QUINTESSENTIAL Q
Over 30 artists from the North East will showcase their work in a former sofa showroom during a two week exhibition of live art, entertainment and music in Sunderland city centre.
The venue, Studio Q, is located at the heart of historic Sunniside, which has seen more than £100m of investment over the past few years. With further regeneration planned for the eastern area, local artists have been given use of empty buildings earmarked for future demolition to use as temporary studio space.
Frank Styles, a Sunderland art graduate, set up Studio Q on Nile Street with the help of Sunniside Partnership last autumn and has brought other artists together to work and exhibit in the space. The latest exhibition, Quintessential Q, opens on Friday (MAY14) and will run until Friday May 28.
Frank said: “All our tenants have been asked to curate their own space with at least two other artists so we will have over 30 visual artists exhibiting. The theme is variety and work will range from traditional portraiture to graffiti art, live musicians and several exciting performance artists, so we really do have something for everybody.”
Every Friday will be a different event. The first is a preview night and the second will be a fast paced night of live art and entertainment with music from local jazz funk band Monty Casino. There will be live poetry readings with a twist from Barry Fox and light projections from Washington artist Peter McAdams. Sunderland based Penella Bee has choreographed a dance piece with local schools. The third and final event will be an auction of all the artwork on display with music from Sunderland based Maxwell Panther.
Frank’s work focuses mainly on abstract art and since graduating from Sunderland University with a degree in Fine Art in 2007, he has worked with young offenders on spray art projects.
Ben Hall, director of regeneration agency Sunniside Partnership, said: “Creative activity is an important part of Sunniside’s regeneration programme and we are pleased to be able to support local artists by providing them with the space they need, whether it be in former garages and workshops or new buildings like thePlace arts and business centre. The transformation the area is going provides the perfect backdrop for this kind of artistic activity.”
Sunniside Partnership works in conjunction with regeneration agency Sunderland arc and is supported by Sunderland City Council, One North East and the Homes and Communities Agency.
Quintessential Q will be open at 2-4 Nile Street in Sunniside from 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, with the Friday events running from 6pm to 8pm (Friday 21st is 8-11pm).
Any artists interested in contacting Frank should email him on junglebricks@hotmail.com