The Art of Politics

The Art of Politics exhibition has opened at The Changing Room gallery.


There is some great work on show, Martin Adams has several pieces that deal with the local political situation with wit and invention. His mixed media piece "Sweet Temptation" had edible sweet treats in a box,with piped lettering on the sweets including "Influence", "Power" and "Renumeration" As the text concluded "Get elected get appointed and dig into the box of delights" You can see more of Martin's work here.



May Ayers had two pieces of ceramic sculptures that dealt with government policies of locking up vulnerable young people, "Zero Tolerance, in dedication to Joseph Scholes" and human indifference, "Indifference" "Zero Tolerance" is a large piece made up of several sections. The base sections have text around them and incised images. The top section is a torso, hands wrapped around the body and the head is split to show other faces inside. It is a powerful piece and addresses real issues in government policies that have lethal consequences. You can see more of May's work here.

In "this space has been left intentionally blank", people from the fight the height campaign had gathered together the ideas people had put forward for the space at the top of the high street in Walthamstow. These are on postcards and paper and form an installation on one of the walls. Visitors to the gallery are asked to contribute as well.


I was pleased to see that visitors had also been responding to my "The pound in your pocket"installation piece, writing their ideas of how they would spend their Waltham Forest pounds.






On the theme of money Chandra Mora, showed "Veni, Vidi, Depradavi, I came , I saw, I plundered" A large copy of A Zimbabwe million dollar note, and text citing the corruption and exploitation of the Zimbabwe government, as well as drawing parallels closer to home.




The exhibition continues till Sunday 6th of September and is part of the E17 Art Trail which starts on Saturday 5th.

Leigh on Sea and Southend

I went recently for a traditional seaside day out, starting at Leigh on Sea and walking along the sea front towards Southend. Interestingly for those of us who don't know, Leigh on Sea train station isn't next to the town, I always forget this sort of thing, that train stations can be a way out of towns. However the walk along the sea by all the boat yards was great and the nature reserve is just by the station in the opposite direction.


The sea air smelt amazing after breathing so much London air and the weather was dry and sunny later on. After the boats and more reserved air of Leigh on Sea, Southend was for the penny arcades, funfair and icecream. Shame about the pebbly beach, I couldn't stand it after 20mins and had to put my shoes back on!

The Art of Politics

I'm just starting with a bit of a season of exhibitions, the first one being part of The Art of Politics, at The Changing Room Gallery. I'm working on a piece called The Pound in Your Pocket, which is exploring the ideas of local currencies such as the Totnes Pound,details here. the Lewis Pound and the Brixton Pound.

The idea of having local currencies is to benefit the local community by spending money locally and keeping the money in circulation.( The money given to national and international companies and businesses is more usually siphoned away from the local community) There are also environmental benefits in keeping carbon footprints low.

I'm using images of altered notes (altered £20 note with portarait of William Morris above) and asking people to imagine that they had unlimited local Waltham Forest Pounds and to write on the new bank note how they would spend their Waltham Forest Pounds. These ideas will be part of the exhibition and I will also document the results.

The exhibition runs from Monday 31st August till Sunday 6th,(overlapping with the first weekend of the E17 Art Trail,the private view is Tuesday 1st 4-7pm.

Launch of the E17 Art Trail Guide

Tonight was the start of the build up to the 5th E17 Art Trail with the launch of the guide. It is a guide this year rather than a map as there are over 350 artists and local people showing work.

The trail runs from the 5th till the 13th September, and I'm taking part in a number of events. I have an exhibition in Waterstones Selbourne walk, Walthamstow of my new Artists Books. Books I have been producing over the last few years, in a variety of forms. I'm also having a stall at the E17 Designers market on Sunday 13th. With a number of other artists I will also be hanging art work on the trees by the Central Bus station, Sat 5th and Sat 12th 9.30 am that you can take for free. Come early to pick your artwork.

Details of all the E17 events and exhibitions can be found at http://www.e17arttrail.co.uk/