Recent updates

Bristol Post article - Monday 31st July 2017

An update for Everyone's an Artist! - Marina Arts Trail 2017

Jul 31 2017

Bristol artist who worked with Coldplay is to spray paint yacht as centrepiece of new art trail

Artist Graham 'Paris' Dews is to spray paint racing yacht at Portishead Marina on Sun 6th August as centrepiece of the Marina Arts Trail 2017

Graham 'Paris' Dews (Image: Graham Paris Dews)

A world renowned artist who painted a stage for rock giants Coldplay is to spray paint a racing yacht as the centrepiece of a new arts trail near Bristol.

Bristol-based artist Graham Dews - better known by his graffiti tag name Paris - is to spray paint the 25ft projection 765 racing yacht Banshee II moored at Portishead Marina as the centrepiece of the inaugural Marina Arts Trail in the town.

Mr Dews has collaborated extensively with Coldplay having painted the band's live stage sets as well as working on their videos and designing some of their album artwork.

He has also created large scale pieces for the Glastonbury Festival and London Olympics.

The trail will run on August 5 and 6 at Hall and Woodhouse restaurant and bar on the marina.

Paris at work (Image: Graham Paris Dews)

Mr Dews said: "As the west country is pretty much my second home I'm delighted to be able to help out at this event in Portishead.

"What excites me even more is the nautical link - painting a yacht will be a first for me, and in fact I don't recall ever seeing one spray-painted before...anywhere....ever.

"The nautical link also ties in with my heritage.

"I grew up in Hull on the north east coast, and a distant relative of mine Stephen Dews is a world famous marine artist, creating stunning oil paintings of yachts and maritime scenes.

"I simply can't wait to paint a yacht.

“It is a dream job and at some point in the afternoon I will give a presentation and explain in more detail how I use a spray can and demonstrate a few of my techniques and styles, providing a unique insight into the world class sport of 'Aerosol Art'"

The trail will see 20 members of the public, 20 young people and 20 professional artists painting their own pieces - all inspired by Portishead's marina.

All of the artwork created will be hung around the marina as a pop-up arts trail.

Chris Martin from Coldplay on the stage designed by Paris (Image: Greham Paris Dews)

Mr Dews will give a live presentation at 1pm on Sunday 6th August before setting to work on transforming Banshee II into a sailing work of art.

The event – which will raise money for Portishead Youth Club’s skate park event - has been put together by Portishead Arts, a collective of local creatives led by Luke Palmer, a well-known street artist in his own right.

Having been part of Bristol's emerging street art scene throughout the 90s, Luke has been able to call on the support of numerous graffiti artists.

When Mr Dews agreed to take part, Luke knew that he had to find a canvas which befitted his famous friend's global profile.

He approached the marina's management team who put a call out to berth holders to see if anyone would be willing to let an artist loose on their seagoing pride and joy – and to Luke's surprise, yacht owner Stuart Phipps came forward.

Mr Phipps said: "I have always had an interest in modern contemporary art so when I was contacted about the idea of an artist painting a boat as part of the Marina Art Trail I immediately volunteered my yacht, Banshee II.

"I felt that helping raise funds for the younger members of the community with such a new and fresh approach would help their cause and may inspire them to consider sailing as a hobby.

"I bought the projection 765 yacht to pick up my passion for racing and I intend to race the boat locally as well as entering regional events across the UK.

“Banshee II is a fast sports yacht which can achieve speeds of up to 20 miles an hour which is both exhilarating and challenging to sail.

“I can't wait to see what Paris comes up with and then setting sail, taking his work around the coastline of the UK."

The Marina Arts Trail was dreamt up as a way to boost community engagement in the arts, both as a way of getting local people involved as well as to discover the wealth of talent on their doorstep.

The Marina Arts Trail is in Portshead on August 5 and 6 (Image: Luke Palmer)

To pay for the event, a page has been set up on Fundsurfer.

In return for a pledge £25, sponsors will help to pay for materials, as well as the cost of staging the event.

