Peace of Paper at Newcastle Common

We are so excited to be hosting the Peace of Paper exhibition at our Newcastle Common Astley Walk Space. See the work created by Level 3 Extended Diploma Art and Design students at Newcastle College from from Monday 13 to Thurs 16 December 10am to 3pm, and Friday 17 December 10am to 12pm.

In this exhibition, inspired by Dan Thompson’s ‘Peace’ residency in November which explored the story of local woman Vera Brittain and her family’s paper making business, students from Newcastle College have captured the delicate fragility of the world and of our presence on the planet.

Students have drawn on the powerful image of poppies as symbols of peace and remembrance, and researched feminism, suffragettes, war experiences of surviving relatives, the globe, protest banners, human rights, pacifism, and hope.

They have worked collaboratively in small groups and scored, cut, punched, burnt, folded, sewn, wrapped, glued, painted, collaged and twisted paper into statement art pieces that reflect their interpretation of ‘Peace’. The limit of using paper presented challenges, but also resulted in opportunities to employ their resourcefulness and creativity, which resulted in the work on show here.

This exhibition is brought to you in collaboration with Appetite and artist Dan Thompson.

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Christmas at Trentham

Visit Christmas at Trentham to experience Frost Fairies, a piece created and delivered by Illuminos in partnership with Appetite, and inspired by FantasyWire, creator of Trentham’s Fairies.

Christmas at Trentham is a brand-new illuminated trail designed to sprinkle a little Christmas magic, accentuate the flora and fauna and see the stunning historic landscape in a new light. From Friday 26 November to Thursday 6 January,  the grounds will come alive with a spectacular burst of Christmas magic and sparkle in this brand new, visually stunning, multi-sensory mix of light, fire and sound.

Christmas at Trentham is a seasonal classic with a contemporary twist to the stunning grade II listed Italian Gardens and is sure to become a beloved Trentham tradition. Explore the grounds and seek out exciting new festive additions to the stunning landscape. Feel festive in the winter garden, or follow the trail of the magical Frost Fairies. There’s so much to do and something for the whole family to enjoy!

To find out more about Christmas at Trentham and book your tickets here.

Centrally located just off junction 15 of the M6, Trentham is the perfect backdrop for a fun filled family Christmas, a romantic treat, or simply a place to come together to make unforgettable memories. Celebrate an enchanting winter wonderland and enjoy festive food and drink along the route.

Frost Fairies at Trentham Gardens

Frost Fairies tells the magical story of the creation of a new fairy for Trentham, the Frost Fairy. The Trentham Fairies are alive, they use their distinct magic and personality and together create the Frost Fairy and a magical wintry world within Trentham Estate.

On the orders of King Frost, each Trentham Fairy needs to bring their unique magic together, harnessing the power of the northern lights. Meet Tree Crawler, Dandelion, Swoosh, Dip and Trillian who bring together blizzards of magic, sapphire and emerald colours from the Northern Lights and sparkling snow filled magic. Lastly Whimsy stomps her way in, proudly carrying the last frost dandelion, to discover that only a single seed remains in place. But this is the key, the last magic ingredient. She casts it upward to the others, and in an explosion of festive light, the Frost Fairy emerges, leading a triumphant dance through the trees as the magic of the frost pulses from all the fairies together.

Frost Fairies is created and delivered by Illuminos in partnership with Appetite, inspired by FantasyWire, creator of Trentham’s Fairies

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Join the Open Observatory with our Kidsgrove artist-in-residence Rebecca Huxley

Have you ever wondered what’s beneath the canal water? Or sat down next to it and just listened? You may be surprised with what you discover!

Each month from December to March, the ‘Open Observatory’ will offer different ways to experience the canal and its surrounding area.

At the heart of Kidsgrove the Canal is often forgotten, despite its unusual colour and animated wildlife it is often invisible in the background of our everyday commute. The Open Observatory will allow you to take a moment to see and hear the canal in new ways and is a chance to share your thoughts and stories with artist-in-residence Rebecca Huxley, as part of researching the canal environment.

Head along to the north entrance of Harecastle Tunnel on the following dates to join the ‘Open Observatory’!

• Thursday 13 January 1pm-3pm
• Thursday 10 February 1pm-3pm
• Thursday 10 March 1pm-3pm

Public access is either from The Avenue (Driveway to tunnel) or from the railway station. Please note: Public access is pedestrian access only. If you are arriving by car the nearest car park is the railway station.

Want to attend? Drop us a line at askus@appetite.org.uk with your name and which session you would like to attend.

The Open Observatory is part of Riparian Ecologies by Rebecca Huxley, presented by Appetite and Canal & River Trust. For more details on this and other projects happening in Kidsgrove click here.

