posted 26 Apr 2012
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MP MARIA EAGLE VISITS THE BLUECOAT TO PRAISE COMMUNITY PROJECT
- 03 Apr 2012
- in Learn
30/03/12
Maria Eagle, Shadow Transport Secretary and MP for Garston and Halewood, has commended the Bluecoat’s Blue Room project for its positive work supporting learning disabled participants to travel independently to the Bluecoat each week for art activities.
The MP visited the Bluecoat this week to look at the Blue Room’s work as part of Art:Connect – a seven week collaborative art project with Mexican based artist Wendell McShine.
Blue Room is an award-winning arts service for people with learning disabilities operating three days a week at the Bluecoat in partnership with Liverpool City Council. Among the Blue Room members is John (image attached), a talented artist with learning disabilities who successfully took part in ART:Connect to make impressive animations, models, drawings and masks.
Maria Eagle’s former post as Minister for Disabled People also informed her interest in the Blue Room project which aims to break down barriers for learning disabled people in accessing the arts and related volunteering opportunities.
Ms Eagle said: “It is good to see the Bluecoat reaching out to all parts of the community and promoting inclusion of disabled people. Art Connect also highlights the importance of public transport in making the connection between people in the outlying communities and the cultural facilities that the city centre has to offer, such as the excellent Bluecoat”.
Bec Fearon, Head of Participation at the Bluecoat said: “Access for disabled people to public transport is a key quality of life issue for our communities and we are pleased to be able to support our members in arriving to the Bluecoat independently and safely.”
The Art:Connect work is exhibiting at the Bluecoat daily from 10am till 6pm until 15 April.
As part of the project, Wendell McShine worked with children and young people from Norris Green and learning disabled adults from the Blue Room project to bring people together through art. The exhibition marks the end of Wendell’s seven-week residency at the Bluecoat. Wendell residency was funded by Liverpool PCT as part of the Decade of Health and Wellbeing
Wendell, who hails from Trinidad and is based in Mexico said: “We all share a common interest to the well being of our societies and self expression is one of our core values both as individuals and groups. I have created the Art Connect Project rooted in the philosophy that investment in education, art and humanities is vital for the upliftment and development of any society. This program is created to promote self awareness in young people through the use of educational and dynamic creative workshops. My mission is to equip young people with new found skills and information that they can apply to enrich their lives and impact their communities.”
Mary Cloake, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat said: “Art:Connect has been a transformative project. It is exemplary of the way the Bluecoat uses its participation team to engage local communities, who ordinarily may not be able to access high quality arts provision in the city centre. It is important that the Bluecoat supports the Blue Room participants to travel independently and provide accessible, rewarding projects which engage the local community.”
Honky Tonk at the Bluecoat
- 15 Jul 2011
- in Visual Art
15/07/11
MEDIA RELEASE – For immediate release
SOUTH BY NORTH WEST –
TEXAS COMES TO LIVERPOOL with new Honky Tonk exhibition at the Bluecoat.
Friday 22 July – Sunday 18 September, daily 10am – 6pm. Free admission.
Artists featuring in Honky Tonk:
Mike Badger, Ed Blackburn, Linda Blackburn, Derek Boshier, Jim Burton, Randall Friedman, Steve Hardstaff & Neil Morris, Adrian Henri, Henry Horenstein, Norman Killon, Bruce Lee, Nicki McCubbing, Mark McNulty, Cruz Ortiz, Trish Simonite, Barry Worrall, Chen Xinpeng & Wong Hoy Cheong.
Honky Tonk is an exhibition that investigates the country and western aesthetic found both in the music and popular culture of Liverpool and the United States - the original home of the honky tonk. These traditionally rough establishments offer cheap drinks, food, live music and dancing for a working class clientele, and over time they have been immortalised by iconic songs such as Hank Williams’ Honky Tonk Blues and Gram Parsons’ Close up the Honky Tonks.
According to music historian Kevin McManus, Liverpool has been the ‘Nashville of the North’ since the 1950s. The city benefitted from transatlantic shipping traffic, as sailors and travellers brought home records from the United States that were hard to find in the UK. Even the Beatles embraced country music in their early recordings. Burtonwood, a nearby American airforce base, also made a crucial impact bringing the city into direct contact with music from the Southern states and spawning home-grown country from the likes of Hank Walters. Performers like The Hillsiders and Birkenhead’s Charlie Landsborough carried on that tradition, whilst the connection to Texas continues today with local musicians like Mike Badger who regularly plays at the SXSW showcase in Austin.
