Stapleton Road Tavern is now closed. Thank you to all the artists and audiences we worked with!
To keep up to date with SRT Director Cara Lockley's Arts Production practice please visit: www.caralockley.co.uk

Nail Houses

Stuart Robinson

From 7th October 2012

The Stapleton Road Tavern Window Commission

4x Banner Prints (138x168cm each)  

The work Nail Houses for the Stapleton Road Tavern window commission examines progress, regeneration and urban development through the phenomenon of Nail Houses - a name given to the small buildings that often stubbornly remain confined within large urban developments. This work is part inspired by their presence in films from Robinson’s childhood such as Batteries Not Included (1987) and Herbie Rides Again (1974). These are both very idealistic films – the ‘good’ residents against the ‘bad’ developers with the Nail House becoming a symbol of resistance against unheeding change. The images look into a potential future - the stubborn Nail Houses, existing as time capsules for morality and social values, still standing, still pristine, while their once daunting neighbours exist decayed, their facades of progress rusted.

The models of the buildings themselves are sourced from the idealised world of model railways, a world that depicts a romanticised image of a specific time, a time when things were ‘better’ but a time that ultimately did not exist. In this world, like the world of movies a story can be created, the past can be how we want it to be, and the future, or indeed the present, does not need to exist. This can be seen as a synonym that mirrors the way we often look at out own lives, the past being created by our selective memories into an optimal version of itself with the rough edges removed.

  

Visit Stuart's website here: www.stuartrobinson.net

Contact Stuart here: stuartgrobinson@yahoo.co.uk

Preposterous tales

Archie Salandin

25th August to 5th October 2012

The Stapleton Road Tavern Window Commission

Archie Salandin consistently works with language and meaning. His artworks take the form of sculpture, books and performative photography. Salandin’s preoccupation with language mainly lies in the region of words that are overused or meaningless. He has found ways to try and liberate these words from their everyday use by giving them new meaning or celebrating their meaninglessness, drawing attention so that a viewer may look at them in a different way. He engages with how language interacts with its surroundings, how he can manipulate or draw attention to words or phrases to make people consider where they are, what they are doing subconsciously, and more importantly what they are doing subconsciously. The focus of this strand of his arts practice is located in small talk and conversation often imitating people and how they might interact at a social event. In such works, there is no question, and no expected answer, just like small talk each statement is a one-way conversation.

For Stapleton Road Tavern’s latest window commission Salandin has produced a series of signs displaying unrealistic (and sometimes comic) boasts. This installation plays upon the traditional pub culture of ‘bragging to the locals’, and commemorates the unique characters that you only ever meet in pubs. It references conversation that is projected towards you as an unsuspecting victim of people who may have potentially had a little too much to drink. Salandin describes his artwork not a critique of this phenomenon, more a celebration of it. Here his text-signs are shown amongst the four windows, as if the windows were talking at each other. However, due to the nature of its content, the text does not quite flow, mimicking how a lot of conversation of this type happens. In Preposterous tales Salandin gives inanimate objects the characteristics of humans, providing the windows themselves voices as if they are talking to each other. Using text to represent this conversation, rather than pictures, allows the viewer to see past the people and focus on the nature of what is being said.

Visit Archie's website here: www.archiesalandin.com

Karnival Kaotika

Saturday 21st July, 8pm

 

Karnival Kaotika is a community celebration of the underground arts in Bristol, showcasing live bands, producers & DJs, performance, costume, visuals and a live art jam. The purpose of this event is to bring together artists, musicians and performers in a celebration of the bizarre, the twisted and the macabre, and to raise funds and awareness for their project, the CircoSinistre Live Stage. The stage will give a platform to new alternative acts at community events and festivals in the UK and Europe, making a valuable contribution to the arts in Bristol and beyond.

