Gabriel Stones (Skull / Fear and Optimism) recently pointed me in the direction of google reader (I use google docs/ analytics/ wave/ gmail- so god know why i didn't know about it before), and it is proving massively easier than trawling through various blogs I read.
It has also made me realise how much our very own Alan Williams updates his blog- http://thatwasalmostfun.blogspot.com/ - if you use reader (or not), I recommend you subscribe- almost daily you'll receive one of Alan's photo manipulation artworks. Below - 'Key'

We started with....

Michael Aitken
Jemma Egan (now in The Royal Standard)
Amanda Ferguson (left recently)
Pete Formela (now teaching somewhere)
Amy Goring
Annie Houston (moved to London)
Zoe Langdell (moved to London)
Hamish McLain (now in The Royal Standard)
Chris Mills (left recently, painting from home)
Joshua Tennant
Dave Tipping (now teaching somewhere)
Malini Vivian (now teaching somewhere)
Emma Wilkinson (now teaching somewhere)

Then came...

Kevin Hunt (now in The Royal Standard)
Karen O Brien
Katie Halsall
Toby Saunders (left recently)
Kevin Hunts mate (? no idea who this guy was, but did pay a months rent)
Linda Pittwood (married, lives in Garston and works for NML)
Fran Mason (stayed for about a month, never really came in)
Nicola Fitzsimmons (back in L'pool after studying in London)
Lucy Johnston (works at NML, sings in the band Puzzle)
Ben Small (think he went to Germany)
Natalie Collins (moved away somewhere. Midlands maybe)
Antony O'Connell (teaches at Community College, never came in)
Debbie Ryan (mosaic Debbie is still making mosaics in L'Pool)
Harry Lawson (now in The Royal Standard)
Roxy Topia (now works from home)
Oliver Lomax
Joe McNulty (left recently)
Ellie Overs
Vanessa Bartlett (left recently, works for The Bluecoat)
Alan Williams
Jayne Lawless
Liam Greenall
Anna Lockwood (left recently)
Emma Gilmour
Dave Penny
Rosalind Hyde
Julie Martin

Yesterday we cruised past 30,000 hits on this website, a pretty nice landmark.
Yesterday also saw our first meeting under out new guise- with 12 of our 14 members there.
Alan Williams was put in charge of inventing a Drawing Club - which might take place in various venues if it goes ahead (along the lines of Draw the Line, which takes place in Djangos Riff once a month).

Its nearly a year since I put Google Analytics on this site, so I'd thought it'd be nice to see whose the most visited Red Wire member on here, and it turns out we have a Manchester United of Google Analytics amongst us, with Amy Goring being the most viewed 7 out of 11 months. Its nice to see two of our newer members leading the way over the last couple of months, but its early days in March.

April '09 - Michael Aitken 36 views
May - Amy Goring 99 views
June - Amy Goring 143 views
July - Amy Goring 59 views
August - Amy Goring 48 views
September. - Amy Goring 62 views
October- Chris Mills 43 views
November - Anna Lockwood 35 views
December - Amy Goring 48 views
January - Amy Goring 62 views
February - Jayne Lawless 51 views
March (so far) - Julie Martin 35 views

This site has basically been a mess for ages, various fonts, colours, sizes, positions, everything.
Now thats no more.. or at least considerably less. All the pages should look the same now, so its less like a hodgepodge of eight websites in one.

There is already rumbling of Biennial 2010 activities, with Mercy leading the way with ideas of how arts groups like us can work together. Much more on this will follow once things are in place.

Amy and Mike are continuing to meet with JMU first year students and yesterday gave tutorials to several of them.
 

Last week, for possibly the first time, every member was in Red Wire at some point. Dead Good.
Its always been a pain in the arse that our space was empty more often than not, but its seemingly changed now we've gained 4 sparkling new members.

Theres now Jad Fair images on the Automatic Vaudeville page, a speedy 6 months after the show opened, and theres a new Daniel Johnston book coming out by Everett True, of course Daniel exhibited with us with Fear Yourself.

Also, Jim Buso (ex Royal Standard) who organized The Winner Takes it All? tour in 2008 has brought out a guide to the event, featuring Red Wire and The Royal Standards activities during the tour, and a transcript of the talk held in Static Gallery at the end. I (Josh) have loads of copies if you'd like one, just ask.

Lastly, the most visited Red Wire members page for February? - Jayne Lawless with 51 hits.
 

Probably my grimmest activity to date in Red Wire was clearing out our blocked sink, which included lots of plaster, paint, seemingly burnt hair, two bottles of sink unblocker, and chewing gum (which moron throws gum down the sink?)








Anyway, this is done, and Mike has dismantled our bar (our trustworthy bar served many a Becks bottle), which now lies in pieces, and boxes and bags have been cleared in preparation for the build of three new spaces.
The build should be taking place within a week.

Thanks to Soup (The Tate Staff) member Louise Waller for posting this picture of Red Wire member Mike Aitkens piece shown at View Two Gallery last year. Mikes is the Gothic script on paper- god knows what it says, but this, and the rest of his series of gothic script work were taken from his teenage diaries. Looks like 'mountains' on the right, but i'm not sure.

Our proposed move is still on, we are meant to be leaving Victoria Street in February, and its getting towards Mid January and we have no home to move into.
There is still a few candles with possible venues, or at least contacts with venues to explore though, so we are hopeful one of these will lead us to a new spot.
The Picket was a possible venue, but this fell though due to us not bein able to agree a price.

Anna Lockwood has also decided to leave RW unfortunately, the move therefore has claimed its third victim- with Chris Mills and Amanda Ferguson leaving in December.
 
On the up side, Karen is looking into a possible residency again, with Malaga a proposed venue, Karen is Red Wires International Branch, and found our brilliant residency in Paros during 2008.

Sam Savage (RW friend and showed in On Growth and Form) has a new blog- you can find it at http://kingdeep.blogspot.com

In what must be the biggest event since our creation in June 2005, Red Wire is set to relocate its gallery and studios from Victoria Street.
Increased rent and our general feeling we have filled all our goals in Carlisle Building has given us the desire to move on.
We're currently looking at The Ropewalks and The Baltic Traingle regions of Liverpool, both of which seem to want to become a arts district, and as they are not far from each other, having more galleries in the same area can only benefit both the public and the galleries through increased visitors.
Its early days yet, and we hope to stay put until February, but I dont think there will be any more exhibitions in Carlisle Building, and going out Apocalypse Now and Automatic Vaudeville is finishing on a high note.
 

RW had its first crit in years last week, and it was pretty well attended, we even had a guest attendee- Hamish McLain one of our founding members, and now Captain of The Standard.
Mike organized this one, the first in what is planned to be a monthly event, in conjunction with The Standard- possibly alternating venues. Mike spoke about his plans to go canoeing with his mate, and boil his own piss, in homage to Joseph Wright of Derby. I (josh) also spoke about my pseudonym (yes, I had to google the spelling of that) Simon Alabaster and the recent paintings I've been working on.

The Good News
Following Roxy's departure last month, we have found a new member- Anna Lockwood. Anna took part in TRANSITIONS with Liam Greenall (together they make up 2/3rds of The Magic Collective), and Anna will be moving into Tobys old space. I'll stick up more info when I get it.

The Bad news 
Vanessa is leaving us this month as her work schedule at The Bluecoat is heavy, so we will be on the hunt for another newb.

When your at uni, one of the best things is talking about your art, its probably better than making it actually. We used to occasionally have Crits in RW, we'd sit around and talk about what we've been doing recently. However this fell by the wayside...
Until tomorrow night.

