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Peterborough Artists' Open Studios: City artists open their doors
During July artists across Peterborough will be opening their homes and studios to the public. Hannah Gray finds out more about this event and about two of the more unusual venues taking part
During July artists across Peterborough will be opening their homes and studios to the public.
Hannah Gray finds out more about this event and about two of the more unusual venues taking partIF you're of a somewhat nosey disposition, like art, gardens and a enjoy a piece of cake, then Peterborough Artists' Open Studios (PAOS) is probably the ideal event for you.
Because from Saturday, the studios, homes and gardens of artists around the city will become art galleries for the public.
On display will be a range of work from hand-made jewellery to paintings and sculpture across 26 venues.
PAOS was set up nine years ago, to help promote visual arts in the city.
Painter Ren Viner, who has been involved with the group since 2002, said one of the reasons it was set up was to help provide exhibition space across the city.
"It was partly because there's no accessible venue for either artists or the public to display visual art, and also it gives people the opportunity to display their art in their chosen environment, in the way they'd choose to do it," she said. "What we try to do is make art accessible for everybody."
The venues open to the public include houses and studios in the city, right out to Folksworth, Somersham and St Neots.
Since it was set up, PAOS has continued to grow.
Peterborough Artists' Open Studios summer 2009:
PAOS July 2009 dates:
Saturday 4 and Sunday 5,
Saturday 11 and Sunday 12,
Saturday 18 Sunday 19.
Opening times vary between venues.
For more information, visit www.paos.org.uk.
"Year on year we've grown. With the Cavell Centre now involved, they've increased the number of artists to 50. More and more people are joining," Ren said.
Crucially, the number of visitors is also increasing.
"We've got more people coming in all the time, and people in the outlying villages have got to know we exist. We've always got an incredibly positive response, people love that this creative event happens."
Although art works will be for sale at the homes and studios, people who aren't interested in buying are still welcome.
"It's still nice to be able to provide this cultural experience and there's not pressure for anyone to buy anything. Everyone is welcome to come and have a look and enjoy the art," Ren said.
As well as displaying their artworks, many artists also open up their gardens, and some also lay on refreshments.
In Ren's case, and her husband's lime pie usually proves particularly popular. She sells her refreshments to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
In addition to her husband's baking, Ren will be offering visitors the chance to see her work, which is largely oil on acrylic, as well as the work of three other artists, which includes ceramics and glass jewellery.
Ren ended up in Peterborough in 2002 after deciding to leave behind her high-powered advertising career to take care of her daughter Cayla and also pursue her artistic ambitions.
Today she paints striking, textured works.
"I don't do literal interpretations, cameras are good enough for that," she said. "I prefer to put my own slant on my experience of the environment."
Ren said that there are many professional artists across the city who are making a living from their talent. To help art flourish, she would dearly love to see a space opened up in the heart of the city centre.
"The Space4 gallery at the museum is doing its best, but it's not quite the same as having something on the High Street," she said.
In the meantime, the next few weeks will provide an facsinating opportunity for visitors across the city to see what is going on in Peterborough's creative community.
It may sound a little intimidating to peek inside people's houses, but Ren said visitors are assured of a warm welcome.
"Some people perhaps feel a bit strange knocking on people's doors to have a browse around, but they shouldn't ,because we are expecting them," she said.Arts give patients harmony
A FEW years ago the idea of opening up a mental health unit as a public art gallery was probably unimaginable.
But the changing attitudes towards mental health problems, as well as the determination of staff at the new Cavell Centre to get rid of old stigmas, mean that in July, service users will be displaying their work as part of Peterborough Artists' Open Studios.
The newly-built centre, which is next to Edith Cavell Hospital, was opened fully in May this year.
Since then, staff have been working closely with a charity, Arts and Minds, to encourage patients to discover their creative sides.
Caroline Kisby, Peterborough development associate for Arts and Minds, runs two workshops a week at the Cavell Centre, and other workshops are also run in the community.
The patients who produce work do so under the name Harmony Arts.
Their work will be displayed in the public areas and on the wards at the Cavell Centre will be community art, from artists in the surrounding area.
Members of the public will, for obvious reasons, not be allowed to wander around the wards, but there will be a brochure in the public areas showing what works are elsewhere in the building.
Caroline is convinced that engaging mental health patients in art can have positive, and noticeable, effects.
"I see people as I go onto the wards who are very ill," she said. "They feel worthless, they don't think they're good at anything. By showing them that they're creative, they are good at something, gradually over a period of weeks, they become almost a new person.
"It doesn't both me that people can't draw, it's the imagination and ideas that are that are important."
Making better provision for the arts was an important consideration when the Cavell Centre was being built, according to Jacqueline Hanratty, the senior manager of the centre.
"One of the key things while we were building this was to develop the arts strategy," she said."It promotes patients' wellbeing and reinforces their ability to express themselves through their art, whether that be through sculpture, painting or textiles.
"Quite often when people are unwell, they don't feel they can do anything, they feel useless. What this programme does is it says 'you can do it'. It's a very can-do programme.
"It's about saying to people 'if you can't sketch, that doesn't mean you're not artistic, can you sing, can you dance, can you write poetry?'. There's so much. It's about opening people's minds to art being more than painting a picture."
Everyone at the centre is now excited about being part of PAOS.
Caroline said: "Previously service users have never really had a platform to display their work. What Arts and Minds want to do is address that and get artwork out in the main reception areas, and in the corridors and on the wards.
Peterborough Artists' Open Studios summer 2009:
PAOS July 2009 dates:
Saturday 4 and Sunday 5,
Saturday 11 and Sunday 12,
Saturday 18 Sunday 19.
Opening times vary between venues.
For more information, visit www.paos.org.uk.
"We want to bring people in and celebrate the real success and achievements and the skills and talents of the services users."
She believes that for those involved, being part of PAOS is going to be hugely important.
"For them to have the chance to have their work set up as a proper exhibition and the knowledge that people are going to come to look at it and maybe even buy that work is fantastic," she said.
n The Cavell Centre will be displaying art works from Saturday, July 4 until Sunday, July 19. The exhibition will be open from 12pm to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and from 4pm to 7pm on week days.
Dawn's transforming her home into a gallery
THERE will be something old, something new and even ideas for your interiors on display in Dawn Birch-James' city home.
Because although Dawn is not an artist herself, her home will be filled with creative work from four artists, as well as the antiques she deals in, and the new – often eco and ethical – gifts and furniture that she also sells.
There will also be interior design ideas and soft furnishings by Jody Atkins, of Ivory Tree Designs.
This is the fifth year Dawn has opened up her home as part of PAOS.
She started because she thought it would be fun to do, and also because she has a passion for art.
This year, as well as displaying art downstairs, she will also be putting up a marquee in the back garden of her home in All Saints Street, Peterborough.
She will be offering tasty refreshments and the 1 entry fee she is charging will go to Sue Ryder's Thorpe Hall Hospice.
Dawn said that although she does sell products through open studios event, she also hopes that she is providing people with enjoyment.
"Yes, I want to make money and I want to sell things, but people come round and they really enjoy being here," she said.
"We push the boat out – we have lighting and it all set up like an exhibition, but you can still tell it is someone's home.
"Some people stay for over an hour having their tea and their cake and you can tell they don't want to leave."
For more information, visit www.activeantiques.com..
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