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.
