magazine
ropewalk
RM issue 17 free
Exhibitions Workshops Events May - August 2015 The Ropewalk • Barton upon Humber
The Ropewalk was built in 1801 and as Hall’s Barton Ropery manufactured ropes for the world. It closed as a working factory in 1989 and was brought back to life as an arts centre in April 2000 by an artists’ co-operative who still manage the site today. The Grade II listed building is a cultural quarter of a mile long!
The Ropewalk has 3 temporary exhibition spaces with a rolling exhibition programme that ensures there is always something new to see.
Workshops
The Ropewalk offers a stimulating programme of art and craft workshops that run throughout the year, including regular classes in printmaking and life drawing and day classes in a range of activities.
Events
The Craft Gallery continually displays in excess of 200 makers’ work from throughout the country including jewellery, ceramics, glass, textiles and a wide selection of artist-made greeting cards. The Hall-Mark Room displays a range of contemporary prints and collectables.
Ropery Hall is a small community venue with a capacity of around 120 that offers a programme of film, theatre, music and comedy.
Coffee Shop
Craft
Galleries
The Ropewalk
the ropewalk
Fresh local produce is used to create a wide variety of mainly vegetarian snacks and light lunches. A large selection of delicious freshly made cakes, coffees and organic juices are also available.
The building also houses a small Museum, Artist Studios, meeting rooms for hire and bespoke picture framing service.
Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
welcome
Here comes this summer!
I
n this issue of Ropewalk Magazine we look forward to the last few acts of the spring in Ropery Hall, a fantastic line up that will ease us into the changing rhythms of the summer season. As Ropery Hall closes for the summer we are delighted to be once again a part of the Barton Arts Festival this year which boasts amongst other events a reading of War Horse by its author Michael Murpurgo. Our biennial Open Exhibition Humber to the Wash opens for entries in May and will be on show from early June. It is always exciting to see what the talented artists of this region submit for consideration firstly by our selectors and then by you, our visitors.
Never let it be said that we do not try at The Ropewalk, as for the third year running we will attempt to run the Waterside Food Festival. The first held in September 2013 was greeted by torrential rain and hurricane force winds, while the second in August last year had less wind, but probably more rain on one of the wettest days of the summer. We have moved the Food Festival forward yet another month and on 12 July we shall try again. I hope that third time will be lucky and we can welcome you to try the best in local produce on a beautiful summer’s day (I am crossing my fingers already!)
Liz Managing Director
Find us on
Admission Free Galleries Open 7 days a week: Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am - 4pm The Ropewalk is on one level with good wheelchair access; we are a 5 minute walk from the Barton Transport Interchange with half-hourly buses to Hull and Scunthorpe and a 2-hourly rail service to Grimsby and the wider rail network.
May - August 2015
jewellery
Featured Jewellers
May - Debby Marsh Debby’s rural home studio strongly influences her practice as a jeweller. Working in silver, each piece is unique, some with soft texture and others with bold etched designs. Taking inspiration from her love of gardens and nature she has recently produced some quirky, decorative bird box pendants to extend her current range of bangles, rings and pendants with riveted beads, echoing delicious, shiny berries.
June - Stephen Roper
After a childhood filled with the sights, sounds and smells of creative businesses in London’s Portobello Road and Camden Lock markets, Stephen’s distinctive jewellery style grew from natural textures and forms. His work features organic surfaces created in silver, gold and often precious stones.
July - Lawrence Gibson Lawrence’s range is based on designs of the sea and coast, using coloured resin to depict sky blue, sun’s rays and waves. The base metal is pewter, locally sourced in Cornwall. He adds colour to the resin which is either dropped into the pewter casting or made as a separate piece and incorporated into the design.
August - Cathy Newell Price Inspired by the British countryside and gardens, birds, flowers and insects all feature in Cathy’s jewellery range. Recent designs have been formed by casting molten silver directly into hand carved moulds with some pieces further worked by fusing gold or enamel onto the surface that are then encased in individual settings. Other pieces are made by hand-piercing silver shapes and fusing vitreous enamel to them in a kiln.
Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
craft
May Flowers
Sue Dunne During the month of May we welcome to The Ropewalk’s Box Gallery a new potter. Sue Dunne’s ceramics are created in her workshop near Hexham. They feature the year round fascination she has with natural history, particularly plant-life when it’s wild. Over the months, seasons and years Sue has carefully built up a library of records in the moulds of pressed flowers, twigs, seeds, leaves, berries and feathers enabling her to capture nature at its finest.
I feel privileged that something as beautiful, but so flimsy and transient, as a flower can be given more permanence by my ceramic work. The methods Sue uses ensures that each piece created is an individual work of art, rather than using ‘mass produced’ identical moulds. Everything is twice- fired, the colour being applied before the second (glaze) firing at just under 1100 degrees C. Her work will be on display from Saturday 2nd May – 31st May.
May - August 2015
exhibitions
2015 Open Exhibition Humber to The Wash This June both Ropewalk galleries will be once again devoted to our open art completion, Humber to The Wash. The biennial show draws artists from the region including the counties of East Yorkshire (together with Hull), North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The two guest selectors who have the unenviable task of deciding which works to include this year are Lisa Moran and Adele Howitt. Lisa is the Arts and Theatres Contract
Manager for North Lincolnshire Council. Adele is a practicing artist and a co-director of Studio Eleven in Hull. There are a number of prizes on offer including the Selector’s Prize of £400 and runner-up awards of £100 each donated by our sponsors, The Proudfoot Group and Cooke Webster & Co. The show runs throughout the summer from June 6 to September 6. Artists wishing to exhibit can download entry details from our website: www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
Two solo exhibitions both feature previous winners of the Humber to The Wash Open Exhibition
Letitia Thompson Letitia Thompson - Little Paintings from a Small Village Gallery One 11 April –31 May “The paintings are about the landscape, animals and imagined stories, often beginning from old photographs of people and places I don’t know.” Letitia’s painterly abstract compositions have a narrative element that suggests a representation of a particular time and place – a glimpse into a personal world of memory and imagery.
that show careful consideration, skilful technique and a joy in their creation.
Painted in acrylic and combining elements of collage the paintings are a patchwork of colour and texture
Letitia was the 2013 winner of the Humber To The Wash Open Exhibition.
Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
exhibitions
Steve Upton Steve Upton – Marking the Surface Artspace 25 April – 31 May Steve likes that uniquely English outlook that can be an uneasy combination of the humorous, grotesque and surreal and sees it perhaps no longer as a celebration but as a record of a certain English lifestyle. As a figurative painter he looks for those visually odd and edgy combinations of places,
objects and people which might be stumbled across in unexpected locations. And of course the surfaces layered with statements - political, heartfelt, personal or rude. Beverley-based Steve was the 2009 winner of the Humber To The Wash Open Exhibition.
The Ropewalk Fundraising Auction in aid of the Ropery Hall development During April and May the Hall-Mark Room will be dedicated to work donated to our fundraising auction. All items will be on display and bids may be made at any time. Artists have been very generous and we have had many excellent donations including beautiful bowls by Pete Moss and Gill Hobson, paintings from Keith Woodcock and Clive Redshaw and prints from Alison Read. Each item will also be on display on our website with bids by email accepted and bidding will end at 4pm on Friday May 15.