Mike's been buggering about across America for the past few weeks, and now he's back hes organised the first crit in over a year, and its meant to take place tomorrow night in The Wire. Plan is to go to our favourite after too - The Ship and Tasty. mmmm Cornish Coaster

One of Red Wires traditional problems is goddam flies. Its usually little buggers that accumulate because of the mass of empty beer bottles we store. Since these were removed by me (Josh) and Joe a couple of weeks ago, we have eliminated them, but occurred the wrath of a monster fly.
This thing was as big as it was black, and meandered around the studio for about two weeks.... until this lunchtime.

Art Monthly might have lost some of its critical appeal and gone a whole lot more dull, but its swatting abilities are as good as ever, and after a few swipes and a short chase, our little enemy landed on the face of a portrait painting I have been doing for about 6 months. Art Monthly in hand, I was faced with the split second decision of whether to take it out, and risk a bloodied painting or wait for another opportunity. I chose to hit. I stunned it, left the painting intact, and it spiraled downwards onto a C-Type battery. After thinking of a possible way I could kill it using the battery, in the style of The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, I shook it loose, and it died ungracefully under my size 11 boots.

Its remains shall act as a deterrent to any other SS-style flies that reckon taking on our little group is a good idea.

Red Wire began life with a freezer Malini Vivain (an original member) used in her degree show work. This smelled of mustard gas, and made all our beer taste like it was going to corrode your stomach. We finally chucked it out, about 6 months after we realised it didnt work, and we had been storing beer in what was little more than a white box.
The second incarnation of our cooling facilities was The Royal Standard ultra slick windowed bar fridge we borrowed (and scratched - sorry) whilst The Standard were homeless. This was returned ages ago, and since then we have operated with a combination of buckets of water (once including the luxury of Tesco ice) and having beer served straight up, warm.

Today all this changed... no more concrete dust (powdered milk) in our coffee, no more rotting pizzas in the sink (that was gross whoever left that!), and critically no more wet, warm booze. We have a landlord donated fridge, its clean it works, and it even beautifully fits in our 'kitchen' (our kitchen in a piece of wood near the sink with a kettle on).
The future is rosy.

One of Red Wire's newer members Liam Greenall organised -tranistions- {cultural bodies}together with The Magic Collectives Anna Lockwood, which took place on Friday.
This was the first one night only performance that has taken place in Red Wire, and was a great sucess. The largely improvised event was both a relaxing social event, and constantly surprising and impromptu moments.
Phallic vegetables were sliced, soup was served, hearts in were thrown, and guests were encouraged to spit pips on a target drawn on Annas chest.
and, of course, lots of  wine was drank, in what was proper feast for the eyes and belly

Automatic Vaudeville Film Day

Red Wire Gallery

Sunday 6^th September 3pm -12pm

12.30 - 2.25pm Wesley Willis –Daddy of Rock ‘n’ Roll Daniel Bitten

Filmmaker Daniel Bitton turns the spotlight onto musician Wesley Willis, in this fascinating portrayal of the talented performer. Willis is schizophrenic and weighs over 300 pounds, but this hasn't...Willis is schizophrenic and weighed over 300 pounds, but this hasn't stopped him from producing some of the most innovative and touching, records to emerge from the American independent music scene. ‘Daddy of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ runs the full gamut of emotions, and although some of the stories from Willis's life are frequently very funny, Bitton always makes sure we are laughing with Wesley, and not at him

2.30 - 3.55pm Jandek – Jandek on Corwood Byron Coley 88Mins

How does one make a documentary about an undocumented man? Friedrichs and Fehler did just that in order to demystify the reclusive musician known as Jandek. Jandek (who has released over 37 albums since 1978) isolates himself from the press, seemingly obsessed with avoiding public attention. However through this attempt to remain anonymous, Jandek has made himself into an underground celebrity by shrouding himself in the alluring cloud of mystery.

4.00 - 6.25pm Wild Man Fischer – Derailroaded. Josh Rubin , 86mins

In this shocking and sensitive 86-minute journey through the thunderstorms of the mind of paranoid-schizophrenic Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, we follow his discordant encounters in the music business....In this shocking and sensitive journey through the thunderstorms of the mind of paranoid-schizophrenic Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, we follow his discordant encounters in the music business. Institutionalized at 16 after attacking his mother with a knife, Fischer wandered the streets of L.A. singing for 10¢ to passersby. Discovered by Frank Zappa, Fischer became an underground club and concert favourite, earning him the title of "godfather of outsider music."

6.30 - 8.10pm Daniel Johnston – The Devil and Daniel Johnston Jeff Feuerzeig

Although his appeal barely stretches beyond a small band of obsessives in the tight-knit indie-rock community, the turbulent career of singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston has had more highs and lows than most globe-trotting rock stars. This film by director Jeff Feuerzeig offers a retrospective look at Daniel's life, forming an affecting picture of a truly talented man.

8.20 - 9.50pm Tiny Tim– Blood Harvest Bill Rebane

A Beautiful young girl, Jill Robinson, returns to her peaceful rural home town to find that her life has been turned upside down. Only "Marvelous Mervo" (Tiny Tim) seems happy to see her. He wanders around dressed in a clown's suit and permanent grin grotesquely painted on his face. Then, one by one, those closest to Jill are slaughtered like cattle...

10.00 - 11.30 Half Japanese – The Band who would be king Byron Coley

A humorous look at Half Japanese, from their early recording-in-the-bedroom days to their current underground success. Started by brothers Jad and David Fair on the credo that a lack of musicianship would not stand in their way of rock stardom, the rough-around-the-edges but heartfelt combo went on to touch fans around the globe.

The Apocalypse is over according to Red Wire. Although Apocalypse Now has finished, maybe we would have stood a chance against a Zombie Apocalypse (even without the 'Ultimate Zombie Killing Machine- The Hawkinasaurus T-500- pictured).

Canadian mathematicians have figured out a way to eradicate zombies, should we become infested with them.

"Anyway, the model focuses on modern zombies, which are “very different from the voodoo and the folklore zombies.” It takes into account the possibility of quarantine (could lead to eradication, but unlikely to happen) and treatment (some humans survive, but they still must coexist with zombies), but shows that there is only one strategy likely to succeed: “impulsive eradication.”

“Only sufficiently frequent attacks, with increasing force, will result in eradication, assuming the available resources can be mustered in time,” they concluded."

Read the rest at http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/zombies/

Jads Flyers have arrived, and is what I am considering a minor miracle, they contain (almost) NO MISTAKES. This a almost unique for a Red Wire flyer.
I forgot to put the opening time of the private view on, so its not perfect, but usually theres no title or image, or artist, or just a blank bit of card or something.


Heres the finished front and back

In case you didnt know, Daniel exhibited at Red Wire last year, so is liable, like all our previously exhibited artists, to be featured on this site whenever I notice something about them - heres from The Grauniad


He may not chase fame, but cult songwriter Daniel Johnston is currently receiving more attention than ever. With a movie of his life in production, a biography imminent from Everett True, high-profile UK dates pencilled in, and new reissues of his classic 80s albums Hi, How Are You, Yip/Jump Music and Continued Story (as well as the Welcome to My World retrospective compilation), Johnston is very much in the spotlight. In the music press, a bad word about him is seldom heard. But you can't help feel that a lot of people just get him wrong.


full article at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/aug/10/daniel-johnston

We used to have the blog here, but then I decided I wanted one of those Tag Cloud things, so we moved over to blog.com.
I have come to realize tag clouds aren't the bee's knee's, so have come back to this site.
And I kept forgetting to write on there, so this should keep everything in one place....
(until I run out of website pages, and move it again)

APOCALYPSE NOW FILM DAY

Saturday 1st August.  100% FREE- just drop in.  Over 18’s only.

