a sight to see 10,000 people running along the seafront. The Bupa Great South Run is notably labeled as Europes leading 10 mile road race and was awarded the coveted IAAF gold label status, becoming the first 10 miler in the world to be given the accolade for its exceptional standards of organisation and world class elite fields. Pretty impressive

If like me the thought of running makes your legs cry then you can watch it live on Channel 5 this Sunday 28th October from 10.00am.

Good luck to everyone who is taking part and remember to think like Linford and make sure to stretch before and after. Like I know what I’m talking about…

south_event

Portsmouth Architecture School Society

The Portsmouth Architecture School Society (PASS) is a student-run society, within the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture and Interior Design. PASS aim to enrich student life through their renowned guest lecture series, fun social events, trips, debates, competitions and exhibitions. PASS has been an active student society for a number of years, with strong links to architectural practices, local businesses and has a reputation for hosting fantastic events and now for the first time is run by a fully elected PASS committee.

This academic year PASS has been heavily inspired by the local creative scene and, as clearly shown on their website, is a thriving group of young people bursting with creative ideas and has the knowhow in making them happen. Props to PASS from us here at Strong Island.

You don’t have to be a student to get involved and become a member. Annual membership is only £12 for students and £20 for other and gives you access to a huge array of events both within the city and further afield, check their blog on the website to see what’s happening next.

To find out more about PASS you can check their website (link below) or their FACEBOOK.

pass-online.co.uk

Portsmouth Architecture School Society (2)

Portsmouth Architecture School Society (1)

Portsmouth Architecture School Society (3)

Seafront and City Centre Masterplans Podcast

The deadline for the seafront and city centre planning masterplans is quickly approaching (14th September) so if you want your say on the possible proposed changes to the city now is your chance to get involved. You can find out more about the masterplans with our previous article HERE plus Portsmouth City Council have recently uploaded an mp3 podcast with lots of interviews that help explain the prospective changes plus when these changes may take place, well worth a listen. People interviewed in the podcast include Head of the PCC Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson and Mike Allgrove, assistant head of planning services for the council.

You can listen/download the podcast HERE.

Shaping the Future of Portsmouth (1)

Shaping the Future of Portsmouth (3)

Fratton House Mural

Alex Oliver recently moved to Portsmouth and in his own words was more than a little surprised by the creative activity in our small island city:

“I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of local art, artists and creative types in what I always assumed was a rather ‘low-key’ city. Inspired by the street art I’ve seen in and around the city I thought I might see if I could add to it…”

Alex’s contribution was to paint the front of his house and change it from it’s usual, Portsmouth uniform terrace self in to something colourful and full of character. We’re loving this mural and with Porter’s Row it all helps brighten up the streets of the city & reflects the colour and personality of the people that live here.

Fratton House Mural

New Mary Rose Museum Virtual Tour & History Lesson

We mentioned the new Mary Rose Museum currently being built the other day (see HERE) with a timelapse of the museum being constructed. Yesterday Mark from ID Group got in touch via our Twitter (@StrongIslandUK) about their museum virtual tour about the museum, giving a graphic glimpse in to how it will look and feel, it is well worth a watch:

The New Mary Rose Museum

Something I’ve been really excited about for ages now is the new Mary Rose Museum. Not only will the new museum be an incredible asset to the city but it’s also an incredible architectural design and construction achievement by all involved. Creating a new museum with the precious and fragile remains of the Mary Rose in place, in a dock that is a scheduled ancient monument and create a cutting edge attraction allowing people to experience the ship and it’s contents in tactile, dynamic way; something to be celebrated and be proud of as a city.

You can find out more about this special structure and project at www.maryrose.org

Below is a timelapse of the museum building taking shape all the way from September 2009 to June 2012.

Features

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island & local artist When We Were Cows present ‘Southsea in an Instant’ an instant photography afternoon walk where anyone with a camera that uses Polaroid, Impossible Project or Fuji instant film are welcome to get involved. We will be exploring Southsea seafront from 1pm on 18th May with our instant photography cameras, starting off at The Bridge Tavern Pub at The Camber in Old Portsmouth. We’ll then make our way to The Hot Walls and then along the Millenium walk and then the Prom to South Parade Pier.

From the pier we’ll make our way to Albert Road and we’ll then be holding an instant, pop-up exhibition with the photos taken during the walk in Little Johnny Russells from 5pm to 7pm. We’ll then put the photos up on our upcoming exhibitions archive section of the Strong Island website soon after.

