Rebellion Festival comes to Blackpool!

The Rebellion Festival, the ultimate event in the punk calendar, starts this week in Blackpool running from the 6^th-9^th August. Each year Blott has expressed its support and excitement for the event, with our artists Corrine Streetly, Jill Reidy, and David Butterworth drawing on it for inspiration in their artwork.

Each year in August, Blackpool comes to life with its streets turning into tapestries of neon hair do’s, with a palpable buzzing thrum in the air. Music, poetry, fashion, and artwork are shared and celebrated by a fraternity built on a common understanding that self-expression is living art.

Corrine Streetly astutely captures this spirit in her Punkadelics and Rockabilly’s series of paintings.

Idle Billy (30cm x 40.5cm) available as print

Kong Unleashed. Available as print

Vicious Sid (29cm x 42cm) available as print

She states ‘during each festival I’ve soaked up the colours, sights & sounds in the Winter Gardens complex, watching the crowds of national and international die hard Punk supporters. There is a real energy, an exciting buzz of expectancy in the air at Rebellion, due to many people converging together in one small space, dressed to impress’.

Jill Reidy seizes the opportunity to capture the energy of the festival on camera ‘when the sun comes out and shines through those fluorescent spikes on top of someone’s head, my camera goes into overdrive…’

‘Blackpool Rebellion Festival is one of my favourite events of the year - a photographer’s dream.  Brightly coloured, highly starched hair, any number of face and body adornments, tattoos and clothes that make a serious statement’.

‘For the last few years I have hung around the back of the Winter Gardens, pointing my camera at anything that moves.  I have met some of the most scary looking but genuinely lovely people from all countries and every area of life’. 

David Butterworth, a graphic designer by trade, uses imagery symbolic of the punk culture teamed with witty slogans on his postcards, ‘One of the most iconic accessories used by punk rockers in the late seventies was the safety pin. These images are my attempt at portraying a light-hearted take on these events’.

In honour of this iconic festival coming to Blackpool, Blott has a temporary window display showcasing some of our brilliant punk art. 

Mugs, t-shirts, and canvas bags featuring some of Corrine Streetly’s punk art are on sale within so don’t forget to come down and have a look!

For the complete range of Corrine Streetly's punk art merchandise go to the Blott website 

For the complete range of prints and signed prints available, go to Blackpoolpunkart.co.uk

Mail order prints are all posted in a sturdy brown postal tube. Framed prints available (collection only). For originals please inquire.

For all the latest news updates from Blott, check out our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Blog post written by Sarah Giblin 

Photographs taken by Jill Reidy

The dynamic new display in Blott’s windows features the paintings of talented artist Suzanne Pinder

From the series 'A Night out at the Comrades'

Clematis

Pinder considers the unapologetically amoral nature of Blackpool, her home town, ‘having the power to simultaneously fascinate and repulse’ in Rock Novelties, a loud and pop art-esque depiction of the crass souvenirs on offer on the promenade.

Rock Novelties

Portraits

The delicate sincerity of the snapshots captured by Pinder in Portraits juxtaposes the vibrant energy in Rock Novelties, through documenting her ‘intense and at times claustrophobic relationship’ with her autistic children.

Clematis

Particularly of interest is the series entitled Clematis, an all monochrome series of paintings depicting the growth, or perhaps, decay, of organic life forms. ‘As the images become abstracted and reduced, there are elements of calligraphy in the balance between black and white. Any specific images seen by the viewer are purely incidental.’ Pinder permits the spectator to become an artist in their own right, as the painting becomes a catalyst for the spectator’s own imagination.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

‘I was born in St. Annes and initially trained as a nurse at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, qualifying in 1990. I then completed a part time Foundation in Art and Design at Blackpool and the Fylde College in 1999, followed by a Fine Art Degree at Lancaster University in 2004.

I obtained my PGCE from Blackpool and the Fylde College in 2008, teaching on the Diploma course and studied for a PGC (Autism) in 2011, before eventually returning to nursing as a Ward Sister.

Part of Orb Art Artists’ Collective from 2004 until 2014 and exhibiting with them, I have now moved to The Old Rock Factory as part of Celery Artists’ Workshops on the ground floor.

My interests are: chickens, allotments, building sites, films, dancing, history, toilets, cranes, architecture, and aeroplanes. To name but a few.’

Review by Sarah Giblin

Photography by Jill Reidy 

Recent Paintings by Paul B. Jacob

There is yet another vibrant new window display at Blott Artists Studio on King Street, Blackpool.  Alongside the the scaffolding that continues to blight the area, these stunning paintings by Paul B. Jacob are like a breath of fresh air.  The collection is entitled, with a simplicity that belies the complexity of each piece , “Recent Paintings.”

Paul B. Jacobs says, “I aim to make solid bold and vibrant paintings based on my daily visual experiences. Each painting is a definition of a specific memory, time and place. I search through painting in order to record my daily visual life. I am a painter first and foremost not a publicist nor promoter of my work. I prefer my work to be experienced on a personal level through exhibitions and installations and feel that the internet and social networking detract from this. I am a painting graduate who has studied Art History and Contemporary Practices and have extensive experience within the Arts.

This body of work is from the previous 18 months and is mainly acrylic on canvas. I am interested in typography and the lexical marks throughout history and this is an influence on all of my paintings.  In these recent works I have drawn on the visual subterfuge of camouflage and this reflects my own need to retreat from the public eye. “

A New Window Display at Blott Artist Studio

Despite the ongoing difficulties of scaffolding and dust from next door, Blott Artist Studio continues to exhibit new and exciting work in the window of the King Street Studio. 

The display this month features photographic prints by local photographer, Jill Reidy, member of the Blott Artists Collective. These photographic prints were produced following a visit to Circolombia, a Brazilian Circus act, which appeared at The Tower Circus, Blackpool, earlier this year.  Each image features two of the highly skilled trapeze artists performing various acrobatics.  Set against a black background the figures, lit in purple, are amazing examples of the strong and well-toned bodies necessary to perform such high risk acts.

Come along and take a look if you’re in town, you won’t be disappointed.

All prints are signed, limited editions, produced by Jill Reidy, using luxury, light fast paper and high quality inks.

 For sale as prints only; mounted; or mounted and framed. Please telephone Blott Artist Studio 01253 620000 for any further information.

Blott's Latest Window Display

Blackpool’s longest running artist led venture, Blott Studios & Artists Collective is undergoing a re-structure and futher consolidation of the primary place it has occupied for so long at the forefront of Blackpool’s continually evolving visual arts scene. 

Although its difficult to ignore the scaffolding, dust & noise from the Syndicate nightclub demolition site, we are still opening our doors to art lovers, although currently only on Mondays, 10.30am - 3,30pm. I’m also delighted to say that this state of affairs will change soon, beginning next month with a small exhibition of Alex Johnson’s new paintings. 

More details and opening days and times for viewing to be confirmed.

Many congratulations to Blackpool Council & Left Coast, who have recently developed Abington Street Studios, affordable studio space for artists above the old post office. We wish Garth and all participating artists the very best of luck with the venture.

Now seems as good a time as any to point out the work of our Newcastle based guest artist Keith Murdoch, as seen in the gallery window.

These flower and garden studies are the beginnings of what were to blossom into the larger scale vivid and energetic paintings that Keith Murdoch produces today. Painted in-situ, they act as evidence to the unbridled response to the joy of nature.

Keith studied Fine Art at City College, Liverpool; University of Central Lancashire, Preston; and in 2003 gained an MA in Multimedia Arts at John Moores University, Liverpool. He is currently for his Masters in Fine Art at Sunderland University.