Art 2030′ – The Eastern Road Bollard Art Project

One of Southseas most prolific artists Mydogsighs has another fantastic project on the go. Known for always thinking outside the box and being an all round nice guy, mydog always has something up his sleeve. I love this idea.

“OK. So I drove home from work on this road ( the Eastern Road Portsmouth A2030) every day and it is always gnarled up. 10-15 mins everyday I sit stuck in traffic looking a a row of about 150 wooden bollards stood along the road. they must get tens of thousands of slow moving cars crawling past them everyday. the ultimate canvas!!!! They aren’t big. 3-4inches wide and ranging in height from 10-20 inches. They are of course exposed to the weather.

So, here’s my plan. you lot make some art on something waterproof. I’m thinking flattened cans, bits of wood, sheets of metal. – whatever you can get hold of, and I take them down and nail/screw them into place as a pretty long term art exhibition, take shed loads of pics, maybe get the PCM involved and offer passengers of the traffic jam wine and nibbles a’ la opening night!! This is a chance to get seriously high profile with your work!!! Keep it small, make it tough!

I’m happy to accept as many entries as you want to get to me and promise to get them all out. If you’re interested. Email me and I’ll sort out a postal address for you to send work.”

You can contact Mydogsighs at mydogsighs@hotmail.co.uk and join the Flickr Group HERE.

I ride this route pretty much daily on my commute from Southsea to Havant and would love to see this happen. Hopefully I’ll be able to get something done for the project as well.

Tags: The Eastern Road Bollard Art Project

Omega Printmakers

I used to head over to the Omega Centre when I was at University. They had a great Restoration course, and at the time they were undertaking the mammoth task of renovating the New Theatre Royal, if memory serves.

They now offer Saturday Workshops in different print making disciplines like etching, and screen printing from £35. So wish I had my own screen printing set up at home. In addition there are FREE printing making classes start this month and you can sign up HERE

Make sure to sign up to the RSS news feed too. Lot’s of local information about upcoming exhibitions and gallery events.

Omega Printmakers is operated entirely by volunteers Pam Newick & Jenny Bullen. If you have printmaking experience and are interested in volunteering to help out at Omega Printmakers then please contact info@omegaprintmakers.co.uk

Who has desired the sea I – Chine colle print by Pippa Blake

Tags: Omega Centre, Omega Printmakers

Love Your Bike Portsmouth

Following on with more Claire Sambrook activity, you may have heard the whispers and nudges regarding the upcoming event Love Your Bike Portsmouth on 30th May. Claire has been working her knitted socks off getting this together with some seriously heavy local contributors including design aficionados ilovedust, Bored of Southsea, Ian Parmiter, Haslemere Cyles, PCM, Josie Young, Sifer Design, not to mentioned such amazing contributors from further afield like Ben Wilson and Toyko Fixed Gear to name a few, and of course our good selves at Strong Island.

“Bike culture is an important part of cycling and regaining the streets. Love Your Bike Portsmouth aims to encourage participants to fully embrace the possibilities of connecting with their bikes and explore the many ways that they can improve it’s appearance and design.

As part of a day event and showcase you will be offered the chance to ‘Customise Your Bike and in turn ‘Love Your Bike’.
Demonstrations will be staged by local and national artists and designers who will offer sessions in customisation and collaboration. International designer Ben Wilson will be welding bikes at the skatepark and also showcasing some of his work. There will be a wide selection of bikes and accessories available for purchase to suit all budgets. Local artists and designers will be involved with helping paint frames and customise bike parts. Does your bike need a make-over?

Watch out for our Love Your Bike custom tags around the city. If you have been tagged then please send your pics to us and also turn up at the event to showcase your bike or have it customised.”

Check out loveyourbikeportsmouth.co.uk and Facebook for much more info.

Tags: Claire Sambrook, Love Your Bike Portsmouth

Take my card…

Artwork : Tristan

PCM in The News

Portsmouth Creative Movement had themselves some great coverage in The News last week about the Hope Street hoardings. Look out for these guys, their working hard to enhance areas of the city that get ignored, as well as creating amazing individual and collaborative pieces of art. More to come very soon.

Click the image below for a closer look.