The lineup includes:
Bands- The Undizirebels, Po-Lice, Hot Club de Montpelier, The Beau Ties
Live set/DJs- Figcake, Mr Woggle, Babylon Destruction Unit
Performance- The Roulette Skets, Red Hot Frilly Kickers & more
Live S&M Performance by Uber John
Live Jelly Wrestling & Inflatable Sumo Ring

Visual Projections & Live Art Jam
Kaos Klown Fire Performance
Stalls including Jewellery by Alien Shop, silverware by Rachelle Cassini, clothing by Feral Pleasures

OPPORTUNITY

Window Commission - Round 2:

 

Following Ellen Wilkinson's successful project Eidolon earlier this year, the Stapleton Road Tavern Window Commission is back for round 2!

This is an opportunity for visual artists / artist groups to make use of the Stapleton Road Tavern ground floor windows as an exhibition space. Each of these 4 windows measure approximately 160 cm high and 130 cm wide and face directly onto Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol.

The selected artist / artist group, will be awarded a modest £100 contribution to their costs as well as being supported creatively to realise their proposal.

Please email your proposal to stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Window in the subject line, by midnight Sunday 22nd July 2012. 

The exact exhibition dates will be negotiated with the selected artist, but ideally it will begin in early August and continue for one month.

Please include the following information:
- Your name / group name
- A brief description of your current practice (maximum 200 words)
- Project proposal (maximum 300 words)
- Supporting information, such as images, links to videos etc (maximum of 5)
- Links to your website / blog if you have them
- Your contact information

 

AFTERMATH

An Installation by Dominique Hill

Opening Event with music & drinks: Thursday 28th June, 7 – 10pm
Continues: Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July, 12 – 5pm

Part of the Easton Arts Trail 2012.

An exhibition of paintings inspired by and uniquely displayed in, Stapleton Road Tavern.

Dominique Hill is a Bristol based artist who rejects the traditional notions of painting and its display. Through the staging and display of her work she endeavors to champion painting as well as highlighting its performativity. Her work aims to sublimate the traditional protocol of addressing an art space.
 

"With the creation and display of my paintings I aim to challenge and question the conventions of both painting itself and its display, as well as exploit, and to some extent exacerbate, the problems housed within the traditional gallery space."

For this exhibition Dominique will take over the unconventional environment of Stapleton Road Tavern. Infiltrating and utilising its architectural idiosyncracies, her work  will challenge and confront; asking what it is that a painting and gallery space can and should be.

For the opening night the Tavern will play host to an evening event inviting guests to interact with the paintings in an unfamiliar way.

Find out more about Dominique's practice by clicking here.

Dominique is also a member of Hand in Glove.

SRT Summer Fete Fundraiser

Saturday 16th June, 2 - 6pm

Stapleton Road Tavern are having a Summer Fete Fundraiser!

We hope to see you there on Saturday 16th June, 2 - 6pm. Entry is FREE!

There will be;

Live Acoustic Music

Bunting Making
Recycled Plastic Bag Kite Making
Hoop-la
Skittles
Darts
Tombola
Home-Made Cakes, Drinks and more!

Come along to help us raise some cash to allow us to continue offering free use of space to artists and creative groups.

We are still looking for more people to play music, set up stalls, organise games and anything else you can offer to help make our Fete fun! 

If you can help in any way please email us at:
stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com

Final Open Studio Event | Bronze Pouring

Last chance to come and see Jo & Emma in their residency space at Stapleton Road Tavern this Saturday 9th June, 12-5pm
Bronze pouring at 3pm

 

Getting ready for bronze pouring:  picture shows pieces in mid stage of making ceramic shell for bronze casting.

This will be the final event, in a series of Open Studios, which reveal the workings of Emma and Jo's casting processes.  In the last 3 months they have been making good use of the space to explore and develop their practice.  Jo has made some fantastic work in tree sap, whilst Emma has developed skills in making complicated moulds. They have also both worked together, to develop their understanding of the Wax inversion technique for Bronze casting.  They have succeeded in casting several pieces and are now working on a another set of sculptures.  For this open studio Emma and Jo will be doing a bronze pouring, where you will see how they melt the bronze to pour into ceramic moulds. This pouring is the exciting culmination of a long and fairly complicated process.  We hope you will join the artists to share this moment.

For more information about Emma and Jo's residency please click here.

