Submissions closed Art of Caring 2016

Thank you to everyone who entered the Art of Caring this year. We've has a fantastic response full of talented artwork and generosity of spirit. More details will be appearing here in the next few days but I'm happy to announce we have 184 artists exhibiting 329 artworks and poems with us this year.

Praying with Mrs. Cooper
by The Rev. Robin Pfaff

This year's crop include 3 artworks from The Rev. Robin Pfaff, he told us about his motivation to get involved, "As a hospital chaplain I often meet people at a time of intense change, but these encounters usually show me something of the indomitable human spirit. Healthcare professionals, however, who are regularly exposed to highly traumatic situations need to find their own way of coping and build up a resilience that is both sturdy as well as tender. Talking about what we do and see can be extremely difficult, as we all have a tendency to avoid emotional pain."

AL.

 
 

The Empowering Melanie Ezra



Art of Caring 2016 - Melanie Ezra

The first entries have started to arrive at the Art Of Caring this year. We would like to shine our modest spotlight on some of the artists who dedicate their time to art and make our exhibitions such a success.

Melanie Ezra (left) and Rose Davies (right)

We've exhibited the work of Melanie Ezra since our magnet Rarities exhibition along the Hastings and St Leonards' seafront in 2011. She is not only a regular contributor but also supports a network of international artists who use her as a conduit to the UK art scene. Ezra continues to be the poster girl for the Swansea art world, her photography based work is often spliced and cut using her trusty scalpel but inside you can still find the beauty of the Gower Peninsula. Last year she published a map, Swansea: On the Map: An Artist's Walk with Rose Davies that continues to this day to be a bestseller for publishers Sampson Low Ltd.

Unfortunately last year Melanie Ezra wasn't able to submit her work to the Art Of Caring so we are very pleased to welcome her into the fold in 2016. Ezra's Art of Caring artworks are based on photographs taken during her mindful photography workshops. The workshops explore self-improvement and empowerment through the use of the camera. They are often delivered through community organisations to aid people who have suffered life-changing events. She works with blind charities, drugs agencies, and other community and hospital based groups. Ezra's participants have shown great resilience in overcoming their problems and her workshops often inspire them to learn other new skills and tackle other obstacles in their lives from a new position of strength.

From left to right: Céline Pellerin,

Esperanza Tielbaard, Melanie Ezra in Manhattan, 2014

 (Photograph: Esperanza Tielbaard)

I and others from CollectConnect have written before about Melanie Ezra and her personal resilience in the Art world. No distance is too great to traverse so that she can meet and help fellow artists, or share her artwork with the public. It has been truly inspiring to watch her work spread throughout he world and feel the glow from her growing reputation.

If you would like to submit your artwork to the Art Of Caring this year then visit the Submit page of this website.

AL.

Art of Caring Submissions Open 2016

Now more than ever we have to celebrate and support the nurses and carers who make such a difference to our lives. Please join the Art of Caring exhibition this year by submitting your artwork on the theme of Caring or Care. It is Free to enter and very straight forward to get involved. Just send up to 3 jpeg images in an A6 size to collectconnect4@gmail.com



Rumen Deshev at the
Art of Caring 2015

You'll receive a confirmation email within 7 days with your catalogue/exhibition numbers. Before the exhibition we will print 2 postcards of each of your artworks. One copy will be sent to you and the other will be exhibited in the Upper Circle Gallery, The Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK from the 12th to 24th May 2016.

2015 presentation

Like last year we'll be opening the exhibition with a private view on International Nurses Day, Thursday 12th May 2016. So please put it in your diary and come along.
If you would like to see some of last year's submissions and exhibition then have a look in this album of photos - 2015 Art of Caring Images.