11.00am         Fantastic Planet                 René Laloux 1973

Fantastic Planet is a surrealist story based on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. In a distant world “Oms” have been tamed by gigantic Draags. One Om escapes with a Draag information giving headset - he then leads the Oms to make life better…But will the deomizing destroy them?

12.20pm        Koyannisquatsi                 Godfrey Reggio 1982

Koyaanisqatsi was shot mostly in the desert southwest USA and New York City on a tiny budget with no script. Its techniques, merging cinematographer Ron Fricke’s time-lapse shots with Glass’ reiterative music crept into the consciousness of popular culture.

1.45pm        The Third part of the night         Andrzej Zulawski 1971

A nightmarish and surreal masterpiece, this is Zulawski’s highly influential debut film. Set during the time of the Nazi-occupation of Poland and rich symbolism and apocalyptic imagery, it shows one of Europe’s most visionary directors at his best.

3.30pm        King Kong vs Godzilla             Ishirô Honda 1963

Mr. Tako, learns of some berries that grow on Farou Island are a miracle cure, and that the natives worship a god called King Kong who has allegedly grown to giant size from eating them. Meanwhile, some pilots discover a glacier Godzilla was sealed in back in 1955. The ultimate battle ensues.

5.00pm         Don’t go near the park             Lawrence D. Foldes. 1981

12,000 years ago, two members of a superhuman tribe abuse the treasured secret of eternal youth. They use the methods of ritual cannibalism on the children of their own tribe and when discovered by the ‘Queen’ of the tribe, they are cursed to an eternity of old age with no chance to ever die.

6.30pm        Akira                         Katsuhiro Ôtomo 1991

Kaneda and Tetsuo get involved in a government secret project known as Akira. Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists and the confrontation sparks Tetsuo’s supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and a battle in Tokyo where Akira’s secrets were buried 30 years ago

8.30pm         The Holy Mountain             Alejandro Jodorowsky 1973

A Christlike figure meets a mystical guide who introduces him to 7 wealthy and powerful individuals, each representing a planet in the solar system. These eight divest themselves of their worldly goods and seek out the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal.

10.30pm        Zombie Flesh Eaters             Lucio Fulci 1979
A Zombie is found aboard a boat off the New York coast which belongs to do a famous scientist, Peter West. When they arrive at Matul Island, they find Dr. Menard, and discover a terrifying disease which is turning the Islanders into horrifying Zombies which devour human flesh and seem indestructable….

Michelle Lord

In what has been one of the strangest inclusions into a show, Red Wire finally gets to exhibit Birmingham based artist Michelle Lord.

Michelle applied to the Red Wire open in 2007, but we decided it wouldn’t fit with the other work in the show (and as our gallery isn’t huge, this is always a consideration), but her photos inspired by J G Ballard fit really well with this show. ‘Future Ruins’ is created by making small models of all the TV’s and including a mini person- its Ballard set in Brum!.

Like anyone, I google my own name every now and again. I now have two hours to kill, so i’m gonna google our red wire members, and see how similar they are. This is set to be one of the biggest wastes of my time:

Mike Aitken- The Cumbrian ginge is>>> http://www.mikeaitken.com/blog/ Match 3/10 Mike does now ride a bike, but I wouldn’t trust him near a board with wheels

Vanessa Bartlett- Our fire alarm extraordinaire is>>> http://www.modelmayhem.com/721803 Match 7/10 A model fair enough, but Vanny’s probably a bit white for a R&B singer.

Amanda Ferguson- our vino verde disposal machine is >>> http://www.amandafergusonmotorsports.com/. Match 4/10. Mandy can drive, but isn’t keen, so her as a motor sport driver? nah.

Amy Goring- I best be careful here! >>> http://tinyurl.com/ll5ozh Match 2/10. Dont think our Amy would find much use for child day care.

Liam Greenall- it appears is Mr Google! >>> http://tinyurl.com/lmdb8v Match 1/10. I don’t know Liam’s eating tastes, but our well dressed multi-media artist looks nothing like this army guy with a fish!

Katie Halsall- The baby painter is>>> http://tinyurl.com/lj4w5p Match 2/10. Not much under Katie, but apparently she’s crap at laptop customer care.

Oliver Lomax - The Morrissey/ Nick Cave mixup is>>> http://www.discogs.com/artist/Oliver+Lomax Match 9/10. Well have a look at that, the music might be different, but at least they’re both musicians

Hamish MacDonald - Our current Mr Exhibition is>>> http://www.hamishmacdonald.com/ Match 5/10 Not bad, you could imagine our Hamish as a indie publisher I suppose.

Joe McNulty- Dr Doom >>> http://www.joemcnulty.com Match 6/10 Way to cheerful design, but with Joe doing some recent illustrations and comic design, its pretty close

Chris Mills - Desolate painter >>> http://www.chris-mills.com/ Match 5/10 I remember Chris did do graphic novel inspired work, but that’s only the CD case. I don’t think our Chris will be working with ‘DJ Dalek’

Karen O Brien - Mrs residency >>>http://www.quietcompanions.com/ Match 2/10 This Karen might be an artist, but the day I see our Karen swop painting for making teddy bears I’ll eat all the hats in Liverpool

Eleanor Overs - The waxy nude >>> http://tinyurl.com/m993kb Match 1/10 Pretty much nothing but our Ellie on Google. Except this dead bird, as as El’s not dead, its a very low match.

Josh Tennant- Me >>> http://tinyurl.com/l8fqs8 Match 3/10 Arguably the stupidest page Ive read. Its true though, I do hate AFI, and have only heard of 99 Red Balloons.

Roxy Topia - The ideas machine >>> As if I’m going to find anyone else called Roxy Topia!!

So, the most matched I reckon is Oliver, both of the being musicians, you cant ask for more. Both Liam and Ellie are nothing like their respective Googleites

Just looking at the title of this post, I can think of an equal number of people who either loosened thier bowels or inadvertandly wailed “YEAH” and punched the air.

This post refers to the forthcoming DVD ‘Dod Sno’, or ‘Dead Snow’- which won stuff at Sundance last year, seriously though, how has this not been covered already?

There’s loads of good Nazi movies out there, everybody has a soft spot for the Nazis now don’t they?- those lovable tykes and their naughty, naughty ways. What an awesome idea to mix these guys with zombies!!, coz lets face it, zombies make the world go round, and set it in Scandanavia, where everything looks spooky, and theres a recipe for what should be a great film.

Its out 31st August, heres the trailer

Dod Sno

Our friends over at Creaturemag are having a call for submissions for their zines 9th Issue, so if your an artists, writer etc send it over to them at creature@creaturemag.com.

In other opportunities, but for exhibiting, try Temporary Arts Space in Halifax, where Red Wirer double exhibitors (both Red Wire Open 2007 and Your Art Show) Bob Milner and Tom Senior are directors.

Theres a few different exhibitions you can apply for on their website







Also Red Wire member and FACT worker Josh (actually, this is me) has been organizing a collection of zines and lo-fi publications to go in FACTs main gallery. If you make a zine or anything similar, please send a copy over or bring it into FACT for display.

Our exhibition programme has been a bit quiet recently, but we are in the process of confirming a very exciting show later in the year.

The zine shall hopefully be ready for the forthcoming exhibition at FACT (Climate for Change) and be featured in the gallery (well, as I'm organizing the space, damn right it'll be in there)
Karen, our chief residency-finder is looking into new residencies we could possibly do next year (Karen also found our previous residency on Paros)

There's a load of students from Community College using the gallery in a couple of weeks, so there will be a show of sorts, but they are organizing and curating it all: I don't know if they are advertising it or what. It came through RW member and their teacher Oliver, and he's hoping to build it into the curriculum for next year as gallery practice.