If you want to get involved simply pop along to The Bridge Tavern from around 12:30 to 1pm, the more the merrier and all that. Look forward to seeing you there!

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island & local artist When We Were Cows present ‘Southsea in an Instant’ an instant photography afternoon walk where anyone with a camera that uses Polaroid, Impossible Project or Fuji instant film are welcome to get involved. We will be exploring Southsea seafront from 1pm on 18th May with our instant photography cameras, starting off at The Bridge Tavern Pub at The Camber in Old Portsmouth. We’ll then make our way to The Hot Walls and then along the Millenium walk and then the Prom to South Parade Pier.

From the pier we’ll make our way to Albert Road and we’ll then be holding an instant, pop-up exhibition with the photos taken during the walk in Little Johnny Russells from 5pm to 7pm. We’ll then put the photos up on our upcoming exhibitions archive section of the Strong Island website soon after.

If you want to get involved simply pop along to The Bridge Tavern from around 12:30 to 1pm, the more the merrier and all that. Look forward to seeing you there!

Southsea in an Instant, An Instant Photography Walk and Instant Exhibition

Strong Island Clothing Co X Portsmouth Supporters Trust T-Shirt Available for Pre-Order

As you are probably well aware from reading the news recently, the Portsmouth Supporters Trust succeeded in their bid to take control of Portsmouth FC making it the biggest community owned club in the UK. It is a long and hard fought victory by the fans that have endured years of bad fortune, bad news and bad performances and a couple of the SI crew have seen most of them! PST’s aim is to bring about responsible, democratic representation at Portsmouth Football Club and so help promote the highest standards of transparent governance, accountability and embed Portsmouth FC deeper into its community through greater communication and co-operation with its fans.

We contacted the PST back in November last year to put forward our idea of doing a Strong Island PFC edition T-shirt to raise money towards buying a share in the club. The PST warmly welcomed the idea and we are pleased to say we are now putting our plan into action.

Strong Island is keen to get behind the trust as are many others. We’re going to pledge £5 of every limited edition SI X PFC tee sold towards Strong Island buying a share of the football club, therefore financially helping PFC in it’s aim to become stable again and continue to be a hugely important aspect of the city.

The design itself is a re-imagining of the common elements from the iconic Portsmouth FC logo from the 1980s and the Strong Island logo, with two swords in place, each dated with the club’s FA Cup wins. The Strong Island Clothing Co. items are normally hand screened in East London but for this particular tee they are produced literally just down the road from Fratton Park and will be at a special price of £15 (plus P&P).

No matter if you are passionate about football or not, we hope this tee is a way of showing support for a club that is now a beacon to the rest of the country for a city and a community that strives to work together for the better.

To pre-order the t-shirt click on the link below. Tees will be back from the printers soon and we hope to have orders in the post by the end of the month, if not sooner.

Strong Island Clothing Co. X Portsmouth Supporters Trust T-Shirt

Anglepoise, Strong Island and The University of Portsmouth Present The Creating Balance Project

We are very proud to announce The Creating Balance Project, a new, collaborative project between Anglepoise, Strong Island & the University of Portsmouth to celebrate a design classic and local creativity in Portsmouth. The project aims to showcase the working studios and disciplines of artists and designers across the island and connect them to local photographers to capture, document and collaborate.

Anglepoise lamps have been given to each of the 10 participating artists/designers and the 10 photographers involved have used the lamps to light the photographs, give a sense of place and document the artist, where they work & how they create. During the collaboration sessions University of Portsmouth BSc TV and Broadcast students Massimo Marzullo and Jonas Jakunas have been documenting the project, producing short films for each collaboration.

Later this summer key images from each photographer will be printed and displayed with the films, lamps, photos and more in an exhibition in Portsmouth and one in London (TBA).

The collaborations are:

Andrew Whyte & Peter Clutterbuck
Matt Sills & Lorna Apps-Woodland
Paul Gonella & Tristan Savage
Russell Squires & Farkfk
Josh Knill & I Love Dust
Thor Haley & William Pounds
Rob Luckins & Roo + Barry Abrook
Cotton Candy & Neal Layton + Sadie Tierney
Matt Saxey & Deer Park Alpha
My Dog Sighs & Jack Daly

The project is progressing over the next couple of months and already two films are finished and many collaborations complete. Below are the completed collaboration films and we will be posting updates on The Creating Balance Project regularly here on Strong Island. To keep up to date with the project also please check the Creating Balance website where you can see loads of photos from behind the scenes of the collaborations.

creatingbalanceproject.tumblr.com

A huge thank you to Claire Sambrook, Simon at Anglepoise and everyone involved.

