Artists and designer-makers across the country are holding exhibitions, open studios, fairs and events that offer a refreshing alternative to high street shopping – now’s your chance to buy original Christmas gifts and to support practitioners in the process. In the second in our series, we profile events in Bristol, London, Sheffield, Cheshire and Suffolk.
S1 Studios General Store, Sheffield
S1 Studios’ first artist-led shop selling affordable artworks by emerging and established artists occupies S1 Artspace’s main reception area and features work by studio holders, local artists and S1 Artist Patrons. Also available is S1’s just-launched, first collective limited edition Print Portfolio produced by 11 S1 studio holders. Each Saturday from 8 December Tamper Coffee will be hosting a pop-up café too.
S1 Studios General Store, S1 Artspace, 120 Trafalgar Street, Sheffield, until 12 January, Tue-Sat 12-6pm. www.s1artspace.org
SPRUCE, Centrespace Christmas Show, Bristol
Founded as the Bristol Craft Centre in 1977, Centrespace is now the largest cooperative of arts, crafts and design studios in the city. Every December, studio members take over Centrespace’s gallery for a seasonal extravaganza, offering original artwork and gifts for sale plus a sneak peak into the working lives of Bristol’s artists and creatives. This year’s highlights are literary ones and include children’s books by Guardian cartoonist Joe Berger and copies of Joff Winterhart’s Costa Book Award-nominated graphic novel Days of the Bagnold Summer.
SPRUCE, Centrespace Christmas Show, 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol, Sat 8 December – Thu 20 December, 11am-5pm. www.centrespacegallery.com
Little Northern Christmas Fair, Bowden
Exhibitors in this fair, organised by the award-winning Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, include Craig Macauley, who creates jewellery using strands of nylon monofilament; self-taught designer-maker Circle 52 Design and Marie Canning, whose works in porcelain are inspired by Victorian apothecaries.
Little Northern Christmas Fair, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Bowden, Cheshire, Sat 8 December, 10am-5pm. www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk
ELP Christmas Open Studio and 2012 BOXSET launch, London
Each year, members of East London Printmakers produce a box set of prints, which are sold to raise funds to improve studio facilities. This year’s set features works by 32 artists and will be launched at a Christmas Open Studio event on Thursday 6 December. The launch includes live demonstrations of Japanese woodcut and lino printing, a print store, a proof sale, a tombola and free drinks.
ELP Christmas Open Studio, The Triangle, 129-131 Mare Street, London E8, 6 December, 6-10pm. www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk
Suffolk Open Studios Winter Exhibition, Thornham Magna
Suffolk Open Studios is a collaborative, artist-run organisation that encourages public recognition of, and engagement with working artists. Their annual Winter Exhibition features painting, prints, sculpture, textiles and more. Organiser Carol Pask, a ceramic artist who works in stoneware and porcelain, describes the show as ‘an awesome mix of art in a beautiful rural setting’. ‘We need people to #buyartforxmas,’ she tweeted, ‘art is a unique gift for all.’
Suffolk Open Studios Winter Exhibition, The Barn, Red House Yard, Thornham Estate, Thornham Magna, until 5 December, 11am-5pm. www.suffolkopenstudios.co.uk
More Christmas selling shows:
Buy art for Christmas – part one: Objects of Desire, London (until 20 Jan); Artists Open Houses, Brighton (until 16 Dec)
Turner Prize winners donate work to pop-up art shop – Studio Voltaire opens an ambitious fundraising venue in the heart of London’s Mayfair (until 15 Dec)
Are you or your studio group organising an event or selling show in the lead up to Christmas? Tell us about it at [email protected] or by using the #buyartforxmas hashtag on Twitter.
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