Wetplate Collodion Photograph Workshop

Michael Schaaf

Friday 25 and Sunday 27 May, 11am to 6pm

The Wetplate Collodion Photography, Contemporary Portraiture meets 19th
Century Technology.

The Victorian Wetplate Collodion Photography is completely handcrafted process and produces one-of-a-kind photographs on glass within minutes. Come in and have your portrait taken. Don’t try to smile; the exposure may take 10 to 60 seconds. Michael is equipped to take your portrait in any format from 4“x5“ to 8“x10“.

Contact Michael for details of how to join the workshop, or to have your portrait taken:
info@mics-foto.de
www.collodion.de

 

Surfacing

Alldaybreakfast

18 May - 8 June 

Stapleton Road Tavern Windows

"Continuing the work we began in Diving into the Wreck, we are walking the length of the River Frome from outside the Watershed where the river ingloriously issues into the Floating harbour, along its 20 mile course on an expedition to its source. Stopping to flypost single words that resonate within both their urban and rural settings, we are creating a textual map. The words in the windows are pointers to the paper trail we are leaving outside, the evidence of a journey, an atlas of the invisible."

- Alldaybreakfast : Laidler and Jamieson

Diving into the Wreck

Alldaybreakfast

Tuesday 1st May 2pm - 4pm & 6.30 - 9pm

 ‘It is the other rivers that lie 

Lower, that touch us only in dreams
That never surface. We feel their tug
As a dowser's rod bends to the surface below’

Water resonates with our saltier selves, our amniotic beginnings, the depths within us, bodily fluids, tidal ebbings and flowings, the unplumbed depths that lie beneath the surface. The River Frome runs parallel to, and in places beneath, Stapleton Road. It is a hidden artery culverted in concrete for much of its urban length, emerging only occasionally from these artificial caverns. There is a real sense that this river no longer has a place in the contemporary manufactured landscape of the city. Nonetheless this awkward and unwanted little body of water persists.

Locating the tavern as a watering hole, the stop on a journey, Diving into the Wreck places the physical processes of the river alongside stories, the hidden and the exposed. 

Tending Towards...

Melissa Mahon, Vilma Pimenoff, Claire Sharpe, Daniel Shires

Curated by Leela Clarke & Cara Lockley

Opening Friday 11th May, 7 – 9pm
Continues: Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th May, 12 – 5pm

Part of the Bristol Festival of Photography

Tending Towards… is a group exhibition exploring the intersection between photography and sculpture. The artists featured explore various approaches to the collision of image and object, from 3D in a 2D world, to ‘thingness’. Expect prints, collage, chaos and stuff.

Stapleton Road

Frederico Colarejo 

Opening Friday 4th May 2012, 6pm - 8pm
Continues Saturday 5th, Sunday 6th & Monday 7th May, 11am - 6pm

Part of the Bristol Festival of Photography

 

Stapleton Road is one of the most multicultural streets in Bristol. Located in Easton, an area where many different cultures and religions live side by side, it has a distinctive and vibrant atmosphere. 

This is a long term photographic project to document a unique part of the City of Bristol. 

Visit  Frederico's website here: www.frederico-colarejo.com

 

Spoon Fed

The Collect 

15 April, 6pm

 

Spoon Fed is a simple soup supper + independent micro-funding scheme for creative projects.

Image Credit: Richard Edkins

It offers a direct, uncomplicated way of engaging with Bristol’s creative community to make possible ambitious projects that might not otherwise be realised. The bimonthly events aim to develop a strong, generous and diverse network of local practitioners and audiences. Participation and discussion are key to the process.

Here’s how it works:

•Artists, writers, performers, filmmakers, musicians et al. submit proposals to be considered for funding. These will be available to view on our website in advance.

•At the event, attendees are asked to donate a minimum of £5. In return they share a simple soup meal and each receives one vote to determine who wins the grant.

•Each submission is introduced in a brief presentation to the audience.

•At the end of the evening, votes are counted. The winner receives the full amount of the evening’s donations and will be invited to present the outcomes of their project at the next event.

