Maelstrøm – The Fish Factory’s Summer Show Opens 21st July 7pm

While we endure the lush but less than enjoyable July weather, we can look back on the many times the sun set over the marina in the spring, while barbeques, parties and art events bubbled away in Falmouth’s largest art space. A bulging calendar of themed art events carries on into July with Maelstrøm, the Fish Factory’s Summer Show, which runs from 21 July until 22nd September, showcasing a selection of artists’ work. All are invited to join the opening celebrations on Saturday evening from 7pm as the show is unveiled to the public.

Work on display will include photography, painting and installation. Some artists have exhibited previously at the Fish Factory such as in the Light Object Light Show, which was held in the Spring.

Alongside some of her own photography work, contemporary pieces by Anthony Neale, Lee McIntyre and Beth Hutchison will dominate the space, which is currently being transformed into a whirlpool of creativity.

There will be work for sale as well as gallery pieces and the opening of this show coincides with the launch of a new and improved Fish Factory shop selling affordable prints, artworks and art supplies. The gallery and shop are open between 10am and 6pm Monday – Saturday.

As more artists take up residence in the new studios in Fish2, the regular themed exhibitions curated by Rose will continue to expand in creative diversity. The Fish Factory gives artists a unique chance to try out different ideas and ways to visually express themselves and be part of a growing community of working artists, free from some of the commercial constraints put on artists in high street galleries.

Look out for upcoming visiting exhibitions over the summer in the Fish Factory’s second exhibition space ‘The FishTank’ which hosts local and international guests and is also available to hire. Kicking off the summer season sculptor Martiens Bekker and painter Caroline Cleaves will be opening their show in the FishTank on 27th July.

Go to Fish Factory Arts for more information on Maeltrøm and the rest of the Fish Factory’s summer line-up.

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Falmouth’s Fish Factory is heading from strength to strength!

And this month we still have a few of our awesome Fish Factory 2 riverside studios available at just £50 a month.

So what better way to check them out than a party!

We have three tip-top Indy bands playing at Fish Factory 2 this Thursday for anyone who’d like to come along.

Joie De Vivre and Football have come over from the States to play the UK and Sunday League hail from a little closer to home up North in Newcastle.

Entry to this ‘studio warming’ party will be available by purchasing a prize draw ticket from The Fish Factory through me (Lee) in person or by good old fashioned email.

We will have some pretty neat prizes up for grabs so don’t miss out and tickets will be on sale on the night.

About the bands:

Joie De Vivre(USA)

A slice of 90′s style indie, twinkley, dreamy and bittersweet. For fans of The Promise Ring, American Football and Mineral. You can listen to their releases HERE

Football, Etc (USA)

Introspective 90′s style indie, this will likely be your new favorite band. 
Check them out HERE

Sunday League(Newcastle upon Tyne)
Gruff-party-emo. Yes! It exists. 
You can get a quick blast HERE

About the space:

A warehouse unit housing 16 new artists studios nestled in the heart of an industrial wharf on the outskirts of Falmouth.

Due to increased demand for affordable studio space The Fish Factory has expanded into an adjacent building in Falmouth Wharves(just off North Parade). 

Getting there? 

From Truro;

Take the first turning off the Macdonalds roundabout, head towards Falmouth Marina and The Greenbank Hotel. Continue on for around a 1/4 of a mile, on your left you should see a sign marked ”Fish Factory Art Space” follow down the drive and look for the party.

From Falmouth;

Head out of town past Jam & Hand Bar, continue to follow the coastal road past The Greenbank Hotel, at the top of a drive on your right you will see a sign marked ”The Fish Factory Artspace” continue down the drive, hurrah!

£5 per ticket, entitles you to entry into the ‘Art Punks’ prize draw and the chance to win some pretty sweet art punk goodies.

Bring your friends, it’s going to be fun party!

For more information contact danceofdays@hotmail.co.uk

Note; The show will be finished by 10pm in time for last buses but you are welcome to stay after and hang out.

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 This Saturday 5th May from 7pm an exciting new illustration exhibition will be unveiled at the Fish Factory Art Space in Falmouth.

All are welcome to come and witness the ‘Human Beast’ – a show which will be on display for two weeks and which features both local and international professional artists.