We need another newb, as Mandy has relocated in RW. Will be advertising this shortly

We rarely have a metting where alot of people turn up and we get through a lot of stuff- but the week we did, at The Ship and Tasty.

Turns out Debbie is leaving as well as Linda, which means we have to do something as yet undecided with the spaces. There was an idea to move everything round- whether this will happen I don't know
The big news is the forthcoming zine which is back in action after a huge delay. For those that dont remember, our zine was a major part of RW, and its great to have it back.

Sorry for not having written a blog in ages, i just couldn't be arsed.
Anyway Linda's leaving now, after 2 years of being a red wirer. Her space is the sole remaining one-person spaces, and right next to a window. Its £50 a month if your into moving in- the only requirement is that your at least half decent and will come in sometimes. As the gallery is free for quite a while now, as we haven't organized any shows, you can also use this to make work. Mail us if you qualify.
Another benefit is- it's tidy! For the first time in a little spell, we have been to the skip (thanks to Gabes for helping) and me (josh) and moreso Mike (who's gone part time, so is in there more) have had a clear-up.

Some of us are in a touring exhibition that I am organizing- it goes from Bloc Gallery and Work Station in Sheffield to our mate Nick Malyan's new gallery in Durham (Empty Shop) and finally Temporary Arts Space, which is co-run by Bob Milner and Tom Senior (aka Milk, Two Sugars who exhibited with us last year) in Halifax.
I'll have more details soon.

 

Songs in the key of Daniel Johnston- the event which had bands playing Dans tracks was on Thursday. Blind Rabbit Choir, Hackney Carriages, A Cup of Tea and Man in the Dark played to an audience of around 60/70 people.
 

Well the exhibition is so far our most sucessful to date- we have sold most of the catalogues and 13 prints. We've had people come from Newcastle, East London, all over just to see Dans work, as it's rare he shows in England.
It has also had the best press coverage, wit The Metro doing a 3/4 page article about it.
Tonight is the Long Night of the Biennal, and we have 5 bands playing Dans songs:

The Ice King of California
Hackney Carriages
Man in the Dark
Blind Rabbit Choir
A Cup of Tea

It should be briliant- we have flying eyeballs and christmas lights adorning our ceiling, and enough beer to sink a boat.

We are opening one extra day too due to the popular responce, so the final day will now be Saturday 2nd November

Had to delete a few pages, as the mrsite website builder only allows 50 pages, and we hit the limit, so goodbye to The Red Gallery, Outside the Wire and Red Wire Shop. We're going to hit the limit again soon, so more might have to go :(
WE HAVE A BELL. after 2 years of having access-free gallery, today, after hours of struggling, i got a bell up and working. yeah, theres wires hanging around, yeah it interfears with the gargoyles and shit, and yeah some prat will cut the wires or somethnig, but for today at least, you can press a button and we will hear it. amazing 
The flyers have been ordered for Daniel Johnston- to date we have 88 confirmed facebook guests, which is way more than normal. The press is going well- this should be huge

Last Friday saw the opening of Soup Vs Peripheral and Crapola Central in our spaces, Curve also opened with "I dwell in possibility". The night went pretty well I thought, it is harder to judge how many people came, as they were mingling through all three spaces. Our catalogue has also arrived in time for the openings, and is without doubt the finest publication we've been involved with.

We've got new lights, a blue floor, and MDF walls now (as opposed to chipboard), so the gallery is looking probably the best it ever has done (nothing short of a minor miracle after the state it was in following Your Art show) (theres a video on this page now if you haven't seen it)

Today we've begun promoting Fear Yourself: The Daniel Johnston exhibition, which opens in about 3 weeks- the flyers have been ordered, and should be in shops and galleries next week- its got skulls on the front.

Many of the pages on this site have been updated, and Harry Lawson's and Nicola FItzsimmons's pages have gone (I've run out of available pages on here). Joe McNulty finally has a page, Ellie Overs, our other new member will soon replace Lucy Johnston (who still seems to get loads of hits though!)

Today Red Wire finally got a new lighting system. Spent most of the day setting it up, managing not to blow myself up too.
Toby was moving out, but now he's not- Ellie Overs is joining to share his space instead, Ellie will be in the forthcoming Red Wire exhibition in our basement, as will Toby.
We are mid way through producing a Biennial Catalogoue, with funding from Site Gallery/ JMU. Its got all our exhibitions in, the NAN tour and a Open Studios event thing. It sbeing designed by the JMU design pod of Dom Witter and Wendy Legg.
The work for our first show- Soup vs peripheral has started arriving, more will be there monday.
The bloody bell wont work and I dont know why.
The basement still stinks of piss.

Today I met with our ex-lecturer from JMU/ Site Gallery John Byrne about possibly getting a catalogue produced form our Biennial exhibitions- this would be cool as hell if it goes ahead. The plan is to have a feature on all our exhibitions, and the events which are starting to shape up quite nicely.
The long night of the Biennial co-incides with the Daniel Johnston exhibition, so we should be doing something involving music for that, Vanessa plans a closing party for Slowness, theres the NAN Biennial Tour "The WInner takes it all?" and and Open Studios weekend, which I dont know much about.

In minor news:-

• ive added the video to the Your Art Show page.

• The exhibition of our work in the basement is confirmed as being called Crapola Central (taken from Phillip Roth and Phillip Gustons name for the American underground junk world like garage sales/ burger joints...)
• We now have MDF walls instead of chipboard- the holes created by Harry (Stifled) and Hondartzas (2007 Open) have finally disappeared alltogether.
• Our landlord has left
• We are getting on with trying to get a residency in New York

The Henry Moore exhibition on September 25th coincides with Red Wire members work opening in our basement. I have just got hold of the keys to the basement and its an absolute dump, so if your planning to come to the exhibition, get ready for a new kind of art experience, one that includes graffiti and abandoned couches.

Red Wire has got its first meeting this Sunday for what seems like ages to view the basement and welcome our new members- Vanessa, Oliver and now Joe McNulty, who has replaced Harry.
In new work, the sixth of Josh tennants eating videos was recently completed- one of eating Ski yoghurts for an hour straight.
Also Amy Goring has been busy developing her landscape for September, which is inspired by shadow puppetry.
 

If you made Roy Castles Vision of Hell opening, hopefully you had as much fun as us. The night went without a hitch- nobody fell to their death down Amys underground tunnel, I didnt get poisoned from cheese overdose, no-one eyes were pierced by Mikes flying Vinyl, ear drums in tact after the bands and nobody was even offended by Paddys dead rabbit or Roxy and Olivers Shit Cunt.
The packed schedule meant people stayed once they were there, and we were still busy after (the brilliant) Real Talk finished.
The next thing we're working towards now is our show in the basement, which is provisionally titled 'The Cabinet of Leopold Bloom'- after the Ulysses character. This opens on 25th Sept with the henry moore institute and Soup in our spot.

Roy Castles.... opens this Friday (in three days), and we so far have only have Laurence's work ready to hang. Most of the install, as is typical with Red Wire, will be done on the day- I guess theres only 2 other wall based things going up, most of it is performance stuff. Theres only Mike, who is having 4 turntable decks a shed of amps, stereos and speakers who has a lot  to prepare (oh, and Amy, who still isn't sure what she's doing)

Yesterdays Metro featured a really good write up by Kenn Taylor about the show- made us sound pretty funkin cool actually.

Also I am getting obsessed with Google Analytics. I have been trying to install it for ages, and thanks to the I.T guy at FACT we now have it on every page. Its ace to see someone from Iran has checked our site on the first day, and we gets loads of hits from London. So far we have U.K, USA, Belgium, Canada, Iran, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico and Sweden in our radar, which after only two days is pretty sweet.

