Visual Arts & Exhibitions

St Anne's Urban Arts Studio, a community space and café, regularly opens its doors to all types of creative arts. When I met up with artists Ben Hunt and Aimi O’Donnell to talk about their upcoming art exhibition ‘Illuminescent Futures’, a street dancing class in the studio fought for our attention as we sat in the brightly decorated cafe space to chat. The venue hosts a different exhibition every month showcasing the work of local artists. Ben and Aimi told me about their unique style which they are bringing to the studio this June. Linda: Tell me about your art.…

With Blackpool Pride on the horizon its with some glee that I see more than the usual camp and glitz on offer in our town. Following the recent announcement of Hayley & Me, a show exploring the trans topics, new contemporary visual arts space ICW... is presenting Provocations, a group exhibition of LGBTQI+ artists from across the UK. Co-curated by Blackpool based artist and curator Garth Gratrix alongside Manchester's Jez Dolan, the show features work from 13 artists in the new space which has been supported by Abingdon Studios and East Street Arts. The exhibition, which is to be the largest…

A significant exhibition of newly discovered images by social documentary photographer Shirley Baker is set to open at the Grundy on Saturday 20 May. The exhibition takes us 'on the beach' at Blackpool and on the Côte d'Azur. I must admit, when I read the initial description of this exhibition I was instantly intrigued. This was in part due to my interest as a fellow photographer but more importantly as a photographer who has recently completed a road trip around the seaside towns of Great Britain, recording images out of season and comparing them to the hundreds of Blackpool images I already have.…

On 4 May the 'Best Of Blackpool' exhibition opened at the Kosmonaut in Manchester, curated by Jamie Cook, aided and abetted by Jay Devine and showing works from some of the best artists Blackpool has to offer. The artists are promoting Blackpool as the creative hub that it is. All part of the local art community they came together to show the public the best side of their town and what it has to offer. Being a group show there are a great range of materials and styles to be viewed. If you wish to see for yourselves the breadth of…

David Hirst of Creative Arts and Futures once again brought an urban art project to St Annes Back West Arts Trail. Building on the success of a beautiful piece from internationally renowned Nomad Clan and facilitated by STEP (St Annes Enterprise Partnership) and STEP Arts Officer Amanda Joynt, David brought in four extremely talented urban artists: Nomad Clan, Seca One Art, Catch-22 Art and Tankpetrol. Local urban artist Tangerine Art Co and members of local network ICAN were on site while the four pieces were completed over the May bank holiday weekend and hung on walls down the art trail the following day.

When Peter Kay announced that series two of Car Share would be previewed at The Opera House Theatre, Blackpool, it was always going to be a sellout.  So did it live up to the hype?  In the end, the answer was a resounding yes. So why in the end?  The event kicked off with a repeat of the final episode of series one.  Whilst the audience being comprised mostly of diehard fans,  this was guaranteed a reasonable reception. It was a great idea in theory; "movie marathon" events being such a popular feature of franchise releases such as Twilight.  However, in this case,…

With spring arriving, the Grundy Art Gallery's next two exhibitions include an LGBTQ film and photography focus, as well as a chance for visitors to operate virtual reality and computerised 'reading machines'. Saturday 1st April will see the launch of two exciting new exhibitions. Rob Crosse is awarded the first major solo exhibition of his work and includes new film commission,Prime Time. The exhibition is named after his latest film Prime Time and Grundy provides the premiere of this new commission in Blackpool. Through his films and photographs, Crosse studies the collective and private behaviour within organised social groups made up predominantly…

My inspirational friend and sometime collaborator has been hitting the road through the beginnings of 2017 to capture seaside towns out of season. I too love a road trip and as a huge advocate of travel and remembering a statement I was read: not to spend all your money on photography equipment, save some for travel,  I  was excited to catch up with Jill to see how her adventure panned out and what is in store following her expedition. Claire Griffiths: How did you decide you wanted to do this project and what inspired you? Jill Reidy:  I'd wanted to…