The Blackpool Arts Department invites you to its launch debut as a national organization.

In doing so the Blackpool arts department is hosting an exhibition compiled of various artists from around the UK as well as Blackpool. The artists come form many different styles and backgrounds yet all are using paint related mediums and all are exploring aspects of time in some way or another.

The Blackpool Arts Department presents ten artists in the exhibition…..

"Timescapes"

Nicholas Kowalski is a long established artist whose work charts ghost fragments of the world. Taking from his immediate environment he begins with chance encounters of everyday discarded objects, building and places. Some of these objects physically find them selves with new purpose as part of his multimedia art works. The viewer is often left reflecting the history and significance of such objects in relation to their own human presence.
Nicholas Kowalski is a senior lecturer in Art at “Blackpool and the Fylde College” and is founder member of "ORB" professional artists studios Blackpool

Virginia Verran has had a number of retrospectives in her career including public galleries like the "Henie Onstad Gallery" in Oslo and "Newlyn Gallery" in Cornwall. Based in London she is a visiting lecturer to “Chelsea College of Art, Falmouth College of Arts and the Slade School of Art.”
With Virginia Verran’s work we see our perception of space and objects constantly challenged. Initially a process painting it plays with the minds ambiguity in relation to the art. To define the work is to undefine its pure state of marks which illustrate movements of light like vapour trails and glimpses from the corner of the eye. Each work has a different pace a different tempo or speed in which to fasten your self for some sort of cosmic encounter.

Christopher Mills graduated from Liverpool “John Moore’s University” in 2005 and currently has a studio with “Red Wire Liverpool”. Despite being a newcomer to the art scene he has achieved an impressive portfolio which depicts loose narratives of isolated and precarious landscapes which in turn are inspired by filmic dystopias and utopias. The images play with the notions of pop art, Idealistic landscapes and architectures with intense light patterns. There is a surreal quality within the content of the work, although the artist claims his paintings are loosely derived from real life places.

Emma Oldridge came to prominence in 2000 when she won the “Jerwood Drawing Prize” for students. She went on to graduate at the” Slade School of Art” in 2001. Emma is currently touring with the “Jerwood Drawing Prize” world tour exhibition titled “Drawing Breath”.
Emma‘s work is interested in futuristic gadgets and experiments which have since become dated. She says she has no interest in historical aspects, but is purely embracing the metaphor of the human endeavor to escape and search for freedom. There is this sense of vulnerability and nostalgia in the way she depicts machines and people. She tries to underline and develop these ideas through the process of manipulating, editing and re-inventing the source material.
Emma currently lives in Bristol where she has a studio at “Spike Island”.

Esteban Igartua is a Peruvian artist who graduated at “Byam Shaw School of Art “in London 2003 and subsequently went on to exhibit in “New Contemporaries”.
His work is about a world that of his own imagination. Although derived deep from his subconscious there is a strong narrative between his works as the story unfolds. This world although influenced by media and other artists has no specific reference to our everyday world. In this world bearded dwarfs seem to rule as well as dirty old men and baron landscapes. The attention to details in his painting technique is second to none. These are labouredly created paintings of harsh landscapes not indifferent to old religious depictions of hell.
A large collection of Esteban’s work is to be exhibited at Bristol’s “Spike Island” Gallery through out July and August.

Ann Carragher is an Irish artist who graduated from the University of Ulster with an MA in Art in 1997. She went on to do a residency at "Hang Zhou Academy of Fine Art" in China with "The British Council." Now settled in Blackpool she is a Founder Member of Blott studios and part time lecturer at Blackpool and Fylde College. Her research has included gender polarities and myths associated with Neolithic Monuments. Her most recent work addresses issues of 'time', from the 'ancient archaeological' to the 'urban architectural'. A 'lament' inspired by distant landscapes inspiring a variety of abstract marks & topographies which externalize the traces and fragments of her distant memories and dreams.

Josh Tennant’s paintings are an archive depicting and documenting the career of an infamous 1980’s artist called “Simon Alabaster”. By doing this Josh is trying to change the fortune of how Simon is remembered, with the intention to research and re-exhibit his work in the present day setting. Josh intends to re-introduce this important, yet reclusive artist into the modern art world.
Josh Tennant is the youngest artist in the exhibition and is also a “John Moors” graduate of 2005. He has just currently returned from a residency in Greece and was involved in the Grizedale Project at the” A Foundation” Liverpool. One of the Founders of “Redwire studios” he is a prolific organizer of events. Josh also works for FACT. (Foundation of Art and Creative Technology)

Margaret Cahill is based at “Rogue Studios” in Manchester and lectures in Fine Art at “Bolton University”. She has exhibited in London, New York, Sweden and Eastern Europe as well as widely in the North West and her work is represented in public, corporate and private collections in Britain and abroad.
Her paintings of disused spaces explore our increasingly fragile relationship with our environments and the way we view them in a constantly shifting and uncertain world. It questions the boundaries between form and space, the real and imagined and touches on notions of transience and mortality.

Adrian Pritchard makes marks through the build up and release of tension. In doing this he creates a variety of painting techniques which he combines with eastern aesthetics and philosophy. This has led some of his work to take the form of painting installations which use gravity to precipitate viscous materials.  Adrian has exhibited widely across the UK and Japan, his work can be found in public collections like “University College Falmouth” and the “British Embassy” in Tokyo.  Adrian is currently hosting the “Timescapes” exhibition for the “Blackpool Arts Department.”

Georgia Cox is a portrait painter who explores intense pattern and shadow. Her layering techniques and repetitions build up to create a very detailed rich surface. Many of her works explore the way shadows and light pass over the contours of peoples faces. Other paintings are of a personnel nature like her self portrait which was exhibited at the “National Gallery” and which we have managed to loan for the “Timescapes” exhibition. In this Painting she depicts herself with the accumulation of personnel artifacts.

With kind support from Redwire Studios Liverpool, Blackpool Council, Blackpool & the Fylde College Staff and Students.

“Timescapes” is Supported and Sponsored By the Famous Number 3 Pub.

Providing free parking at the Number  3 Car park with the single purchase of a drink.

The Number 3 is also providing free beverages at the opening ceremony at the BADept Studios.

BADept Studios

Rear of 13 Manchester Road, Blackpool

FY3 8DL

Tel: 079 49 029 569

Open  Daily 12pm—5pm

except Wednesdays and Sundays

Image “Space Man” by Emma Oldridge