This year we've been asked to exhibit a selection of the work at the Arts Project exhibition space in St Pancras Hospital from July - October 2016.
For the full details about how to submit your work visit our SUBMIT page.
Deadline for submissions is Thursday 31st March 2016.
(We may close early if all 250 exhibition spaces are filled)

Alban Low, Bryan Benge, Dean Reddick and Stuart Simler

Bill Mudge wins Wandle Photo Awards

Bill Mudge - Feeding the Birds (detail)

Last night Bill Mudge won first prize in the Wandle Valley Photographic Competition 2015. The awards ceremony was conducted at Bedzed, the UK's first and largest zero energy housing development and hosted by Sue Morgan, CEO of Wandle Valley Regional Park Trust.

Dan Mitchell from Cubiquity and Bill Mudge

The competition received over 200 entries and Bill not only secured top spot with his photo Misty Mitcham Morning but also a winning entry in the Wandle Folk Category for Feeding the Birds.

The photos originated from an exhibition and map project that Bill undertook for CollectConnnect earlier this year. He mapped a beautiful walk along the River Wandle's green corridor in South London. Along its route he teases us with his photos, making the map itself a thing of beauty and fascination. Learn more about Bill Mudge's Wandling here.

Congratulations to Bill from us all at CollectConnect.

AL.

Noise_Dolls Zine 006 - open call out.

Noise_Dolls Zine 006 [NDZINE:006] open call out.

 

Noise Dolls is a printed art zine, featuring a variety of contents from emerging and established artists.

  

Noise dolls are looking for content for its Autumn/Winter Zine. 

 

So if you’re a, photographer, fine artist, poet, graphic artist, creative writer or just a funky and quirky maker and shaker then get in touch!

  

Our content broaches a variety of mediums, and the best thing is the zine is completely free to submit to. So there's no reason not to ping us an email and if we like your work we’ll run with it!

 

We also offer advertising space for a crazy small fee. So if you’re also interested in advertising anything from, shops, events/happenings, workshops, exhibitions or gigs etc then get in touch.  

 

This issues theme is "Light and Shade", interpretations on or around this theme are welcome. 

 

We are looking for a cover artwork for this issue. The selected artist will receive a modest commission fee. 

 

So please get in touch with your submission and a small artist statement about the work. Please upload your images in a Jpeg format. 

 

To purchase a copy of our latest issue for only £2.00 visit the link below. 

noisedollsmixtapes.bandcamp.com/merch/noise-dolls-zine-004-ndzine-004 

Get noisy about us, and spread the word. 

Follow us on Facebook 

facebook.com/noisedolls

 

We're dying to know what you think about our work so please get in contact with any suggestions or comments.

 

We'd also love to hear from you if you're interested in getting involved with the Zine - write an article, design the cover etc.

 

Get in touch at noisedolls@hotmail.co.uk

Deadline early January 2016 but may close earlier due to demand

 

 

 

 

Seventeen Mundane Moments in Tate Modern - Peter S Smith

Peter S Smith

 

There are often stories in the newspapers about cleaners at major art galleries throwing away priceless modern art because they not whether it is rubbish or priceless rubbish. I like the current art trends that give me a better grip of reality, once upon a time I dreamed of dripping fantasy worlds but now I want the taste of steel and to hear the reverberations of urban sounds in my art. Many of these artworks can be easily mistaken for everyday objects and of course our newspapers love nothing better than to ridicule this supposedly lazy approach to creativity.

Mundane Moment 11

Part of the enjoyment of art is the detective work that's needed, finding out about the artist, their context historically. Inevitably you start to look at the world around you in a different light, even finding meaning in objects and moments that you once thought were arid wastelands. Such is the power of Peter S Smith's map "Seventeen Mundane Moments In Tate Modern". It is both a work of art in its own right but also a route to discovery.

Mundane Moment 5

Here is a map that allows you to look at the world that surrounds some of the most iconic artworks in the world. Don't think about the Tate Modern as a landmark, think of it more as a dirty mark on the table cloth of London. Its blemished surface reveals as much about us as individuals as it does about the way art has evolved in the past 50 years.