May - August 2015
workshops
Bee Inspired New to our Workshop Programme for 2015 is bee artist and print maker Andrew Tyzack. As a regular user of the Ropewalk print room with his wife and artist Debbie, Andrew will be delivering his first workshop, Life Drawing Project (An advanced technique charcoal drawing from live honey bees), on Saturday 16th May. Students will draw directly from living honey bees in an observation beehive in the studio. Set honey bee and bumble bee specimens will also be available for study under a binocular microscope. This is a brilliant opportunity to study honey bees and draw them from life with Andrew. Students will learn about basic bee anatomy, how they fly, the waggle dance, their social structure and their beehive home. Sketches and studies will be worked up into an advanced technique charcoal drawing. For those wanting to attend this workshop (or those who are just interested in bee anatomy and behaviour) Andrew has suggested some pre-workshop reading: The Observation Hive, Karl Showler and Drawing and Painting Insects by Andrew Tyzack The Crowood Press). 16th May Life Drawing Project with Andrew Tyzack 10:30am – 4:30pm £40/35*
5th May,12th May,19th May,2nd June,9th June ,16th June Evening Class – Introduction to Silversmithing with Diane Lee 6pm – 8pm £67/£62* 9th May Making a simple stone set ring with Jacqueline Warrington 10:30am – 4:30pm £55/£50* 16th May Life Drawing Project (An advanced technique charcoal drawing from live honey bees) with Andrew Tyzack 10:30am – 4:30pm £40/35* 13th June Willow Garden Structures with Kirsty Champ 10:30 – 4:30pm £45/40* 27th June Imagined Places - working with ink drawing and printmaking with Rob Moore 10:30am – 4:30pm £48/43*
Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
food festival
Barton Waterside Food Festival The Ropewalk is once again hosting the Waterside Food Festival this summer – and fingers and toes are firmly crossed for dry weather.
Sunday July 12, 10am - 4pm
This year the Food Festival is being held on Sunday, July 12, along the length of The Ropewalk’s Promenade as well as demonstrations in Ropery Hall. The Food Festival will be the only opportunity for food lovers to stock up on locally produce as this is the only Festival being held in Barton this year. Running from 10am until 4pm there will be a wide variety of produce for sale including free range meat (just in time for the barbecue season), homemade jams and chutneys, pies and chocolate, beers and cheeses!
Chef Nigel Brown will be demonstating at this year’s festival
Entertainment will also be provided throughout the day and there is free car parking at the Waters’ Edge Visitor Centre just a stone’s throw away from the Promenade.
ST-ART organises both termtime clubs at The Ropewalk as well as holiday Arts activities in various locations throughout North Lincolnshire for young people aged between five and 19 years. For more details visit: www.st-art.co.uk
are you under 19?
interested in cra
ft ?
May - August 2015
music The Young’uns are a force of nature on stage. Their irrepressible humour, infectious love for harmony singing, passion for storytelling and commitment to maintaining the tradition of social commentary has quickly made them one of the most sought after acts on the English folk scene with the rare ability to make audiences laugh and cry in equal measure.
The Young’Uns “Another Man’s Ground”
In 2013 they gave up their jobs and took to the road to share their love of singing and laughter with whomever would listen. Since then they have performed alongside Billy Bragg at Glastonbury, opened the main stage at Cambridge Folk Festival, recorded a memorable live session on BBC Radio 2, held a host of intimate rural singing weekends, visited dozens of schools and appeared at more than 40 festivals at home and abroad. A decade after first burping their way through a sea shanty as inebriated teenagers at Stockton Folk Club, The Young’uns (so called that night because they were the youngest people at the club by more than 40 years) have developed their craft, absorbed the musical heritage of their native North East, sought inspiration from the hundreds of performers they have heard and are now preparing to take their music to a much wider audience than they ever imagined. 2015 sees the release of their 4th album and a major tour to celebrate their 30th birthdays. Inspired by the actions of a group of Stockton residents who chased a Benefits Street film crew from their doors, The Young’uns new album Another Man’s Ground celebrates working class heroes of the past and present with powerful and poignant tales of struggle, poverty and peace.
The Ropewalk and Mad Dog Folk present May 30 The Young’Uns 8pm £12/£14otd
Coming Soon ...
