OurSpac_e1

Creative City is currently working in collaboration with Art Against Knives to set-up their first project :

OurSpac_e1



We are making use of crowd funding via BuzzBank to seek support from UK pledgers who believe that creative initiatives with strong leadership and vision can help reduce crime. And as OurSpac_e1 is just that, why don't you find out more about it !

OurSpac_e1 is a youth-led social initiative that aims to reduce knife crime by engaging young people in troubled areas.

By providing resources for young people to design, create and sustain their own physical space – be it permanent or pop-up, it will give members a sense of ownership and purpose. The project hopes to bridge the gap created by the influx of development in areas which effects the young people who already live there.

OurSpac_e1’s geographical focus is initially around the London E1 postcode, i.e. North Brick Lane / East Shoreditch in London, an area of both social deprivation and regeneration in East London. Designed as a ‘flat pack with instruction manual’, the project aims to be rolled out across the country.


You can pledge for OurSpac_e1 from November 2010 from £10 to £1,000. We aim to raise a minimum of £10,000 by March 2011. If you want to know more in the mean time, get in touch karen[at]creative-city.co.uk

In partnership with Art Against Knives and Open Shoreditch.

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Remembrance of Things Past

Harjeet Kaur exhibits 7 photographs of her series
'Remembrance of Things Past'

September 2010
Ruskin's space
London NW1 1RT

I developed my work into a photographic narrative, which portrays images assembled around themes of memories, myths and narratives that make up our collective past - a narrative sequence which reinforces the idea of taking the audience on a journey. The images represent a generic and universal child which we can recognise in ourselves.

The aim of the work is to evoke common memories and to share our sense of home. I wish to explore similarities and shared experiences, which are timeless and are common amongst us. The viewer is able to approach the work on many levels allowing them to experience the world created around them. The sharing of experiences take place by the audience being posed certain questions about preferences and memories evoked through experiences of home.




www.harjeetkaur.originationinsite.com

I am on my way home. As I walk up the steep hill with my weekend bags in tow, I hear children in the near distance. The clashing of pots and pans echoes down the rows of terraced kitchens, jutting out into the garden with their modern extensions. I step over broken toys on the pavement and make my way steadily onward. The smell of cooking mixed with fresh laundry powder brings back memories of my own childhood. Not much has changed since my last visit a short while ago, but the sounds and smells of home take me right back. These are the memories which I recreate in my work.

For those, like me, who choose to live elsewhere and return home sporadically, it can be a Proustian moment, recreating the past through memory, as when the taste of a madeleine cake dipped in tea suddenly transports him to Sunday mornings at Combray with his Aunt Léonie.

One of the ways in which we are identified is through the idea of ‘home’, which is used to perpetuate the myth of ‘home sweet home’. I examine the issues of identity and self through recovering past histories from our idea of home and its links to identity almost reinventing cultural identity. The work is fragmented and distorted as it represents memories of home past, present and future.

Creative City works with artists who touch on the notion of 'home' as both a place, a shelter, but also a sense of belonging.

September 2010
Ruskin's space
Working Men's College
44 Crowndale Road
London NW1 1RT

The Working Men’s College has a remarkable history as a centre for innovation and excellence in the VisualArts. In the mid 19th century it was at the radical centre of developments in both Fine and Applied Arts. John Ruskin, its first art tutor, provided the catalyst for the revolutionary work of both the Pre Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts movement, whose major figures (Rossetti, Burne Jones, Holman Hunt) either taught here or were regular visitors, as were Sickert, Spencer Gore and Lucien Pissarro of the avant-garde Camden Town Group toward the turn of the 20th century. Recent students have included Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume.

www.wmcollege.ac.uk

'Photodreaming'

'Photodreaming'

An exhibition of photographs and photo-etchings by Renata Caland-Marshall.

This exhibition of photographs and photoetchings is the result of minutious work by Renata Caland-Marshall. Brazilian born Renata first studied journalism before embarking into a thorough exploration of photography.








