ARTISTS TALKING

# 17 [29 December 2007]

The New Year is packed with exciting new projects for us....

We shall be kick starting the next instalment of our education programme at St.Teresa's Primary School with drawing, printing, and sculpture based workshops.

Our next exhibition Toetap will preview on Friday 18th January. A collection of artworks based around the theme of dance will be shown in the gallery space alongside a programme of events and dance based workshops and lessons. (See below for details)

Plans are being made for an upcoming exhibition at Durham Art Gallery. This will be in conjunction with ‘My Giant Colouring Book' by Jake and Dinos Chapman and an exhibition of new Polish art (more details of this to come).

January will also see the launch of our new poetry, performance, and storytelling evening ‘Stray Signals'. This promises to be an exciting and entertaining night where participants can perform, recite, or create original material within a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. (See below for details)

Toetap

Sat 19th January - Fri 22nd February

Preview Fri 18th January

Gluegroup present Toetap, an exhibition of artwork that has dance as its central theme. There will be a series of dance classes running alongside the exhibition, encompassing everything from tap to techno, belly to ballroom, flamenco to foxtrot...

We are currently looking for 2D artists, and are keen to receive proposals for painting, photography, print and written word - work to represent, document or simply express the joy many of us find in having a good old dance!

Proposal deadline: Sunday 13th January

For more information on proposals and how to apply, please email laura@gluegroup.org.uk

Stray Signals -

Performance, Poetry and Storytelling Newcastle
Tues 15th January 7pm

Venue: Gallery Glue 192a Heaton Road, Newcastle
Admission: £2 suggested donation

Gluegroup invite you to lend your support and good company for the first ever Stray Signals! It is hoped that this night of performance art, poetry and storytelling will become a regular monthly event. We are aiming to draw from the finest of the Northeast's performers, whilst also remaining open to anyone just turning up, having a go, and enjoying the collective creativity. The focus will always be on fostering an atmosphere to create original material, have fun, and test things out.

If you are interested in performing at this or future Stray Signals events, or would like more information, please email mark@gluegroup.org.uk
You can also search for and join the Facebook group of the same name, where you can see new posts and updates.

Details of all Gluegroup ventures can be seen on our website

www.gluegroup.org.uk

Gg. Claire.x

# 16 [19 December 2007]

‘Serious Playtime' came and went in a whirlwind of activity providing an array of exciting artworks and performances.

Following their exhilarating multimedia performance on the opening night Paul and Ritchie Dixon led a daylong gun-making workshop. The gallery was overrun with sticks and branches, hand tools, power tools (for the few who cheated) and a variety of binding materials. Designs were chosen and building commenced. Materials and tools were promptly put into action and wood shavings started flying. Everyone who attended went home with the satisfaction of having created a beautifully handcrafted gun. The Dixon brothers hosted an inspiring workshop utilising basic natural materials, calm and experienced tuition a plenty, and ultimately providing a very enjoyable way to spend your Saturday afternoon.

Another example of the activity amongst this exhibition was the outdoor performance by Cai Nyahoe. Participants were invited to join Cai in a 'simulated-simulated military drill and simulated-advanced combat techniques based on his extensive knowledge of war films and a cursory look at an army training manual.'

Images of ‘Serious Playtime' artwork and events can be seen via our website. http://www.gluegroup.org.uk/

Gluegroup were also invited to take part in the Life Work Art conference organised by Newcastle University and hosted by Star & Shadow Cinema. We gave several talks to undergraduate students outlining our progression and experiences with setting up and running the gallery and followed this up in the evening with marvellous performances in conjunction with ‘Serious Playtime'.

In order to find time for mince pies and mulled wine we have had a break in programming over the Christmas period. We did however leave the Gallery with a magnificent giant Christmas card wall drawing, a collaboration between Laura Kirby and Steven Walker, alongside paintings by Arthur T. Sharpe's tattoo artist Daniel Lake. This work can be seen till early January so pop by the Gallery to re-kindle the festive spirit.