Mundane Moment 3

Earlier this year we held an exhibition of artists' maps at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery in the beautiful setting of the Sunbury Walled Garden. Ten artists created maps which could be walked throughout Great Britain. Some were factual, others conceptual but most of all they gave us a new perspective to the world outside if we chose to follow the artist's instructions.

 All of the maps are published by Sampson Low Ltd and can be bought for as little as £2. One of the criteria for the commissioned maps was that they should be affordable to all. The artists were asked to consider 3 criteria; their map should be set in the real world, somewhere in the UK; that it should include a route which could be walked and the walking of the map shouldn't cost more than £10 (train fares, entrance to museums, lunch).

Mundane Moment 2

My pledge to the artists for giving us such a wonderful array of creative cartography was that I would walk all their maps in the months to come. Here is my route through Peter S Smith's map "Seventeen Mundane Moments In Tate Modern". It covers the stairwell that runs down from the 6th Floor until it's final destination in the famous Turbine Hall. Along the way you've got to keep your eyes peeled, find these little mundane treasures and make up your own stories about them.

Mundane moment 8

As I walked through Peter S Smith mundane world we poked fun at the art world and revelled in its power too. As we found each mundane moment we couldn't help but look like a couple of idiots as other people walked past but there were more than a few art lovers who eavesdropped on our conversations, hoping to snaffle an invaluable titbit of artistic insight.

Mundane Moment 14

I hope you enjoy walking Peter S Smith's map as much as I did, it reflects a very British wit in its attention to the oblique and darkly humorous. What I enjoyed doing most of all was creating imaginary artists who made these undiscovered works, their titles and hidden meanings. The hole of Mundane Moment number 14 was a favourite, a solitary bright socket looking out at you, like a camouflaged Moby Dick in the handrail of the Tate Modern.

BUY Seventeen Mundane Moments In Tate Modern for £2

AL.

Art Language Location - Contemporary Cambridge

It's that time of year again where Cambridge is turned into a cryptic crossword of criss-crossing Art across the city centre. Art Language Location is a festival we really believe in at CollectConnect, where the Art populates public places and inquisitive creative bloodhounds are rewarded with thought provoking urban vignettes. It is the brainchild of artist Robert Good who we have had the pleasure of featuring on Freedbook, Fab Fridge 2014 and most recently the excellent 'On The Map' exhibition.

Now in its fourth year, Art Language Location (ALL) , 2015 is proud to welcome work by nearly 70 of the brightest emerging and established artists from across the UK and beyond who use text in their work. ALL is a contemporary visual and performance arts event taking place over two and a half weeks in October 2015 in Cambridge, featuring prestigious, innovative and experimental contemporary art. Join us at Anglia Ruskin University campus and around Cambridge in October for this year’s festival, which is bringing exciting new work to Cambridge.

Each artist  has found an appropriate venue for their work: the resulting intervention creates a conversation between artist, artwork and location. This extended exhibition aims to show a series of visually exciting and unexpected encounters in which our everyday interactions with text can be explored and challenged.

Highlights include Supertext, an exhibition of Art and Text around the campus at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). With over 20 works to find, you are invited to track down adorable shaggy dogs (and stories) by Tom Hackett, a multilingual Winnie-the-Pooh (plus aprons) by Laima Vanaga and an argument between Daniel Djamo and his mother.

And we'd love to see you at ShowTime! on October 17th, also at ARU, for a full day of participation and performance. Take part in an interactive audio drawing by 2015 Jerwood Prize Winner Alison Carlier, listen to a new choral work by Ian Wolter and have your nails done as never before. Sample local street food by Food Park, and round off the day with live music and bar.

With a programme of supporting events and artworks around town, encounter art on your daily travels as our ALL artists uncover more unusual locations across Cambridge. This year, find stone carving in a burial ground and social commentary at a bus stop as well as a new dictionary at the Central Library and dazzling drawing at the Sedgwick Museum. Don't miss hand-stitched financial reports by Rhiannon Williams at the Alison Richard Building and venture further afield to see a video projection by Sally Stenton

There is a Launch Party on 15 October at The Junction, Cambridge, which will be opened by Molly Jackson of the South Bank.