In return, they'll receive one of the artworks created during the event, which will be selected by a random draw on the Sunday - a unique memento of what the organisers hope will be the first of many such annual Marina Arts Trails.

There are also just three Gold Sponsorship corporate packages available for £500, for which businesses will see their company name and logo featured prominently on the event's publicity and signage.

You can find further information here, please see or contact MarinaArtsTrail@gmail.com

Half-Way to Reaching Our Target!

An update for Everyone's an Artist! - Marina Arts Trail 2017

Jul 28 2017

Hello Friends

Because of your support - we are half way to reaching our target of £1500! Thank You!!

Could you help us hit the full amount by sharing this campaign with your friends and family?

With contributions of artwork from artists including Xenz, Andy Council, Gina Love, Paris, Dicy, Acerone, Ian Price and Michelle Lucking - this is a golden opportunity to support art, creativity and young people AND win an amazing piece of original artwork!

Our good friend Ba Aji, a graphic designer and street artist from over the bridge got in touch a while back to tell me he wanted to support the project but would be away in Barcelona on the weekend of the Marina Art Trail. He said he had something in mind and took my address... and this morning this arrived

A custom made one-off Portishead skateboard deck! (Yes, you could win this...!)

With just a week to go until the Marina Arts Trail begins, there is a lot happening behind the scenes and we are organising some very special celebrations to accompany the Art Trail on Sunday 6th. All details will be announced over the coming week, so please keep an eye out for emails and FB posts from us as well as in the local press. 

We look forward to seeing you next weekend

Luke - Portishead Arts

Busy Weekend in Portishead!

An update for Everyone's an Artist! - Marina Arts Trail 2017

Jul 17 2017

Who would have thought it? Portishead is the place to be!

This weekend saw a huge turnout of local people and visitors to the Quay Festival at Hall & Woodhouse on Saturday and a reported 10,000 people enjoying a sunbaked Lake Ground and Esplanade Road for the first soap-box race in 60 years! The town had a real buzz about it this weekend and i was inspired by the amazing things that can be achieved when communities work together. It feels like the perfect time to be hosting the Marina Art Trail!

On Friday i met with members of Portishead Youth Council at the Youth Centre and discussed their plans for a Skate Park Fun-day and how our fundraising could help towards those costs. The Youth Centre attracts lots of creative young people so we will be welcoming them along to take part on Sat 5th at the Marina Arts Trail painting day to paint with over 50 other artists. It's great to have them involved and i cant wait to see what they create!

(Kim, Luke and Esme begin to make plans)

Portishead Arts set up a stall at the Quay Festival at Hall & Woodhouse on Saturday and we had an awesome time talking with the public and raising awareness of the Marina Arts Trail. It was great to meet so many people who supported the idea and were looking forward to getting involved and especially good to meet one or two people who have already donated to the Fundsurfer campaign!

(Everyone's an Artist!)

Portishead Arts member Michelle Lucking had her own stall displaying all of her most recent works, including a stunning twilight scene of the Marina which received a lot of attention... Keep an eye out for what she creates at the event - YOU might be lucky enough to win it!

('Portishead Marina #1' - Michelle Lucking)

Thank you all for your support and please share our Fundsurfer campaign with your friends and family and help us reach our target of £1500!

Luke

Yay I reached £500 thanks to you!

An update for Empress album CD by Makala Cheung

Jul 14 2017

Aw thank you so much for your support and your pledge. Thanks to you I've reached over £500 and I'm nearly at a third of my target!
Still a way to go to reach over £1700 so if you could help by sharing it on social media I'd really appreciate it!
Lots of Love Makala xoxo
P.S. You can say something personal in your posts/tweets or simply share the below or reshare/retweet my posts/tweets:
#HelpBringEmpressToLife
https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/empress-album-cd-by-makala-cheung

Thank You

An update for TERN: Supporting Refugee Entrepreneurs

Jul 14 2017

Dear all,

As we are entering into the final day of our campaign we just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your incredibly generous donations towards TERN and our mission. It really gives us a lot of energy and drive to continue doing what we are doing knowing that we have the support of people like yourself.