More information about Spoon Fed can be found here:   
thecollect.org/projects/about-spoon-fed

ABANDON SHIP!

Kathryn Ashill
Thursday 12 April, 7pm - Opening Event 
Friday 13 & Saturday 14 April, 12 - 5pm - Installation Open
 

After forty years of sailing, Captain Edward John Smith was forced to order everyone to ‘Abandon Ship’ after hitting an iceberg on April 14th 1912. The Titanic sank two hours and forty minutes later, plunging 1500 people to a watery grave.

ABANDON SHIP! is an installation by Cardiff based artist Kathryn Ashill, which explores the tragic sadness of a sinking vessel and the urgency of having to jump ship.

You and your guests are invited to a commemorative event on Thursday 12th of April 2012, 7pm, which will mark the centenary of the Titanic’s historic demise. 

Visit Kathryn's website here: www.kathrynashill.com

Time at the Bar

James Stokes & others 

7 April, 6 - 11pm

The end is nigh. As we approach the predicted end of the world, this is a time to take stock and assess where we are as last orders are called.

Time at the bar is a celebration of the end. Where would you go if you knew this was the end, most people would say the pub. A place where everybody knows your name, and their troubles are all the same. A place of joy and misery in equal measures.

Using the context of a pub setting, on a day between death and resurrection, the evening will be set aside for live performance work, installation art and the coming together of friends, the curious and the weary. Bring your minds and souls, stories and quirks. This may be the last chance you get... unless there's a lock-in.

EIDOLON (The SRT Window Commission)

Ellen Wilkinson 

12 March - 5 April 
3 April, 6pm - Closing Event

From 12th March the windows of Stapleton Road Tavern will be inhabited by a duo whose motivations are uncertain.

Entitled eidolon, (meaning an ideal of a person or thing, or an apparition or spectre) these absurd creatures occupy a window each, gazing in opposite directions, seemingly isolated from one another despite appearing to be a pair. Their shrouded forms are recognisable yet there is something mysterious and even sinister about them, the exposure of only their eyes evoking potentially uncomfortable socio-political connotations.

The cheap glamour of the surface of these images and the curtains that they are framed by, create particular associations and contradictions in the context of a boarded-up, disused pub, of the building’s past life and the complexities of urban regeneration and gentrification.

As the eidolons stare out through the glass of the tavern windows it is unclear what their status is: whether they are sentinels, guarding the building like sphinxes a tomb, whether they are defensive or trying to tempt us in. The glass may trap or preserve, or protect us from them; they could be passive objects of our gaze or perhaps we are the ones being surveyed.

Join us on Tuesday 3 April at 6pm for an informal talk with Ellen about the project.

Ellen Wilkinson (b. 1983, UK) lives and works in Bristol. Exhibitions have included Videoformes Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2012), Jour de Fete, Loop Video Festival, Barcelona, Spain (2011), Irresistible Forces, The Great North Museum Hancock, Newcastle (2010), Atelier, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany (2009), What would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall, Beachcroft Space, Bristol (2009), Somewhere Here, Plan 9, Bristol (2008), All over (bar the shouting), Rhys And Hannah Present, Bristol (2008).

Visit Ellen's website here: www.ellenwilkinson.co.uk

Dance Like No One’s Watching

Angela Shannan 

24 March 8pm

The new wave rave...a place to celebrate music for the sake of music and dancing for the sake of dancing and fun for the sake of...well, you get it by now ?! Dance Like No One's Watching...the new clear energy dance celebration in Bristol - clear of drugs and alcohol - yet still like a rave! Well, that's the idea...experimental for some and way of life for others. We believe drugs are just shortcuts, without them, clear energy fun can take you to the same levels and higher if you just open your mind and heart to the music. And the music and soundsystem quality will be our upmost priority. The idea is you will feel just like you're at a club night or festival tent...just a little more "sober" than usual! Ambitious and delicious. Inspiring you to shake it like a sexy monkey will be DJs who are already successful party starters elsewhere in the south west/Bristol - including Duvet Vous' Lee Adams hot selection of deep chunky underground house and Happy Daze's Lady Lox' selection of jungalist jungle and drum n bass and more besides - both play our launch event 24th March 8 til late. I'll be warming you up and cooling you down with uplifting and inspiring tunes you know and tunes you may not...and a whole lot of phatness inbetween. We're planning to provide some refreshments and energy snacks n drinks but you're welcome to BYO for now. 