ALL is going from strength to strength, building a reputation for Cambridge  as a place to visit for contemporary art - ALL2015 is the fourth annual event, which began with Text&Context in October 2012. We want to bring new and experimental art to Cambridge and contribute to what is becoming a growing and exciting contemporary arts scene. Join us in October and see for yourself. See you there! Check out our website www.artlanguagelocation.org for full details.

Heath Robinson Exhibiting Opportunity

Uncle Lubin in his airship
(W. Heath Robinson, 1902)

One of our regular exhibitors Ann Kopka is helping to organise this fantastic opportunity for artists to exhibit their work and help support the building of a Museum to legendary thinker and artist Heath Robinson. Your art will be sold through a Secret Art sale in aid of The West House and Heath Robinson Museum Trust in the Upstairs Gallery at West House during the first weekend of November 2015.

 

Below is an invitation to Artists with all the details. Don't forget the organisers will supply the small canvas on which you work on and pay the postage too. 

 

An invitation to help build The Heath Robinson Museum

Secret Art Sale, 6-8 November 2015
Upstairs Gallery, West House, Pinner Memorial Park, West End Lane, 
Pinner HA5 1AE

We are raising funds for The West House and Heath Robinson Museum Trust - registered Charity number 1086567 - to build a new Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner Memorial Park.
And we would like you to be a part of it!

You are invited to produce a small work of art on a 6” x 6” canvas, which will be supplied by us. You may choose your favourite subject and medium – painting, drawing cartoon, textile or simply words of wisdom. 
Please print your name in block capitals, sign and date your piece on the BACK only in order to keep the work anonymous. You may include your website, email address and any other information if you wish the purchaser to contact you after the event. You will be able to return your work of art in a prepaid envelope that will be delivered with the canvas.
All work will be sold anonymously for the same price. The artistʼs identity will only be revealed at the end of the exhibition. Whether you are a local artist, well known celebrity or one of our patrons, you will all be treated the same. 
The artistʼs names will be displayed during the exhibition as well as being publicised and promoted through the West House and Heath Robinson Trustʼs PR, communications and social media, although names will not be connected with a painting.

Each work of art will be sold at the same price - £35. All proceeds raised from the exhibition will go directly to The West House and Heath Robinson Trust.

Deadline for Submission of Work Friday 23 October
Exhibition launch and Private View Friday 6 November 6.30-9.30pm
Public Sale   Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 November
10am-6pm

Any unsold work will be donated to the Museum shop and displayed for future purchase.
We do hope you can join us. To confirm your participation in the exhibition please email your details including your full postal address to:
Deena Dwala, Email: westhousepinner@gmail.com 

For more details on the Heath Robinson Museum http://westhousepinner.com/the-appeal/

Submissions are open to UK based artists only

 

Walk Mitcham to Wandle Junction - Wandling Bill Mudge

Earlier this year we held an exhibition of artists' maps at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery in the beautiful setting of the Sunbury Walled Garden. Ten artists created maps which could be walked throughout Great Britain. Some were factual, others conceptual but most of all they gave us a new perspective to the world outside if we chose to follow the artist's instructions.

All of the maps are published by Sampson Low Ltd and can be bought for as little as £2. One of the criteria for the commissioned maps was that they should be affordable to all. The artists were asked to consider 3 criteria; their map should be set in the real world, somewhere in the UK; that it should include a route which could be walked and the walking of the map shouldn't cost more than £10 (train fares, entrance to museums, lunch).

Wandling Map

My pledge to the artists for giving us such a wonderful array of creative cartography was that I would walk all their maps in the months to come.

I start my journey with Bill Mudge's Wandling map which includes a photographic walk along the River Wandle. The map contains a plan of the walk, which leads from the train station at Mitcham Junction to the tram stop at Wandle Park. Contained within the map's pages are 28 photographs that Bill Mudge took along the route.