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Creative Christmas at Newcastle Common

Visit our Newcastle 23 High Street shop to see lovely, local creatives at work and to buy their wonderful wares!

Each week starting from Saturday 20 November to Thursday 23 December, there will be a different creative talent for you to meet and chat with in our Newcastle Common High Street space, whilst discovering how they do what they do. You’ll be able to visit the shop from 10am to 3pm from Tuesday to Saturday each week and purchase the amazing items the artists have to offer.

There will also be weekly workshops led by each of the ‘pop up’ artists, relating to their work, as part of this fantastic festive offering. So not only will you be able to buy their creations but have a go at creating something yourself!

Here’s when our guest creatives wonderful wares will be available in our Newcastle Common shop:

Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 November – Cushy Paws by Grace Ellena 

Tuesday 30 November to Saturday 4 December – Tea Cake on tour by Laura Beech

Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 December – Chloe Breeze Illustration 

Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 December – Shelley Jayne Illustration 

About the artists

Cushy Paws by Grace Ellena

Sustainable artwork created using recycled and repurposed fabrics in a variety of printed and woven materials. A printed range of work is then created from the depths and textures of the original pieces creating a 3D style print. Cushy Paws also has a range of printed homeware and kitchenware in an animal and pet range from Cards, coasters, Prints, Tea Towels, Cushions, Tote Bags, Mugs, Notebooks, and Bookmarks. There is also a city inspired collection for Stoke and the local football team that has recently been introduced to the collection.

Find out more:

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Tea Cake on tour by Laura Beech

Tea-Cake, originally a tearoom and gallery running craft workshops in Leek, is now on tour! We support local artist/makers, sharing their work with different audiences and providing workshops for the local communities, celebrating the good that crafting does for wellbeing and bringing people together.

Drop-in activity

Pop in to make a large paper flower using simple tools and techniques. You will also be able to see how the same process can then be used to create Christmas wreaths and displays for your home this festive season.

Find out more:

Website

Instagram

Chloe Breeze Illustration

I like to create designs and visuals that are fun, quirky and colourful. I use digital design to create my products but I also use paints for my mural designs. I have a whole range of products available from notebooks to prints and tea towels.

Drop-in activity:

Sketch book workshop, mural painting and mark making to create cards and gifts

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Shelley Jayne Illustration

My inspiration comes from a love of exploring places. My style is vibrant and I enjoy incorporating pattern within my work. I predominantly use gouache, crayon and pencil to create interesting layers and marks. Every illustration is hand drawn and I like coming up with new colour combinations and compositions. I have been working as a freelance illustrator for almost ten years and have recently completed a Masters degree in Children’s Book Illustration. My Potteries collection includes a series of framed prints, mounted larger prints and greetings cards.

Potbank Drawing Drop-in 

Fri 17 & Sat 18 December (Drop in 10am-3pm)

This will be an opportunity to follow the process of how I create my potteries artwork and to drop-in and have a go. There will be a selection of pot bank templates for participants to create their own interesting compositions. I will demonstrate how I create different textures in my work by providing example images and a range of media. This will be an exercise to play with drawing techniques and new materials, starting a print that can be continued at home.

Website

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Lantern Making at Newcastle Common

B arts and partners are excited to announce the return of Newcastle Lantern Parade to Newcastle-under-Lyme Town centre on Saturday 11 December at 4pm to coincide with Newcastle BID’s ‘Feast’ event.

Get creative and make your very own willow and paper lantern to carry in the parade at one of our free drop in sessions at our Newcastle Common Astley Walk space!

The lantern making sessions are first come first served and you are welcome to drop-in during one of the times below:

Saturday 20 November 10am-4.30pm

Sunday 21 November 10am-5.30pm (Newcastle Light switch on 5-6pm)

Saturday 27 November 10am-4.30pm

Saturday 4 December 10am-4.30pm

Monday 6 December 3pm-7.30pm

Tuesday 7 December 3pm-7.30pm

Wednesday 8 December 3pm-7.30pm

Thursday 9 December 3pm-7.30pm

The parade will start from Newcastle Common space in Astley Walk at 4pm on Saturday 11 December, lanterns can be collected from 3.15pm at Newcastle Common.

For those that can’t make the drop in sessions there will be a limited number of pre-made lanterns to collect on the day of the parade and will be available on a first come, first served basis.

The lanterns we create are hung on a bamboo pole, do not get let loose and do not harm wildlife.

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Peace at Newcastle Common

Artist Dan Thompson, welcomes you to join him in his ‘Fight for Peace’. 

Peace is an series of projects by our latest resident artist at Newcastle Common, Dan Thompson currently at our 23 High Street space, from Monday 1 to Sunday 14 November and will be open for people to see him work, attend talks and workshops.

