AirSpace Gallery

Art Gallery tries a hand at Animal Rescue!

It's a tale of high drama, of battling against the elements, of passionate endeavour, loss and finally an unlikely happily ever after, plus possibly the cutest picture of ducks you'll ever see in your life.

Yes duck, ducks! When Andrew Branscombe and David Bethell the curators of AirSpace, Stoke on Trent's new contemporary art gallery, received the news that they could finally take official occupancy of no.4 Broad Street, Hanley, they were unprepared for the heart rending experience that was about to unfold. Preoccupied as they were with the negotiations of Dizzy Heights, AirSpace's next exhibition, it was only by pure chance that they noticed a small mother duck who had set up her nursery in a disused out-house behind the new gallery. Although the past year of running the gallery in a disused factory at the edge of town had taught Andrew and David how to cope with the most taxing and bizarre of situations, still they were astonished to suddenly find themselves in the role of carers to a mother to be.

There were concerns of what would happen to the chicks once they were born as the nearest water was over half a mile away and across many busy roads. But more intense concerns were raised when despite vigilant observation it was discovered one morning that mummy duck had vanished. Was she attacked by an urban fox which had been seen in the vicinity or perhaps a city cat or stray dog? Whatever it was, she had fled leaving her unborn chicks to their fate.

Operation ‘Rescue' started as David and Andrew hatched a plan. The remaining nine eggs were collected into Andrew's jumper and nestled into a cardboard box in front of a heater in the Gallery Space. The eggs were then carefully relocated to an incubator at Andrew's house and three days later immersed in the organisation of gallery events David received a text message from Andrew: ‘Might be a bit late today Dude, 9 eggs went in a 9 ducklings came out.' And sure enough 9 beautiful ducklings were hatched and squeaking for attention.

But now what? How were they to look after the new arrivals? They had no pond!

Several phone calls later and we are delighted to report that a new foster home has been found for the little uns at a bird sanctuary near Uttoxeter. All are doing well and will be released in to the wild later in the year. A happy fairy tale ending for the Stoke on Trent ducks.

So we had our first opening at Number 4!

AndersonMacgee’s Two, revealed the beauty beneath the white walls of our new gallery by stripping back the paint and carpet, showing us the ornate tiles and bare materials used to construct the room. This process alters our perceptions of the white walled gallery space, provoking thoughts of history and permanence and leaving us eager to view the second piece; a permanent intervention along side the ring road in Hanley City Centre. The opening of the show also saw the launch of AndersonMacgee’s new publication, produced along side the Two show; visitors were seen delving into this throughout the opening.

For the evenings entertainment DJ Beetroot provided us with some funky back ground music while the visitors took in the new work, which was later accompanied by a debut performance from Chromatone; where performance artists responded to a projected video. Hurricane Landcrash reacted with his guitar and computer as artists Chris Simcox, David Clamp and Laura Fletcher responded with drawing, while the audience relished the ability to watch the process.

Attendance was good, the cosy bar area at the back of the room was full of interest as people poured over maps of the city and passed exhibitions press releases and everyone enjoyed the chance to have a sneaky peak at the new building.

A positive beginning to our new abode and we’re really excited to see what is going to happen in the new space.

The Two publication is available to buy from the gallery.

[email protected]

Out of Space

Here's what it's all about:

She takes her last drag of her cigarette…

and sips her wine.

The clay was cold under her fingers.

The darkness encroached.

Silent light echoed through the old abandoned pot bank.

She sleeps.

The living did not foresee the next 23 hours.

No one listened…

The landfills spilled over,

The rubbish mounted up

The mines were filled

And the pollution thickened

CONTAMINATION….. Mankind shall pay

OUTOFSPACE is an artistic approach to an important issue. This zombie horror film with a difference explores an original, down to earth and ‘realistic’ reaction to an environmental disaster.

The films strong environmental message is not about pointing the finger or answering questions. Rather we are using film as an attempt to encourage a discourse, creating a dialogue which forces people from all different backgrounds and ages to ask questions about our attitude to the world, to think outside the box and to take personal responsibility for their consumerist footprint. Therefore empowering individuals to create positive environmental change within their society, as well as raising people’s awareness of the potential impacts we are having on the earth.

The film will be edited as a lost transmission and will explore the complex network of relationships between the media and individuals.

We have recently received funding from the local council for the production of the film. To our surprise the film is escalating in popularity and we have gained local and national recognition from a range of professional bodies. These included our guest director, international award winning film maker Chris Stone and international illustrator and artist Shane Oakley, who is currently working with Labyrinth Arts to create a graphic novel based on the screen play of OUTOFSPACE.

