Contemporary Mix are at the Green Man Gallery, Buxton for their annual Exhibition this year themed "Off the Wall". That sounds intriguing doesn't it, so I wonder what creative artworks have been produced by the five creative artists? Could it be to do with Pink Floyd, the fifth studio album by Michael Jackson (I hope not) or stained glass? "Off the Wall" is an idiom meaning 'unexpected in an unconventional or eccentric way'. An idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.

Sue has gone down a literal path ... to a wall overlooking a glorious stretch of deep blue sea, climbed a wall to spread her wings and taken a dive into the watery depths.

Joanne has been experimenting with forms using stoneware to reflect textures and colours found in the surrounding stone walls in the countryside near to where she lives. The stoneware is fired to a high temperature and Joanne uses a mixture of blue/grey and white glazes with cobalt carbonate.

Mary uses her exceptional talent of embroidery producing an intricate piece of textile work. With Mary's love of her garden - she has focused on her garden wall and "scruffy weed" growing from it. Titled "Just a Weed".

Anne has taken the unconventional route, and selected a Street Art approach using the wall as a canvas to show people doing fun activities using bright and contrasting colours.

Suzanne has created prints of limestone walls celebrating their flora and fossils.

The exhibition runs from Friday 19th August - Wednesday 14th September
with a launch evening on Friday 19th Evening 6-8pm

More details can be found here

Contemporary Mix's exhibition "A Poem in Pictures" is based on the poem Home Thoughts from Abroad" by Robert Browning. Each member produced a piece of work to interpret the poem in part or whole.

Members of Contemporary Mix will be show casing their latest pieces of artwork at this years Art in the Park on the 10th and 11th May which is an annual event which takes place during the Leek Arts Festival. Mary Worwood, Anne T Mann, Suzanne Pearson and Joanne Reay will be there in person at various times during the event, so it will be a great opportunity to come down and talk the artists and see what they have been up to.
Brough Park, Leek. The opening times are Saturday 11-5pm Sunday 10-4pm.
We have booked good weather!

We caught up with Anne and asked her what she has been up to since leaving Leek College. She said "Since completing the Foundation Degree in Contemporary Art Practice at Leek College, I have been focusing on my family as I have had some family events to organize and support, it’s been a busy summer being ‘Mom’. Now I have the time and energy to spend on my work.

Being a member of Contemporary Mix and planning  with them to be at  the Staffordshire Art and Designers fair at the Foxlowe Arts has given me the focus I needed to get back to the thing I enjoy doing and I can escape into".

email  anne_mann@hotmail.co.uk

Sue produces the most amazing abstract pieces. This is how Sue describes her work.

"I find inspiration all around in my experience of contemporary life, research a subject and aim to build related memories into the layers of my painting process.  Experimenting with many different forms of mixed media is great fun especially when the results are the creation of colourful, abstracted compositions with appealing surface patterns and textures."

email sue.gledhill@btinternet.com

Since completing the Foundation Degree Course at Leek School of Art, Suzanne Pearson has exhibited with the Buxton Art Trail artists in "Art on the Railings."  Also during the Fringe, she held a solo exhibition in the Staircase Gallery at Scrivener's Books & Bookbinding which extended throughout August.
In September she was accepted by the Green Man Gallery, 55 High St, Buxton SK17 6HB as a member artist. This new contemporary arts venue is fast becoming a creative hub for the town with monthly and permanent exhibitions, musical events and space for hire for workshops and visiting artists. New artists are welcome to apply for membership of this collaborative group or submit work for hanging in the Amber Gallery by contacting hello@thegreenmangallery.com.
Suzanne is also one of the organisers of a new prestigious art competition run by artists for artists which will take place in Buxton during 2014.  Entitled "The Buxton Spa Prize" this will involve artists painting "en plein air" at locations around the town in May and June, followed by an exhibition and sale of work in September.  For more information contact Suzanne on 07957 587673 or register an interest at www.BuxtonSpaPrize.co.uk

We thought that you might just want to know a little about what each one of the artists have been up to lately. So, we shall start with Mary who told us "Since gaining my degree in the summer I have continued to stitch my textile panels. I have taught a short evening course at Buxton and Leek College, ‘Art: Exploring Stitchery’ and will be doing another starting in March 2014. I will carry on organising one day workshops and exhibiting with Contemporary Mix."

