Southport Contemporary Arts
“Meet the SCA Artists & Makers”
ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 1EJ
19th – 30th March 2024
By Martin Dawber
Making a change from the celebrated exhibitions that have become a staple of the regular calendar of events at The ArtHouse, during March the gallery in Southport will be playing host to a series of ‘Meet the Artists’ sessions that will offer first-hand insight into their creative process.
As Southport Contemporary Arts Director, Serah Stringer, explains: “For two weeks we are treating The ArtHousealmost as a studio space where people can come and watch artists making or showing techniques or methods they use”.
There will be two sessions each day with different activities ranging from free motion machine embroidery and pottery to book binding and painting in oils. A full directory of all the timetabled activities is listed at www.sca-network.co.uk. There is no need to book – just turn up to be inspired.
Opened in 2012, Southport Contemporary Arts’ (SCA) flagship gallery space in Eastbank Street quickly distinguished itself as a regular showcase for the promotion and support of the diversity of artists and makers across Southport.
SCA Director and ArtHouse Gallery Manager, Norrie-Beswick Calvert confirms: “The establishment of a permanent space for SCA has been invaluable for local artists. The provision of an exhibition space with workshop/studios has helped all of Southport’s creative communities develop and grow”.
Printmaking by Kate Tidmarsh
Among the breadth of talent and skills on show, on Saturday, 23rd March, paper artist, Rebecca Elliot, will be demonstrating the ancient art of quilling: “I have been creating hand made unique individual paper quilling art pieces for more than ten years now. I adore working with paper especially creating unique paper items that are bespoke”.
Dating back to the invention of paper in China in 105AD, the craft of wrapping paper around goose quills to engineer coiled decorative shapes – hence its name ‘quilling’ – has seen a recent resurgence in popularity.
As well as outlining the historical background to the art of quilling and its assorted tools, Rebecca will be on hand to introduce basic quilling techniques and show how to build an image using coiling and scrolling methods.
The following week, on Thursday 28th March, local experimental collagraphic printmaker, Kate Tidmarsh, will be available for a ‘print and plates’ chat where she will present a selection of her own work and the accompanying plates that she used to produce it: “There will be a simple gel plate printing demonstration as well as the chance to look through my printmaking sketchbook”.
Working from her canal side studio in West Lancashire, Kate draws upon her location to feed her imagination, producing highly accomplished, individually inked, handmade prints: “I particularly enjoy the experimental (and slightly unpredictable) aspects of printmaking, and often use unusual materials and starting points to develop my abstract interpretations of the world around me”.
This unique opportunity to see what motivates an artist and their personal journey into creating art is certainly not one to be missed. All of the artists and makers will be happy to discuss and explain their process and answer questions along the way. “Meet the SCA Artists & Makers” will take place at the ArtHouse, Eastbank Street, Southport from 19th – 30th March 2024. The gallery is open Tuesday – Friday 10.00-15.00. Saturday 11.00-16.00.
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