 

Well our gallery is finally 'almost' back to normal after the destruction involved in the Like two sugars exhibition. Everywhere has been repainted twice (including half the ceiling). We are also improving the back wall by using MDF instead of chipboard.

Daniel Johnston played in Manchester last week, which was brilliant. Amy is busy on the case this week trying to organize the show- which now has a title 'Fear Yourself' taken from Daniels album with Mark Linkous (who played with Dan in Manchester)
If by chance your a Daniel fan, and can play music, please email us if you want to play during the exhibition, as we're goingt o have bands/artists play his songs for one night.

Red Wire was going to hold a group exhibition in the Wolstenholme, but as we've got one in our basement, we wanted to keep our ideas fresh for that. However Mike, Amy, Harry and Josh are exhibting there on 8th August in Roy Castles Visoins of hell- a exhibition and performative show devoted to breaking world records.
Please come along, if youve been to one of our more exciting shows- its in that vein, so should be fun.



 

Amy and Josh are set to hold the next house show- this Saturday 14th June.
Exhibitors include Amy Goring, Josh Tennant, Mike Aitken, Sacha Waldron, Laurance Payot, Joe McNulty, Paddy Gould, Roxy Topia, Gabriel Stones, Jo Hicks,  Hamish Mclain, Harry Lawson & Oliver Lomax
present all new work.
Also I just typed in Red Wire into google, and we are number 1 and 2.
ahead of Levis Red Wire jeans, Captain Beefhearts painting 'Ghost Red Wire' and some Red Wire design company.
brill.

Tomorrow night Amy and Myself (Josh) are set to be in the newest in a series of 'house exhibitions' held in peoples houses. Former Red Wire exhibitors Gabriel Stones (Skull) and now Roxy Topia (A Proper Horrorshow) have been involved in house exhibition's and this one is organized by Paddy Gould, set to take place on Princes Avenue somewhere.
Immediately after coming back from Paros, Harry Lawson installed a new piece in The Kazimer, and is set to be in another exhibition in 68 Hope Street soon.
Chris Mills and myself are also set it be in an exhibition in Blackpool, Adrian Pritchard (2006 Red Wire Open) has stayed in touch with Red Wire, and after an arduous slog of building his own gallery it is now the second biggest modern art gallery in Blackpool, and its first exhibition is Futurescapes.
Our newest member,Oilver Lomax is also set to be in a Bob Dylan exhibtion in Birmingham, where his new 'Englands new trinity of love' is set to feature alongsied poems about Dylan.

And so to  blog....

This is the first ever blog that I have written, they ain't really my thing.... I mean, what to say?

Well, how about I have seriously fuckin' enjoyed myself

A little brief?

I am the last to write in this blog.... the show opened last night and, good god almighty, I am now nursing a seriously monster hangover. The PV was a blast. People came. Chat was chatted. The wine flowed freely and plentifully. Fun was had and dancing ensued. The show looks good but I will let you make your own minds up when some pics go up on the site tomorrow.

It's kinda sad really, our time here on Paros is coming to an end. The island itself is magnificent. Slow, easy and charming. I have loved sliding through the crooked little streets hearing life going on through the windows and doors. We have two days left and I plan to explore some more, swim in the sea and climb that there mountain....

The island definitely had an influence on the work that I have made. I suppose it's been a bit of an experiment for me. It felt good to make work away from the norms of everyday and the usual pressures of my mindset of working.  Freer, I think. Brighter. I have got some good pointers for the future, hopefully.

And everyone else?

Josh's looks great and totally flumoxed just about everyone who watched the film last night, it's still unfair though that I couldn't laugh when he puked. Amy's - The Whitteler - leg bones are amazing, elegant and macarbe. Harry's wall of energy and ideas never ceases. Linda's painting's are simple, vague and intreguing, the raft's await their date with the sea. Katie sparkles overhead. Karen awaits replies, which I hope she will get, people seemed generally interested in being participant in her work and Amanda packs real space from negative space like Rachel Whiteread's younger, drunker sister.....

And the supporting cast..... Priscilla is ace, Dirk is in Brussels, Desphina is lovely, Peter and Heidi are amazing, Wim is well cool, Grandma slowly warmed to us, Adonis is Richard Gere, the Pebbles guy has the best views and Pesi Beers, the Aroma's lady has the best fish (try the sardines - simply the best way to fuck off vegetarianism), Green Cafe lady is the best for sandwitches and adoptions and, of course, the RW pets Salty the dog, Geoff the cat and Cous Cous (nee Spanner) the kitten..... I have probably missed someone there so apologies if I have, its this hangover..... Thank you all for making our stay here so fantastic.....

Is that it?

Yeah, that'll do, a rain water swimming pool awaits us.......

Mike
x

We went to see the Mayor of Paros today - Katie Mandy and me - to give him the letter of goodwill from the Liverpool Mayor that Katie arranged before we set off for Paros. It was pretty farcical with the three of us trying to explain who we were and why the Liverpool Mayor had chosen to do such a thing - the content of the letter thanked the Paros Mayor for the welcome and help that Red Wire had received during our stay - but as the Paros Mayor didnt have a baldy clue who we were and was reluctant to end his phone conversation to welcome us, it took his second in command to end all round cringy embarrasment and a cheesy-grin photo opportunity remedied the situation. We doubt he will be attending the private view.

Everyone's work is going well so we are planning a day trip for tomorrow to see some more of the island.

Weird coincidences and the picking up of each other's thoughts has been happening more frequently as time goes by - not sure it's the influence of Paros itself or just the influence of Paros red..................................

4/4/08 - Airports have no time of day or geography.

5/4/08 - Just because things are outside does not mean that they are free.

6/4/08 - Done a couple of drawings

8/4/08 - I have woken up with a big swollen eye so at the moment I am recording the sound of the sea but after that I am going to buy some sunglasses.

9/4/08 - In the studio trying to get a projector to connect to my laptop without turning into a flickering mess.

10/4/08 - In the end the kitten spent one happy night in Harry & Mike's wardrobe and then me and Harry put him back.

11/4/08 - I never seem to be productive for more than an hour.

12/4/08 - Just went for beer and sunset with Mike and Harry.

Well this sleepy village is definitely starting to wake up, ready for when the ferries descend loaded with tourists. More interesting shops and bars open everyday. It has been nice to be here out of season, it is very different   from what it is like back home in Liverpool. Back home life is always, so busy busy busy everybody rushing around like crazy cretures, where here people seem in no rush, people always reminding us that there will be a tomorrow. Everybody is creating good art work,   Josh seems alot more relaxed today after bingeing on his chocolate eggs yesterday, I think   Harry is out having a forage around the island. Mike got off to a slow start this morning but he has picked up speed as   the day roles on. We had quite a session last night on the vino so   I think it is   true to say we all looked a tad   worn this morning. I ventured out earlier and posted my postcards and I managed to get my hands on a Paros life mag which has a article about us, it advertises the Gallery and explains what we intend to do whilst we are working here. Amy is still whittling on the roof   and Linda has been busy finishing off her rafts.

Everybody is very happy and we are still enjoying the bread   feta and tomatos, it tastes so lovely and it is a great budget food.

All productive today- under a sunny climate, surrounded by picturesque views of white houses, blue doors, cats and dogs, feta and bread, so much bread.

Today - Josh ate lots of eggs, then threw up - interesting but intense experience, Amy manned the camera, Mike was official photographer. Mike zoomed in on the vomit....Katie ill today (but not through art), but beads still shimmering,  Mike now dying canvas, weary of the floor. Linda making boats - cut finger, green paint and candles,  Mandy drawing and tracing, white objects growing in number, Harry - walking, red t-shirt and significant rocks on floor, Karen knotting and confused , Amy still whittleing 7 cuts so far - not bad going..... cant wait to see the overall finished exhibition.