Scan : Claire Sambrook

Tags: Portsmouth Creative Movement

Adam Allaway

Adam Allaway is a Southsea based graphic designer and photographer and got in contact to give us a heads up that he is going freelance and has updated his website. Check Adam’s website for Adam’s portfolio and all his details.

www.flintandtinder.co.uk

Tags: Adam Allaway

Bricks & More Ta

Illustration – Tristan

Tags: Illustration, Strong Island Bricks, Tristan Savage

Velo Couture Cycling Caps

Josie Young is a local designer who makes her own custom cycling caps. Velo Couture has a nice variety of caps in cotton and wool for winter and summer alike. Nice unique designs with hand tailored finishes to match. Roll over to her shop at www.etsy.com/shop/baroquemyworld

Tags: Velo Couture Cycling Caps

100 disposable cameras, 100 people, 1 exhibition

Culture Flash was the idea of Rich McEachran, who after graduating in Theology last summer, was empowered to change the social attitude towards young people, through the power of art. He believed that through forming a collective of young people, who share in common a passion to be creative and to express themselves, it was possible to achieve the goal of social enlightenment, that fought back against the mass media and negative stereotypes, that constantly cloud the public’s perceptions.

He applied for funding with the idea not yet formulated properly, in a competition run by a social enterprise, UnLtd, in late 2009. He ending up being on the shortlist of 31, from an initial 150 or so entries, and then went on to be one of the 15 winners in the public vote, being granted £3000.

The project itself wants to get as many young people involved as possible, through a variety of ways, and the team is currently growing and growing. It sets no restrictions and so is open to new ideas you may have and want to share with them. It does not charge you to get involved, and the idea is to take the project to the young people, rather than sitting around waiting for the young people to come to it.

Starting from early February we will be handing out 100 disposable cameras to 100 young people, and then exhibiting the results. The idea is to focus on an element of your life that is individual, or important, to you. So if you’re 16-25 and want to get your hands on one of the cameras, (or have some photos to submit for our online gallery), then drop us an email at info@thecultureflashgallery.com, and whilst you’re at it visit the website www.thecultureflashgallery.com

Cheers, Rich

This project is funded by the Big Challenge. The Big Challenge, a competition for young people who want to change the world, is a partnership between UnLtd and Changemakers, and is funded by Vodafone and v-inspired.

Tags: Culture Flash

The Hope Street Hopefuls

This Saturday and Sunday saw the Portsmouth Creative Movement and associated friends get busy on the derelict land hoarding at Hope Street. The PCM group and Sifer Design gained clearance from Portsmouth Council (who also donated £1000 worth of paint) to paint the whole thing, and believe me, it’s not only freaking huge, but very impressive. Seriously, go check it out.

Anything but your normal ’street artists’ the PCM are really making a name for themselves in and around city with work going up everywhere. Look out for future events including a collaboration piece with myself and a few members down at Southsea Skatepark.

Photos : Claire Sambrook & My Dog Sighs

Tags: Hope Street, Portsmouth Council, Portsmouth Creative Movement, Sifer Design

Portsmouth Cycle Forum – Vote for a Logo

The guys over at the PCM really do a lot more for cycling in this city than most people would generally know. Always campaigning and keeping people up to date on all things cycling and the city, they always have their ears to the cycle lane. If you haven’t checked their website yet head over and be sure to save the RSS feed. Always updated.

For a fresh face in 2010 they want to update their logo and help make it more appealing to all audiences, including younger riders around the city. Voting is now open for the new Pompey Bug logo and closes February 11th.

Check out the logos HERE and then vote HERE.

Tags: Pompey Bug, Portsmouth Cycle Forum

Badger Press

A little off of the Island but sure to be of interest, Badger Press got in contact the other day about changes and new course plus an open evening tonight:

“A new team is taking over management of The Badger Press, an open-access printmaking studio in Bishops Waltham. We’re having an open evening next Friday 5th February between 4 – 9pm and inviting people to join us for a cup of tea and a slice of cake, visit the studio and find out about the courses we’re running.

The studio itself was founded in 1982 and covers screenprinting, collagraph, monoprint and Intaglio processes. The new team will continue to provide facilities and courses, and will work to support artists in Hampshire with exhibitions, guest speakers, trips and arts events. We’re keen to establish ourselves as a creative voice in the region and talk about printmaking, which we love and cherish, with everyone we meet.”

You can find out more about Badger Press at www.badgerpress.org and directions for the open evening here. Badger Press also have a Facebook page and are on Flickr.

Best of luck to Badger Press from us at Strong Island.

Tags: Badger Press

George Crick

George Crick a freelance graphic designer from Portsmouth, you may have seen his C.O.R poster in the frame down on Albert Road. Be sure to check out George’s website and his work, here is a quick example:

Tags: George Crick

Metropolis

Good friend of Strong Island Mark Persaud of COR fame and fortune is currently in his first year on Graphic Design (Communication Design) at Portsmouth University and has asked if we could kindly help put the word out about his current project in hope that people might pick up on it and join in.