The project will be launched during Dan’s residency at Newcastle Common and will last until the artist dies. Newcastle-under-Lyme is a fitting place for Peace to begin as it takes inspiration from Newcastle-born Vera Brittain. A pacifist, author and campaigner,  Brittain’s family owned a papermaking business, with mills in Hanley and Cheddleton.

Dan’s residency will be exploring Vera’s story through her connection with the town and remembering her paper-making ancestry. Paper making workshops for people to have a go at will be part of Peace and Dan is having paper handmade by a UK papermill using traditional techniques, and giving it to artists to make work about peace.

More about Peace can be found here

Read Dan’s introduction to his two-week residency at Newcastle Common here

Programme of events

There will be lots to experience as part of Dan’s two-week residency at Newcastle Common. All will be held at 23 High Street so do pop along. Highlights include:

Peace and Paper Introductory Talk

Wednesday 3 November

2pm to 3pm

Papermaking and Letterpress activities

Use an 1950s Adana letterpress and wooden type to make your own Peace poster. You can also make your own A4 piece of paper to take home, bring along a piece of A4 paper to make fresh paper from, this could be letters or writing about peace and reconciliation.

Thursday 4 to Saturday 6 November

11am to 3pm

Poetry for Peace poetry evening 

Hear Dan’s poems on peace and peacemakers, as well poems from Your England and extracts from Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth. All poets are invited who have a poem on peace they would like to share!

Friday 5 November

6pm to 7.30pm

Peace Exhibition

Friday 12 – Sunday 14 November

11am – 3pm

This will be a chance to view work produced during the residency at Newcastle Common.

About Dan Thompson and Newcastle Common

Dan Thompson is an experienced writer, artist and speaker. He’s an expert at unlocking the potential in people and places that are usually ignored. This has led his work and research to empty shops, thinking about, trying and testing how we can use and repurpose empty shops that increasingly appear on our high street and publishing ‘Pop-up shops for Dummies’. When Appetite decided to explore bringing art and creativity to the high street by using empty shops, Dan was Appetite’s obvious choice to be the lead artist. In this role Dan is sharing his wealth of experience with Appetite and the artists-in-residence that are working as part of Newcastle Common and together we are all experimenting with the endless opportunities empty shops offer.

Find out more about Dan and his work here.

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Luke Jerram’s GAIA

Appetite and ArtsKeele are so excited to be bringing Luke Jerram’s GAIA to Keele Chapel at Keele University from Saturday 6 November to Saturday 27 November. The artwork, which measures six metres in diameter, features 120dpi (Dots Per Inch) detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface*. GAIA provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three-dimensions.

The installation creates a sense of the Overview Effect, something astronauts often experience as they look down on the Earth from space. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, GAIA may give the viewer a new perspective of our place on the planet, reminding us how precious it is and that we all have a responsibility to protect it for future generations.

A specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning Composer Dan Jones is played alongside the sculpture.

For Opening times and visitor information click here.

To see the full programme of events running alongside GAIA click here.

Information on access and transport can be found here.

Listen to a audio description of general information about Luke Jerram’s GAIA here.

See a BSL interpreted video guide to GAIA here. 

*The Imagery for the artwork has been compiled from Visible Earth series, NASA.

Gaia has been created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot and the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres.

Information on GAIA artist Luke Jerram

Luke Jerram’s multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations and live arts projects. Living in the UK but working internationally since 1997, Jerram has created a number of extraordinary art projects which have excited and inspired people around the globe. Jerram has a set of different narratives that make up his practice which are developing in parallel with one another. He is known worldwide for his large scale public artworks.

For further information on Luke’s work visit http://my-earth.org/

GAIA by Luke Jerram is presented by Appetite and ArtsKeele

Gaia was originally commissioned in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot and the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres. With supporting partners Culture Liverpool and Liverpool Cathedral.

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Appetite presents… Lookout

Appetite presents… Lookout by Andy Field and Beckie Darlington.

Created with local primary school children, Lookout is a one-to-one encounter between one adult audience member and one child performer. Two people of very different ages, meeting to have a conversation. They stand together somewhere high up, looking out at the streets and buildings of the city below, and begin to talk about its future. They see before them the world as it is now and as it might be many years from now.

Performances of Lookout will be taking place in the Digital Kiln at Staffordshire University on Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 November. Tickets for Lookout cost £5 for adults and £4 for concessions and can be purchased from the New Vic website here.

Access information 

Performances on Sat 27 November will have supplementary audio description for visually impaired audience members and BSL will be available. To use either of these services please contact Box Office when you book your ticket, or speak to a steward on arrival.

A short documentary following a version of Lookout created with Inside Out Theatre in Beijing.

Venue and Car Parking

The postcode for the College Road campus is ST4 2DE and the Digital Kiln is located in the Mellor building.

