A Warm Welcome to New Members

In the past few weeks Corrine and Janine, director and gallery manager respectively, have invited three new artists to be part of the Blott Art-Studio collective.  The artists, all very different,  will each bring something new to the collective.  Mark, Mike and Jill are looking forward to making their individual contributions to Blott in the near future.



Mark Peatfield started painting and drawing when he was very young and continued up until his teens when, for no particular reason, he stopped. Many years later and following a series of traumatic life events he started painting again. 
Mark says his PhD in Cognitive Psychology and research background into computational models of human cognition shape his world view. His paintings therefore depict a mechanistic and strange world, where, for example, human experience is encased in a metal sphere.  

A Preston Winter Sunrise by Mark Peatfield

He is fascinated by models of human awareness and paints to express the descent into madness that results from gradual or traumatic damage to the fragile human ego. He visits literature, music and personal experience for inspiration. and also paints to express the isolation and loneliness which is the human condition - particularly in industrial settings.  




                                     

Mike Grattan, an avid drawer and painter from childhood, would get his pocket money every Saturday. By the evening, a sketchbook, bought with the money, would be full, and Mike would trail around local wallpaper shops asking for their old samples books, in order to draw on the backs. 

He attended Lancaster College of Art and made a career as a graphic designer/illustrator. His earliest illustrative influences were the artists of Marvel Comics like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Steranko.

Elizabeth Taylor by Mike Grattan

With a life-long love of Pop Art, Mike has worked on various series related to media celebrities.  His finely executed images of iconic people in the media, from film star musicians and celebrities are a mass of detail, beautifully and carefully delineated in acrylic paint on canvas.  


In 2013 Mike had a one man exhibition in Liverpool.

Jill Reidy, another artist who spent her childhood drawing and painting, originally trained as a graphic designer at Leicester College of Art and Design in the late 60s/early 70s. After fifteen years running a cake decoration business and various other creative enterprises, she then spent a further fifteen years in the teaching profession, taking early retirement in order to pursue her passion, photography. 

Moon over Havana by Jill Reidy

Following a short visit to Havana, Cuba in 2012, returning with 1500 photos to process, Jill realised that her passion had become an obsession. 

She has exhibited at Blott Art-Studios and Cafe Dolce, and currently has a one woman  exhibition, 'Hanging Out in Havana', at La Piazza, Bispham, with another booked at the Solaris for November.  Jill also has a small collaborative exhibition, 'Blackpool' at Revoe Library.

Blott Studio and Artists Collective Out in the Community. Number One: The Donkey Men

David Butterworth's 'Three Donkey Men' in Revoe Library

It all started with a fleeting glimpse of a picture in a book. Corrine, Blott’s director, was flicking through a thick draft of papers, explaining that she and Janine, Blott’s manager, were compiling an archive history of Blott Studios when I first saw it. I loved it. Which is how I came to be in Revoe Library a couple of days later, photographing the original painting. High on the wall, above the shelves of books, 'Three Donkey Men' sat proud. Part of a series entitled, ‘Once Upon a Time in Revoe’, the painting by David Butterworth had been displayed in a community art show at Blott Artist-Studios in November 2008.

The concept of the exhibition, originally inspired by David Butterworth's painting of local character, roofer Brian Brown, was a resounding success. It was lovingly and painstakingly researched and organised by Lynn Butterworth, wife of the artist, and attended by the Mayor of Blackpool, local historians and artists. 

So successful was it that Revoe Librarians, Sue and Marion, were soon waxing lyrical about the painting, which has been much admired since its presentation by the Butterworth’s to the Library following the Blott Exhibition.  Glancing up proudly, Marion told me that she never tired of looking at it.

The story didn’t really end there though.  Interestingly, it was subsequently discovered that Linzi Cason, a photographer who previously undertook a student placement a few years ago at the blott gallery, was related to one of the donkey men. Derek, on the left of the painting, was her grandad’s uncle.  And Sue informed me that Steve, a security officer based at Central Library had also realised he was a descendent of one of the men.

A piece of art with a story behind it is, for me, a genuine bonus.  This painting is aesthetically pleasing; compositionally it works; and I love the way the characters of the three men sit comfortably beside each other on the bench, silently residing over the shelves of books. The fascinating history behind the painting, and the links with local residents make Revoe Library its ideal location for a long time to come.

Blog compiled by Jill Reidy

Guest artist Keith Murdoch will be exhibiting during February 2014

During February, artist Keith Murdoch will be exhibiting a series of 'Old English Garden' paintings at the Blott Gallery. Keith is a Newcastle based colourist painter.

'Old English Garden 030', acrylic on rag paper, 14x14

'Old English Garden 7', acrylic on MDF

'Old English Garden 12', acrylic on MDF

To view more of Keith's work CLICK HERE
or visit our website www.blott.co.uk

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A few external gallery images featuring our lovely new outdoor sign designed by Blott member David Butterworth.

Blott welcomes our latest member, Sean Payne

We are pleased to announce a new blott member, Sean Payne, Blott collective's latest member, a local conceptual artist. 

Sean describes his style as ‘eclectic’ and himself as ‘a culturally - referenced brushsmith with a stylus in the digital world’

 “I consider art to be a conceptual discussion using an aesthetic medium, and hope my work gives people a pause to see something commonplace with a different perspective.”

Sean Payne

'Lovecraft I' Digital print

'Lovecraft II' Digital print

'Lovecraft III' Digital print

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Guest Artist Jill Reidy exhibition now on at Blott

From May to June, the Blott gallery welcomes another guest artist, photographer Jill Reidy.   Reidy's startlingly vibrant photographs currently on exhibition were produced on a visit to Havana, Cuba, last year.

Jill Reidy 'Washing Day'

“I have never felt so excited to be in a city with my camera.  Every corner reveals something interesting that begs to be recorded. Beautiful buildings crumble and decay; poor but proud Cubans swagger past in brightly coloured shirts; beggars and dealers approach tourists with offers that are hard to refuse.  Classic American cars race along the roads.  Even in the midst of such obvious poverty, where people hang their washing on balconies that lean and sag, and lower baskets to the ground where they are filled and hauled back up, there is a real colour and energy about the city.”

Jill Reidy 'Lighting Up'