You have also enabled us to back a further 25 entrepreneurs in the Autumn, we are £750 away from reaching £10,000, if we reach this we have match funding promised for the final £10,000. So your backing is invaluable and for a small organisation like ourselves it will really go a long way in enabling our capacity to have an impact.

Please spread the message far and wide that This Refugee Can and we look forward to keeping you updated on the journeys of our entrepreneurs.

We will be in touch with those of you receiving rewards early next week.

Thank you once again for your amazing support and helping make TERN a reality.

Very best wishes,

The TERN team

The Tooting Twirl - 12 Hours to Go!!

An update for Transforming Tooting Bus Circle into a Pop-Up Village Green

Jul 11 2017

Hi Everyone!

​We're now starting the 12 hour countdown to our crowdfund deadline, and have raised just under 60% of our target!!

​Thankyou again so much for your support - if you do know of anyone still hoping to make a contribution, please give them a nudge and help us get over the line, or show support for our campaign on twitter and facebook, where we're making our final appeals!

​We'll be starting full-time preparations for the Twirl from later today, so lots still to do!!

​All the best from Team Twirl!
​(Lucy, Richard and Jeni)

Tooting Twirl - Less than five days to go!

An update for Transforming Tooting Bus Circle into a Pop-Up Village Green

Jul 7 2017

A big THANKYOU to our latest benefactors, who have taken us up to within spitting distance of the 50% mark on our crowdfund - we're getting there slowly but surely!!

​Look out for posters and flyers in Tooting shops and cafes, and keep spreading the word amongst your friends and family - it really helps, and as a minimum we want to see lots of people there on Sunday 16th, so do come along if you are able! We've now engaged the services of some local dancing and singing groups who will be contributing to the celebratory atmosphere, and Jeni and Lucy are busy at Furzedown Primary today making decorations for the square. As well as twirling, we're working on a theme of 'be the green', so flower, grass, insect costumes or accessories are all part of the fun!

​We had a great day flyering yesterday with lots of enthusiasm from everyone we spoke to, and we'll be out and about today and tomorrow as well, so do come and say hi if you see us.

​It's time to start thinking about those twirly ensembles....! :D

Success!! Lets dance!

An update for A safe haven for refugee and asylum seeking children

Jul 4 2017

The crowdfunding campaign was a great success.  We were delighted by the support of 341 people who helped to raise £13,968.  Our target was £20,475 so we had a shortfall, but this was met by the kind donation of a family trust.  Amazing!  We are overjoyed and so happy to be able to share this news with the wonderful families using the project!  Thank you!!

Tooting Twirl - One week left to reach our target!

An update for Transforming Tooting Bus Circle into a Pop-Up Village Green

Jul 4 2017

Good Morning Twirlers! :)

​Thankyou all for your support so far. We've made progress over the past week, (thanks to those who have recently contributed!) and are now approaching 40% of our target with only one week to go!! We're hoping to reach AT LEAST 65% of our target by our deadline next week, so please keep sharing our tweets, facebook posts and crowdfunding page with family and friends and help us put on the best event possible!

Look out for Lucy, Jeni and Rhona who will be out and about this week, putting up posters, giving out flyers, and generally spreading the word on the streets of Tooting! If you have any spare time to distribute some flyers, or any spare greenery within your garden that you might be able to donate to help decorate the circle on the day, please do let us know. Otherwise, time to start preparing your twirly decorations, ribbons, and costumes for the day itself!!

​We're really looking forward to sharing the experience with you, and thankyou again for your support so far.

 Very best wishes,

​Lucy, Jeni and Richard

TICKET COLLECTION

An update for Outdoor Cinema in Teignmouth

Jun 28 2017

Tickets are now ready to collect from Bitton House Teignmouth Council Office.