Claire.

# 15 [9 November 2007]

On Thursday we opened our new exhibition, 'Serious Playtime!'. Based on the idea of play - whether it be children's games, dramatics, or anything in between...

"...we are confident that 'Serious Playtime!' will provide experiences that people will not forget, that it will both inspire and instigate further creative activity with performances, exhibits and workshops that you can really get your teeth into and enjoy. Live evening performances will both complement and be a part of the exhibition." Edwin Li

A dedicated 'Serious Playtime!' website has been set up, which is accesible from our main website.

The preview night included a shop front performance by Lady Kitt (in her id Turpin guise), Andrew Sandercock traverse climbing the gallery outside, and a hilarious action-packed multimedia performance by Paul and 'Big Ritchie' Dixon, showing off their 'Dead Wood Armoury' collection.

More spectacles to follow.

GG Mark

# 14 [21 October 2007]

Since the 'Publish!' exhibition came down, and whilst we take submissions for 'Serious Playtime!' (opening 8th November) Gallery Glue has become host to Newline and friends, a prestigious group of graffiti artists/designers who have also shown at the Baltic for 'The G Word'. We're allowing them complete freedom to adorn the entire space, and there will be a private view this coming Wednesday 24th.

# 13 [8 October 2007]

We're nearing the end of 'Publish!', a bookmaking themed exhibition including a lively series of workshops. In the past few weeks we've had poetry, musical storytelling, interactive typewriting, and workshops in bookbinding and creative writing. We also took part in MIMA art & food fair, 'The Really Super Market', where we made vegetable sculptures and instruments with the public. We are now gearing up to our November exhibition, 'Serious Playtime!'. This will be have the loose theme of 'play' and will have strong aspects of performance and audience participation.

# 12 [8 August 2007]

FUTURISM IS OURS!

We currently have an exhibition of work by children who attended the St. Teresa Summer School, based on the Russian Futurism exhibition at the Hatton Gallery.

Felicity Langthorne, Claire Rowlands and myself ran the Summer School along with Ann Harrison and Helen Robertson from 23-26 August 2007.

At first I wasn't sure what to expect from about 20 potentially unruly kids running amok armed with squirty pva and modrock so I was pleasantly surprised when the only minor contest that they had was in trying to come up with the title for the exhibition!

It seems a rose-tinted cliche to say this but it really was a joy to work with these kids who were all so keen and vibrant... and well behaved, but then if this is a cliche, I'm all for them!

I tried my best to keep up with the kids in what they made, making things alongside them as well as helping them but they were so fast! I was really impressed with the quality as well. I caught myself thinking, 'I wish I'd done that one', 'and that one'!

Their works include wooden spoon puppets based on the costume designs of the futurist opera 'victory over the sun' and black and white charcoal and foam collages based on Russian Futurist Lithographic prints seen at the Hatton Gallery - these are all on display at the Gallery now.

I take my hat off to Ann Harrison for leading the Summer School - she was consistenly brilliant. And to John Harrison, the headmaster of St. Teresa's School for running such a great place.

And to all the kids who attended the Summer School who made it all so enjoyable.

Edwin

www.gluegroup.org.uk

# 11 [24 July 2007]

SOUND ART FESTIVAL @ the Echo Bar, Chilingham Rd, Heaton, Newcastle. Starts at 6.30pm. 

Tonight Glue group are hosting a night of innovative musicians and sparky sound art, firing music making into new dimensions!!

The night will platform a variety of local artbased acts, extending further Gallery Glue's determination to support their neighbouring artist organisations. 

Also... a one man 8 bit drum machine extraordinaire, DURACELL, all the way from Paris, has been booked to entertain the masses with his jazzy circuit bending and bashing beats.

£5 enrty. Get there early!

gg x laura

# 10 [9 July 2007]

We are now five days into our residency programme, which is already turning out to be incredibly exciting and varied.

