ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART

Building a Martian House, M Shed, until 30 October

Building a Martian House is a public art project that has made a prototype of a real Martian house. The project has brought together space scientists, architects, engineers, designers, and the public to explore how we live today and stimulate visions for new ways of living here on Earth and on Mars. Mars is a place where you’d have to live carefully and resourcefully. Imagining how a small community would live there offers a sharp lens on our lives here and now on Earth. The house is open until 30 October on M Shed Square with a threemonth programme of workshops, talks and events for all ages, about sustainability and future living. Opportunities to view the inside of the Martian House are available now. Viewings are free but booking is required. There is also an accompanying programme of workshops and panel discussions.

Building a Martian House is by artists Ella Good and Nicki Kent in collaboration with Hugh Broughton Architects and Pearce+. The installation is presented in collaboration with the Think Global: Act Bristol exhibition at M Shed.

• bristolmuseums.org.uk

Courses available at Spike Print Studio, throughout September

Get the kids into school and start September with a short taster course at Spike Print Studio. This month, the studio is running lead-in workshops to support Impact 12 International Print Conference (more information at: cfpr.uwe.ac.uk/impact-12-theprintmakers-voice). Fall in love with print with one of the studio’s courses: Charles Shearer Experimental Collagraph day workshop on 3 September; Chitra Merchant Screenprinting Bootcamp on 5 and 6 September; Vicky Willmot Reilef Printmaking on 5 and 6 September; Jess Bugler Riso Riot on 12 and 13 September; and

Gail Mason Experimental Screenprinting on 12 and 13 September.

• spikeprintstudio.org/courses; Spike Island, 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX

Keepers of the Fire, Rainmaker Gallery, 27 September –5 November

The team at Rainmaker Gallery celebrate the opening of their new gallery with an exhibition of work from the Potawatomi Nation. The minimalist drawings of Jason Wesaw are juxtaposed with richly textured landscape paintings by Douglas Klemm. Through expanses of carefully chosen colour drawn with oil pastel on incised archival paper, Wesaw describes a deep connection to nature and his ancestral lands. As a landscape artist Klemm is directly inspired by the natural world. This exhibition encourages us to be more respectful of the lands that we inhabit. Artists’ talk 27 September 2-3pm. Contact the gallery. A note from Jason: “Many Potawatomi fled or were forcibly removed from these lands where my small tribe still calls home. History is important, yes. But in my work, it is a means to an end to call notice to our continued presence in the land that nurtured us since the beginning of time. It encourages people to think about who we are in the present and future, not just the past. My work is intentionally bright, simple, and abstract because I seek to create in a visual language that blows up the stereotype of looking at Native Americans through a black and white lens. The bold colors and simple patterning lend itself to a visual language that comes across more meditative and reflective in the way we all feel when seeing a beautiful sunrise or looking out across a vast expanse of mountains. It is this amazement, this wonder, that is at the heart of our relationships in the natural world and forms the core of our identity as 'Keepers of the Fire'.”

• rainmakerart.co.uk; 140 Whiteladies Road, BS8 2RS

Image: MGEZHWASH, oil pastel and gold leaf pen on archival paper by Jason Wesaw

Forest: Wake this Ground, Arnolfini, until 2 October

This summer, Arnolfini welcomes visitors to celebrate what lies above and below the forest floor with Forest: Wake this Ground, a major group exhibition including artists, writers, filmmakers, and composers from across the globe: Rodrigo Arteaga, Mark Garry, Alma Heikkilä, Eva Jospin, Jumana Manna, Zakiya Mckenzie, David Nash, Maria Nepomuceno, John Newling, Rose Nguyen, Ben Rivers, Ai Weiwei, and Hildegard Westerkamp. With works that recycle, reuse and repurpose resources, discover the forests’ ancient rhythms and explore stories, myths, and folktales passed down between people over centuries. The exhibition is accompanied by a programme that includes live performance, film, family events and creative workshops inviting you to share and create your own

‘forest tales’ and to very gently encourage us all to take a look at the impact the changing climate has on nature and the world around us.