“My focus for Metropolis is Journey’s through the city and how people move through and use space. As part of this I’ve printed 100 postcards, put a second class stamp on them all and spread them up and down the city. Well, that’s my task for today anyway. The experiment is completely anonymous, however, I’d like to raise awareness of these cards being out there so that if peeps see one they might be more inclined to post it back.”

Thanks for the parcel too mate. Always a pleasure. Shame I can’t make Boxing Day, it’s gonna be huge.

Tags: graphic design, Mark Persuad, Metropolis

King Street Tavern Art Fair

Last Saturdays Art Fair at the King Street Tavern was a huge success. From doors open at Noon there was a busy flow of people all day. There was so much great stuff on offer, but don’t fear if you missed out or couldn’t make it as Sam will be putting on 4 Art Fairs in the coming year. If you pop by this week for a drink check the Christmas Tree as there may well be a few Strong Island presents left.

Tags: King Street Tavern

LJRs Christmas Indoor Market

Gather round ladies and gents, after continuing success, Little Johnny Russells is hosting its second Christmas Indoor Market. There is a wide range of products such as CDs, Records, Vintage Clothing, Prints, Jewellery on sale from Edgeworld Records, Bored of Southsea, Dress Code, Deluded Clothing, Rokii, Style In The City, top fashion queen Beau Franklin Savage, Parmiters Antiques, artwork by Ramsey Sheriff, Tristan Savage, Paul Gonella, Laura Gracie Woo selling handmade cards and even Southsea’s finest baker Jill Gate.

Opens at Midday, with a wide range of refreshments including a licensed bar (obviously!)

Tags: Indoor Market

Gloo Creative Network

Gloo is an exciting new kind of networking event brought to you by the Cultural Consortium and Friends. They have every flavour of creativity involved, from photographers to artists, writers to designers and everything in between. With such a range to choose from, you’re sure to discover a whole heap of projects and possibilities.

Here’s what they have on offer:
Innovative ways of bringing people together and building bridges between disciplines.
An engaging programme of artists’ talks and presentations.
Future opportunities to attend seminars on funding, marketing and entrepreneurship.
Access to a broad range of experience, knowledge and skills through other members.
Potential links to education, business and promotional organisations.
With a spread like that, their first session is a definite must for your Christmas calendar. Come along for Wine, Mince Pies and the chance to tell us exactly what you’d like from future sessions.

The First Meeting
7th December 2009 – Space, Eldon Building, Winston Churchill Avenue
18:00 – 20:00

Please RSVP by sending an email to: Bryony.Whitmarsh@port.ac.uk.

Their first meeting coincides with the exhibition ‘code’ – including a site specific installation by Tracey-Jane Cuckow and paintings by Iain White, exploring the relationships between art, science and musical notation.

Tags: Gloo

Jodie Silsby – New ‘Portsmouth Pubs’ Screen Prints

Top class local design graduate and member of ILD Jodie Silsby has begun a new project. Ever the workhorse Jodie has undertaken the task to create a book & website detailing the history and architecture of each individual pub, accompanied by a vector illustration of each. In the meantime Jodie has produced an initial poster of 14 of the pubs found on Albert Road in Southsea. The poster has been screen printed in 2-colour acrylics (purple & green) onto Light grey Reeves Blk paper (180gsm). It is sized 40cm x 50com, and is available to purchase at £39 (+ £4.95 p&p). Limited edition of 25, each poster is signed & numbered.

Joide also has her award-winning Portsmouth Vernacular Map available at the Special Christmas Offer Price of £19 (offer ends 31st December). Buy them HERE. Awesome work as ever Jodie.

More detailed images are on Jodies Flickr.

Tags: Jodie Silsby

Creative Design Space for Rent

Daniel from Creative Design Space has office space available to share with 2 creatives. Situated opposite the Student Union Dan’s space can provide a desk, chair and lamp, coffee machine, with coffee, internet access and a seating area. Everything you could need to get out of the house and have somewhere to call work. All for £65 a week. Looks like a pretty sweet setup too.

Interested? Email Daniel at daniel@creativedesignspace.co.uk or drop him a line on 07765 684552.

Tags: Creative Design Space, Daniel Tidbury

YEAH Magazine Issue 4

The new issue of YEAH Magazine is set to drop this weekend. The new issue, the biggest yet, is themed ‘Urban’ and features loads of creative writing, photography and design from Southsea, all over the south coast and beyond. The magazine can be pre-ordered via www.yeah-magazine.com and will also be available to buy in Bored on Albert Road from Saturday.

P.S. Tom from Bored and Paul from Strong Island have a shared photo feature in this issue with some interesting photography from an unusual local perspective, keep your eyes peeled.

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Tags: Yeah Magazine