Vonda Shepard October 10, 8pm tickets £20adv/£22otd Judie Tzuke November 21, 8pm tickets £20adv/£22otd Tickets now on sale www.roperyhall.co.uk for further details
10 Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
music
Raising the Roof with the Hackney Colliery Band
W
e are delighted to welcome this high energy band to an evening where moving your feet is actively encouraged in this standing gig.
repertoire. Mining nuggets of funk, hip-hop and high-octane rock from the musical coalface and throwing in a few chunks of Balkan brass, electronica and contemporary jazz for good measure, the Hackney Formed in 2008 out of a desire to Colliery Band’s set list is as diverse as play music that appealed to the feet the London borough that gave them as much as to the ears, the Hackney their name. Colliery Band is east London’s unique take on the brass band. Add the fact that the band stays true Featuring trumpets, trombones, to its roots by bringing the tradition of saxes, sousaphone and marching mobile marching bands firmly into the percussion, the band are totally 21st Century and you know that every acoustic and yet able to blow the roof gig’s sure to be unique. Whether playing off any room. to a global audience of hundreds of millions at the Closing Ceremony of Hackney Colliery Band’s members the London 2012 Olympics or to a few have hugely diverse musical hundred in a club, though, you can be backgrounds, ranging from work certain of one thing: this is high-energy, with cutting edge jazz groups to the good-time music that’ll make you want Royal Opera House, and from move your feet Jarvis Cocker to major international orchestras. May 9 Hackney Colliery Band This breadth of musical talent is 8pm £13/£15otd clearly on display in their eclectic
May - August 2015 11
poetry
People’s Poetry It isn’t often that Ropery Hall can boast of hosting two evenings in one month where there is the emphasis on poetry. However the work by the UK’s favourite performance poet John Hegley and the man better known as the Grandfather of Folk, Mike Harding, could not be more different although running through both evenings is a good helping of humour. First on stage is John Hegley on May 8 who is back in Barton with a show based on selections from his recent book, New and Selected Potatoes. As ever difficult to categorise this poet, comic, singer, songwriter and glasses wearer contemplates everything from France and families, libraries and paintings, to Daleks and, of course, potatoes. This new compilation by John shows the breadth of his appeal, with seriously funny, cleverly comic poems. These pieces are by turns funny, moving, thoughtprovoking and always sparklingly original.
reads folk singer and songwriter, poet and playwright, comedian and broadcaster, fell-walker and fly-fisherman, his current focus has shifted to his poetry and, in particular, an opportunity to share The UK’s favourite performance his work with a live audience. poet, comedian and musician hits the road, mandolin in hand, With four published anthologies has captivated and devastated to his credit, he’s been dropping audiences all over the country in to read his poems at Poetry in theatres and festival, the and Literary Festivals around the Edinburgh Festival and numerous country lately. appearances on radio and television. Following these visits, Mike has decided to take his poetry on a Mike Harding is just as hard to tour of small theatres and arts pigeon-hole. With a resume that centres in the North of England
12 Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
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poetry
including a return visit to Ropery Hall. And as well as reading his work, he’ll be telling the personal stories that prompted him to write them. It’s perhaps not what a legion of his fans are used to but we can guarantee it will be a good night as well as rare chance to see “The Other Side of Mike Harding” on May 16. The Picture of Dorian Gray May 2 7.30pm £12/£14 John Hegley May 8 8pm £13/£15 Mike Harding May 16 7.30pm £12/£14
Just creeping into our latest programme is European Arts’ production of The Picture of Dorian Gray on May 2 which has been rescheduled from a couple of days earlier. Combining drawing room comedy and Gothic horror, this is a gripping and hugely entertaining theatrical event.
May - August 2015 13
literature
Creative Writing Fathom Writers paused as an organisation three years ago but thanks to the new impetus from the Northern Accent Literature project we are ready to restart breathing new life into creative writing at The Ropewalk. Membership for the group costs just £10 per annum and members benefit from reduced class fees and advance notification of special classes and events. You can join at any class or in the Craft Gallery at The Ropewalk.
Telling a Story The first of three eight-week writing courses led by local writer and experienced Creative Writing tutor Sue Wilsea will start on Thursday 14th May from 6.30- 8.45pm. Cost is £80 for non-members and £75 for members. We all love listening to stories: they help make sense of the world around
us and give shape and form to life. This course looks at how to write them. How short is a short story and when and how do they become novellas or novels? What about structure, plotting, characterization and dialogue? What makes a great beginning and a satisfying ending? All these questions and many more will be addressed in sessions which offer participants stimuli for writing and guidance through the construction of their own fiction.