The route is not challenging in itself, it is a 2 hour meander through the lush green corridor created by the River Wandle. It is easy for the eye to get distracted though and 2 hours can easily ease toward 3 if creativity strikes along the 6 mile route. It is a walk that is easy for pushchairs, cyclists, runners and can be completed by hardy wheelchair users.



1. This Way

The main tenet to the Wandling map is its photographic narrative and spurs even the idlest of snappers to pick up their camera or phone. Bill Mudge's map tests your own powers of observation, first you want to spot what he's photographed along the route and then you want to see what you can capture yourself.

I stepped off the train at Mitcham Junction Station and was immediately struck by the detritus that us humans leave behind. A cigarette packet stuffed (1) in the fence reminded me of those secret Boy Scout trails we used to lay in the woods. The packet pointing in the direction up the hill.

2. Flow

The roads too were littered with our rubbish, blown by the rushing cars down the Carshalton Road (A237). I started my own narrative here that rolled throughout my journey, its was the markings that we leave as humans, on roads, trees, notices, on walls accidentally and deliberately (2).

3. Caught

By the time I had reached Watercress Park (3) I had joined forces with the author Bill Mudge himself. He is a local resident and despite being a self proclaimed introvert it seems he spends many hours out of doors watching and photographing his world.

4. Lost and Found

The River Wandle is of course the true narrative of the walk and the constant criss-cross of its banks give you a never ending perspective of reflections, wildlife and hidden paths. I liked the constant tension along its path between cyclist and pedestrian (4). Lines kept us apart and on the bridges we were even given colours to stop us wandering into each others zone. Of course no such separation is needed, the people of Mitcham, Carshalton and Beddington are perfectly capable or regulating themselves.

5. Treefitti

Our effect on nature was a theme that was reflected in our scything cut through this highly populated suburban world and laminated planning applications dotted its route. We saw a surveyor inspecting the outside of a property and local authority worker checking the viability of a footpath. Underneath it all came a spirit of the woodland (5) that the sprites and fairies that kept the woods alive were really the unemployed and errant teenagers.

6. Duck Hunt

Amongst the ducks, herons and darting gudgeon I spotted the lesser spotted Mudge (6) in his natural habitat. If you didn't know, Mudge is a well known figure on London's Jazz circuit where he can be found in dark and moody venues either at the helm of his keyboard, piano or beloved Hammond B3 organ. Although you can hear him on many recordings he has but one album of self penned originals to his name, Skylight, which was released in 2010.

7. Reasonable Advice

We walked past the intriguing Wilderness Island which remains a mysterious presence between Hackbridge and the strangely named The Wrythe. Along its borders lurk graffiti scrawls (7) that match the texture of the leaves and brambles, occasionally their short poetic stabs are poignant too.

8. Goal

The walk wanders through many parks and open spaces. The Grove (8) in Carshalton teemed with pockets of life, pigeons stalked rice cake holding toddlers in playgrounds while the football pitch was only populated by goalmouth scuffs. I could hear the scurrying of a rat stuck in a rubbish bin, destined to be marooned until enough litter had been deposited and it could reach the high exit once more.

9. Deadwood

Although we took a short detour at this point to the Honeywood Musuem (9) in Carshalton if I was you I'd walk just a little further to the MINE Gallery on Charshalton High Street where there was an excellent exhibition from Carl Lawson. In January 2016 they will be exhibiting the work of our very own mapmaker Bill Mudge with his 20 in 15 project. 20 in 15 is based around creative individuals, documenting them / their work / their  workspace, through environmental portraiture and still-life photography. A total of 20 projects in 2015 will be represented; a series of photographs for each individual.

10. Treeo

I was inspired by both the walk itself and Bill Mudge's photographic map. My photos aren't as technically proficient nor as imaginative as Mudge's but that's not the point. I now have a photographic narrative on which I pin the feelings and experiences of my 6 mile walk from Mitcham Junction to Wandle Park.

Buy the Wandling map through Amazon from the publisher or Bill Mudge himself.

AL.