Stars in Stripes Rotherham Adventures - window artwork

The Stars in Stripes were commissioned by ROAR (Rotherham Open Arts Rennaissance) and Rotherham Council to fill the ground floor space of a relatively new tower block right in the centre of town. The original ask was for the Stars to produce window based artwork, and as a group of eclectic artists and illustrators to pursue their individual ideas and build these into a cohesive whole. This vast space in a central location lacks definite purpose, and offers an unusual opportunity for artists to be ambitious - the scale of the windows truly shows off the Stars in Stripes exploits to passers by.

 We were instantly taken with the idea because being offered a space like this to work in and subsequently exhibit is such a rarity. Though we are all based in Sheffield, it would be extremely unlikely for us to happen upon this opportunity there, particularly not with council funding for our troubles. 

The train journey to Rotherham is so swift you barely feel it. (Unless your train breaks down because of the ice. Brrrr.) So the next step in the operation is encouraging the Rotherham public to visit along with people from Sheffield, who surely could brave the ten minute journey to check it out. Remember, Rotherham is the new Berlin.

We've been met with sub-zero temperatures, so putting pen to window has been difficult (at times painful!) but we have persevered. The space now certainly has our stamp on it, from bears, carousel horses and sheds, to winding vines, chains and parachuting foxes. I have met the eyes of bemused passers by through the window whilst drawing on it, and I hope people in Rotherham will keep looking in on us as we fill the space. It is essentially like working inside a great fish tank - there is no escape if we blunder.

We're building up to our first group exhibition in mid-January, exhibition title TBA....content TBA...but keep an eye on the Stars in Stripes website to see our progress into the New Year. We also hope to plan in a number of events from Live Art, screening nights, to workshops.

Special thank you to Peter Martin who is helping to curate our work, and manages the use of the space. He's been a great support and encouragement to the Stars in Stripes thus far.

 

Many more images and info can be found on the Stars in Stripes website.

Rotherham is the new Berlin

The next issue of Article Magazine will be out in early February. In the interim, I've been writing a bunch of articles to be fed onto the online version of the mag, you can read the first of these on the website today! :

S1 Artspace relaunch - interview with Louise Hutchinson the curator. S1 is one of the most significant artist led spaces in the North and it's celebrating 15 years of being established, coincidentally this anniversary also ties in with their move to a new premises...exciting times for them. (If you're in or close to Sheffield, their relaunch event is this Friday 10th December at 6pm!)

Rotherham exhibition!

 It's been snowing like there's no tomorrow in Sheffield. In fact we've had way over foot and now we're dealing with the icy aftermath...We haven't been able to get to Rotherham as much as we'd like (seriously) but the thrilling news is we've got the ball rolling for our forthcoming 'Stars in Stripes' exhibition! 

In the few weeks before Christmas we'll be drawing on the windows of the exhibition space, they're a huge feature as they make up 3 of the 4 walls.We will keep a record of the work in progress and upload it to the Stars in Stripes website.

Rotherham is the new Berlin! But I'm sure you already knew that. It's time we give Rotherham another go.Buy a tshirt to express your optimism.

Live illustration by Kikayis an illustrator based in BCN.