This week The Surface Gallery on Southwell Road launched its first exhibition of 2012 with its annual  nostalgic look at the good old fashioned postcard.

A total of 265 postcards produced by 122 established practitioners, students, new comers and international artists  are exhibiting their original artwork in the 4″ by 6″ format. Each artist will be given the opportunity to receive an original artwork in exchange for their own.

These original artworks are also for sale throughout the exhibition, priced at just £15. This is an ideal opportunity to discover up and coming artists and to buy some original work for an affordable price.

Desperately Seeking Paradise 2010

Every generation has thought it lives in the golden age of image making, however what is unique about this moment in time is the sheer number of images surrounding us in our daily lives.  Some researchers have found that we can easily be exposed to over 3,000 each day, yet we barely glance at most of them. This exhibition examines this phenomenon, and along the way looks at the stereotypes we deploy to make sense of the world through themes of gender politics, violence and the authencity of global mass media.

Everything is Happening At Once, is the first major UK public solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist Rashid Rana. Who?, you may ask. Well, although he is largely unknown the UK, Rana enjoys a global recognition alongside Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, and his work fetches global prices.

His work is inspired by the miniature paintings found across Pakistan and India from the time the Mughal empire, an art form which started in China and travelled the region into Persian Iran and beyond, a reminder that the global nature of image making is not a modern phenomenon. During the 1990’s, artists in Pakistan started arguing that the miniature paintings being producing were simply creating an illusion of tradition and a fake connection with the past.  This theme of challenging the idealised landscape is one that recurs throughout the exhibition.

Dis-Location 2007

Rana’s work is firmly rooted in modern day Lahore, a city once called ‘the Paris of the east’, a city which full of tales of invasions by various nations such as the Greek, the Persians, the Hindu, the Muslim, the Sikh and the British, who all contributed in the splendor as well as spoliation of the city. Modern day Lahore is at the same time surrounded by both the grandeur of the Mughal Empire, and the trashing images from American and Indian pop and consumerist cultures.

As one walks through the two floors of the exhibition, one is led respectfully through the ideas and struggles that layer an artists mind from this city.  The struggles between secularism and the Islamic state, the struggles between wealth and poverty, between modernisation and tradition.  Although Rana is a photographer, his work is often three dimensional, and often the smaller image struggle with the larger image. This flow between the duality of images and thoughts reminded me of the work of James Joyce, another artist who based his work firmly in one city.

In each peice of work you think you are seeing the beauty of Lahore’s cultural life, but on closer inspection they are shown the visual complexity of modern day Pakistan. In Red Carpet (2007) a first glance, the image looks like a beautiful Islamic rug, but on closer inspection the image is composed with blood and gore from a Lahore slaughterhouse. According to Rana, the composition was put together after the assassination  Benazir Bhutto in 2007. In the The World is not Enough (2006-2007), a colorful abstract painting is really a large-scale photograph of a landfill.

Desperately Seeking Paradise 2010 detail

As one enters the gallery you immediately see a three dimensional structure, “Desperately Seeking Paradise”, (2010) a shiny large installation that contains lots of tiny prints. Together they become a view of a city, from another view it has a mirror effect and if you go close you see tiny pictures of buildings, streets and rooms.

Rana obviously pays close attention to the composition, the surface, scale, dimension, and the architectural lines. This attention to detail has ensured that work he creates become a stylish and poetic composition.

The New Art Exchange have begun 2012 with lovely exhibition which appeals at many levels. I took along a bunch of ten and twelve year olds to the opening launch party,  who only came for the ice cream at Yumi Ice Cream Parlour, (best ice cream in Hyson Green) but left inspired, and you don’t often get a chance to talk about misogyny and secularism to ten and twelve year olds.

Everything is Happening At Once is on now until the 31st March 2012.

For further details go to the New Art Exchange

Lowry Head of a Man, 1938. Copyright Lowry Collection Salford.

It’s ok, it’s not a cult. 12,000 refers to the number of people who visited Djanogly Gallery’s Lowry exhibition last year. Some of us, of course, have skewed this figure by going more than once. But if you’ve not made it yet then make it your first creative act of 2012!

Lowry was the embodiment of the famous Philip Larkin poem, bearing the scars of caring for his mother’s many illnesses and his father’s early death, which left the family debt-ridden. But his life as a debt collector by day and artist by night gave him the perfect opportunity to document the decline of industry in Manchester, Salford especially, and the effect that this had on the people.

The Djanogly exhibition has paintings of Lowry’s famous “matchstick men” style but supplements this with some of his landscapes and pencil sketches. The landscapes include some of the sea and some of the Peak District and, while some might find them bleak and depressing, I thought they were incredibly moving.

Djanogly has made the most of a new room in the exhibition space to display sketches and paintings including some early examples of a more conventional style done while Lowry was at art college. If nothing else, they demonstrate to us that his unique style was a conscious choice and not a result of finding painting feet difficult. (I say this as I’ve never been able to paint feet well – even my toenails are a challenge.)

