Tag Archive: Rowanthorn


Inside Out: Mind, Body & Spirit

Filed under: Art, Exhibition by John S. — 1 Comment
April 30, 2013

mandala_1The Inside Out Group has been invited to take part in a new Mind, Body & Spirit exhibition in Oswestry.

The exhibition is open to any artist, any media – restricted only to things that hang on walls. Works should be under 1.5 x 1.5M (maximum). Hanging space will be made available on a first come, first served basis. Works can be for sale or just for exhibition. The show will run between June 1 and Sept 1. Works should relate to the theme of “Mind, body & spirit” in some way. Spirituality, yoga, meditation, etc. are all possible subjects which could be explored.

Anyone interested should come along to the Notebook Meeting tomorrow, which will be in John’s studio in The Cambrian Studios Building, first floor. We’ll be discussing this exhibition, plus the Underhill Art & Wild Craft Fair, our ongoing Art & The Word exhibition at Oswestry Library, our Ceriog exhibition at The Hand at Llanarmon, plus other projects in Oswestry. See you there!

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Fairtrade Fortnight

Filed under: Art, Artists At Work by John S. — 2 Comments
October 12, 2012

Fairtrade: sustainable development for marginalised producers, workers and their communities, based on ideals of equity and transparency.

Did you know that Oswestry was declared a Fairtrade Town  in 2006 and 2007? I must admit, I didn’t.

But the truth is that Oswestry has a lot of small, independent retailers (and big supermarkets) who actively stock Fairtrade foods and goods. Some of the cafes in Oswestry make a point of only serving Fairtrade tea and coffee.

A few weeks ago wondered on this blog if anyone was interested in doing a small Art Works project to do with the shops in Oswestry that stock Fairtrade products. Well, it turns out that the two weeks between Monday, February 25 and Sunday, March 10th next year is Fairtrade Fortnight – a two-week long festival across Britain dedicated to raising awareness of Fairtrade products and the Fairtrade ideal. Following my blog post two weeks ago, the Oswestry Advertiser got in touch and said that they would be very interested in following any art project Inside Out might do relating to Fairtrade in Oswestry.

So, what about it? Is anyone interested in putting together a series of Fairtrade-inspired artworks perhaps for exhibition in and around Fairtrade shops in Oswestry during Fairtrade Fortnight in 2013?

I’d certainly be up for this – and we can coordinate both with The Fairtrade Foundation‘s national campaign as well as initiatives and events run by the Oswestry and District Fairtrade Group. Anyone else who’s interested, post a comment to the blog – or come along to next month’s Notebook Meeting at the Willow Gallery (Wed., Nov. 7th at 2pm) and we can have a brief chat about it then.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

The art of Cooperation

Filed under: Art, Artists At Work by John S. — 4 Comments
September 25, 2012

The coop’s new comic book – image from the Cooperative, via The Guardian

I’ve always been a big supporter of the cooperative ideal – and I’ve been a member of various cooperatives since I was a kid. Nowadays, you can shop in a cooperative supermarket and bank with a cooperative bank – but did you know you could watch a match played by a cooperative football team? (Barcelona FC, apparently – as well as the Green Bay Packers American Football team in the US) Or drink cooperative-produced cranberry juice? (Ocean Spray) In fact, did you know that more people work for cooperatives than for multinationals?

There’s a lot I don’t know about the cooperative movement (I didn’t know there was a Co-Operative political party, for example) and I’m clearly not the only one. To help raise awareness of all that they do, the cooperative movement have turned to art: releasing a comic book and a film about the movement, its history, its ideals and its potential.

2012 is the 168th anniversary for Britain’s Cooperative stores, and there have, over the years, always been plenty of art-based events that celebrate its principles. Back in May, the FutureEverything festival celebrated the “extraordinary artistic and political possibilities” of advances in technology, explicitly linking together art and the political radicalism of the cooperative movement. And Young Cooperatives have been using art competitions to raise awareness of Fair Trade and other cooperative enterprises.

We have a number of small independent shops in Oswestry which stock Fair Trade and other goods produced by cooperatives – Rowanthorn, Honeysuckle, The Gates, and I’m sure there are others. Is there any way we could, under the Art Works banner, help use our art to celebrate and promote awareness in Oswestry?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Anitya: Sensation (vedana)

Filed under: Art, Artists At Work by John S. — Leave a comment
September 17, 2012

The second print in my series Anitya is up now in Rowanthorn. Mike has some handouts with further information on the print and the series, if you’re interested.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited for the interesting comments on the first two prints in the series. The style of the prints is something of a departure for me, and an attempt to fuse two very different traditions together. It’s been great to be able to use Rowanthorn as a space to exhibit an experimental piece like this.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Comment

Aidan Hart at Rowanthorn

Filed under: Art, Artists At Work by John S. — Leave a comment
September 17, 2012

Archangel Michael – detail from an icon by Aidan Hart. via http://www.aidanharticons.com

The golden work of Shropshire-based icon painter and sculptor Aidan Hart have been featured at Rowanthorn on Beatrice St. in Oswestry for several months now, but this weekend was the first time I’d been in there for a proper look. Mike Coppick gave me a brief tour of the icons by Aidan Hart he has up for sale – small-scale reproductions made – appropriately enough – near Mt. Athos, in Greece.