Mary produces the most amazing stitched pieces of artwork using a broad range of materials and techniques. If you want to find out more about her workshops or would just like to ask her a question, her email address is maryworwood@btinternet.com

Fabulous News!
5 members of the Contemporary Mix group will be exhibiting their latest work at the Foxlowe in Leek at the second Staffordshire Artist and Designer Fair Saturday 30th Nov and Sunday 1st Dec 2013 10am - pm

Mary Worwood - Textiles
Sue Gledhill - Mixed Media
Anne Mann - Photography
Suzanne Pearson - Mixed Media
Joanne Reay - Mixed Media
There will be original pieces alongside Fine Art (Giclee) Prints and Greetings Cards for sale. What a great opportunity to purchase something special as an unique Christmas present.

100 STEPS THROUGH THE LANDSCAPE - Suzanne Pearson 
Mixed media and prints exploring walking through local landscapes. View the
exhibition on the stairway at Scrivener's Bookshop.
Meet the artist Suzanne Pearson at four sessions between 12 noon and 3pm on  July 8th, 11th, 14th and 17th. 

Scrivener's Bookshop: 8-13 Jul 10am to 5pm, 14 Jul noon to
4pm, 15-18 Jul 10am to 5pm Free
Further information: 07957 587 673 or
suzannepearson.artgmail.com

Stephen Hodgetts
Local photographer Stephen Hodgetts is showing a collection of his black and
white images these are in the form of abstract studies of architecture and still
life.
Stephen has been working in black and white for over twenty years and has a
particular interest in producing creative images using the affect of monochrome
to emphasise shape and form. His work has been published in international
photography magazines as well as being invited to talk to the Royal Photography
Sociality about his work.
Stephen explains his approach to photography as “A photographic image is made
up of many elements, it’s up to the individual to interpret the elements and
produce the final image as seen in ones “minds eye”. My work is my personnel
interpretation of what I see. Before I take a photograph I always try to
visualize what the final image may look like “
In the early 20th century The Photo-Secession movement was formed to promote
photography as a fine art. A group of photographers lead by Alfred Stieglitz
& F Holland Day held the controversial viewpoint that what was significant
about a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but the manipulation
of the image by the photographer.

Jon Braley
Jon, who grew up on Leek’s Hargate Estate, studied at Leek College before
studying BA (Hons) Fine Art at University Derby and then gaining an MA in
European Fine Art at Winchester School of Art.
Jon Braley’s paintings are about how we relate to nature in an urban,
technological age. The more we live in cities and cocoon ourselves from the
natural world, the more we become separated from it. In the process, ‘nature’
seems to have become like a commodity or consumable idea that we have come to
see as separate from ourselves. Like ancient myth or legend, the natural world
has managed to become something romanticised but distant: an essential part of
our identity that we nevertheless have increasing trouble reconnecting with.
Jon is a successful modern artist living and working in London last year he
was amongst just 45 artists showing their work at the prestige’s Walker Art
Gallery.

Josh Howard
Josh prefers painting on the large scale and is currently using landscape as
inspiration for his work and is increasingly drawn to more abstraction. He says
of his work ‘my paintings all develop differently although it is the experiment
with paint in the initial stages that decides the tenor of the final piece’. In
many of his pieces previous paintings can be seen under the final stages as the
colour is built up.
Josh Howard is currently studying Art and Design at Leek College. Josh won
joint 1st prize in the 2D/3D category at this year’s Staffordshire Moorlands
Open Art Exhibition and 1st prize in last year’s Staffordshire Moorlands Open
Art Exhibition in the same category. His work is already in private and
corporate collections.