In short, if I haven’t put you off, you really must catch the exhibition before it closes early next month. As much as I love Manchester, it’s nice not to have to spend 2 hours on a crowded train before enjoying a glimpse of one of my favourite artists.

The Lowry exhibition runs until 5 February 2012 at Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham

Why not make a few creative resolutions you can easily keep? Here’s a links line up to get you creatively connected in 2012.

Firstly make sure you’re signed up to get info from us  http://www.creativenottingham.com/contact-us/ and let us know what you’re up to so we can tell the world!

Then take your pick from my quick list below and get subscribing! Or better still add some that you know in the comments and let’s build a bigger better list together!

Arts Council England’s Arts News/Arts Jobs http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/ does what it says on the tin!

Need  resources, offers and events for an enterprise you run or want to set up? http://www.startupbritain.org/

Running a creative business in Notts? Join The Creative Greenhouse Network  http://www.creativegreenhouse.org.uk/

You’ve heard of Antenna by now? If you aren’t a member make sure to join up in 2012 for access to great events plus fab food and drinks  http://www.antenna.uk.com

Designer? You need to know what the designer forum are up to http://www.emtex.org.uk

Designer/Maker? http://www.designfactory.org.uk/

Sign up to professional network linkedin http://www.linkedin.com there’s loads of groups and discussions going on from Open Studios to Business Barometers … or start your own

If you are running a creative business join

Canning Circus Christmas Tree image credit Steve Decipher-Shot- follow the star to Primary?

More crafty gifts available from Molly Queen’s markets in the run up to Christmas.  Starting this Saturday 17 December the host venue is the aptly named Good Elf on Market Square.   http://mollyqueencollective.blogspot.com/

EMVAN East Midlands Visual Arts Network http://www.emvan.net/ celebrates Christmas with host Bruce Asbestos On Wednesday 14 December, 6.00-8.00pm At new artists space PRIMARY http://www.weareprimary.org/

Got 2 minutes? Take a look at Sarah Dale’s festive guide to keeping your spirits up on her blog post http://www.creatingfocus.org/?p=1146

Klaus Weber's work explores personal fascinations with nature and beliefs. Image taken from Nottingham Contemporary Website.

Weber’s exhibition is the latest in a list of successful, high calibre exhibitions to be displayed at the Contemporary, including prominent artists’ such as David Hockney, Anne Collier and Jack Goldstein along with exciting themed exhibitions such as Star City, which explored how “The future under Communism” may have looked.

The frequency and quality of the exhibitions has kept the art centre – which is still very much in its infancy – fresh, energetic and inviting and this most recent exhibition does not disappoint.

Klaus Weber’s exhibition could be seen as an installation of two halves, his current body of work alongside his personal interests.

Two of the four rooms are occupied with the “If you leave me im not coming” exhibition, which explore his fascination with the natural world, using bees as a focus for many of his works. One piece in particular involves bees having decorated canvases through their own excretions. This reveals both the beauty and spontaneity of nature.

What is most enjoyable about Weber’s work is his constant defiance of a both media and canvas. Despite having free reign of a 3,000sq metre Gallery, Weber has installed work on the roof of the Contemporary, which is both easy to miss and startling when discovered; along with a piece of work in the front window of the Gallery, which results in a massively varied interpretation dependant on where you are viewing it from.

The second half of the gallery explores Weber’s personal interests, titled “Already There!”. Rather than his own work, this is a collection of 200 items and ideas that have spanned a million years. The beauty of this is it questions preconceived idea’s of what is and isn’t art, it also explores how idea’s can grow and interpretations can change over time. What may have been considered taboo or a strong held belief may have lost complete meaning in today’s society. Equally, it places what can be priceless art amongst valueless junk, here the boundaries are blurred again, through putting an item upon a pedestal, it gains value.

I found the split nature of the exhibition a refreshing change and allowed me to appreciate the nature of both areas of work more as a result. The exhibition is running for another month – until 7th of January – when it will be replaced by Thomas Demand, a German artist who will be displaying a new series of photographs. So there is still plenty of time to visit the exhibition during this festive period, at the very least it is a brilliant way to take shelter from the horrible weather!

Sneinton Square from a distance (Sunset from space over western Europe/Africa by Nick Stenning www.flickr.com/photos/nickstenning/7379770/)

If you walk from the centre of Nottingham to Hackspace, which you may have done after our recent guest blogs, you will have had to circumnavigate the physical space that is the building site that is Sneinton Square and the about to be revamped Market. To market the opening, a series of apple trees are being planted in the Square, and there are a number of events around the Orchard theme to mark this. Including some cider drinking. There are two days of multiple events, Friday, 9 December at Nottingham Contemporary and at Surface Gallery, and Saturday, 10 December in the Market itself.