A taster writing workshop for words on the westwood will be held at the ropewalk on wednesday 6th May from 6.30–8pm led by local writer sue wilsea. Fun, friendly and brimming with ideas and tips to unlock your creativity, the workshop is open to all. no experience necessary. Cost:£5.to book call sue on 07985377539
words on the westwood 14 Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
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advertisement craft
June 26 - July 5
2015 Festival Highlights
Vin Garbutt June 26, Ropery Hall
Brighouse & Rastrick Band June 27, St.Mary’s Church
War Horse - Michael Morpurgo, John Tams and Barry Coope July 3, The Citadel
I, Elizabeth July 4, Ropery Hall
Plus Acoustic Barnfest, Amaryllis Consort, Doncaster Concert Band and much more ... For more details visit bartonarts.co.uk
May - August 2015 15
comedy
Gary Delaney- Purist
Gary Delaney is a razor sharp one-liner comedian, who is widely regarded as being the most quotable comic on the circuit. The sheer number of outstanding gags leaves the audience struggling to remember them all. Gary thinks that most shows don’t contain enough jokes, and is trying single-handedly to redress the balance. Expect: Jokes. Don’t Expect: Narrative, themes or a voyage of self-discovery. Not suitable for children or sensitive souls. Gary is a regular guest on Mock The Week and has also appeared on Dave’s “One Night Stand”, Comedy
Central’s “The Comedy Store” and “Comedy Blue”, and on Channel 4’s “Robert”s Web”. He has also been on Radio 4’s “Loose Ends”, Radio 5’s “7 Day Saturday” and Radio 2’s “Russell Kane’s Whistle-Stop Tour”. Gary has written for many TV programmes including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, 10 O”Clock Live, A League of Their Own and Stand Up for the Week. Gary received two Sony’s for his work for Kerrang! Radio. Gary’s Twitter feed was also nominated for a Chortle Award. May 3
16 Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
Gary Delaney 8pm £13/£15otd
01652 660380
I, Elizabeth
theatre
E
lizabeth 1 – traitor, bastard, heretic or prisoner?
As part of the Barton Arts Festival, Ropery Hall will be hosting the play, I, Elizabeth, that explores the struggle to reconcile the desires of womanhood with the duties of sovereignty to expose the royal heart of one of this country’s most iconic historical figures. Written and performed by Rebecca Vaughan and directed by Guy Masterson the play is set in the periods of a vital crossroads in history as a young queen steps from the shadows to unburden herself of her many troubles and reveal her innermost thoughts on marriage, succession, religion, war, and the challenges to her throne.
But who was the woman beneath the crown? Using only Elizabeth’s own words–adapted from letters, speeches and writings– I, Elizabeth illuminates a fascinating and insightful moment of decision in the young monarch’s reign. Defying the establishment by choosing to lead her country alone, Elizabeth has forsaken her own dreams and desires in order to steer England towards national and spiritual security. Rebecca Vaughan, who last appeared at Ropery Hall in Austen’s Women, continues her collaboration with director Guy Masterson in this play by Dyad Productions which was a 5 star success when it first played at Edinburgh. July 4 7.30pm
I, Elizabeth £12adv/£14otd
May - August 2015 17
M
D
iary May - August 2015
ay
Until May 31 • Gallery One • Letitia Thompson Until May 31 • Artspace • Steve Upton May 2 – 31 • Box Gallery • Sue Dunne 2
The Picture of Dorian Gray
7.30pm
£12/£14
3
Gary Delaney
8pm
£13/£15
7
Film Quiz Night
7.30pm
£5
8
John Hegley
8pm
£13/£15
9
Making a simple stone set ring with Jacqueline Warrington
10:30am – 4:30pm
£55/£50
9
The Hackney Colliery Band
8pm
£13/£15
13
Places - Barton Muse
7.30pm
£5/£6
14
The Theory of Everything
7.30pm
£4
16
Life Drawing from Live Honeybees with Andrew Tyzack
10:30am – 4:30pm
£40/£35
16
Mike Harding
7.30pm
£12/£14
30
The Young ‘Uns
8pm
£12/£14
J
une
June 6 – September 6 • All Galleries • Humber to The Wash 13
