Interview – Sarah Blake, (Education Officer, Fitzwilliam Museum / End House Arts)

Child participating in Botticelli inspired workshop at the Cambridge Art Salon Jan 2012

Tell us about what you do …

… well… I’m an artist. I trained as a bronze sculptor but ‘moved’ into painting in 1993 on a trip to Greek Islands – I just was captivated by the colours! I also use words and love poetry and combining them with paintings. I work as a Education Officer at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, teaching in the galleries and in the Studio – I love teaching and talking with people about art. I set up End House Arts and Crafts as a way to extend this into the community – I started my career as a community artist 20 years ago!

Three words to describe your own art and crafts.

Energy, Stillness and Transition

What inspires you?

The point at which ‘things’ interact; watching landscapes, sea, skies, how they act on each other. Then into the detail of plants or rocks or shells. I am thinking alot about at what point one thing becomes another, sometimes in a very abstract or kinetic way. I love Antiquities and Chinese art.
Why is art so important for the community? Happiness and joy – creating unique purposeful work, having space and opportunity to have a voice. Life – expression, communicating, reacting, being an individual and understanding others. Hum – bit of a tall order!

What is unique about your approach to teaching art?

Is it unique? I am hugely enthusiastic and use humour so I hope people relax and join in. But I also challenge people to really look at things and draw/paint what they see and express. I like people and art and hope to enthuse others!

Any tips to help parents and children in Cambridge embrace art at home?

Firstly join in! try not to be fussy or tidy or clean. Set out a time and space and just have some fun – keep it short and sweet. Don’t try to direct too much let it flow. Use trips out to places and stories and nature/science inspire you. Try to have your families art up in the house or make a huge scrap book. If your kids like lego – use that to build sculptures – Let everyone have input into what to make/do.

Where can we find you?

contact me : endhousearts@gmail.com come along to classes at the lovely Cambridge Art Salon or pop into the Fitzwilliam Museum!

Sarah is facilitating a family arts workshop at the Cambridge Art Salon, Sunday 5th February Stories, Crafting and exploring Chinese Dragons in Art …

Sunday 5 February 10.30 – 11.30am

Families with children aged 3 – 9 years accompanied by parent/carers

£3 per child, drop-in pay at the door

Art Yoga – Rosanna Gordon, Tuesday Evenings in January 2012

What better way to turbo-charge your new year than with yoga in a creative setting? Beginners and yoga-lovers of all levels alike welcome to this new yoga cass led by Rosanna Gordon to start on January 10th on Tuesday evening, 6pm – 7pm in the Cambridge Art Salon gallery. A regular contributor to Om Magazine and yogi extraordinaire, Rosanna’s class promises to give you a real lift.

Yoga can help you to:

•Feel energised
•Feel calm and peaceful
•Relax deeply
•Improve your posture
•Gain strength and confidence
•Maintain your ideal figure
•Feel wonderful!
A bit about me

Rosanna is a BWY (British Wheel of Yoga) Student Teacher, currently living and teaching yoga in Cambridge. She’s been practising and studying yoga for three years.

www.rosannagordon.com

£6 drop in or £25 for a block of 5 weeks.

Please bring own mats.

Create Confident Drawings – 4 Week Drawing Course


Tuesday 10, 17, 24 and 31 January

10am-12pm

If you think you can’t draw now’s the time to take action! Suitable for absolute beginners a four week course for adults who want to develop their drawing skills.

With an experienced art tutor from the Fitzwilliam Museum and in the company of like-minded art-loving folk. This structured course will take you from the basics of how to draw perspective, tone and line and look at how to construct compositions.

You will need to bring: pencils, rubber and a sketch pad.
£40 per adult per course book in advance, limited places.

Email: endhousearts@gmail.com

Semperey Magazine

Cambridge Art Salon resident milliner Karen Lewis is featured in the Winter Issue of Semeperey magazine as part of a fashion piece written by Creative Director of the Salon Ruthie Collins.

This sophisticated lifestyle magazine brings you the best in organic beauty, vintage treasure, art and fashion. Spear-headed by fashion photographer Helena Tepli, the magazine has recently undergone a huge rebrand – with sumptuous photography and sparkling editorial.

Best read with a cup of organic hot chocolate.

http://www.semperey.com

Semperey Magazine is currently on sale in the gallery shop.