There are over 500 churches on Paros, and at 8.30 this morning was an interesting time on Paros as the churches sounded the church going calls...... but apart from this Sunday is generally quiter and slower pace on the island. Pottering around the streets of Paros, a bit like the film 'Dont Look now' but with out Red cloaked Dwarf like creature.

All lots of fun.

Amy

It is a warm hazy day here on Paros and everybody has found their working pace. Harry and Linda are off on an adventure to the marble mines, Amanda is plastering, Mike is tying knots and ironing, Amy is whittling wood, Karen is fondling postcards, Josh is expanding his stomach capacity through sleep/meditation? and I am thinking about stringing some beads together after snoozing on the roof terrace for a while longer.

We have had six visitors to the gallery today, they included one greek, two cubans, a pole a belgian and a dutch man. Red Wire is going global! Paros itself is a very pretty place to be working in and the quality of light is amazing, even on a cloudy day it is blinding and I have never seen so many different shades of blue.

I think the locals are warming to us now, they are a wary bunch but Grandma (old lady from corner shop) has officially smiled at us and we are frequently greeted with Kalimera (good morning) and Yassas (hello) after being here a week. The Red wire Managerie is growing in numbers too we have aquired two dogs; Negro (big celebrity in the local dog world) and Salty we also have three cats; Geoff, Slag and Spanner. We found Spanner in a wheelie bin and took her home, wrapped her up in a pair of mikes socks and fed milk to her. Unfortunately we couldn't keep Spanner so we took her back to the bin hoping mama cat would come back for her, unfortunately she didn't but a little girl from the pretty green cafe did and she is now called Cous Cous. How lovely is that story? 

Back to threading beads now I think, Josh will be eating his egg's shortly, 50 in one hour. No cheese and wine for him tonight, Gaviscon maybe!

This place is ace.

but to elaborate: we arrived about a week ago, started with a couple of days finding our feet, then visited the gallery we're working in. Marbled floors, on two levels, large balconies, mega lighting, video and sound facillties and even an annex full of stuff for us to use. Its fair to say we landed on our feet.
So far 95% of our meals have included tomatoes, bread and feta, the beer is sailing down almost as fast as the wine, and for myself, I am already getting sick of chocolate, and I haven't begun my task yet.
The task is the art.
I have been making chocolate eggs since I arrived, there was a plan to use white chocolate, but although paros has white choclate covered in dark chocolate, dark choclate covered in white chocolate, white chocolate full of hazelnuts, white chocolate cakes, pastries and sweets, white choclate on its own is proving either expensive or elusive. So after 2 hours of picking bits of nuts out of melted white choc. I resorted to milk choc, then to kinder eggs due to time and quality problems.
I intend to try and eat 50 kinder eggs in one hour, in tribute to Paul Newmans attempt to eat 50 eggs in Cool Hand Luke. His feat was proven impossible due to lack of saliva produce, so the with Greek easter approaching, I found it fitting to re-try with choc. eggs. The return of the exhibition to our gallery might see me try and build 50 kinder toys in an hour, this should prove less sickly. The eggs are made (below), my stomach has been in training. Tomorrow it begins.
 

Red Wire member Ben Small has left not only Red Wire, but England. Now living in Germany, Red Wire wishes best of luck to Ben and his career.
The new member and painter is long time friend and cohort Oliver Lomax. Olivers Work has also been exhibited accross Germany, and he has played many gigs over there with his father, folk singer Michael Weston-King.
I'll get  a new page for Oliver soon as, meanwhile his band, The Reveers have a myspace here

Our 2006 Open Submisson is still probably my favourite show we've ever had on, and I am still in contact with all the artists we featured. Two of the artists we really felt akin with were Bob Milner and Tom Senior aka Milk, Two Sugars.
Milk Two Sugars regularly produce a wonderful zine, which always includes a freebee item on the front and have exhibited  at  C'Art gallery.

On Friday 20th June, Milk Two Sugars will be taking over Red Wire for a show, that by the sounds of it should be an emmense amount of fun and activity.

look out.

The Red Wire 2007 Open was the last show for a few months,  we're gonna be gearing up for our Paros residency in April, and getting some bleeding work done!- something that putting on exhibitions hinders quite a bit.

The Open had a really positive review by Kenn Taylor in The Daily Post, which we're more than happy about, as reviews are not easy to come by.
 

We're gonna be in artworld magazine. Artworld is that new magazine that was given away with The Guardian or Times or something, and its freaking great. It's first edition had features on Louise Bourgeois and John Baldessari, and that takes some beating. Fortunately for them, they came to Red Wire. ha.


Look out January.
 

Well, that was pretty good. Great to see the two Biennial chiefs there, both Paul Domela and Lewis Biggs attended our opening of Welcome to Liverpool. I wasn't sure how this one would play out, with it being close to the previous show, and being our first one-person show, but it proved our pretty busy indeed, with about 30 people still there when the drink dried up.


The stand out piece for me was the installation of the tape person on a swing riding over caster sugar. Especially with the almost autisitc pattern of paper plane making, the end seemed well urated and thought out. Like a little mystery fairy land (with a half person)


The night of course, like all our shows ended in Fab cafe, we should be getting some kind of discount at tha bleeding place.


On another note, it looks like we have a new member! details will be on here soon, but sure to say I'm well happy with it.


Submissions for the Open are now over 40 artists,  which is beating last years overall total. We are getting some really good photographers this year, which is unusual for us, as we have only had a couple of photographers in our space before.


Our recycling problem has esculated, but there seems to be a end in sight, we now have a whopping 33 crates of empty bottles, which should go next week. 33 creates!, jeez artists drink alot.
\
seeyer
josh

Although I still havent recieved the email from artjobs about our call for submissions, I guess other people have, as our hits on this site have gone through the roof. 2nd October we had over 300 hits to the site.

So far we've had about 15 submissions, most of which I haven't looked at properly yet.

A Proper Horrorshow went really well, with Roxy and Oliver polarising the people in the gallery to the sides, which was really funny, and more than unique i'm sure. Personally I prefered the late night performance, with Oliver singing Russian operatics with a cake on his head. Not having lights on transformed the space.

Next we have our first one person show, Nicola Fitzsimmons welcomming us to Liverpool.
This is a quick turnover for us, with A Proper horrorshow not taken down yet, we seem to end years on a flurry of exhibitions, nothing art-wise seems as good during the summer.

Oh and the most exciting thing at the moment for us is we have succeeded in getting a placement in Pathos for the Greek Easter (which is mean tot be wild). So next April 7 of us will spend 2 weeks making work and putting on an exhibition on the island, all thanks going to karen for organizing this, it should be great.

View two P.V tonight,
laters

Aiming for Heights has recieved a couple of really pleasing reviews. The Metros reviewer, Nick Holloway gave it 4 stars, and Helen Grey for Nerve also was very complimentary, you can see Helens review here.
Am really happy with these, as it's the first time we are getting reviews, as usually its been previews.
The show has now ended, next up is A proper Horrorshow- the one we've been looking forward too all year, it featuers Roxy Topia and Oliver Braid, a promises to be electric

 

Red Wire is set to collaborate with The Works (where I used to work) to celebrate Liverpools 800th Birthday- on September 1st, Bold St will get fun. About 20 shops are going to have stalls, events, give-aways and a parade will march up and down. 
Red Wire is going all cowboy on you. We're going to have a draw-off against the public- 60 seconds for both to draw something picked from a hat, say a giraffe or whatever. Oh, and we're dressed as cowboys and cowgirls.
It should be real fun.

Other things going on are Rennies are having a street-drawing, Smiffys are face-painting, Sayers are giving away pasties and MicroZine are having live music.All this will be followed by the biggest firework display in Europe from  the two cathedrals, the Liver building and somewhere else I can't remember.