Aidan Hart is member of the Orthodox Church and has been painting professionally for Orthodox churches across the world since the early 1980s. He is founder and tutor to the Diploma in Icon and Wall Painting run by The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, London. His spiritual training has included two years spent on Mount Athos in Greece, primarily studying at the Holy Monastery of Iviron.

Mike has assembled a fantastic collection of reproductions for sale. These are beautifully done, preserving the rich colours and delicate linework of Aidan’s traditional technique. But there is a twist: many of the icons for sale feature English and Welsh saints, like St. David and St. Melangell. 

Stop in for a look next time you’re in Oswestry – for the icons; for the inspiration! The wall of icons has already prompted me to start on a new work – Stasis - which I’ll be exhibiting in Rowanthorn in the New Year as part of our ongoing Art Works partnership.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Anitya – New “Art Works” exhibition at Rowanthorn

Filed under: Art, Artists At Work by John S. — 4 Comments
August 17, 2012

John Swogger has an exhibition of new prints at Rowanthorn on Beatrice St. in Oswestry, under the title of “Anitya”. The series of five prints will be exhibited one each month between now and December. John’s prints join paintings by Diana Baur as part of an “Art Works” partnership with Rowanthorn.

John’s prints explore the Buddhist concept of “Anitya”, or impermanence, with particular reference to culture, photography and Tibet. The prints draw their inspiration from the eastern flavour of Rowanthorn and the Tibetan and fair trade-sourced gifts, artwork and clothing Mike has in the store, as well as his own background as an archaeological illustrator. There’s more on the prints here.

Anitya – new prints by John G. Swogger
one each month: August – December, 2012
Rowanthorn, Beatrice St., Oswestry

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Oswestry Beatrice Street Site

Filed under: General by John S. — 2 Comments
February 15, 2012

Beatrice Street - the Carnaby Street of Oswestry?

Mike at Rowanthorn (where we’ve got Inside Out art up on display) has put together a great little mini-website for Beatrice St. in Oswestry, with details of all the shops and businesses along it.

What a great idea! It gives the street its own identity, and makes it feel like the kind of place you’d want to shop.

Oswestry in general could learn a thing or two from this site – and it’s the kind of thing other streets and places in Oswestry should be doing, too.

Nice one, Mike!

Tags: ,
Comment

Painting for Rowanthorn

Filed under: Art by John S. — 1 Comment
November 7, 2011

The Death of Tigranes - John Swogger, 2011

Paintings and prints for Rowanthorn beginning to collect. This is mine – not framed yet. There’s a little bit more about it on my own blog.

I’m working on getting some foundation students from North Shropshire College to show some work there. I’ll be hanging work sometime in the next few weeks.

If anyone else is interested in exhibiting in Rowanthorn, there are still some of the 50x50cm spaces left. Leave a comment if you’d like a slot.

Tags: , , ,
Comment

Great Notebook Meeting

Filed under: Art, Meetings by John S. — 1 Comment
November 2, 2011

Another great monthly meeting at The Willow. Lots of people, lots of really interesting things going on.

Updates from Maddie, Carmel and Rob Baur on their Art Works collaborations – Maddie doing interesting things with mirrors, words and cats at PetWorld, Carmel being distracted by the architecture in Ken’s jewellery studio, and Rob combining caravans and Soviet and British Rail posters.

All brilliant!

A number of people brought current work, so we all got quick peeks into Diana’s new one-drawing-a-day sketchbook, Chloe’s portfolio of two months’ worth of one-minute drawings and Geoff’s collection of new street photographs.

Some general discussion about the Art Works project, and some new developing ideas for artist/business partnerships – plus an interesting suggestion that we look at the possibility of linking Art Works into the new festivals initiative in Shropshire.

Upcoming events and exhibitions info. for your calendars:

  • Sketching day at Llanymynech Limekilns on Sat., Nov. 12. Turn up at 11/11:30 at the Limeworks carpark. We’ll have the woodburner lit in the stables, plus there’s kettle and a microwave there to keep us all warm. Lots to see and draw/paint/photograph. No particular plan for the day – we’ll be there until about 3 or 4pm.
  • New exhibition opportunity at Rowanthorn on Beatrice St., Oswestry. I’ve got a rota going – email or leave a comment if you’d like a slot. There are two 40x40cm slots and three 50x50cm slots at the moment, each one available for two months at a time (just like The Hand)
  • And, speaking of The Hand, there are still Dining Room exhibition slots available for later in 2012. Email or leave a comment on this post if you’d like a slot.
Finally, John gave a quick tutorial on using WordPress and this blog. Another one next month to catch anyone who didn’t get a chance today.
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 182 other followers

%d bloggers like this: