Or Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration book launch.
Please join Amelia Gregory, of Amelia's Magazine, Amelia's Anthology of Illustration and now, Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration for a Free Talk between 6-10pm on Tuesday 24th May at Castor and Pollux.
Amelia will give an informal talk about the creation of Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, the rise of eco fashion, illustration process and social media for creatives, followed by an official book signing and chance for fellow creatives to network whilst enjoying complimentary organic juices from Juiceology, fine teas from Lahloo and yummy baked goods from Angel Food Bakery.
On purchase of books there will also be the opportunity to take part in a personal portfolio crit with Amelia Gregory.
Keep an eye on Twitter @ameliagregory and @castorpolluxart for updates on the #ACOFI hashtag. Free to attend but places will be limited so please come early! For further information contact april@castorandpollux.co.uk.
Friday, 20 May 2011
ACOFI at Castor & Pollux 24th May at 6pm
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Dionne Swift wins Gold Award
Textile artist Dionne Swift has won the gold award for Textiles in the Craft & Design Selected Awards!
Please find the judges’ comments below;
We are delighted that Dionne will be exhibiting her work at the Palace Art Fair in October.
Click Here to Read More..
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Three Open Houses
We've been a little snowed under to visit too many Artists Open Houses in Brighton this May but the few we have made it too have generally been very good (although as always some are gloriously awful but they're worth a look too). I can recommend
THE ARTFUL FOX
Joy Fox is opening her delightful house behind Preston Park Station for the first time this year with an eponymous theme.
Not all the artists have been able to respond to the foxy theme but Judy Dwyer's dangerous dolls and dogs have morphed to be dangerous foxes.
Betty Bib has produced small fox dolls specially and other foxes are seen throughout the house. The house has a lovely artists' feel to it and the work is well chosen to work well together and to suit the house.
The HOUSE OF NEWTS (South Avenue Kemptown)
The House of Newts has had quite a big change-around of artists this year although Sarah Young still has quite a key position - although showing new prints, her portraits of women from 1940's American yearbooks and her new Greek Myth's Book
Muir and Osbourne are selling their knitted Dogs, book "Best in Show" and kits and also cashmere clothing
Angela Charles' abstracted landscapes are in the Living Room along with Rachel Eardley's jewellery and embroidered pictures.
Steve McPherson's work made from collected strandline plastic have attracted a lot of attention and need a slow peruse. (House of Newts has a lovely sunny garden and Sarah serves tea, coffee and cake with proceeds going to the Marletts Hospice)
THE OLD FORGE - South Heighton Newhaven
Literally up the road from the Pottery mentions in a previous posting the Old Forge won last year's best open house and it well worth a look. Rhoda Barker puts together a great selection of artists and makers throughout the house, studio and garden which in all has something of a Bloombury feel to it.
Christian Funnel's sculptures, fire baskets and birdbaths line the garden - which incidentally is the best place to have a cream tea during the festival or just relax looking at the view across the Ouse.
There are about 16 artists and makers exhibiting in this house including Robert Peel who won best artist at last years festival (so best house - featuring best artist!)
Monday, 16 May 2011
New Exhibition: "Michael Kirkman - Printmaker"
On Saturday 21st May "Michael Kirkman - Printmaker", a new exhibition, opens at the Emma Mason Gallery in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The Emma Mason Gallery specialises in original prints from the 1950s to the present day. This exhibition will show work made in 2011 by Michael Kirkman, a young printmaker who finished his MA at The Royal College of Art just last year. This is Michael's first solo show and all the prints have been made for the exhibition and include monoprints, linocuts and lithographs. Michael is becoming a highly collected printmaker with many of his editions of prints made earlier selling out. He has also received commissions from publishers Faber & Faber and recently completed a commission for The National Theatre, London.
The linocut that Michael has made for The National Theatre, called "Theatre" is being launched at his solo show, alongside the launch of the print at the National Theatre. It is a beautiful, large linocut made in an edition of 75 and profits go to supporting The National Theatre. 
One of his other large linocuts for this exhibition, "Smithfield Market" has already been reserved for purchase by the art committee for The Palace of Westminster Collection for their permanent collection.
The exhibition is now available to see on the exhibition pages of the Emma Mason Gallery website. The exhibition opens on Saturday 21st May at 10.00am where there will be drinks at the gallery to celebrate the opening and Michael will be there during the day - all are invited.Emma Mason Gallery - 3 Cornfield Terrace, Eastbourne,East Sussex BN21 4NN
Sunday, 8 May 2011
South Heighton Pottery
Just past Newhaven or on the way into Newhaven, depending on where you are travelling from, is South Heighton, a small community and village, rather tucked away by the Downs. As you arrive it is the pottery you see first and it is filled with pots, bowls, jugs and more by Chris Lewis and Chris Ford who both make all their work at the South Heighton Pottery.
We then headed out into the beautiful garden which has some great garden seats and pots made by Chris Lewis. In one corner of the garden in the pottery workshops there are hand made cakes and teas and coffees for sale. We had coffee and cakes sitting on one of Chris Lewis's garden seats. We learnt that Ursula Mommens favourite cake was lemon drizzel, which she would keep and eat for weeks, a small piece at a time. We wondered if that was the secret of her long and fascinating life!