Renata's website

The exhibition also includes fantasticly eery pinhole photography taking the viewing into a dark Alice in Wonderland type vision.




Review by Gillian McIver here


Photodreaming
10 May - 26 June 2010
Working Men's College
Ruskin Space
44 Crowndale Road
London NW1
www.wmcollege.ac.uk

'Streets of London'

2 March - 1 May 2010

Preview Tuesday 2 March 2010, 6pm to 8pm

Ruskin Café, Working Men’s College
44 Crowndale Road, London NW1 1TR 020 7255 4700
10am to 8pm weekdays, 10am – 4pm Saturdays



‘Streets of London’ features the works of WMC students in photography and the Foundation Degree in Art & Design, alongside professional photographer and tutor at WMC, Andrew Gilpin.

London is an inspiring location, especially when it comes to its amazing architectural mix. Here, the eyes of the photographer have caught those little details – street-lights, tube sign, rain catching on windows - that blend with iconic signs which makes
London the atmospheric city that it is.



The Working Men’s College (WMC) is proud to host ‘Streets of London’ as the second in a series of exhibitions in its Ruskin Café exhibition space curated by Karen Janody, Creative City. The Art & Design department at WMC has a strong reputation of successfully sending students on to study in prestigious art institutions such as Central St Martin’s and Goldsmiths. The exhibitions planned will enable WMC students to exhibit their works along those by international artists, providing an excellent way to support upcoming talents by raising the bar.

Photographs will be auctioned at the end of the exhibition.

The Working Men’s College has a remarkable history as a centre for innovation and excellence in the Visual Arts. In the mid 19th century it was at the radical centre of developments in both Fine and Applied Arts. John Ruskin, its first art tutor, provided the catalyst for the revolutionary work of both the Pre Raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts movement, whose major figures (Rossetti, Burne Jones, Holman Hunt) either taught here or were regular visitors, as were Sickert, Spencer Gore and Lucien Pissarro of the avant-garde Camden Town Group toward the turn of the 20th century. Recent students have included Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume.


For more information: Karen Janody // 079 8995 4414
Karen@creative-city.co.uk

'Diablos'

2010 starts with a bang!


'Diablos', or the concept of devils, as seen by artists Cesar G Serpa and Gillian McIver will honor the wall of the Ruskin Cafe at the Working Men's College, starting Jan 12th.

12 January - 25 February 2010

10am - 8pm, 10am – 4pm Saturdays
Working Men College Ruskin Café
44 Crowndale Road
London NW1 1RT





Diablo, devil in English and ‘accuser’ in ancient Greek, represents the fallen angel in Abrahamic religions. In modern culture, its has become an allegory for menace and the malevolent alter-ego, which the artists in this exhibition explore through photography. Is it a journey into the depth of consciousness, where guilt, transgression and temptation lie?






Gillian McIver is a Canadian artist based in London. Starting out as a photographer, she began to work with experimental film and video making, and site-specific installation art. She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. “I am interested in revealing images which are very strong; that offer a glimpse of past worlds and indistinct realities; where the boundaries between fiction and documentary blur, and memories take on a life of their own.” www.artsite.org.uk

Cesar G Serpa studied painting in London, and photography in Italy, before moved to Maracay, Venezuela in 2004. Back in his home country, he focused on experimental photography, developing his own style and technique using light and exposure. www.cezargserpa.com


This is the first in a series of exhibitions hosted in the Working Men's College's Ruskin Café, curated by Karen Janody.

WMC Art & Design department has a strong reputation of successfully sending students on to study in prestigious art institutions such as Central St Martin’s and Goldsmiths.

The next exhibition ‘Streets of London’, featuring the works of WMC photography students will open on Thurs 11th February 2010.

www.wmcollege.ac.uk

For more information, please contact Karen Janody // 079 8995 4414 Karen@creative-city.co.uk