• arnolfini.org.uk; 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA

Image: Soil unsoiled, 2020. A collaboration between Zakiya McKenzie and Khady Gueye

Born Free Forever Bristol, until 30 September In 1966, Virginia McKenna OBE and Bill Travers MBE starred in the classic wildlife film Born Free.

The film told the true story of conservationists Joy and George Adamson, who rescued a lioness cub called Elsa and successfully returned her to the wild.

Virginia and Bill went on to make a number of wildlife films together, including in 1969 An Elephant Called Slowly with an elephant calf called Pole Pole (pronounced Poly Poly). When filming was over, Pole Pole was gifted to London Zoo by the

Kenyan government. In 1982,

Virginia and Bill went to visit Pole Pole at the zoo. Pole Pole, in clear distress, remembered Virginia and Bill and stretched out her trunk to reach them. Virginia and Bill launched a campaign to give Pole Pole a better life but in 1983, aged 16, Pole Pole died. Determined that her death would not be in vain, in 1984, Virginia, Bill and their eldest son Will launched Zoo Check – the charity that has evolved into Born Free.

This year, Born Free has launched a UK-wide exhibition with 25 life-size bronze lion sculptures touring the country to raise awareness and vital funds for lions. Visit the exhibition at Clifton Downs, marvel at the sculptures and learn the true stories behind the Born Free lion pride.

• bornfree.org.uk; Sea Walls, Circular Road, Clifton BS9 1PG

Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1781 2022, Royal West of England Academy (RWA), until 11 September

The final instalment of the RWA’s elements series, Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1781-2022 tackles the most expansive and urgent of subject matters, bringing together important modern, historical and contemporary artworks, co-curated by artist Emma Stibbon RA RWA, art historian Professor Emerita Christiana Payne (Oxford Brookes University) and Nathalie Levi (Head of Programme – Curator of Exhibitions, RWA). The exhibition examines how attitudes towards the landscape have evolved over the centuries and how artists’ approaches have changed over time; from the pastoral idylls of the 18th century, through representations of the Romantic Sublime, to present-day confrontations of the climate emergency. Encompassing depictions of the natural world from geological, spiritual, industrial, cultural and scientific perspectives.

• rwa.org.uk; Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX

Image: Rodney Harris MRSS (b. 1966), A Delineation of Strata of England and Wales with parts of Scotland, Ireland and France, based on the original geological map by William Smith in 1815

Expert opinion

From Chris Yeo, Valuer at Clevedon Salerooms and regular expert on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow

“Mr. Bristol”

Shortly after I began working with Ken Stradling, who died recently at the incredible age of 100, a friend said to me ‘I hear you’re working for “Mr Bristol”’. It was an apt title for a man who, for well over half a century, was the beating heart of the city’s cultural scene. Ken was, for many years, Managing Director and subsequently Chairman of the Bristol Guild, the shop on Park Street he joined in 1948, which under his leadership, became a beacon for outstanding and innovative art and design. Following his retirement, in 2006, he founded the Ken Stradling Collection Trust, showcasing his nationally important collection of 20th and 21st Century artworks from its home on Park Row, where I worked as Curator for over ten years. He was also a former trustee of the SS Great Britain, Chair of the Gane Trust, which supports young people working in the arts, and a supporter of many other local causes.

Ken was a Bristol boy to the core but his influence stretched much further. He was one of the first retailers to introduce Scandinavian modern design to the UK, and in the 1950s and ‘60s became a standard bearer for the look that style aficionados today call ‘Mid Century’. He was also an enthusiastic and visionary patron, providing valuable –and sustained - support to many local artists and crafts people, whose work he sold at the Guild.

A familiar face at events around the city, Ken was an instantly recognisable figure, in his trademark suit, black shirt and fedora, with the impeccable manners of a true gentleman. As someone at the epicentre of the design world for so long, his address book was remarkable, as were his stories about some of the many well-known people he’d known, all delivered with his warm, deadpan wit. His abiding memory of lunch with the legendary food writer Elizabeth David was that she “smoked between courses”.

It was a proud moment for all his friends when, in 2020, Ken received an MBE in recognition of his contribution to Bristol’s cultural life. It was well earned. So, on behalf of the city he loved and for which he did so much, I say goodbye Ken, and thank you. ■ • clevedonsalerooms.com; @chrisyeo_antiques (Instagram)