Interview: Cheryl Warren 21st January – 31st January

Cambridge based artist Cheryl Warren is exhibiting with the Cambridge Art Salon from the 21st January until the 31st January. The gallery will be open for you to drop in and enjoy her work 21st, 22nd, 24th, 28th 29th and the 31st of January. Read on and find out more about this very popular local artist …

What is the inspiration behind your work?

My inspiration to paint comes from nature and landscape. The Suffolk coast, the Dales, Devon and Cornwall, and the fen landscape around Cambridge are all particular inspirations to me and contribute much to my work. As well as the external environment I am also interested in our own internal environment and this informs a lot of my abstract work. Much of my painting explores the boundaries between the internal and external worlds and what happens along these boundaries. Using mainly oil paint and employing other media to complement, my work is about the pleasure and sensation of colour and texture. I especially enjoy seeing how different materials mix together to create a new and unique experience.

How long have you been practising?

I have been painting and drawing as long as I can remember. I have been working as a professional artist since 1999.

Where do you work as an artist?

I have a studio in my loft at home in Romsey.

Describe your art in 3 words.

That’s hard. Sensual, textural, free

What tips do you have for other practicing artists in Cambridge?

Make your art your home. Trust where it leads you. Remember how important you are to your community.

http://www.cherylwarren.com/

Exhibition: Karen Stamper

A flier with dates (1st-7th December) for Karen Stamper's exhibition

The Cambridge Art Salon is delighted to host Karen Stamper and her beautiful, intense paintings.

Christmas Craft and Art Fair

Christmas Art Fair 10-11 December

Exhibition: Reflections on Milongas

The Cambridge Art Salon invites you to attend an exhibition of the work of Golnar Malek-Frickelton, continuing on the 26th, 27th and 29th November, between 10am and 5pm. Golnar’s work concentrates on surface and bold colour, in abstracted figures and worked paint. It includes gold leaf and pen and ink with equal boldness. There are over twenty works on display.

Exhibition: Drawing Inspiration

The Cambridge Art Salon is hosting Diana Probst’s show ‘Drawing Inspiration’ until Wednesday 16th November. She is showing original still life and portraiture and a selection of limited edition screen prints and monoprints.

Visit between 10 and 6 to meet the artist and see what she has done over the past year.

Exhibition: Spaced Out

Ship made of shaped nebulae, sailing through space

Spaced Out Ship

An exhibition of celestial paintings and illustrations by Lou Peajeux plus metal creations by Stephen Bedrikovs. Taking inspiration from outer-space, with all its beauty, magnitude and breathtaking swirls of colour, two local budding artists have worked in their own preferred mediums to create an astral display that is, almost literally, out of this world.

Lou is a resident artist at the Cambridge Art Salon, having graduated with a first class degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. Now working as a freelance illustrator, specialising in greetings cards, hand-painted ceramics and prints, this exhibition showcases a different and perhaps more painterly style. Whilst a love of vibrant colour and playful humour is still evident, the pieces are on a larger scale and have been worked to a high level of detail, contrasting smooth, cloudy gradients and sharper, glowing highlights.

There are five original canvases on show – four in acrylics, one in oils and six digital illustrations. The paintings depict a range of colourful nebulae, whilst the illustrations are either visual puns or comical space scenes featuring creatures on a journey through the stars. All original artwork is for sale, plus a range of signed and mounted prints.

Stephen Bedrikovs is a friend of Lou’s, having both known each other from school, throughout college and then university. Graduating with a degree in Design Crafts, Stephen is a metalsmith, jeweller and crafter, working predominantly in copper for this show, creating and shaping dishes with an iridescent, outer-space finish. All original pieces will also be for sale.

Drop-In Drawing

Close-up of a wooden artist's mannequinThe Cambridge Art Salon invites anyone who wants to drop in and draw to come during our opening hours, and make use of our facilities. We are open on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday for normal shop hours, and we have set up a table with objects to draw. Bring your own equipment and make use of our peaceful environment, for an art-break of any length. Donations are welcome.

Resident Artists’ exhibition

Print of Complicated cog-based world with moving partsFor three weeks, the resident artists at the CAS will be exhibiting a selection of their works, in a multi-person show. The work will concentrate on 2D pieces. Our window display will rotate on a weekly basis. Upcoming, we have several individual exhibitions in preparation.