Saturday 27 July 2013

Yesterday was the first art workshop at the Charity Shop Tour Shop. Some great work was made and will be put on display. Hama beads were a popular hit but also some scraper foils and a felt picture were made. Thanks to everyone who took part.



Tuesday 23 July 2013

Installation shot - some of the Charity Shop Tour objects carefully displayed on furniture from Coventry charity shops. Thanks to two of my favourite charity shops - Emmaus and Community Transport for kindly lending me some of these pieces.

Friday 19 July 2013

I'm enjoying the opportunity the CSTS is giving me to chat to people as they come in, hear about their thoughts on art, their own charity shopping stories, collections and a whole lot more!

I'm currently finishing a piece of work that is going to be added to the show. Quite excited about it, but wont spoil the surprise now. What I will say is that some of the best loved characters from the Tour will be represented in the piece: 10p Genie, England's Glory and Hatted Rodent with Skipping Rope. Here's a photo of the latter:


Thursday 18 July 2013

The Opening Party! We had a good night of it. Great to see such a crowd. 

Here's what was left of one of three rather special Garfield Blancmanges made especially for the Private View from a Garfield Jelly Mould bought on the Charity Shop Tour. A nicely retro nibble which seemed in keeping with the evening - and went down surprisingly well!




Tuesday 16 July 2013

The big day finally arrived and The Charity Shop Tour Shop opened its doors to the public for the first time. The transformation from the old Job Shop to art gallery has been made.

There was an excellent turn out for the first day including lots of people thinking they were entering a charity shop (understandably!) - but that was great because it brought in some people who probably wouldn't have visited an art exhibition. And I got some encouraging feedback too.

I also did my second radio interview in 3 days for BBC Cov / Warks. Think it went ok. The interviewer took a particular interest in Noseless Bear Money Box (and understandably so) - a fine piece from the Tour which nicely demonstrates the beauty in the disregarded theme. 


Friday 12 July 2013

I picked up the window stickers from the printers today. Very nice too. I'm hoping the good people of Coventry will appreciate these!

All the work has arrived from the three commissioned artists (as of today) and it looks great. They add another dimension to the exhibition for sure. It's exciting seeing it all come together. 





Wednesday 10 July 2013

The Knitted Poodle Doorstop has been unleashed on Coventry City Centre. A happy (slightly frenzied) and welcoming face to greet visitors young and old alike!

6 days to go until the opening day...

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Always good to put up the first picture of an exhibition! In this case it was a print of a Vladamir Tretchikoff painting. I like.
Managed to get 5 more pictures up so things are moving in the right direction. Quite a few more to go before the opening on Tuesday (16th July).

Saturday 6 July 2013

2800 sequins and counting!


Currently working on my first ever piece of sequin art for the Charity Shop Tour Shop exhibition. Not quite as easy as I was at first expecting. Quite taxing on the fingers and neck muscles too!

I'm making work in media that you might find in a charity shop - what would be considered as 'low art' or craft, then using a charity shop (tour) bought item as the subject matter. This is a detail shot of an image of the 'Horror Head Torch'. Hope it comes out ok!

Thursday 4 July 2013

From Job Shop to Charity Shop Tour Shop


I now have the keys to the shop and have cleared out the old Job Shop remnants. I'm guessing by the bloated, half-full milk cartons (and the dates on the lids) they moved out in January. I disposed of some interesting cultures developing in coffee cups, a Christmas tree, a little yellow material chick and a very sad, dry Yucca plant. 

Very excited about the space. A big place to fill (22m long) with lots of potential. Just got to fill it!

Talking of which, the furniture has now arrived. Two of my favourite charity shops in Coventry - Emmaus and Community Transport, delivered over 20 pieces yesterday - some bought, others kindly lent.

Things are taking shape...





Tuesday 2 July 2013

The Charity Shop Tour Shop

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of my Charity Shop Tour where I visited 1306 shops in six weeks. To celebrate I will be taking over an empty shop space in Coventry City centre and creating my 'Charity Shop Tour Shop'. This will be a mixed media exhibition of objects picked up from my travels and artists’ responses to them.

I have commissioned three artists to make new works for the show - Dave Gray, Jamie Randall and Ben Rowe.


Opening Times: Tues 16th July - Sat 10th Aug 2013 (Open Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10am-6pm) or by appointment.
Private View: 6–8.30pm Thurs 18th July

Address: 19 Hertford St, Coventry CV1 1LF (Just off Broadgate, near The Works).  

I am very pleased to say this exhibition has been funded by Arts Council and National Lottery Funding.