Willow Garden Structures with Kirsty Champ
10:30 – 4:30pm
£45/£40
26
Vin Garbutt
8pm
£13/£15
27
Imagined Places - working with ink drawing and printmaking with Rob Moore
10:30 – 4:30pm
£48/43
J
uly
June 6 – September 6 • All Galleries • Humber to The Wash 4
I, Elizabeth
7.30pm
£12/£14
12
Barton Food Festival
10am - 4pm
Free
A
ugust
June 6 – September 6 • All Galleries • Humber to The Wash Key Exhibitions Music Film Theatre/Comedy
18 Ropewalk Magazine www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
01652 660380
Workshops
craft
fathom works
Units Available Fathom Works offers affordable start up business units starting at £190 per month for a 200 sq ft unit. The light and airy units are offered to creative industries and a range of services are included in the monthly rental including – heating, lighting, water rates, wi-fi, telephone line rental (call charges not included), building insurance, reception with administrative support, cleaning and use of common areas, waste collection (non- industrial), grounds maintenance. Looking For A Meeting Room? The Ropewalk has several meeting rooms which are available to hire by the hour, session or day, the largest of which can seat up to 120 people. Equipment is available to hire in each of the rooms: overhead projector, screen, laptop, flipchart. Catering options are available to suit your needs. Teas/coffees and home produced buffets can be brought to your meeting room at a specified time. Alternatively for groups smaller than 10, the Coffee Shop is an ideal place to take a break from your meeting. Orders can be placed in advance and tables reserved.
Contact Us For further information regarding unit rental or meeting room hire, or if you would like to view the premises please call: 01652 660380 or email Carol: reception@the-ropewalk.co.uk
Workspace for the creative industries
An Introduction to Silversmithing with Diane Lee This fun evening course runs over six weeks and covers the basic techniques of making copper and silver jewellery from traditional methods
Begins May 5 6pm – 8pm £67/£62 01652 660380
May - August 2015 19
the ropewalk Ropery Hall
The Venue is a small community venue with a capacity of around 120. For small music nights seating is cabaret-style; for all other performances it is theatre-style and seating is not numbered. Please ensure that you arrive in good time if you wish to be seated together. There is a fully licenced bar at all performances. Doors open an hour before the start of performances.
How To Book
Tickets are available: In Person at The Ropewalk. Open 7 days a week 10am - 5pm (4pm Sundays). By Telephone. Reserve your tickets for 5 days before collection or pay by credit or debit card. (An additional charge of £2 is applied) Online at www.roperyhall.co.uk
Directions
We are well signposted from the A15. Just follow the brown signs... Exit the A15 at J.3 and take the A1077 into Barton (Ferriby Road). Turn left at mini roundabout at the bottom of the hill and follow the road round to the next mini roundabout and turn left again. Follow the one-way system through Castledyke West and get in the left-hand lane. Turn left at the junction opposite the railway station, then take the first right off Waterside Road onto Maltkiln Road. For The Ropewalk Galleries turn left into Tesco’s car park where you will find us in the far left corner. There is ample free car parking adjacent to the building. For Ropery Hall, follow the road round to the Waters’ Edge park gates and then left into the car park. Please park at the end of the car park nearest Ropery Hall then walk to the first set of doors at the side of the building. For Sat Nav users please input DN18 5JR which will lead you straight to Waters’ Edge Car Park.
The Ropewalk•Maltkiln Road•Barton upon Humber.•North Lincolnshire•DN18 5JT t: 01652 660380•f: 01652 637495•e: info@the-ropewalk.co.uk•www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
The Ropewalk is the trading name for the Waterside Artists’ Co-operative Limited reg no 3820744 VAT no 875 7455 72