Please join Dance Like No One's Watching's facebook group to stay informed and join the events to get yourself on the list for entry as this will be an invite-only event: 

www.facebook.com/#!/groups/freedomtodance/  

www.facebook.com/events/311415188914157/

SRT Artist Residency

Emma Jean Kemp & Jo Lathwood

March - June
Open Studio Events: 17 March, 21 April, 12 May, 26 May, 9 June, all 12 - 5pm

Both Emma and Jo's artistic practices are process led exploring ways to work with materials. During the SRT Artist Residency Emma will be developing techniques with silicone mould making as well as casting with polyester resin. Jo will explore casting tree sap on a large scale and experiment with finishes, colours, and its resistance as a sculptural material. 

Join the artists for their Open Studio events at Stapleton Road Tavern to see how they are getting on!

For more information about the project, please click on the link below:
Resident Tavern blog - www.residenttavern.tumblr.com

Emma Jean Kemp

"I am driven by the process of making. My current practice focuses on exploring casting techniques to make figurative sculptures.I pay attention to detail to create realistic and evocative figures, which explore the inherent aspects of being human. These sculptures capture unusual and intriguing stances of figures in moments of action or reflection. I am currently experimenting with the casting process, which has numerous approaches and techniques, to explore different finishes. The texture of the final piece is inherent to my practice, creating dynamic artworks that reveal my workings into the clay." 

Emma Jean Kemp, February 2012

  

Visit Emma's website here: www.emmajeankemp.com

Jo Lathwood

"Play is essential to my development and work. My practice commonly aims to describe an emotional state through a physical space or object. Inspired by a meditation between simple natural beauty and the complex relationship we have with nature, I strive to create works that engage the audience through a common memory. The consideration of the audience’s response, reaction and position regularly determines how my work will be constructed and installed.  I believe art should be accessible to everyone, so through my work I strive to build layers of meaning that can be understood by a wide demographic. For me, art is an education of ideas that you would not consider in your day to day." 

Jo Lathwood, February 2012.

Visit Jo's website here: www.jolathwood.co.uk

The Message

Martyn Cross

Ongoing Project

 
For The Message Bristol based artist Martyn Cross will provide on ongoing supply of handmade and budget posters to display within the pub. Advertising imaginary bands, dj's, events and menus, the posters will hope to draw upon the low tech, badly spelt but highly individual and idiosyncratic ephemera that can be seen readily in many local public houses.

Taking his customary painting practice as a starting point in the making of these signs, Cross will create a link to a world that is at once both unsettling and laughable. His usual work of vandalised knitting patterns feature characters of a curious bent: these posters will offer an alternative take on their existence. 

Visit Martyn's website here: http://www.yateheads.blogspot.com/

HIJACK!

Sam Aldridge, Sovay Berriman, Anna Clawson, Noel Clueit, Ian Maslen, Laura Phillips, Alicia Tsigarides, Rebecca Turner, Nicole Ward

Opening Friday 9 March 2012, 7 - 9pm

Continues Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th March, 12 - 5pm

An ominous rabble of artworks have taken over, infiltrating every corner, making a spectacle of themselves, whilst stealthily claiming the Tavern as their own...Stapleton Road Tavern presents HIJACK!

See some photos from the exhibition by clicking here. 

More about the artists...

Sam Aldridge 

Sovay Berriman

 Anna Clawson

Noel Clueit

Ian Maslen

Laura Phillips

 

 Alicia Tsigarides

Rebecca Turner

Nicole Ward

SRT Grand Opening!

The Stapleton Road Tavern Grand Opening is upon us!

Please join us on Friday 9th March, from 7 - 9pm to celebrate. We are pleased to announce that the inaugural event will be HIJACK! an exhibition featuring work by a fine selection of Bristol based and UK-based artists. Come and say hello, join us for a drink and see what all the fuss is about...