There are 19 disabled parking spaces on the car park outside the Mellor and Beacon building.

Parking is charged at £1 all day for weekends and is payable at parking machines. More information can be accessed here.

More about Look Out…

First created in Glasgow in 2015, versions of Lookout have since been presented in towns and cities across the world, from Manchester to Shanghai and Cairo to Llandudno. In 2017 the project was awarded the Spirit of the Fringe award at the Auckland Fringe Festival in New Zealand.

Now at this moment of uncertainty and upheaval, Lookout is returning to the UK for the first time in over four years for a series of new performances created with children whose lives have all been affected by the pandemic in very different ways. This is a chance for those children to look toward the future, to give shape to their hopes and fears, to dream both of spectacular sci-fi utopias and all the smaller more everyday changes they think might make their home town a better place to live.

Lookout is a small encounter full of big ideas. An attempt to consider some difficult questions in a simple way. Half an hour out of your day that might change the way you look at your city forever.

‘Lookout is a warning and a challenge: a little thing that leaves big questions behind; an intimate encounter that manages to take in the entire city. It gives you a glimpse of a possible, even a probable, future – one that may or may not include you – and charges you to do something about it. Not for your sake, or for mine, but for the future itself.’

Matt Trueman, WhatsOnStage

‘Lookout breaks the traditional stereotype of the child performer as almost a pet. A child performer here is not just the beautiful, docile and pleasant little creature, but rather a responsible professional who has the responsibility of leading the whole performance and of guiding each spectator on a unique journey where both – the performer and the spectator – stand on equal ground and exchange intimate visions of their lives in relation to the geography of the city and to the personal memories of their respective dwellings.’

Nora Amin, Ahram Online

Featured image by Leonie Gasson

Documentary credits:

Created and produced by Andy Field & Beckie Darlington

Music and Sound Design by Tom Parkinson

Dramaturgy by Sibylle Peters

Originally commissioned by The Arches Glasgow. Supported by Arts Council England.

Appetite would like to thank the staff and children at The Crescent Academy for being part of Look Out.

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Roar Open With Hope

Early this year we brought you The Gift, a brand new poem written by Gabriella Gay especially for Stoke-on-Trent and a gift to our audiences. Commissioned by Appetite and supported by Stoke-on-Trent BID and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the poignant line from the poem, ‘Roar Open With Hope’, now lights up the night sky in Stoke-on-Trent City Centre (Hanley) as a bold and bright neon installation located on the roof of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. 

The last year has been difficult for people across the country including in Stoke-on-Trent. As we move out of the worst of the crisis and look to the future we issue this rousing message of hope to lift spirits and encourage people to look to the future with optimism.

We hope the neon sign will raise the hopes of residents in the City Centre throughout the year. Share your thoughts on The Gift and our neon using the hashtag #RoarOpen on social media.

Listen to the poem below, read by its writer Gabriella Gay. 

About the artist

Gabriella Gay is a trained teacher, vintage dealer, page-stage poet and creative producer; she is regularly commissioned to perform, write, organise events and facilitate workshops for organisations such as Stoke Pride, The NHS, The Mitchell Arts Centre, Appetite, Junction 15, BBC Radio, Stoke Libraries, Partners in Creative Learning. She was born in Trinidad, raised in London, but has lived in Staffordshire for over 10 years. She is founder of Stoke’s Roaming Poets and Kwanzaa Collective UK. She was the local writer in residence for Nationwide Voices (2017) and was shortlisted to be the first poet laureate of Stoke-on-Trent (2018). Gabriella has made numerus TV and radio appearances and her work features in shows, exhibitions, advertisements and official videos.

Gabriella has a track record of community engagement and long-standing affiliations with a wide range of key stake holders in Staffordshire. She is a trustee of The New Vic Theatre and the cultural Champion for Newcastle-under-Lyme (2020). She is an associate artist at Restoke, an arts organisation that co-creates performances and programmes in unexpected spaces in the community. A strong believer in the power of the spoken word she is inspired by theatre, art, photography, people and the city in which she has adopted as her home. Gabriella explored her interest in working in unusual spaces in her recent TEDx talk (2020) at Keele University. In 2019, Gabriella became the Writer in Residency of Hanley Car Boot Sale for six weeks.

Underlying all of Gabriella’s written, performed and socially engaged work, is the power of building strong connections and community. As a creative producer, she is well know for creating collaborative work for herself and other artists.

Featured image by Natalie Willatt

Appetite is funded through National Lottery by Arts Council England-funded Creative People and Places programme, led by New Vic Theatre in partnership with Partners in Creative Learning, 6Towns Radio, Staffordshire University, Newcastle BID (Business Improvement District), Keele University and Go Kidsgrove. Appetite is supported by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Newcastle Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council and Aspire. 

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