The Creating Balance Project

The Creating Balance Project (3)

The Creating Balance Project (4)

The Creating Balance Project (5)

The Creating Balance Project (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Spring 2013 Capsule Now Available

It’s been a while (apologies) but the Strong Island Clothing Co. spring 2013 capsule drop is now available and online in the Strong Island Shop Ahoy store! The drop includes some brand new Branded tee colourways, a new grey crew (highest quality, carefully selected and sourced) and a collection of accessories including new beanies, our seriously high quality Branded iPhone cases (4 & 5) from Etch and our hand crafted, leather coin pouch collaboration with Raw & Auburn.

To kick this capsule drop off right we visited the home of Portsmouth’s Eberhardt signwriters and neon sign specialists. Eberhardt are a true creative business gem of the city with a very long history and still produce hand crafted, carefully designed neon signs, a rare and special craft these days. Check the photos below and the behind the scenes edit too to see more. Photography principally by Jack Daly.

View the full lookbook HERE.

www.strongislandclothingco.com

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (1)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (2)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (3)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (4)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (5)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (6)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (7)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (8)

Strong Island Clothing Co. Collections - Spring 2013 - Eberhardt (9)

Opening Night of the My Dog Sighs Exhibition at The West Bank Gallery in London

Southsea and Portsmouth street artist (and Strong Island contributor) My Dog Sighs had the opening to his solo show in London last night and as expected, he killed it. ‘Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me’ opened at The West Bank Gallery and is home to not only the largest collection of My Dog Sighs’ work to date but also shows his work sparking off in to some new directions of creativity including the apples, collaborations with other artists and a room covered with paintings that can be cut out to reveal a painting underneath.

Word was that pre-opening sales had gone really, really well and there were people outside the gallery at 8am, ready and willing to wait the ten hours on the pavement to get their chance to have a look and buy some of My Dog’s work. Don’t take our word for it, below are the thoughts and opinions of the show by the people who experienced it and I think say all you might need to know…:

“I’ve been to several exhibition openings but none as been as warm as the one of MyDog. He was there happy to meet his fans and the staff was friendly, helpful and more than happy to introduce you to him. And about the art, what can I say; it’s truly sweet and inspiring. You have either the eyes that give an entire story in their gaze to the delightful stick men, all accompanied by simple but touching phrases”. – Dette Marhez

“I queued from 8 in the morning and throughout the day MDS popped out offering coffee and to talk to the brave hardy souls braving the temperatures. His whole manner on the run up and throughout the day and night is an example to any up and coming artist and artists in general. The gallery is a cracking space to show in and the work on show was of the highest order. MDS and the collabs were exhibited so well it was pleasure to wander around and warm up!” – Rob Pike

“The show promised big things and I was not disappointed. After an impressive 12 months from his first solo show at Pure Evil, I was looking forward to seeing how Can Man had progressed. There was not a bare wall in the gallery and the whole show felt like an art hunt with pieces hiding in every nook and cranny. With so many pieces to choose from MDS had taken his work to the next level and even managed to capture the innocent of a lost can on the street that you can take home and put on your wall. The hype is well deserved and things can only get better!” – Ryk Turner

“I loved it. It’s kind of like he’s brought life and beauty back to the discarded and neglected. Whilst other pieces capture solitude, loneliness and searching, leaving you topped up with that warm-glow of finally finding The One!” – Les Black

“Had a fantastic time. Just unbelievable what he’s managed to produce. Incredibly varied work. Totally stunning”. – Rick Christie.

The show is open to public until Sunday 31st March and there is also a bit of a special event tomorrow (Saturday) too. Gallery open daily 11am-7pm. Below are photos of last night’s opening by Strong Island homie Jack Daly.

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (2)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (4)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (5)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (6)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (9)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (10)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (11)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (12)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (3)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (16)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (17)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (18)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (20)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (22)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (23)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs, Photo by Jack Daly (24)

'Walk By, Ignore Me, Forget You Ever Saw Me' Exhibition by My Dog Sighs