Springing Forward With a Celebration of The New

Above: Rachel Goodyear: Concentration 2022. Courtesy and copyright the artist. Photo: Michael Pollard.

Grundy Art Gallery is delighted to announce details of its upcoming spring 2022 programme.

Spring season at Grundy Art Gallery is always a time for celebrating the ‘new’, new ideas, new artworks, and new experiments as well as an invitation to our visitors to come and see things in new ways.

Cllr Kathryn Benson, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Aspiration and Community Assets, said: ‘’With its focus on new discoveries, spring is always an exciting time at Grundy Art Gallery. With its range of new exhibitions and artworks being presented both inside and outside the gallery, I am looking forward to seeing what this consistently exciting art gallery has to offer.” 

 EXHIBITIONS:

RACHEL GOODYEAR: STIRRINGS c 26 March – 11 June 2022 PGrundy Art Gallery: - Ground Floor Galleries 2, 3 + 4 This spring Grundy Art Gallery will launch ‘Stirrings’ by the internationally recognised, north-west based artist Rachel Goodyear. ‘Stirrings’ will be the first major solo exhibition by the artist in a north-west museum and art gallery. It has been co-commissioned by Grundy Art Gallery and the University of Salford Art Collection and will include new large-scale drawings and a new animation. While the animation shows Goodyear experimenting with structure and sound, the new works on paper see the artist working at a scale larger than ever before. Elements from the exhibition will be jointly acquired into the permanent collections of Grundy Art Gallery and the University of Salford Art Collection. The exhibition will also tour to Salford Museum and Art Gallery from 15 July 2022. Over her 20-year career, Goodyear has retained a core commitment to the act of drawing, as well as a commitment to the expansion of drawing as a medium. Throughout her practice, her drawings have found their way onto bus tickets, diary pages and envelopes; as well as onto more conventional sources of paper; while her experiments with drawing as a form, have seen her works take shape as sculpture, animation, performance and installation. For this new exhibition, Goodyear has experimented with scale, making her largest and most detailed drawing to date. With heightened detail, bodies contort, a wolf-pack is tangled into a single entity of snarls and fur and figures explore sensations that hold an ambiguous balance of pleasure and discomfort. Goodyear often describes her drawings as ‘fragments’ – like glimpses from a half remembered dream or a distorted memory – frozen in a moment. For ‘Stirrings’, alongside new works on paper, Goodyear has also developed a major new installation. With nods to mythological journeys into the Underworld, Dante’s levels of Hell and our continuous scrolling through social media, Goodyear’s animation takes the form of a never-ending descent. With a specially commissioned soundtrack by Matt Wand, Goodyear’s frozen moments are locked in time to be repeated forever. COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT: PATTI MAYOR Part Two c 26 March – 11 June PGrundy Art Gallery – Ground Floor Gallery 1 Collection Spotlight exhibitions are an opportunity for Grundy Art Gallery to highlight individual artists or showcase a specific selection of works from the Grundy’s collection. In 2022, Grundy Art Gallery is marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Preston born artist and suffragist, Patti Mayor, with a Collection Spotlight exhibition presented in two parts. While Part One previously focused on Patti’s painted portraits, Part Two takes us behind the scenes. Along with the 28+ paintings by Patti, Grundy Art Gallery also holds a large number of the artists’ works on paper. These works in pen, pencil and watercolour fill numerous sketchbooks, loose pieces of paper and torn out diary pages and show the artist at play, testing out different subject matters and materials. Presented together for the first time here at Grundy Art Gallery, these pieces show how drawing was central to the artist’s practice as a way to record observations, capture ideas and to refine her technique. WE’RE STILL HERE!: STUART LINDEN RHODES c 14 February – 11 June PGrundy Art Gallery Exterior – Forecourt Commission Continuing Grundy Art Gallery’s forecourt exhibition series is a solo exhibition of the work of Stuart Linden Rhodes. The exhibition is presented as part of a project called We’re Still Here! developed by Blackpool based artists, Garth Gratrix and Harry Clayton-Wright. We’re Still Here! seeks to create a visual and oral histories archive of LGBTQIA+ communities in Blackpool. To celebrate LGBT History Month, We’re Still Here! has commissioned Stuart Linden Rhodes to present a selection of archival photographic studies of 90’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife culture in Blackpool to coincide with the launch of the artists’ new publication.

Coming soon…

BLACKPOOL STANDS BETWEEN US AND REVOLUTION: TOM IRELAND PGrundy Art Gallery Exterior Blackpool Stands Between Us and Revolution, is an illuminated text-based artwork for Blackpool’s civic space. The work is a large-scale rendering of a quote from the 1920s that underlines Blackpool’s vital role within the lives of working people as a site for recreation and release. The work is the result of a 2019 open commission opportunity led by Blackpool Council’s Arts Service to provide Blackpool with a number of new permanent and temporary public realm art works. Tom Ireland is a Blackpool based artist and curator, whose work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally. WORKSHOPS / TALKS AND EVENTS:

The spring programme will be supported by a range of activities and events that will provide opportunities to find out more about the art and artists on display, as well as exploring and developing the participants’ own creativity. Sign up to the Grundy newsletter via the Grundy website www.thegrundy.org and keep an eye on the website and watch out for posts via Grundy’s social media channels to find out more. n