Big Money, Big Organisation, Big Space: The Arts Council and the BBC are going to work in partnership next year to create an “experimental digital arts media service and commissioning programme”. Public in May, running (subtle Olympic reference) until the end of October, they say it will be a

pop up service – which will be available across PC, mobile, tablet and connected TV – will challenge artists and arts and cultural organisations to collaborate with each other and with partners to capture and create a wealth of cultural experiences, drawing on the richness of the summer of arts [of the Olympics, natch]

The main site and links are here. They say that they welcome expressions of interest (by 9 December) in how to spend £2.5 million, and they will offer mentoring to successful applicants. Unfortunately being big and corporate, they want applicants to be at least small and corporate, they say

The fund is open to arts and cultural organisations, large and small. Museums and libraries can also apply for work that is primarily arts focused. Artists can apply but must do so in partnership with a lead organisation. We welcome partnerships and collaborations between arts organisations and independent production companies or digital media specialists, but in these cases, the arts organisation must also be the lead partner.

So if that describes you, or you have a relationship with an arts organisation, full details are on the funding page.

From big space to perfectly formed small space: the Surface Gallery will be doing an International Postcard Show again in 2012. It costs £5 for you to enter up to three postcards, and all postcards in the show will be on offer at £15 (and they will want a 20% commission on sales).  Deadline for submissions is 15 January, and they warn you to take account of postal delays (groan).

Kapoor works on Nottingham City tour

The Arts Council Collection including works by previous Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor, opens at Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery this Saturday – a privilege not to be missed!

Kapoor has left his mark in Nottingham already – as creator of Nottingham’s amazing ‘Sky Mirror’ – on permanent display outside Nottingham Playhouse. (If you haven’t seen this remarkable masterpiece…you REALLY should!!)  It’s a great stopping point on-route to the Castle, so no excuses needed for you to just stand and soak in the magic that is the ‘Sky Mirror’ and the wonder of the touring exhibition.

‘Flashback’ is the title of this new tour, and forms part of a series of tours from the Southbank Centre – the objective to promote emerging British artists.

Further details can be found on the Nottingham Castle Museum website.

Less than a decade ago digital fabrication was an impossible dream for the hobbyist. Only large companies, Universities and government research agencies had access to tools that could interpret information from a data file and make that into a real touchable thing. Digital fabrication is likely to be as empowering to user as desktop publishing was in the 1990’s, desktop fabrication is set to revolutionise the way we think about what a computer can be used for.

All over the world places like the Nottingham Hackspace are starting to provide anyone who wants it, access to these sorts of tools.

Tony Shannon works on the Hackspace CNC Machine

Computer Numeric Control (CNC) Mill
If you can draw a graphical file on an ordinary desktop computer, the CNC machine and it’s software can interpret that file in the physical word, using a router or drill bit to create cuts and pockets on metal and wood. Shapes and holes are made in the material by very precisely controlling the position of the router head and the position of the workpiece in three dimensions, X, Y and Z or left to right, forward and back up and down. By controlling the Z access very thick materials can be cut layer by layer.

In early 2011 the Nottingham Hackspace invested in a project to develop a small CNC machine. A fabrication tool that was cheap and could be easily built by an a maker in their shed. My DIY CNC started shipping their home invented and developed CNC machines in August 2011. The small machine is available at the Nottingham Hackspace along with 2 much larger milling machine capable of cutting tougher and larger workpieces.

Laser Engraver/Cutter

By positioning mirrors and lenses you can direct the beam of a powerful laser. By mounting those lenses on a similar mechanism to the CNC machine you can control where that beam of laser goes very precisely. A laser beam from a 40w laser is capable of vaporising plywood up to 6mm thick. As the laser can move very quickly and precisely and because the strength and speed can be controlled, very intricate designs can be cut in paper, card, felt and leather not to mention plywood, MDF and acrylic. We’ve even used the laser at Nottingham Hackspace to cut rice-paper for decorating a cake!

the Nottingham Hackspace Laser cuts 3mm ply

My favorite project on the laser cutter has been the creation of a tactile braille birthday card for the wife of one of the Hackers. The laser can make deep letter shapes and braille, Rocio, who is blind, will be able to feel the shapes in the plywood making it a perfect personal gift. The design was by Hackspace member Martin Raynesford

3D Printer

Perhaps the most futuristic and unimaginable new fabricating machine is the 3D printer. It works by using software to slice up a 3D graphic. To make that it then heats ABS plastic, squirting it out and building the object layer by layer.

Matt Lloyds’ RepRap Mendle is the unofficial 3D printer of the Nottingham Hackspace. Most of the parts of this home built machine were printed on another RepRap machine or printed as replacements on this same machine. When you start to talk about a machine that can replicate itself you can see a whole load of geeks go weak at the knee and get misty eyed at the prospect. The Nottingham Hackspace is in the process of printing parts for a new 3D printer called a RepRap Prusa named for it’s inventor.

RepRap 3D Printer makes Barcamp Nottingham Logos out of ABS plastic

These tools are very empowering and easy to use. With practice and a little software knowledge the ability to prototype almost anything is with in grasp of almost any boffin. Sites like THINGYVERSE.COM are a superb resource for the sharing of open source fabrication projects. Hackers love to share their intellectual property and let their designs have a life beyond that of their makers imagining.

It’s an exciting time. I can only imagine the tools that will be available in the next decade. Perhaps Star Trek like replicators are not so far in the distant future!

(1) Atoms are the new bits by Chris Anderson
Wired Magazine UK March 2010