The delay in recent news is wholly down to an exciting whirlwind of a past month. Since the Stars in Stripes Rotherham exhibition ended I’ve been working hard with Article Magazine to have the latest issue ready, and strongly suggest (insist) that you get your mitts on a copy of the Cities Issue. Distributed in...
The issue launch was held last Wednesday, we took over the Great Gatsby on Division Street in Sheffield to present the new copy, we made cardboard cities, and screened films such as City on the Move the classic promotion film for Sheffield in the 70’s which features two Swedish beauties landing in steel / sex city as tourists. Just look at all the discos, department stores and friendly policemen on patrol! We had excellent stickers to go with the issue (and illustrated inner spread on 24 hour city) by Nick Deakin (also a Stars in Stripes member).
The clumpy, retro tv sets on the night linked up with my interview in this issue with then Programme Director at FACT Liverpool, Laura Sillars, on the world’s first video artist Nam June Paik, ‘Life is half natural and half technological’.
Also featured is my interview with Louise Hutchinson, Curator at S1 Artspace (artist-led organisation) about the new premises and gorgeous exhibition by Eva Berendes. We’ve noted the really bright future for Northern cities, this issue of Article is all about those who aren’t waiting around for the funding to flood in, like numerous independent projects across Britain - thoughtful and significant work is happening regardless.
Look at Rotherham and the Old Market Gallery, about to be transformed into a cinema and artspace by Peter Martin, a lovely Liverpudlian with an unrelenting passion for transforming place through artistic strategy,. (He’s written on it this in the issue too - ‘Rotherham is the New Berlin’. Page 50!)
My feature on city architect J.L.Womersely is the main suspect for my tiredness! A marathon scavenge for any information on the man who designed an array of the post-slum city constructions we now love, or love to despise. Hours spent in Sheffield’s Local studies centre with OAP’s (who have a troubling cut throat commitment to their family histories). Anyway, what I thought I knew about Sheffield and Manchesters ‘landmark brutalism’ was nothing without knowing Womersley’s hand in it (It’s a lengthy piece, page 14).
ALSO an interview with Peter Saville, designer of the prolific Factory Records record covers. Needn’t say more.
A ton of reviews, previews and guidance on what you can enjoy seeing in your city right now. Get your copy and read it over coffee, in fact, several coffees till the next issue emerges. Article goes from strength to strength.
Look at Rotherham and the Old Market Gallery, about to be transformed into a cinema and artspace by Peter Martin, a lovely Liverpudlian with an unrelenting passion for transforming place through artistic strategy,. (He’s written on it this in the issue too - ‘Rotherham is the New Berlin’. Page 50!) 
It's been an extremely hectic couple of months and already we've reached the closing date of our Rotherham exhibition at the Old Market Gallery in Rotherham. 
Here's a little retrospective on the exhibition which has now seen around 500 visitors in 3 weeks. We certainly observed a transformation of Rotherham's art scene and along with it some presumptions about this Northern town. Now we're looking at a sustained programme, with challenging and ambitious shows and events in this gallery space over the coming years as programmed by Peter Martin who curated this exhibition, and who even took these great photographs. 
Late in the proceedings of the Rotherham show setup, the Stars in Stripes flew with the idea that we could do more than just paint and draw on the windows / have a central wall built through the space to hang recent and brand new works, but that we could also paint / build things on the floor & walls. The epic floor size warranted as much intervention as possible.
So I started constructing bird houses for the exhibition space columns out of [tesco neopolitan icecream and frozen berries] cardboard boxes. 
The Stars in Stripes will imminently launch the large scale exhibition in Rotherham this THURSDAY 27 JANUARY 2011 with an event which opens 7pm till late. (The show runs till mid-February). Our window based art work began in December and we took to the interior space of the Old Market Building in January. We'll accompany our show with cakes and booze, prints by each artist (here's a preview of mine) and live tshirt drawing. We'll play music too. Renaissance Rotherham!
I recently won a copy of Failure and with it the opportunity to review the book for A-N Magazine Interface. I became so involved in reading this publication, finding Lisa le Feuvre's topic to be as inseperable from our approach to working and living as (what we perceive to be) our pursuit for success. I advise everyone to read this book and not see the sense in finding some happy medium, it's somewhere between success and failure and it's where the fun happens!