A Beach for Every Day of the Year

By Sharmen Frith-Hemmings

National Flag 

Imagine a place where you can spend literally every day of the year on a different beach! imagine the feel of sand between your toes and imagine the look of the glistening white or pink sand as you sink your toes into it…

Yesss! we are back in the Caribbean and this time the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua has 365 beaches a very unique point for such a small island, and they all have different features. Take Fort James for instance, it has a real history. It was built by the British in the 18th century and the old cannons are still in place. There’s also a great view of the surrounding harbour. pigeon point is on the South of the island it’s one of the most picturesque beaches that you can imagine on the island. Barbuda beaches have pink sand perhaps one of the only places in the world with pink sand beaches, also there’s Rendezvous beach a place where you can relax in your birthday suit. Although not visited by many tourists because the access is pretty rough terrain, and you would need a four-wheel drive. Once you are there… it is such a tranquil place that you just want to stay.

Apart from the large hotels that Antigua is home to, some of the greatest and the best attractions are the little street food shacks that can be found on the beaches and in the town and the villages. These are the best places to venture out to sample the local food. You can sample the Fungi and Pepper Pot which is Antigua’s national dish. you can also sample a whole range of local dishes including, fish, soups, and stews. On the beaches, you would find great seafood so places like Millers by the Sea on Fort James beach and on crab hill beach they specialise in seafood, and oh my goodness is it tasty or what?

So, what else does Antigua have to offer? Antigua is home to Sir Viv Richards one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time in the history of cricket. Sir Viv Richards played cricket in the 70s and the 80s for Antigua and spent some time here in England playing for Somerset. Vivian He is an ambassador for his Island and will not hesitate to take every opportunity to promote Antigua. Antigua’s twin island Barbuda produces some of the best lobsters in the Caribbean and is home to the black pineapple. This pineapple is the sweetest pineapple that you will ever taste. Barbuda is not as easy to get to but there’s a ferry that sails from Antigua to Barbuda and the hotel there is absolutely gorgeous it is secretive and secluded and many celebrities would visit to get away from the rest of the world and the paparazzi.

Antigua has little Rum shops where you can sample some of the best rum, it’s important that if you visit Antigua that you take the opportunity to visit some of these rum shops and enjoy the variety of alcoholic drinks that the island has to offer. This is where you will meet the local legends that will

that are all too willing to let you know about the history of Antigua and the things that are on offer.

Antigua plays host to a week of sailing competitions with sailing drills and competitions during the day followed by rum boat parties and concerts to a reggae soundtrack through the night. Antigua’s sailing competition is a week-long yacht regatta held at English harbour, the home to residents and visitors’ yachts. You can see several

of them in all their glorious display, it is just so picturesque. This is usually held between late April and early May, we’re talking about 1,500 participants and over 5,000 spectators, it welcomes sailors from all over the world. Over the last decade, the Antigua sailing week has become one of the largest sailing events in the international sailing calendar. It attracts competitors of the highest calibre, top Olympic yachtsman, and keen sailors alike. The week consists of six days of racing in what is quite easily described as the best sailing conditions in the world.

As a young woman in the 90’s Cassada Gardens racetrack was one of the most popular places to be on a weekend buzzing with life and enjoyment. I spent many a Sunday hanging out by the track with friends, watching our favourite horses cruise by.

There are so many things to enjoy in Antigua but none greater than the annual Antigua carnival. This is held the last week in July to the first week in August. A full two weeks of festival loaded with fun. A true expression of culture. The timing is set to celebrate the emancipation of slavery and boy! do they really celebrate. The party goes on till the wee hours of the morning. Prepare to get soaked with water as revellers spray water all over the crowd in true Antiguan style. The carnival costumes are crafted by the locals in ‘Mas Camp’ a mustvisit for anyone wanting to see the hard work that goes into the sea of colour on J’ouvert. Other highlights of the carnival season include beauty pageants, calypso shows, steel bands, children’s activities, and cultural shows. The list can go on but it’s safe to say that the Antigua Carnival is the largest in the Caribbean and attracts visitors from all over the Caribbean and beyond. It is something that once experienced never forgotten. It has been said that the Antigua Carnival is an unforgettable spectacle of fun, excitement, and colour.

Carnival is not the only splash of colour that Antiguans enjoy, the National Flower Dagger Log (Agave Karatto) is a radiant splash of sunshine yellow. The National bird is the magnificent Frigate a red chested species. The national dress is a vibrant Madras and the national flag is a combination of red, yellow, blue and white. These all combine as an expression of the vibrancy of a people who are proud of their heritage.

Antigua is literally the gateway to the Caribbean it hosts the VC Bird International Airport and almost all international flights land here for changes to other island destinations. So next time you want to relax stop and smell the rum and the lobster in Antigua and Barbuda. M 5 Brennand Street,

Burnley BB10 1SU E info@mamashars.com N 07988 890974 F @mamashars I @mamashars

Antigua & Barbuda’s National Dish 

The Vibrant National Dress 

National Bird - The Magnificent Frigate 