Give us a Sign

Hello,

Here are the images from the current exhibition, a collection of funny, humorous and poignant church signs from across the UK. The exhibition is called Give us a Sign.

All the works are by Paul Floyd Blake and are C-type prints. It is well worth a visit in the flesh. All are for sale at £200.

This sign is very small so I added a close up below...

This exhibition was hung on Friday, the day before Jimmy Saville died. RIP



This sign was up during a European match and England lost, which Paul was sad about as he is a big football fan.



This shot was taken on Valentines Day.

Again, hard to read so I added a close up

I hope you enjoyed the collection.

Ta Ra


Kirsty

Paul Floyd Blake

Hello,

Our latest exhibition features Paul Floyd Blakes photographs and I thought you would like to get to know him a little better.

We have a history, Paul and the ACE! Paul came and took part in a project we ran when we opened the building back in 2009. Paul took photos of people in Nelson and then we had them on display in the ACE for about 6 months.

Do you remember?

ACE Centre reception in 2009

This was also the year that Paul won the

National Portrait Gallery's
2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

Well done Paul.



And now... we welcome him back with the exhibition 'Give us a sign' and I did talk to Paul about himself and his work as we hung the exhibition.


I asked Paul where it all began for him. He told me a story...

"When I was 13 years old, my mum came home and told us we were going to Ramsgate in Kent for a holiday. This was our first ever holiday and we were beside ourselves with excitement. The train journey alone had us in raptures and the thought of a two week holiday too was almost too much. It was a brilliant holiday, where even my mum and dad got on well together and were happy. I took a photo of Ramsgate over the harbour as the sun was setting. When we got home the photo brought back all those memories and it was the first time I realised a photo had the power to change your feelings."

We did have quite a wide ranging chat about Paul and his work; he says he is sometimes pigeonholed as a portrait photographer, because of the prize (hmmm, should I maybe have mentioned that later?) but he loves to mix up his work, for example by taking landscape pictures. Paul doesn't go out with a set image in mind, he is looking for a bit of magic, the elusive x factor.

Paul thinks of himself as a social-documentary film maker and takes pictures which are an accurate record of what is there. He composes his photo carefully and this is why Paul likes to use film as you have to think about what you want, compose carefully and then take the picture rather than snapping away.

Paul does still use film cameras and usually uses natural light and works with what is there. I asked him what his essential out and about kit was; his camera, a light meter and a bit of money. That's it!

Give us a sign, the current exhibition is a collection of signs outside churches, mostly hand-made. I asked Paul why church signs?

Paul explained that he was in college when he took the first picture, 'Use god as your steering wheel' was taken in 2004 as "it tickled me" and then Paul saw more and then he thought this would make a good project. He liked the home-spun idea, the thought of the vicar sitting there scrawling away to make them. Now Church signs are nearly all done professionally so it was a moment in time that has passed. A Heath Robinson type moment. (If you don't know what that means click here).

The project started off with the humour in the signs as the driving force but as he started to accumulate them he found the pathos there too, the signs started to look a little forlorn and he started to realise the way the churches were struggling to keep pace with the instant gratification of today. Paul has now taken over 100 of these images and says the messages have more impact for him as he collected more photos.

Furthermore, the signs are now more boring than they were and Paul thinks some of the magic has gone. Plus a lot of churches have been re-developed, and these are the churches still standing.

I asked Paul how he found them; was it just wherever he went or was it planned. Paul said mostly planned and mostly in the North of England apart from the odd one from London or Norfolk from his holidays. Paul would grab a friend and pick a place and buy an A-Z. He would then plan a route around to include lots of churches and mark each one off with a highlighter pen as they were done.

I asked about using film, sometimes you don't get what you expected or imagined and how Paul reacted to that? Paul likes the waiting, it's exciting for him and there are usually a couple of images that he can't wait to see how they turn out. Sometimes he is wrong too; expecting a good one and it's rubbish or being really amazed by one that he didn't think would be full of magic. I asked if he went back to re-do any? He says not often, occasionally he has if it was a technical error but on the whole Paul is trying to capture a moment and when it is gone, it's gone.

