Thank you to the participants who made this fantastic exhibition possible, thank you to all at St John's Church for allowing us to have the exhibition there and thank you to the musicians 'The Midnight Sea Horse Collective' who made the opening night special, thank you to Roberto (photos) and all who helped, especially Christine (photos/video and many more)

Tomorrow is opening night from 6pm!

We are very excited and busy, creating flyers, framing pictures, finishing artwork in preparation for our forthcoming exhibition!

And its fun!

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a twentieth-century Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits. Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House which is now a museum. Her art was described as naive, folk art or surrealist, but Frida believed that her work reflected more of her reality than her dreams. 

Frida contracted Polio when she was 6 years old which left one leg shorter than the other. The main event that changed her life was in 1925 when she was in a bus accident. She had injuries to her right leg, pelvis and she could no longer have children. She had a total of 35 operations which left her constantly in pain and stopped her from being a doctor, her dream. Because of this she had to spend quite a lot of time in hospitals and at home recovering what made her quite isolated. This isolation what was motivated her to start painting and influenced her art. She painted pictures of her suffering and of herself. "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best". 

She was influenced by indigenous Mexican culture which is apparent in her use of bright colors, dramatic symbolism and primitive style. 

She was married to Diego De Rivera who at that time was a famous artist and was the one who encouraged her to take seriously her career as a painter. Often she was remembered only as Diego Rivera's wife.

Frida was a feminist icon, she reflected in her paintings issues as abortion, miscarriage, gender, gender inequalities, feminine beauty ideals, etc. Frida was an extraordinary individual who like to live in constant self-expression. Frida considered herself to be an individual, not really choosing to self-identify with a particular sex, an individual who could potentially embodying both genders with her dualistic personally. By trying to take on two gender roles at once she is constantly advocating for both sexes and ultimately helping us to deconstruct our false gender dichotomies. An example of this is the fact that she liked to wear her monobrow (normally seen as masculine) proudly even though societal norms expected her to separate it.  I think this to be very revolutionary for a woman of her time. She was also known to dress in men's clothing and even cut her hair "like a man" once. 

Who am I? Frida Kahlo asked this to herself and so do I. She was brave. She told the world who she was.That's why I like Frida. Despite the fact sometimes she was described as  a "quietly suffering female" because she was the victim of a patriarchal culture, victim of a bad relationship with his husband and also victim of a horrific accident  she managed to find her way to survive and to be true to herself and she reflected this in her paintings. 

She wasn't afraid of "breaking the rules" of society, what you're expected to be, the way you have to look for being a woman, she didn't believe in the idea of gender either and she had relationships with man and woman. She was just herself, that's why I find her paintings really empowering. Because she didn't fit in the box at that time and she didn't want to that's why she created her own world, she created her identity and her self-image and she used art to relieve and express her pain, art as an escape. (Virginia Rodriguez)

Josefa Tolra

Josefa Tolra, was an artist and medium born in Cabrils, Barcelona 1880-1959.

She never visited an Art school, but she started drawing and painting in her 60’s between 1941 and 1959, when both of her sons passed away. A gentle lady who took up drawing to help her overcome the enormous sadness caused by the death of her two sons: “Only when I’m drawing I feel at peace”.

Josefa Tolra produced more than a hundred drawings, wrote numerous texts and embroidered a range of shawls. A patient and absorbing activity done at home while attending to the needs of her family and neighbours who visited requesting her help as a healer. She never wanted to be an artist nor did she seek recognition, drawing was an antidote against the need to overcome the existential pain. Her work is spontaneous while at the same time very detailed, done through the exercise of graphic patience and extrasensory inspiration. Josefa Tolra was a visionary artist. She was illiterate, but she wrote poetry and long texts in Spanish. This happened during her delusions and transits, when she communicated with the “beings of light”, as she called them. (Eleonora)

Artescape for me has been instrumental in rekindling my creativity. It’s as simple as having a space to go to, to get away to and having encouragement from others. Since the Autumn 2014 I have been going usually twice a week. The space is wonderful because it’s very central and it just is a great space to work in. I would never have started painting and drawing again without having this space to go to. I have met lots of other creative people in the group who like me need to have a creative outlet in order to feel good. It’s great that we all now have a goal to work towards in the form of an exhibition in July 2015. The group is very relaxed and we can share ideas, talk about inspirational artists, go on gallery visits and support each other in our creative journeys. The encouragement I have received by going to the group has been really like gold. (Helen)