Letting everyone know that this new exhibition of work by Peter White is due to open in Burford, Oxfordshire very soon. Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Celebration at the Ceilidh Place

An exhibition to celebrate 20 years of Bridge House Art in Ullapool is on display at the Ceilidh Place until August 21st. Celebration features work by artists that have all graduated from the portfolio course over the last 15 years.

The opening night was a lovely evening of connecting with past students, tutors, friends and supporters of Bridge House Art. Tiril made a wonderful celebration cake, complete with candles and friends travelled from all corners to support Eleanor on this very special event.

The Ceilidh Place are donating all commissions from sales of work to An Talla Solais Ullapool Visual Arts, thereby continuing the symbiotic relationship between these two creative centres in Ullapool.

As if to highlight the diversity of the portfolio course, the disciplines of painting, printmaking, mixed media, collage, textiles, sculpture, jewellery and ceramics are all represented within the exhibition.

Very special thanks go to John Colles, Sarah Colles and Les McMinn; alumni students that very bravely accepted the challenge of curating and installing the exhibition.

Resolution revisited

We had so many requests for images from the recent Resolution exhibition that we felt we couldn't deny those of you that were unable to visit the exhibition, a look at what you missed!

The resolution to make a painting/drawing/work of any kind every week is a hard one to sustain. (see artist's statements on earlier post) This idea seems to have connected with a lot of our followers, so maybe this is the impetus you need to make a similar resolution.

It helps to have a partner in crime and Joanna Wright was the perfect partner for this project. It was also wonderful to see Eleanor practicing what she preaches in her uniquely inspirational and individual way.

The studios and the printing garage really do scrub up well and the addition of the pop-up cafe on the final weekend was a great bonus!

Chorus has flown again!

We were delighted when the opportunity to install the ever popular community art project Chorus into the members area of the Scottish Parliament building was offered by Jean Urquhart.

After passing all the security checks, Eleanor and Chris from the Macphail centre, were allowed in to install the bird boxes much to the delight of the ministers it would seem.

The feedback is that the display was regarded by some as "The best they'd seen" of course we agree! Wonderful to see the flock out for yet another airing.....

As part of Bridge House Art's 20 year celebrations, the Ceilidh Place are hosting an exhibition of selected works from the portfolio course alumni. The exhibition is being curated by John and Sarah Colles and Les McMinn, all ex-students of the course.

The Ceilidh Place has a special place in the hearts of all Bridge House Art students, not only as a place to meet, relax and enjoy great food, also a venue for always finding a selection of unknowing life models and sometimes as a part-time employer, thereby helping some students afford to embark on this often life-changing course.

Bridge House Art has also had vital relationship with An Talla Solais, Ullapool Visual Arts during the last 10 years. The provision of larger studio spaces has enabled us to offer places to 12 students a year, rather than the 7 places at Bridge House Art studios. During the exhibition all commissions are kindly being donated by the Ceilidh Place to An Talla Solais for their ongoing fundraising efforts.

Last chance to catch this exciting exhibition by our very own Eleanor White and fellow artist Joanna Wright. 

There will be a pop-up cafe on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th - yummy cakes and fantastic coffee to stimulate your viewing pleasure. (all proceeds towards funding a young students gap year community work in Africa)

Here's what Eleanor and Joanna have to say about how the exhibition came about;

The resolution behind this work for me was to make the transition from teaching to my own practice. The subject arose out of the gifts that people would bring when they visited: flowers from allotments, petrol stations, supermarkets and local gardens.  Whichever it was and whenever they arrived I painted them. This gave immediacy to the work as the subject would soon lose vitality and freshness.  Seeing was the key, and the application of expressive paint led the way. Given time I aim to continue with the compulsiveness of working from the gifts that friends bring.  Eleanor White

Last October Eleanor and I made a resolution to make a drawing or painting each week - this exhibition is the result.  I made a series of small pictures of pots and cups on paper, which led to working in the same way on board and with collage, trying to look at the objects as two-dimensional patterns made up of arrangements of shapes.  This led to working with patterned panels, partly inspired by the Islamic idea of repetitive images signifying the boundless presence of God.   Being able to arrange and rearrange the panels to make their own infinite compositions has been part of the pleasure of working in this way.  Joanna Wright

Looking forward to seeing you there!

One of the good thing about this time of year, is that when you are planning what's coming ahead, you tend to reflect on what's gone before. Have a look at one of our tutors, Kittie Jones', latest posts on her blog here.

Flying Herring Gull. Kittie Jones

We are delighted that Kittie is working with us again this year. She will be with us in July for her Creative Responses to the Natural World printmaking course. Follow the link here for more information and booking details.