The stories and the group-participatory nature of country music, plus the glamour of Western fashion, made Liverpool’s country scene thrive. An energetic fascination with cowboy culture in the city is also evident: Buffalo Bill visited in 1891, and in the 1950s Roy Rogers stayed at the famous Adelphi Hotel with his horse, Trigger. In the 1950s and 60s, pubs along the dock road were the equivalent of the honky tonks you might have found in Texas or Tennessee.
Honky Tonk, the exhibition, draws similarities between Liverpool, Austin, Nashville and other American cities. Artists from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond bring together art, music and the honky tonk flavour, providing a contemporary response through painting, video, photography and installation. Infused with irony, humour and playfulness, the show explores pleasure through language, behaviour and the DIY nature of entertainment. Also included is archival material provided by local country fans, reflecting a fascination with cowboy culture, Western films and, naturally, music.
Highlights of the exhibition include:
Honky Tonk Women, an installation commissioned by the Bluecoat by Liverpool artist Nicki McCubbing, based on the lives of legendary country singers Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.
A new film and silkscreen print installation by Texas artist Cruz Ortiz which he describes as a “fake intergalactic country and western love story.” Honky Tonk is Ortiz’s first exhibition in the UK.
New photographs by Trish Simonite commissioned by the Bluecoat featuring famous Texas honky tonks alongside well known Liverpool pubs and music venues such as Smokey Mo’s and the Jacaranda.
A short film commissioned by the Bluecoat that presents the passion for country and western music and style of local musicians, line-dancers, performers and collectors. Contributors include musicians Billy Hatton, Hank Walters and Kenny Johnson, DJ and music journalist Spencer Leigh (BBC Radio Merseyside), local band Sixteen Tonnes and members of the Leasowe Castle Country & Western Club.
Objects from the private collections of Adrian Henri and Norman Killon, never publicly seen before, that include cowboy and country and western memorabilia from the 1960s and 70s.
Hobo-inspired portrait drawings by Texan artist Bruce Lee, who is also exhibiting in the UK for the first time.
Ashtrays & Tables, a short film by Mark McNulty that traces the journey of famed Liverpool musician Mike Badger, as he travels to Austin and Nashville to play country music and form a band.
A unique showing of Wong Hoy Cheong’s behind-the-scenes film that documents the making of Trigger, his video commissioned for the 2004 Liverpool Biennial, based on a re-enactment of Roy Rogers visit to Liverpool in 1954. [During his visit, Rogers, known as the “Singing Cowboy”, his wife Dale and his horse Trigger all stayed at the Adelphi Hotel.]
Exhibition related events:
Saturday 23 July, 2 - 3.30pm
Honky Tonk exhibition tour: Curator Sara-Jayne Parsons and some of the exhibition artists talk about the exhibition.
Free, ticket required.
Thursday 1 September, 6 - 7.30pm
Artist talk: Nicki McCubbing
Free, ticket required.
For images or further information on Honky Tonk,
Please contact Philip Bridges, Communications Officer, on 0151 702 7769 / philip.b@thebluecoat.org.uk
Or Phil Olsen, Marketing & Audience Development Officer, on 0151 702 7770 / phil.o@thebluecoat.org.uk
Editors Notes
About the Bluecoat. Situated in the heart of the city, the Bluecoat is one of Liverpool's most distinctive buildings. The widely revered arts centre uses its unique spaces to showcase talent across visual art, music, dance, live art and literature. It also houses a creative community of artists and businesses and runs a participation programme with local communities. In March 2008, the Bluecoat re-opened following an award-winning £14.5 million re-development designed by BIQ Architecten, Rotterdam.
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Funders & Supporters:
Thanks to the City of Liverpool for its financial support.
Liverpool Biennial 2010: Touched Artists
- 19 Oct 2010
- in Visual Art
With 92 year old Italian Carol Rama showing work never seen in the UK and New York based Daniel Bozhkov re-creating the Liverpool Football Club dressing room, Liverpool’s creative hub, the Bluecoat promises to be an exciting Biennial host.