Upcoming events: dystopian predictions, urban landscapes and town portraits

Development day for Somerset artists
Artist Anna Best and curators from Somerset Art Works, Tim Martin, Carol Carey and Zoe Li, facilitate a half-day of workshops and advisory sessions geared to ‘Turn your idea into a project’. There’ll be information and tips on collaborations, partnerships, funding and project management for artists and artist-led groups who may want to propose an activity for Somerset Art Weeks Festival 2017.
Thursday 19 May 2016, 10.30am-2.30pm, Somerset Art Works, Langport Town Hall, Langport.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/development-day-for-somerset-artists-turn-your-idea-into-a-project

The Hive in Leigh
Artist Kymberly O’Carroll-Fitzpatrick and ceramicist Miss Annabel Dee curate this cross-disciplinary exhibition of illustration, jewellery, painting, printmaking and design from the Hive Artist group. This is a chance to see the intersection of ideas and approaches from the 11 exhibiting artists and designers who work alongside each other in the Cheltenham-based studios.
20-28 May 2016, Miss Annabel Dee gallery and studios, 153 Leigh Road, Leigh on Sea.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/the-hive-in-leigh

3 Minutes to Midnight at the Place of Welcome
The Doomsday Clock and the Domesday Book are juxtaposed in the surreal and dystopian collages of multi-disciplinary artist Steven Quinn. Quinn’s window exhibition in former Wilcumestou – Walthamstow as documented in 1086 – brings together in this old English ‘Place of Welcome’ work on the recurring theme of domesticising nuclear, political and intergalactic conflicts.
Until 30 May 2016, Walthamstow Village Window Gallery, 47 Orford Road, London E17.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/steven-quinn-3-minutes-to-midnight-at-the-place-of-welcome

Utopia Deferred
Three Yorkshire-based painters – Paul Collinson, Conor Rogers and Mandy Payne, who originally exhibited together during the John Moores Painting Prize 2014 – are reunited in this exhibition that focuses on their shared interest in the urban landscape and ideas around Utopia. Often incorporating found materials, the works ask questions about contemporary painting and life today in the cities of Sheffield and Hull.
21 May – 2 July 2016, Artlink Gallery, 87 Princes Avenue, Hull.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/utopia-deferred

Portrait of a Town: Spalding
Miniature bronze cast sculptures by Joseph Hillier sit in a number of hidden and unassuming locations throughout the centre of this Lincolnshire town. Alleyways and side-streets become sites of encounter with these 14 portraits of local residents. Says Hillier: “There’s a story, a family, a life behind each work, and together they depict the town of Spalding, as a group portrait, reflecting the complexity of the place.”
Ongoing, throughout Spalding Town Centre, Lincolnshire.
www.a-n.co.uk/events/portrait-of-a-town-spalding-joseph-hillier

Images:
1. Amazing Space, Dove Studios, Somerset Art Weeks Festival 2015. Image: Pennie Elfick
2. Steven Quinn at Walthamstow Village Window Gallery
3. Mandy Payne, Out of Order, acrylic paint and aerosol on concrete
4. Joseph Hillier, Pauline Pindara labelling shrink-wrapped broccoli in Spalding. Image: Joseph Hillier

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