The next show in our space is Nicola Fitzsimmons solo-show, our first solo show ever, and its set to be a art and music crossover. Before this however The Library Project are having an official launch on Thursday July 19th, and Red Wire is in The International gallery on August 2nd.

yeah

Thanks to all who attended our most recent exhibition On Growth and Form. I loved the show,  it had a combination of the things that has worked previously in our exhibitions, but the originality that perhaps could only come from artists not working locally. It had the well curated, considered touch of RedSkyatNight, but with the cool, youthful vibrancy of Skull or Stifled. We also had a 250 word article and picture in the Metro, which is adding to our slim but existing Press File. Jackson Spragues drawing mixed expressionist mark making with accuracy and vibrancy,  refelcting neatly against Sam Savage's "spooky" painting, which regenrated found imagery, adding a new meaning and feel to them. Sarah Woodburn transformed other peoples cast off doodles into her own large-scale shark paintings, questioning individual expression and authorship, while James Irwins Modernist, almost Bauhaus sculpture was curated to work with both Alex Crocker and Andrew Chadwick paintings.
On the site front, updates have been made to many artists and exhibition pages, and prices have been slashed in the shop. We are all busy making work for our impending exhibition at the International Gallery, and the next show in Red Wire will be Nicola Fitzsimmon's solo music/ art crossover.

 

Tonight The Arts Organisation had their yearly meeting in Mellow Mellow. We confirmed a date for a Red Wire show in their International Gallery on Slater Street.
On August 2nd Red Wire will take over in The International Gallery for two weeks. You will be blasted with emails, myspaces, facebooks, posters, adverts, flyers and all the other promotional tools we can think of to get as many people there as possible.
This is really exciting for us, its our first Red Wire show outside our own gallery, so it's got to be special.

In other news, Red Wire zine has been featured in the new show at C'Art Gallery, Huddesfield, courtesy of our good friend Bob Milner.
The new Zine is made, it looks beautiful, and will be out soon.
In Context, The Libary Project's Zine, is also completed, with the question "Is contextualising your work important" the feature question.
exciting times.

It looks like the green light has gone on for a Gallery Exchange between Liverpool's two finest underground galleries/ studios.

Red Wire @ The Woostenholme

The Woostenholme  @ Red Wire

This should take place later this year sometime, and discussions about the project are only beginning, but it could well be an extravaganza to blow your socks off.

We are already good friends with Woosteholmers, and some of my favourite local artists work there, so we are well pleased to welcome them to our space.

In other news I just received a copy of Kunstbeeld in which we feature in the Liverpool section, and are indeed recommended in there, so its all joy at the moment, you can find a link on the home page.

Our zine nearly has the required amount of submissions, (I think its 21), so it should be the best yet.

The Library project's zine is also coming out about the same time

Our next show in Red Wire will be on the 8th June.
'On Growth and Form' is a touring exhibition which is currently in Brighton, and is arriving at our gallery for it's Liverpool leg.
Extract from the 'On Growth and Form' press release

On Growth and Form  brings together work by six young, UK-based artists: Andrew Chadwick, Alex Crocker, James Irwin, Jackson Sprague, Samuel Savage and Sarah Woodburn.
The show takes its name from D’Arcy Thompson’s book, written in 1917, analysing biological processes in their mathematical and physical aspects. Since the publication of D’Arcy Thompson’s book, the concept of growth has undergone serious revision, being denuded of its inherently positive connotations whilst, within Fine Art, faith in form – the form an artwork should take per se - has also been subject to sustained questioning and recapitulation.

On Growth and Form is taken by these artists as a provocation, approached in a variety of media using very different processes. As genetic engineering emerges as a reality rather than the subject of dystopian fantasy, the sense of ‘growth’ becomes increasingly equivocal. It is with the notion of growth and form in terms of mutation, corruption and transformation that these artists engage.

Stay tuned for updates on what sounds like a hella cool show.

Sorry about that previous post- it was meant to be a poll, but ended up a pile of HTML.
We have confimed a date for the show by Oliver Braid and Roxy Topia. Our non-P.C show- 'Homophobic Racist' will take place on Friday 14th September, and clues to its content and style are in the next issue of Red Wire Zine.
This next Zine is looking fabulous so far, Roxy and Olivers entry being particulary wonderful, and will be a sort of pull-out poster.  It getting thicker too as we are having more entries.
Our next show will probably be a painting show at the end of May- Sam Savage and friends (who all worked for Damien Hirst) shall be coming for the Liverpool leg of his Nationwide tour. more details to follow.

• The next Independants meeting is to be held in our space, on Wednesday 25th April, so we need chairs....

• This afternoon Dutch art critic Roos van Put came round our gallery and studio. She writes for the leading artist magazine in Holland, and is doing a extended piece on artist run spaces in Liverpool, so has been to the places you'd expect (Standard, Arena, Static etc). A copy of her magazine is to be sent  to us in May,  but it'll be in Dutch. Check www.roosvanput.nl

• Also visited Imogen Stidworthys talk tonight at her studio in Static, where Nick from FACT plugged the Library Project, and its possible involvement in Futuresonic this year.

• In exhibtion news, 'Outsider the wire'r Pamela Holstein is involved in the next show at Eggspace, in Egg cafe- the P.V is next Thursday @ 7pm.

'Stifled', an exhibition by final year JMU students, Jo Hicks, Claudia Lastra and Harry Lawson opened last night. The shows success was further evidence of the importance of using the spaces natural lo-fi nature to its best.  The most immediately striking piece upon entry is Jo Hicks' circular fence posts suspended from  the ceiling, which have a very thretening presence, as opposed to the playfulness of Claudia Lastras drawings- 'My space- Spy Place' for example- how true. The most disorientating was Harry Lawsons never-ending tunnell, made using a one-way mirror, and continued to baffle people throughout the night.
I really liked this show, all its quirkyness (a largely unnoticed handmade wotsit lying on the floor for example), was reminicent of 'Skull', both in style and content, and Skull was hugely successful. It was, again, well attended- making it seem having fewer shows each year is a positive decision, in that it makes each show better attended. All in all. congrats to Jo, Claudia and Harry.

I have now re-done the red wire gallery section too, and currently have about 20 items for sale in the shop. Its a hidden page at the moment, but will be active soon.

Also am thinking of having a 'Downloads page', with Artists essays, MP3's and Artist videos on here, if i can work out how to do it. I have nowt to do next week, so will give it a go then. so stay tuned for freebees.

No news just yet on the upcoming activities- Stifled on Friday, and the upcoming artists talk day planned.

This website now has bit of 'flash'- to check it out go to 'outside the wire'

There was a Library Project meeting last night at Red Wire gallery. The Project is going really well so far, and is about to apply for funding. There is also a venue in line- details will follow

There is also a Artists talk set to happen on 1st April, with artists talking about thier practice throughout the afternoon, and the public invited to have a drink and a listen

Claudia Lastra's exhibition is set to open on March 9th. Details and flyer to be on here soon.

The shop is beginning to get going on here, but its going slowly so far.

over

Attendees were

Mike
Nicola
Amy
Linda
and me, josh

Every body got chance to speak at length about thier work,  and its nice to see everyone is still plodding away at work.
It helped, and encouraged me, and sure it did so the others.
If you are a studio member, please try to make the next meeting, as we cant repeat the same people each time.

cheers
Josh

With regards to the recent rumours about the future of the basement, I had a meeting with  Tom today.
The space is split into two halves, the left side is going to be used to house 3 bands, the first of which is in the process of moving in now. The whole spot needs a lot of work, new electricity, and boarding on all walls, and thats just a start.
The right side has three smallish rooms, which could be used as video prjection rooms or small studios for individual artists, and one large exhibition space.
His plan is to use the space as an exhibition gallery, having shows over the weekends, especially during the next Biennial.
He wanted to have the space finished by summer (which is optimistic after seeing it), but it could be a major independant venue during the Biennials especially, as it has loadsa potential. He did mention about showing some of our work, but  his priority was getting the space done up to show any number of exhibitions and artists.
It could do wonders for Red Wire, especially if we plan to have our space open at the same time.