South Heighton Pottery and the retrospective exhibition of work by Ursula and Norman Mommens is open at weekends throughout May 11.00am - 6.00pm
South Heighton Pottery, Newhaven, East Sussex. BN9 0HL
Tel. 07754814067
For more about Chris Lewis ceramics see www.chrislewisceramics.com
For more about Chris Ford ceramics contact Chris on c.c.ford@ntlworld.com
The obituary in the Guardian from 2010 has more about Ursula Mommens and her life.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Alison Milner - (almost) Britain’s Next Big Thing
17th feb 2010 I had an email asking me to make a proposal for the TV programme “The Buying Game” It was a busy day but a couple of hours later I sent in an application with my “stool in a bag” The name and description were a bit tongue in cheek and I read them out to my teenage children before sending it off
“There is something very personable about stools they are like friendly animals. This one is cute, and yet robust, with an array of decorative formica finishes. It fits well in any room, as a bedside table, an occasional table for drinks, a child’s first stool, something to step on to get to the top cupboards, or a stool to carry out to the front garden to sit in the sun.
It’s a bit of an archetype, something that you would imagine would be for sale everywhere but isn’t.
With it’s formica top it is very in tune with the current mid century modern fashion. Using digital printing small runs of different patterns can be produced and can become collectable.
It is a very unusual and portable gift, easy to buy and take home, a little bit of a surprise to receive and easy to find a home for when you receive it. It’s small and unassuming and yet unique, very basic but also decorative. It can fit into almost any interior, traditional, shabby chic, bohemian, high tec, student bedsit or sheltered housing!!”
I attached three pictures and didn’t really give it another thought until I got a phone call a couple of weeks later to say I’d been picked from ‘hundreds of hopefuls’ to attend an open day at Habitat.
Of course I was worried about how I would look: over fifty, not much money for clothes and haircuts and without any make-up-know-how! I just decided it was something I had to do like jumping out of a burning building.
With five days notice before the big day I made some presentation sheets, and got a friend of my sisters to cut my hair in the kitchen. I didn’t have any time even to look for new clothes.
On the day there was a lot of hanging around waiting to be filmed, I was last at everything, so had a lot of time for whispered chats with the other ‘competitors’ I successfully predicted all the red cards, but after talking to some of the ‘unsuccessful’ I really wanted them to be given a chance…there were a lot of stories of poverty, imagination and dogged determination !!
After my on camara interview, when I was presented with the red card the Habitat designers looked at my portfolio and gave me a business card, saying they would like to do some work with me, independent of the TV thing, it was all very hurried and unreal, my head was spinning.
I then had my “Apprentice” moment when Theo Paphitis asked me if it was The best thing that had ever happened to me. Being truthful, I said “not really” I was married with children and besides I had learn’t to be cynical about great opportunities…but Theo was determined to get his sound bite and in the end I said something over the top and arrogant just to put an end to it!!!
Thank goodness that was cut!
After that it was another very long wait for the handshake moment which I had to do three times, each time attempting to look spontaneously overjoyed!
The next day Steve and I were off to Yorkshire at dawn, to a Touring Exhibition Group annual meeting at Leeds museum and then a meeting at the Cooper gallery in Barnsley where I was to be curating my exhibition “More than Floral” (currently at Bilston Craft Gallery).
Well, my dream of working for my favourite shop since childhood did happen, although I have to admit that it is a shadow of it’s former self. (My advice would be to have less stores with less products, ethically sourced materials and high design standards and much more careful marketing and display… Somewhere between Muji and Liberty ….but whoam I to say…)
I really enjoyed the design process and working with Philippa Prinsloo from the design team. It was interesting having more insight into the pitching for manufacture and the seasonal colours etc. 
Most of the work was communicated by email, it would have been almost impossible without photoshop, illustrator and adobe acrobat, but paper, pencil, paint, scissors and real weeds were involved as wel
Another high spot was my one day trip to Pisa in Italy with Catherine Grey and Ros and Theo from Habitat and a couple of people from the TV company .
Our main purpose was to visit the family run workshop that decorated our ceramics and has an amazing store room with a garish mix of samples including famous pieces from the Memphis days. 
Catherine had never been to Italy before, so I viewed it a bit through her eyes, you can definitely get a feeling for the country even if you are only there for a few hours and most of that squashed into a very small, hot car. Unfortunately there was only time for sandwiches and beer but they were very Italian.
I have to say I was very disappointed in the cost cutting choice of materials for the boxes and tables. Although in the end I was pleased with the detailing of the tables and I like the fresh look of the boxes. I also think that the products are rather overpriced, due to the rush to produce them in time for the TV launch which was originally scheduled for last September. The in store display has been the biggest disappointment, after the careful way that I am used to displaying my products in shows such as ‘Made’ and ‘Mid-century modern’.
Who knows why the producers of the programme decided not to feature me or Euan Lind and his excellent light…(apart from a few ‘blink and you miss it’ cameo appearances) but maybe I made a lucky escape..the pictures of me handling the table leg do look rather embarrassing..
It is a very interesting and thought provoking programme and I am enjoying watching it.
Britains Next Big Thing continues Tuesday 20.00 BBC2
Alison Milner will be exhibiting at MADE11 - in November
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Selection Update
We're in the middle of selection for all three fairs, and it's proving the most difficult task ever, not only have we received more applications than ever (especially for MADE11 and BAF11 - after last years record attendance and sales) and of those applications more than ever are of a very high standard.
Making decisions is proving hard. With only 100 odd places for each show we're not going to be able to find space for some excellent artists or makers. Previous exhibitors might not get selected this year just to make space for different artists and to keep the fairs changing.
We've almost finished selection on 2 fairs but have to allocate stands and design the layout.
If you've applied please bear with us for a few more days whilst we work it all out.
Jon