Here is Paul putting up the exhibition.

Paul Floyd Blake

Thanks for talking to me Paul, and if you want to find out more about Paul, check out his website, next up I will post pictures of the exhibition.


Ta Ra



Kirsty

Open Arts - The Feedback

There were some lovely comments and I wanted to post a selection....

'What a talented lot of people we have'

'First time I've been but would come again, really interesting and fab artwork all round'

'Extremely well presented. Such a variety of talent from all ages'

'As always, a very high standard of work. Everybody should be proud including the organisers'

'Great variety and some excellent quality work. (from) Briercliffe Art Group'

'Gets bigger and better every year. Thankyou'

Really enjoyed looking at all the art! Amazed at the talent in the young artists, particularly the sunset'

'Trish Tomlinson you've outdone yourself'

'Very interesting exhibition. Always enjoy it. Freda Reeves I love your stuff!!'

'Our first time, enjoyed it very much, see you next year. Anne and Jim Newchurch'

'Very talented people, enjoyed it very much, Sue Martin'

'Sorry, not as good as in previous years'

'Not very happy about the 'Ace Centre Favourite'. This will influence votes. Unfair!! Melanie Cocker's paintings are the best'

I should probably say here; the ACE Centre Staff favourite stickers were my idea, and it was to get all the staff in the building more involved in the exhibition, with the hope that they would tell people how wonderful all the work is. I gave each member of staff (managers, waiters, cleaners - all) a sticker and asked them to choose their one favourite. This seems to have caused some controversy and I have had an equal number of people loving the idea and hating the idea. To compromise, I will do it next year, but not add the stickers until the public vote closes on the Sunday. Hope that is ok with everyone?

'Well worth a visit'

'Very good exhibition and amazing that is is free, and allows the community to see local works, also the donation is a good idea'

The donation, by the way, is to try to cover some of the costs as the event is subsidised by Pendle Leisure Trust.

'This was an awesome exhibition, enjoyed looking at all the talent from around the area'

'Brilliant exhibits! Good inspiration to get arty!'

'Enjoyed the exhibition very much, difficult to vote as I had so many favourites, Sandra'

'Really enjoyed myself, most fun time I've had in a long time, thumbs up'

'Great exhibition, lots of talent BUT the whole exhibition would be more accessible to the elderly and disabled if the cafe had been open all the time to enable people to have a comfortable rest and decent coffee between doing other sections'

This comment about the cafe was repeated twice and I will ensure that these comments are passed to the hospitality manager.

So overall a pretty promising critique of the exhibition, especially with regards to the quality of the artwork itself.

And I promised to include a picture of Megan, our photography winner... here she is...

Popular Vote Winner
Megan Cox with her winning photo



Open Arts - The Popular Winners

Hello,

We asked everyone who visited the exhibition to vote for their favourite pictures in each category and the overall popular winners are the lucky folks who win prizes. 250 people voted this year ( we can't quite convince all the visitors) and of those not every person voted in each category, but the majority did.

Here are the winners with our Chairman, Keith Folley.

The winners



Young Artist Aged 7 and under category

Popular Vote Winner
Ethan Oakley Lockton


Ethan was also the overall winner, congratulations! His picture got more votes than anyone else, a whopping 58% of the public voted for this to win. But it isn't just about the winners, so I am going to show you some of the other images that did well too.

Harrison Wareing
Football at Bullholme

This picture also recieved a number of votes.


Young Artist Category aged 8 to 11 years

Popular Vote Winner
Nicole Kirkbride

Well done Nicole, you won with 41% of the vote.

Ella Parker
Snow Queen

This picture came second in the votes, isn't it a lovely one?



Young Artist Category aged 12-16 years 

Popular Vote Winner
Lily Fontaine
Iconic


Congratulations to Lily who won the judges and popular prizes.

The Bridge
Ruby Haworth

Ruby won the judges prize with her other picture but this one was more popular with the public taking 16% of the vote.


Textiles and 3D Category

We actually had a tie in this, which is very rare! Luckily I had a spare prize...



Joint First Popular Vote Winner
Lesley A Best
Calico Garden with Hand Made Bear

This is not one of my best photos (you all know the problems I have with reflections)- so I added a close up...




Close Up
Lesley A Best



 Joint First Popular Vote Winner

Juliet Tomkins

Room with a View

Again I wanted to show you a close up of Juliets work.... 



Close up
Juliet Tomkins

Both of the above artists received 19% of the vote but there was another work that recieved 14% and that was...



Boot House
Mr Harvey-Morgan


This house took some making, Mr H-M told me it collapsed in the kiln no less than 9 times and eventually he had to study some architectural drawings to get it sturdy enough. It is based on the story of the 'Old woman who lived in a shoe' but is a boot rather than shoe so the curve of the boot is used to provide strength.



Photography, Edited Category

Popular Vote Winner
Moira Hunt
Rydal Water: What Lies Beneath

Moira took this prize with 17.6% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Heather Sheldricks Bancroft Mill, Pre and Post demolition which received 17.5%. Commiserations to Heather, but she did get a judges award for her other work.


Portraiture Category

This is one category where the judges and the public perception differed wildly!

Popular Vote Winner
Joyce Kerton
Miss Attitude

Well done Joyce, you received 32% of the vote and as I was sat near this piece of work during the exhibition I kept hearing people say how wonderful it was and a number of them thought it was a photograph at first.

Enid Dyson
Sixteenth Century Lady


This was a lovely piece of work, and one I had my eye on buying, but someone else got there first and it sold within an hour of the exhibition opening! Enid, 16% of the public voted for this to win.

Dorothy Turner
Johnny


Well done to Dorothy too, lots of people voted for this one, 14%, and there were a number of conversations about who he was and how good looking he was. And a few more about how he looks like the ACE Centre receptionist, Shane.


Photography, Natural Category

Popular Vote Winner
Megan Cox
Not as it seems


Megan couldn't make it on the Sunday ceremony and was thrilled when she popped in on Monday to collect her pctures. I took a pic of her smiling with her pic and her present, and will upload it after this post as she isn't in the winners photo.

Jean Crick
Derwent Water in Autumn


This picture was also popular, with 13% of the vote. You all know my frustration with reflections but Jean these are beautiful!



Landscapes Category

Popular Vote Winner
Mavis Nuttall
Staines


It really has been Mavis' exhibition this year and this picture was a clear winner with 54% of the vote.


Open including Abstract Category

Popular Vote Winner
Kathryn Sutton
New Life

Well done Kathryn, another win!

Astor Border
Maureen Arnold

Maureens picture came a close 2nd in the popular vote, and won the judges vote. So the public and the judges do agree on a few points.


Pendle in Paint Category

Popular Vote Winner
Mavis Nuttall
The Tackler, Bancroft Mill, Barnoldswick 1960's

Now you see why I mean it was Mavis' exhibition. Well done Mavis and as I said to you, I just wish they had been for sale as we had so many people loving your work!

John Rickard
Nelson Street

John did very well again in this category and received 28% of the popular vote. Congratulations John.

Maureen Berry
My Name is Bilbo Baggins, I live in Nelson

I just wanted to mention this little chap, he got 12% of the vote and I think it was the eyes, just look at them and tell me they don't make you want to vote for him... all together now... ahhh!

So there we have it, the popular vote winners and open art is over for another year. For all those who did enter, here are my top tips for next year.

1. Size does matter, larger pictures tend to do well in the popular votes (but don't forget the size restriction)

2. Put your work up for sale, people do want to buy art

3. Framing and presentation is really important, frames should either directly complement the work or be quite simple top tips here or if you want to DIY top tips here

4. A good piece of mount board is better than a bad frame

5. For young artists in particular, pictures on card or canvas tend to do much better than those just on a piece of paper

Ta Ra

Kirsty