neWs

PaintinG her oWn PiCture

Cupola Gallery’s owner turns artist this month with a new exhibition of her work titled ‘of no Places in Particular’ on display until 17 July. Whilst many people know Karen Sherwood as founder and director of Cupola gallery on Middlewood Road, fewer know her as a painter in her own right. But before setting up the gallery between a betting shop and a launderette round the corner from the Sheffield Wednesday football ground in 1991, Karen graduated from Psalter Lane Art College. Running the gallery occupied much of Karen’s time and energy, and as a result her own painting endeavours were put on the back burner for several years. That is, until an opportunity arose through a generous customer. Karen recalls: “In 2014 one of my customers kindly lent me and my family their caravan in Seahouses on the North East coast for a holiday and I was blown away by the fabulous coastline and atmosphere of the place. “Inspired by this experience I started painting again in earnest and I have not looked back.” Whilst Karen’s paintings were initially inspired by the coastline, they have recently become more of a reflection of her own lived experience, taking a deeper interest in the connection between ourselves and the landscape. The name of the exhibition, ‘of No Places In Particular’, references the way her paintings draw on elements of her experiences in the landscape, coupled with a desire to evoke a specific mood or feeling not rooted in a particular place. The landscape painting has become a vehicle for communicating the artist’s every day, primarily subconscious, emotional journeys. Especially now, when life is full of change and uncertain emotions; and these paintings depict a small aspect of this artist’s response to the last 12 months. “I make no plans when I begin a painting and simply apply paint to board, card, paper or canvas and see where the muse takes me.” adds Karen, “I work quickly and intuitively and work and re-work paintings many, many times over before finally finding a finished piece.” “The many layered process is part of the piece: traces, mistakes, early marks, scratches mark the journey and the changes, and without them the painting lacks character and struggle.” “I am rarely satisfied and find it often difficult to leave a painting, but when the process reaches a conclusion there is often a sense of relief or catharsis. Painting is both a huge pleasure and a difficult and frustrating activity, but one I would no longer be without.” The exhibition is on display now until 17 July in Cupola Gallery, 178a Middlewood Road, S6 1SB

loCal sChool beats the street

Beat the Street Sheffield, which has turned the entire city into a physical activity game, is off to a record-breaking start this year with hillsborough’s marlcliffe Primary school leading the way at the top of the schools total points leaderboard. The school has already racked up over 200,000 points in the opening weeks, which is the fastest that any team has scored this number of points across the previous 103 Beat the Street games. fiona Turner, Deputy Head at Marlcliffe Primary School, said: “The children, staff and parents have all been really enthusiastic about the initiative; there’s a real buzz around school! It’s such a fun way of engaging the local community in a shared goal, we’re really proud of everyone taking part.” Taking place until July 28, Beat the Street is transforming Sheffield into a real-life game with players tapping special sensors called Beat Boxes dotted across the town. Beat the Street Sheffield is brought to you by Move More and Sheffield City Council. It is delivered by Intelligent Health, with funding from the National Lottery, Sport England and local partners. Sheffield City Trust chief executive Andrew Snelling said: “We’re pleased to be working with Move More and Beat the Street this summer to help transform Sheffield into a giant game. “Improving the health and wellbeing of the people of our city is at the very heart of what Sheffield City Trust is all about, so being part of this great initiative is something we are very proud of. I’m sure it’s lots of fun for everyone who takes part.” It’s not too late to get involved in the free physical activity game that encourages players of all ages to get active and to ditch the car and walk, scoot, wheel, cycle or run instead. Collect a card and map from one of the distribution points listed on the Beat the Street Sheffield website, join a team and start playing! To find out more about the Beat the Street game, including where to collect a card, visit www.beaththestreet.me/sheffield or follow @ BTSSheffield on social media.

Slam Dunk

A Dunkin Donuts and a Chopstix Noodle Bar are set to take over at the former Pizza Hut restaurant site on Penistone Road this summer

Opening dates haven’t yet been confirmed for the US donut institution, which already has venues at Berkeley Precinct, Valley Centertainment and Devonshire Street, or for the new noodle restaurant, which is opening its second branch after recently opening its first at Berkeley Precinct on Ecclesall road. A spokesman for Chopstix said: “Sheffield will look to bring a host of Pan-Asian flavours including Salt ‘N’ Pepper Chicken, as well as Chopstix favourites Chicken Katsu Curry and Caramel Drizzle Chicken. “Chopstix is focused on delivering a faster, fresher, tastier alternative to the high street. Wok Master chefs deliver nourishing noodles, wholesome chicken, beautiful beef and perfect prawns with fresh vegetables and superb sauces to make Chopstix the go to guys for boxed fresh flavour.” The Pizza Hut building, which closed last November, was recently advertised to let for £60,000 per year. The famous chain, launched in 1973, announced last September that its Penistone Road and High Street branches would close for good along with 27 others nationwide. The chain said it was part of major restructuring with the expected loss of about 450 nationwide following the “significant disruption” of the pandemic and fears the market would not recover until well into 2021. Penistone Road already has a McDonalds and KfC and councillors have also given permission for an Aldi and a Costa Coffee drivethru and takeaway to open. These will be on a new complex, opposite the entrance to the Kop at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, which will also include eight trade units for businesses, including a builders merchants, a vehicle repair garage and parking for 270 cars. The new Aldi would be in addition to the one on flora Street, which Aldi says is massively overtrading with customers often struggling to find parking.

logging On

Right on tRack!

An 11-year-old Sheffield-based racing cadet has big dreams of becoming the first ever woman to win Le Mans. Despite having only been racing for three years, racing hot shot Maisy Creed already boasts a range of achievements, including being the track record holder at TeamSport Sheffield and finishing in third place at the BIKC Cadet Semi finals 2020, and now has her sights set firmly on top spot. It only took one visit to TeamSport Sheffield to ignite her passion for racing, an enthusiasm which seems to run in the family as Maisy’s dad also used to race for Lotus. She has no intention of slowing down and aims to get as many podiums and wins as possible in 2021/22 with her new team in preparation for a full attempt to win TeamSport’s British Karting Championship in 2023. Let’s all get cheering for Team Maisy.