Artists Lounge

Empty Shops Project feels it’s important to get artists to get together and talk about what they love doing best!

We’d like to invite you to come and meet other artists to discuss potential projects and collaborations in the Empty Shops, and to generally chill out in a creative, artistic environment.

We are hoping to have this as a regular event every fortnight. The details of the first event are:

Date: Thursday 29 April 2010
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Old Meeks Shoe Shop / 28 Upper Dock Street

 

Exhibition Profile: S.A.A

What: The Newport S.A.A Exhibition 
Who: Society for All Artists
Where: The old Travelwise - Bus Station

The old Travelwise shop in the Bus Station has been taken over by S.A.A.:

We are a Newport Based Art Group. At the moment we have fifteen regular members, and we have been meeting for seven years.  We meet every fourth Wednesday of the month, at 6.45pm till 9pm in the hall above the Stepping Stone Cafe (Salvation Army) on Hill Street, Newport. 

Our ages range from 30 to 90 years old and our abilities also range from beginner to more advanced, and we work in various different mediums. We also hold workshop days with various experienced artists.

Price per session: S.A.A Members £4.50 / Non Members and Visitors £5 (tea and biscuits included)

New members are always welcome (first week free!).

Exhibition Profile: Andrew Bolton

What: Goes Around
Who: Andrew Bolton
Where: 25(ish!), Upper Dock Street
When: 11 June - 9 July

Occupying (what we have called) Green and Blacks, Andrew Bolton's Goes Around exhibition officially commences on 11 June, but has already started taking shape, with the stunning window "scraping" shown below.
Andrew describes his plans:

I will scrape a drawing in to the paint on the windows with simple tools, and clear some bigger areas so that passers-by can partially see in to the shop. From a distance, it will look like any other whited out shop, but close up it will be obvious that something is happening.

Over the next month, I will create a non-narrative film for this project. Two edited versions of the film will show on separate screens visible through the window. Because they loop, and use elements of thesame footage, they will appear to interact with each other in a rhythmic way.

Maja Palser from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama will score the film.

For more information please visit www.communitymurals.org.uk.

SuperDragons Designs

At the top of Upper Dock Street, sits the Dragon's Den, home, for the next couple of months, of the wonderful SuperDragons project.

As part of the project, several artists will paint their SuperDragons in the Dragon's Den, allowing the public to get up close and personal with the creatures that will soon be situated throughout the city.

Last week, the final 50 designs were chosen by the Arts Review Panel, and are now on display in the Dragon's Den. 

Please do your best to get down there and see them first hand, before the hard work commences to transform the artistic visions into reality!

Empty Shops Project has launched!

Today, at 2.30pm, Empty Shops Project was officially launched by the Mayor of Newport, Cllr Jarvis, who cut the ribbon outside the Dragon's Den, which was packed to the rafters!

Loads of people enjoyed the speeches, a chance to see the winning SuperDragon designs, tours of the shops, a dragon parade from SWICA, live poetry and some wonderful fairy cakes!

You can see some pictures of the launch here.

Application Form

As Empty Shops Project is about to launch, we have uploaded details of the application process for artists to the How? section of the website.

The form should tell you everything that you need to know to apply to use an empty shop.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Dragon's Den

The Dragon's Den is at the top of Upper Dock Street, and is a partnership between Empty Shops Project and SuperDragons.

It will also open tomorrow, (Friday 16 April), and will feature the first completed SuperDragon, as well as lots of blank Dragons, and a selection of the winning Dragon designs. The vacant shop is being decorated as we speak, and the outer windows are being dressed with ace fiery vinyl!

Official Launch

The Official Launch of the Empty Shops Project is this Friday (16 April), between 2.00pm and 4.30pm, on Upper Dock Street, Newport.


The launch of the project, which will be attended by the Mayor of Newport, will involve the opening of three premises on Upper Dock Street Site, including the Dragon's Den, which will be home to the wonderful SuperDragons project, which is also part of Newport Festival 2010.

The launch will centre around the old Meeks store, which will be the Empty Shops Project HQ for the duration of the project.

Activities at the launch will include:

• Tours of the shops
• Live artists at work
• Live bands
• Details of how to get involved
• The chance to meet the ESP team 

Anyone, and everyone, is invited to attend - See you on Friday!

Volunteers Needed!

Empty Shops Project launches on Friday (more details of that will be posted tomorrow), but before that we still have loads to do to transform the vacant retail units that we have taken over into viewable spaces. Although there are already lots of people helping out, including local artists, staff from The Riverfront and a very helpful local window cleaner, we still need more help! 

If you can spare any time before Friday, and are willing to do some clearing up, some painting, or even just some promotional work online, please get in touch! Email mail@emptyshopsproject.co.uk, or call Nick Cadman on 01633 656679 and we'll gladly find you something to do! As you can see from the pictures below, we have a mountain to climb, just to get the HQ ready...

Empty Shops Project is on YouTube

Empty Shops Project is now on YouTube! 

Head to www.youtube.com/emptyshopsproject for video updates of our progress!

There is already a video up showing the work still to be done before the launch on Friday!

Welcome to the Empty Shops Project

Hello, we are the Empty Shops Project, based in Newport (South Wales).

Please take a moment to explore the other areas of the blog, which will tell you more about who we are, what we do and when we are doing it.

Please check back here regularly or, best of all, follow this blog, and follow us on Twitter. There will be loads of updates, and we wouldn't want you to miss a thing.

Please get in touch with us if you'd like to get involved, and, more importantly, enjoy the Empty Shops Project...