The Human Beast is a new and upcoming bunch of young illustrators with a strong bond to cartoon culture, street wear and freaky children’s animation series.

The exhibition is trying to unite a very interesting young wild horde of local Cornish illustrators who want to jazz up Cornwall big time.

No more boring white wall exhibition spaces and no awful college restrictions; wild and pure and definitely not serious, that is what to expect.

 The exhibition will include illustrators like Plymo, drawing surreal and neo gothy fantasy tales Diggy, drawing and painting dreamy and fantasy inspired creatures from another world – Max K, owner of the rising Cornish streetwear label Guillotine Lize Meddings  who draws uber-cute girlie characters Phil Macgee who paints romantic and crazy landscapes and Cathy Hookey who draws funny monsters 

Everybody is very welcome to the festive opening night on Saturday the 5th of May from 7 pm at the Fish Factory Art space, Falmouth Wharves, North Parade with free drinks and the spellbinding accordion virtuoso Michael Milner who just recently played St. Michaels Mount and the Falmouth Library

For more detailed info just click through to our website at Fish Factory Arts

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An enterprising gang of hard-up artists from Cornwall are off on a cross-country sponsored cycle to ratchet up cash for their new show.

Owdyado Theatre Group got sick of sitting around pitching for taxpayer funding and decided to go straight to the arts-loving public for help.

Director Daniel Richards said: “We figured we’re just going to have to rely on the kindness of others, there’s very little funding out there.

“So we’ll be cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End in character dressed in our plays costumes.

“If people who support the arts can chuck us some money for that, it’ll hopefully go to help to fund the new show.

The new Owdyado play is called ‘Wrongdoings and Wake Up Calls at the Stop-Off Motel’.

Daniel explained: “The new production is about two people who wake up in a Las Vegas motel room without any recollection of how they got there or who the other person is.

“Basically they’ve just woken up in this room and around them are slight clues as to what happened.”

The 24 year old artist went on” “The most difficult thing about being a performer is you’ve got to work hard for not a lot of money: that’s the lifestyle.

“It’s sort of the same whether you’re an actor or you’re a musician or you’re an artist.

“You end up doing a lot of your own work and not getting a lot back other than the experience of doing it.

“We just got fed up of sitting around waiting for grants: we’re just going to go straight to the audience.”

If you’d like to sponsor Owdyado’s End to End Adventure hit HERE , and if you want to stay posted on the company’s tours and productions click HERE .

Their last production, About a Bench, showed at Falmouth’s Poly and was well received at Exeter Fringe.

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A gang of art students are going to be staging guerilla exhibitions across the Duchy this year.

‘Scattered Art’ hits the streets today in a mystery location.

The events will last just a couple of hours each in a ‘secret’ location which won’t be revealed until the day of the event.

Those attending can log onto a special website on the day to find out where the exhibition is taking place.

There’s an exhibition today between 3 & 6pm.

Check the venue on Scattered Art from 9am.

You might have seen news of the launch of the website – on some of the washing pegs we’ve been clipping on to people, objects and generally in places around Cornwall.

Sophie Capron, a secondary school teacher and artist from Truro, explained: “The idea is that you could stumble upon a piece of artwork whilst out on a Sunday stroll or whilst sunning yourself on the beach.

“We want people to find our pegs and log on to our website to become a part of this exciting new experience.

“So far we’ve had random events atTruro Fencing Club (with live fencing!) and Vanilla nightclub.

“And they’ve ranged from film, sculpture, paintings, and music to photography.”

Would you like to host a scattered art event?

Mail us HERE or to find out more about exhibiting your work at these events log on to Scattered Art .

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A truly random arts show gets into its final week in Penzance today and there’s still time to check the free event out.

Cornish curators Maria Christoforidou and Laura Smith devised ‘Decolcamania’ as an “experiment in non-hierarchical curatorial practice and collaboration”.

It means the artists exhibiting, rather than having to go through the sometimes long haul of convincing a gallery of their worth, invited each other to perform.

The result has been a month of free shows open to anyone to attend held by some of the most respected players in the international arts world.

Artists from as neaby as Penzance and as far away as Seoul in Korea have exhibited at the Exhange Gallery, where Decalcomania is in its final week.

Laura explained: “Decalcomania is an exhibition created through a process of invitation and chance, rather than a theme.