Copies of lots of magazines in the studio now, last months Modern Painters and Vertigo are now in.

Attendees to the meeting held on Monday night were

• Linda Pittwood
• Katie Halsall
• Mike Aitken
• Karen O'Brien
• Amy Goring
• Hamish McLain
• me, Joshua Tennant

Nearly back to normal now in  the studio, just a few pieces still not returned, and am concentraing on improving this site rather than playing Championship Manager (as I am bottom of the league, and about to be relegated). Just wrote to Ian Jackson (artinliverpool.com), and we are now in the listings section, which is good. Have been improving the links section today (its not my fault the pictues are in wierd places, its mrsites)- dont know why but tis the hardest bit to do with pictures, but at least its better. Dunno when the new mag is getting stitched, should be this week I think.
The photos from the last exhibition should finally be on here next week.
tis all

It looks like we have filled our gallery again, after the departures of Dave Tipping, Jemma Egan, Pete Formela and Emma Wilkinson. Our BRAND NEW MEMBER is Nathan Pendlebury- you can check out his work at www.erpenstudios.co.uk.

That might be pushing it, but I would say with all honesty it was my favourite. Lacked all that poncy up-its-own-arse crap that featured in so many shows this year (admittedly mostly the internationals, but also some independant places). Difficult to have a favourtie piece, as work tended to bounce of other pieces quite well. Did like the flies alot though.
Thats it for a while now, we will be working on a schedule for next year, as with these four shows, we have quickly become one of the main independant studio/gallery spaces in Liverpool (theres not too many about tho). So we need to carry that forward into next year. 

We have decided all accepted artists , and have infomred them all. The flyer poster is a piece in the exhibition by an artist from Glasgow, namely Janie Nicoll. They should be out and about  this weekend, with an accompaning poster with artitsts names on.  We have accepted artsits from all over, Sunderland, Glasgow, Ipswich, London- only two are  from Liverpool, so it should be a fresh show to celebrate the ending of the biennial.  If youve missed the  past shows (shame on you!) we have saved the best till last.

RedSkyAtNight was held this Friday, and went down very well. The show was undoubtedly the most slick and professional to date, with art that explored the colour Red in exciting and varied ways. A personal favourite, John O'Hare's work maintained it sincere edge, and (although it was mostly purple) explored the intense and sharp nature of the colour more than the physical reality of being Red. Every show we seem to be drawing in Liverpools artworld, with   people from the Bluecoat, FACT and the Tate present.

We have been sent more than enough submissions for the Open and will be reviewing them on Monday. Many from around the country

Due to the unfortunate news that original members David Tipping & Jemma Egan are leaving it means there is a studio space going free if anyone is interested???. Its not too expensive for (£35 for 12ft wall space) and it sin a pretty good spot.
Redsky is on Friday too, and I cant wait (partially because I always get steaming at these things) but mainly because this is the one alot of people have been getting excited about, and I'm sure Vicky and Martyn will deliver.(i also saw some of the work today, and so far it looks mega

Skull opened on Friday to a great success. Over 200 people came and many stayed very late which was great considering it was a Friday night. Personally I thought the night and work was excellent, and maintained the co-operative spirit in which it was made.
Edwin and Tom's live monitor link to London, with Edwin occasionally shouting "Live from London" was both original and summed up the co-operative nature of the show. A personal favourite was the piece depicted on the flyer of bin-bags with smiley faces stuck to the front, kind of 'happy trash' it both looked dirty and clean- being garbage in a gallery- reminicent of Gavin Turk's latest piece 'Waste' but less clean-cut and more authentic to its material and surrounding.
All work maintained the 'cool' style of the show and could have been authoured by any of the artists, and indeed most were created not by the individual but by the team- this process underlied the concepts of, and giving unity to, the show as a whole- rather than meaning being isolated to individual pieces.
Of course it was also notable for the attendees- Liverpool Biennial Chief Lewis Biggs amongst them together with other curators and artists from around the world.
All in all it was a superb show and a opening night it deserved. Well done to all artists.

Described as 'Sonicboom/ Metal mayhem', and soon to be playing 'Magnet' Bow & Arrow will be playing Skull this FRIDAY (13TH). Although they have a new singer, this will be an instuMENTAL gig and something to shake your ass to. The curators, Gabes and Andy are installing some work today, and building some of the work in there.
Also i have submitted this site to google loadsa times without much success, but i just typed in 'redwire art', and it was numbers 1 and 2!- brilliant
In other news/ same news, the Metro are contiuing thier support of our activities, as Skull is featured in todays art section, Thanks to Steve Pill for putting us in there.
Submissions for Issue 6 of our increasingly famous artzine are currently being accepted (send these to the hotmail address) and it should be out in about two weeks.

Today I spoke to both camps, and thankfully all seems to be going well.  Most of the Skull work is complete,  the flyers are going to a printers (there is a new flyer apparently), which shall be mysterious-  a theme that seems to run throughout Skull. A brand spanking new band may be playing a short set, but in keeping with the mystery, they have no name.
RedSkyatnight are also well underway, Alan Dunn has submitted some work- which is great to hear, together with quite a number of other artists. The poster for RedSky will be available soon. Also a guy from the Metro inquired about the event, which is better than us going to them!, and there is a call for entries on 'artinliverpool.com'
In other news, we are meeting Gaynor Evelyn Smith on Sunday. Gaynor has had work in many countries and exhibitions, including both Hong Kong and Venice biennials, and she may be doing a performance in our gallery later this year
all good then
:)
 

Yesssssssssssssssssssss. It went brilliant. thankfunk for that. All the effort over the past month or so was worth it. Finally left at about 3am I think (Dont remember the last couple of hours). Loads of people showed up that you see at these kinda things (you know who you are), and got offered another exhibition for Redwire artists, Gaynor Sweeny may be using the space for one of her performances, featured on 'Art in Liverpool' and in the Metro. 
The past week has been really exhausting,  and sometimes you doubt the sanity of all the strain for only one night,  but by golly it was worth it, and it really set the ball rolling for the second show in there. If you came i hope you enjoyed it, and PLEASE leave a comment about anything you liked/disliked because 'Skull'  is coming up soon!

Yeah, so painted most of the studio floor today with  Hamish, Tibble, Natalie & Amy. Finished the walls and the build, so just the rest of the floor and lighting to do. Oh and the whole putting up art thing.  Also did most of the publicity tour this morning (putting up posters).

We have a red bar. a red door. red  posters. there is a hidden theme to our show...

Yep thats right, Red Wires 5th magazine is printed, photocopied, and is half stitched (yes thats right, luxury stitching again, no expense or time spared by us lot). Grab one at the usual places. If you dont know by now where, be ashamed.

The spot is going well. mostly painted now, just got to put up the walls- which is the biggest job. otherwise buy booze. drink booze.  forget all....

Just got back today, so its the middle of the night and I am 100% jetlagged. Apparently the studio is well underway for being built, Gabriel and Andy are helping set the place up, and Mike and myself are collecting the wood we need to build build build- using the age old technique of 'man with a van'. My own artwork is only half finished, as well as submissions for the next magazine in a couple of days. Sending out invites for the Open Submission show tommorrow too- soo if you dont recieve one, send an image to this site, and they will be reviewed in due course :)