Labyrinth Arts

Labyrinth Arts is a collective of professional artists who are based within the Stoke-on-Trent area. We facilitate a number of creative opportunities and experiences within the local and national community, for the purposes of personal, cultural, environmental, economic and social improvements.

Each member of the not-for-profit group brings different skills to the projects with the aim to share their knowledge and empower other people from the group and within the community to explore, create, celebrate and ‘have a go’ for themselves. For this project our core artists and professional skills/capabilities include:

Members

Aimee Blease-Bourne: Writer, actor, researcher, environmentalist, musical composer and camera person

Pete Brown: Audio-visual technician, lighting designer, set constructer and stunt man

Michael Cartwright: Visual artist, musical sound director, director, stuntman, editor and camera person

Neil Coburn: Actor, musical composer, set designer and constructer, musical and sound designer and stuntman

Andrea Cope: Musician, chemist, researcher, Prince2 Project Practitioner and environmental officer

Katrina Durber: Make-up and Special FX artist and seamstress.

Caroline McCarthy: Musician, psychologist, actress, writer and researcher

Tez Roberts: Visual artist and designer, photographer, actor, Director, special FX artist and costume designer

Sarah Rowlands: Director, writer, choreographer, actor, stunt co-ordinator and camera person

OUTOFSPACE

The film is based in Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands. As a city whose industry has been so influenced by the special and unique character of the landscape- we think it is time for us as residents to give something back to the Earth and say thanks, because without the clay, coal and iron the Potteries, would not be what it is today. As these industries are fading, we are increasingly becoming a consumerist, plastic and throw-away society, but we need to take personal responsibility for our waste and reduce the footprint that we leave behind on the Earth. Through various community workshops we are also providing local people with the opportunity to get their point of view across in a creative and non-aggressive way and therefore encouraging artists and participants to learn and share skills.

www.outofspacethemovie.co.uk

Number 4, Broad Street:

We finally did it!

They haven’t quite signed the dotted line, but we’re one step closer to moving to Broad Street.

Number 4, Broad Street has been being talked about between Stoke’s Creative Development Team and AirSpace since last year. A comprehensive feasibility study has been being drawn up care of New Media Partners, gathering interest from across the city.

It was initially suggested that we would move in March ’07 and with the electricity being cut off in our current building just before Christmas we were eager to get the negotiations on the way. On the 3^rd May ’07 planning permission was finally agreed.

We have been patient and it will be worth the wait. Number 4, Broad Street is right in the middle of the Cultural Quarter, across the road from the Potteries Museum and much closer to the centre of town. It has heating, hot water and more importantly electricity! We will have more space for artists and a real office for the MD’s so we can improve on the family atmosphere we have been striving for.

The gallery will be much more accessible for visitors and there is even room for a caf and smaller gallery space for hiring out!

AirSpace are extremely grateful to get permission to move to their new home, and we would like to thank the S-O-T’s Cultural Development Team in-particular for all there hard work and perseverance

So get excited everyone, we’re on the move.

Axis Festival:

Stoke on Trent made a big leap this weekend with their first ever major arts festival.

They got all kinds of great musicians; Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, The Guillemots, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and organised some fun workshop days, with a Wish Tree, Labyrinth and Costume making!

As the now leading contemporary arts centre we decided to get our audience involved too…

It was a bit of a slow start seeing as we were advertised in the brochure for Friday instead of Saturday; but not to complain as actually the Graffiti artists chickened out and Dan Hopkins had to cancel his projection performance due to good, and therefore bad, lighting. This left resident artist Chris Simcox to down tools for his performance piece, but never fear we will be holding these events on our next show opening instead.

We kept our fingers crossed for the ‘After Party’ planned to start after Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly. And true AirSpace Style, resident DJ Raskutarnus warmed us up as people began to arrive early. The donations bar was busy straight away and with the addition of interest in the projection showing in the spare room of ‘The Making of Out of Space’, Labyrinth Art’s Zombie Film the atmosphere was building up nicely for the new found local talent of From The Captain. From The Captain are an upbeat rock band, they mix a hint of heavy metal with melodic vocals and bang it out for dancing fun. Then things hotted up with performances from Silhouette, a local Burlesque group revealing their talent for the AirSpace crowd. To finish DJ Raskutarnus wooed the dancers with his funky beats until we drank the bar dry. A brilliant night for all and we just had the cleaning up to do in the morning.

www.myspace.com/fromthecaptainstoke

www.myspace.com/silhouette_burlesque