Ben Jeans Houghton was in residence with his project, 'Memory Map', between Thursday 5th and Saturday 7th. We recieved loads of great feeback from visitors and a very decent turnout for his private view on the Saturday evening. Over the course of three days Ben drew a map of Newcastle from memory on large sheets of paper spread over the gallery floor. For the evening of the 7th the map was pinned to a wall and viewers were encouraged to type out personal memories evoked by places on the map on a typewriter and literally attach their memories to these places with pieces of red wool and pins. Some of the red wool linked high up to the opposite wall, where a series of almost identical self portrait photos of Ben thinking about his own memories were placed. It was good to see such an effective use of the space, and a great start to the Residency programme.

Currently three artists - Joanna Garlick, Sarah McMahon and Kate Liston - are collaborating on a project involving wallpaper, henna tattoos and many many cups of tea. Once again the space is turning into something quite unexpected and we'll be looking forward to seeing what they've come up with by the end of their stay tomorrow evening.

Next up on the 11th will be Abigail Cooper. Abigail will use an abundance of mass-produced objects to create an installation that consumes the gallery space. The audience is invited to view the artist at work, repetitively and meditatively assembling everyday objects.

Please see the website www.gluegroup.org.uk for other upcoming residency information. For more images we have a photobucket account which you can view at http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb66/gluegroup/

Each residency will be carefully documented, and we're planning to present this documentation at a night of art and music at the Cumberland Arms booked for the 29th - shortly after our HORSE_GLUE sound art festival at Echo Bar on the 24th. Its going to be a delightfully chaotic month!

GG Mark

# 9 [3 July 2007]

Our second exhibition SHOP has come to an end.  We've had some great feedback from visitors and artists who seemed to love the eclectic nature of the exhibition.  

It was useful to see how the space worked as a non-white-cube environment.  It's important in these early stages to experiment with different ways of using the space and I think that's something we'll get a lot of experience of in next month's programme.

Call it brave, call it mad, call it a stroke of utter genius, call it whatever, but after a pizza and wine fuelled meeting one night in Glasgow, Glue Group had the idea to relinquish control for a whole month and let other artists decide how they'd like to use our space.

So, from an open call, we have selected 11 mini-residencies, each between 1 and 5 days long, involving over 16 artists from around the region and beyond!

Who knows what the results will be? Uncontrolled chaos or unfathomable creativity??

Here's the link to find out more about this exciting programme which will feature exhibitions, performances, discussions, workshops and other unmentionable shenanigans!

http://www.gluegroup.org.uk/current%20exhibitions

Wish us luck, GG (Hannah)

# 8 [27 June 2007]

On Monday we had our initial getting-to-know-you meeting with Paulette Terry Brien - a gallery director and organiser based in Manchester and our mentor.

We will be having further meetings with Paulette to help us develop our practice in the ways that she will help us identify. As a part of these meetings we will decide what other people we might get advice from useful for facilitating our progress. We have A-n and their NAN funding to thank for making these meetings possible. Huge thanks A-n!

The setting for our meeting was our gallery. Later we moved onto the Belle and herbs and had soup. It was really great both to speak to and hear an outside person's take on our collective and gallery. Before starting them I must admit I was a bit worried our mentor meetings would be a bit too formal and impersonal but on meeting Paulette these concerns went right away. To cut a long explanation short, we really got on with her. It was obvious from the outset she was taking a real interest in what we are doing - and we were taking an interest in her activities as well. And on a personal level, her being a genuinely friendly person made it all the easier.

There was some talk of the possibilities of becoming a limited company - the pros, such as the usefulness of this as regards applying for arts council funding, and cons like the extra load of paperwork - amongst other things that will no doubt have certain effects on the running of the collective and gallery: talk of constitutions and business plans that might at first sound restricting but should in actual fact make things easier and clearer, control and tame the beast, lest it pull us the wrong way...or not at all!

The next meeting with Paulette will be in Manchester which will give us a chance to see her own gallery, the International 3, and other similar galleries relevant to our own. We look forward to seeing her there...and staying at my folks' place.

Edwin x