One week to go until SRT deadlines

Stapleton Road Tavern Window Commission

&

Stapleton Road Tavern Residency

Please email your proposals to stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com by midnight Sunday 12th February 2012.
See the 'Opportunities' page for full information.

SRT Today

Visit Stapleton Road Tavern Open House

Any artist, curator and creative group interested in submitting proposals for Stapleton Road Tavern's opportunities may attend an Open House to view this unconventional space. You may come to look around the Stapleton Road Tavern on Sunday 29th January, between 1pm and 4pm.

Please email stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Open House in the subject line if you would like to attend.

Free Use of Space for your Creative Activity

Do you have an amazing idea of how to use the Stapleton Road Tavern for your temporary creative activity? If so, we want to hear from you. This could be anything creative, from an exhibition to a performance or screening, a workshop or private or public event. If you can manage your project yourself, there are no limits to what you can propose. Stapleton Road Tavern will offer free use of space to as many proposed projects as possible throughout 2012.

Please email your proposal to stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Use of Space in the subject line. There is no deadline for this opportunity. However, please be aware that suitable activities will be scheduled on an ongoing basis.

Please include the following information:
- Your name / Group name
- The name / title of your activity
- A brief description of your proposed activity (maximum 200 words)
- The proposed duration for your activity (up to a maximum of 5 days per activity)
- Supporting information, such as images, links to videos (maximum of 5) if appropriate.
- Links to your Website / Blog if you have them
- Your contact information 

Stapleton Road Tavern Window Commission Opportunity

This commission is an opportunity for Bristol based visual artists / artist groups to make use of the Stapleton Road Tavern building ground floor windows as an exhibition space. Each of the 4 ground floor windows measure approximately 160 cm high and 130 cm wide and face directly onto Stapleton Road.

Please note, some of the windows are currently boarded up, however these boards will be removed to allow access to the glass beneath.

The selected artist / artist group, will be awarded a modest £100 contribution to their costs as well as being supported creatively to realise their proposal.

Please email your proposal to stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Window Commission in the subject line, by midnight Sunday 12th February 2012.

Please include the following information:
- Your name / group name
- A brief description of your current practice (maximum 200 words)
- Project proposal (maximum 300 words)
- Supporting information, such as images, links to videos etc (maximum of 5)
- Links to your Website / Blog if you have them
- Your contact information 

Stapleton Road Tavern Residency Opportunity

Stapleton Road Tavern is accepting proposals from Bristol based artists, curators and groups to take part in an upcoming residency project. The residency will be an opportunity to utilise the unusual space on offer to test and push new ideas.

The selected artist / curator / group will be; allowed free use of basic studio space for up to three months within the Stapleton Road Tavern building; will be supported creatively to realise their proposal and will be awarded a modest £250 contribution towards the costs of presenting an exhibition / event / performance at Stapleton Road Tavern this Spring,

Please email your proposal to stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Residency in the subject line, by midnight Sunday 12th February 2012.

Please include the following information:
- Your name / Group name
- A brief description of your current practice (maximum 200 words)
- CV
- Please answer the following questions; Why are you interested in this residency? How would you use this opportunity to contribute to your professional development?
- Initial Project Proposal, which may be developed during the residency (maximum 500 words)
- Supporting information, such as images, links to videos etc (maximum of 10)
- Links to your Website / Blog if you have them
- Your contact information 

Volunteering Opportunities

We are looking for a team of volunteers to lend a hand at Stapleton Road Tavern, specifically in the areas of marketing, installation, documentation and invigilation, as well as helping to prepare the space for use.

In return for your help, we can offer the opportunity to develop skills and experience in arts project delivery for personal and professional development and also the chance to be part of an exciting, unusual, and dynamic project!

If you are interested in getting involved, please email us at stapletonroadtavern@gmail.com quoting Volunteering in the subject line, and stating which areas you would like to gain experience in. We hope to hear from you soon!

Some photos from before the big clear out...