Ventnor Blog

The beautiful sub-tropical vista of Ventnor Botanic Garden is a befitting backdrop for an exhibition entitled ‘Inspired by Wight’.

Paintings and ceramics inspired by the Island will be exhibited in the Echium Terrace Room by artists Daphne Ellman, Margaret Plant, Carolyne Viney and Susana Watts, with pottery by Annette Chatting and ceramics by Andrew Dowden.

Not surprisingly the Island’s unique shoreline provides a constant and ever-changing source of inspiration for the artist’s palette.

Rolling downs, river valleys, and even tracks scoring the landscape give life to fresh ideas.

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As readers will know, Open Studios kicks off this weekend.

There are loads of artists to visit in the South and West Wight area over the weekend, and if you’re keen on ceramics you might want to head over to Andrew Dowden’s studio.

His studio will be open between 10am-1pm, 2-5pm, 6-8pm on Friday (18th) and Monday (21st).

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Following on from the successful launch of the innovative programme offered with the Digital Arts, Music and Film Summer School in 2007, Quay Arts will be catering again for both the visual arts and crafts this year with the Quay Arts Summer School and the revolution in digital communications and multimedia, with a selection of courses in the DAMF Summer School.

The Summer Schools will run from 28 July - 31 Aug and offer students a chance to have their creativity stimulated and developed in a unique and enviable environment.

Courses will include the Kids’ Drama Week (ages 8-12 years), Basketry on Location, Painting on Location, Friendship Rings, Life Drawing, Raku and Working with Amber, Digital Photography, Introduction to Film, CS3, Songwriting, Music Technology and Ensemble Singing and more!

See website for details www.quayarts.org or contact the Box Office (01983) 822490.

RAKU Image by Babs Chatfield

Don’t forget that this Thursday and Friday sees the return of the MacNaughton Howe Arts and Crafts exhibition.

Festival entries are open to anyone living within a five mile radius of the Winter Gardens and there are tons of classes, so expect to see a wide variety of work at this year’s festival.

It will be open to the public between 1pm-6pm on Thursday and 10am-5pm on Friday, with the award ceremony taking place at around 4pm on Friday.

If you fancy checking out the local talent, get yourselves down to the Winter Gardens.

We all know that the Island is bursting at the seams with creative types, from musicians to writers, artists to designers, it seems that at almost every corner we turn, more talented and interesting folk appear.

Lisa and Andrew Dowden, who we met some time ago, are another great example.
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This is the time of the year that arty type people in the town and around, finish of their works of art and craft and get ready for the MacNaughton Howe Arts and Craft Festival in the Winter Gardens.

This year it is on 15th May 1-6pm and 16th May 10-5pm.

Schedules are available in many shops in the town such as Rainbows, Seasons etc

Entries are still being accepted - ring 853843. With so many classes to compete in, there is still time to rustle up a quick gem!

[We can't wait to see what the Dolls House people have created this year! Ed]

A new art exhibition comes to the Ventnor Botanic Gardens this coming Saturday.

Layered in Time features work by a group of island-wide artists and craftsmen exhibiting together with work on a geological theme.

Expect to see artwork utilising ceramics, willow, print, glass, textiles, calligraphy and mosaics.

Sounds like it’ll be fascinating and we look forward to checking it out.

The exhibition will be open daily between 10am-5pm and entrance is free.

While the evenings are dark and there are only cookery and home relocation programmes on the telly, this is the time to get crafty. The Macnaughton Howe Arts and Craft Festival is on 15th and 16th May at the Ventnor Winter Gardens.

So impress us all with a piece of home made art or craft.

If you are an amateur, living in the Ventnor area, this is your festival. (more…)

Looking for Christmas presents with a twist? Why not head over to Jubilee Stores on Saturday 15th December where you’ll find beautiful items by Sue Paraskeva and the other JUBILEE STORES residents.

Between 12 noon until 7pm the artists will be opening up their workshops directly to the public.

Items on offer will include contemporary ceramics, porcelain, jewellery, prints and cards, driftwood art and more.

Sounds great and well worth a visit. Give something interesting this Christmas and support local artists at the same time.

If you’ve got some time on your hands over the summer holidays and fancy having your creativity stimulated, then why not sign up for one of the creative courses being offered as part of the Quay Arts Summer School?

It runs from 27 July through to 1 September. This year, the comprehensive range of courses include an innovative Digital Arts, Music and Film programme.

The other courses range from Woodcut, Photopolymer Printmaking, Nomadic Art, Jewellery, Painting on Location, Art of Illustration, Raku, BookArt, various specialist Digital Photography and Film Making courses, Intensive Song Writing, Music Masterclass, DJing and Marketing for Creatives.

These courses have proved very popular with visitors to the Island in the past, but us lucky souls have it on our doorsteps, and apparently at very reasonable rates.

Check out the Quay Arts website or call 01983 822490 for more info.

Neil Tregear’s wonderful ceramic pieces will be disappearing from the Rope Store Gallery on Monday next week, so today and tomorrow are you last chances to see them before they go.

We popped down there on Tuesday to have a chat with the Niton based potter.

It was really interesting to hear about his history, inspirations and techniques and although we haven’t had time to edit the recording yet, we hope to put it out on the blog next week.

It is well worth the trip up to Newport. If you haven’t been yet, do pop along before Monday.