“Choosing people from their professional or social circles, the two curators invited two artists each, who then invited another two artists each.

“A total of 12 artists, brought together by what the Surrealists called ‘objective chance’, show film, sculpture, audio and installation.

“Throughout the exhibition Decalcomania artists will lead events that invite local artists, musicians, collectives and communities to workshops, talks, performances and film screenings.”

“The exhibition marks a full circle.

“An experimental project that grew out of Cornwall expanded nationally and internationally returns to form more connections back in Cornwall.”

Among the artists whose work you can view at the Exhange are Ross Birrell, Adam Burton, Ana Carvalho, Maile Colbert, Lucy Gunning, Dominic Hislop, Matthew Hodson, SeungJung Kim, Darren Norman, Tiago Pereira, Sarah Tripp and Gethin Wyn Jones.

The international event was funded by the Arts Council England, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Jubilee Wharf.

All the events are free and you can catch them from Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm.

For full listings just click HERE .

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Eden are unveiling a three dimensional map of the attraction that the blind can read with their hands today (Tuesday).

The 3-D map was sculpted from wood by model-making student Lauren Milton from The Arts University College of Bournemouth in Dorset.

She carved the piece for her final year project.

The budding young artist carving all of the buildings and plant beds by hand.

Lauren worked with the Sensory Trust, which helps to make places more accessible and useful for people who have bad or no vision.

Justine Quinn from Eden said: “We’re really pleased to be able to have the map at Eden.

“It will help visitors who can’t fully see Eden get an idea of the scale of the Project.

“The beautiful craftsmanship make it very visually attractive too.”

Lauren will be joining Stuart Spurring from the Sensory Trust later today to install the map.

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Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s touring art exhibition fundraiser will be visiting its final venue, The National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, on Friday 1st July.

The exhibition is free to enter and will also feature special wildlife and art activities within the Sanctuary itself on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July.

Inspired and Wild: Celebrating Cornwall’s Art and Wildlife has been touring Cornwall since 3rd May, launching at Trebah Garden in Mawnan Smith and visiting Lobb’s Farm Shop in Heligan and Paradise Park in Hayle.

The stunning collection of wildlife art is all for sale with 40% of the proceeds going to the Trust.

The exhibition will run at The National Seal Sanctuary until 22nd July.

It’s curated by world-renowned Cornish artist Kurt Jackson and includes pieces by David Chapman, Ian Griffiths, Ges Wilson, Daniel Cole, Suzy Sharpe, Paul Hoskin, Shari Hills and Rachel Brown.

To view the whole show online just click HERE .

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Artists have spent the last three months renovating the former scallop packing plant, which now offers studios and gallery space to hire in a unique location overlooking the Fal River.

The launch party runs from 6pm to 10pm, and is open to anyone who wants to sample work by three Cornish artists and enjoy a complimentary drink.

The exhibition features work by Sophie Capron, Diggy Smerdon and Martiens Bekker, along with a selection of other emerging local artists.

Sculptor Martiens Bekker creates unique ‘beings’ from scrap metal and wood: he’ll be showing visitors how he gives them life and a second chance.

With a dirty graphic blend and expressive raw lines, artist Diggy Smerdon, brings to life the themed characters and creations of dream and sub-conscious.

And Sophie Capron brings an inquisitive look into nature as an ever-changing yet constant influence on the everyday and its encroachment on everything that is man-made.

Artist Rose Hatcher is leading the project.

She said; “A lot of hard work has gone into getting The Fish Factory ready for this launch night.

“We’ve scrubbed the floors, removed the rust, painted the walls and got rid of the fishy smell.

“Now the Fish Factory really is a great space.

“I hope it can become a serious creative hub for Cornish artists and I encourage anyone with an interest in art to come and see what we have planned.”

Following the launch night, this exhibition will run at The Fish Factory for a further two months. The space will be open from 9am – 6pm daily and visitors will be most welcome!

The Fish Factory is at Falmouth Wharves, North Parade, Falmouth, TR11 2TF, midway between the Greenbank Hotel and Premier Marinas Falmouth.

Ticketed parking on the Wharf or up on North Parade.

You can follow The Fish Factory on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fishfactoryarts. See the latest progress of the renovation at www.fishfactoryarts.blogspot.com.