We are pretty chuffed to announce that our funding bid was successful, keeping our 100% record intact.

Massive thanks to everyone who has been involved so far.

Click here to read more…

The new show is coming along…we have filled pot holes and spray painted a piece of foam, good progress for a Sunday afternoon. Website and flyers for this show to come.

We are now based in Two Queens and are having all sorts of meetings to do with how to make the best use of the space. Tonight the discussions are film related, but next week it’s all bravado and baptisms as we put together the final decisions to the first exhibition la grande.

Just found this pic from the careers fair, forgot to blog it. Anyone want a job?

If you are still unsure about whether or not you would like a space in TWO QUEENS in Leicester to make lovely artwork, you have another chance to come and visit the inspiring space before it opens. It’s just opposite Phoenix Square cinema, 200m from the Curve and 5minutes from the train station. What more could you want?

If you already know you do want a space, make sure you get in touch pronto – as spaces are filling up, fast!

Saturday 19th November 12noon-2:00pm

Address: 2 Queen Street, The Cultural Quarter, Leicester, LE1 1QW

Cost per space: £65 per calendar month

See the location: Google Maps

To book you’re place in the studio, email: info.cusp@gmail.com

For more info contact: info@vanillagalleries.com or info.cusp@gmail.com

or see here…

http://2queens.com/

Just a little thank you to the Pigeon team for putting up a splendid opening event for there first issue of the magazine lst week at the IMT gallery. Amongst the très intéressant current ‘Epilogues’ exhibition, curated by Charles Damby was the welcoming of chit-chat from Rebecca Field and Tamsin Devereux. They seem to be doing a good job, kicking up interest and collaborations with some really great creatives – including of course our own Mateus Domingos. Even got to meet the designer Jake Evans, which made me feel very important. Thanks guys!

We went home with our own copy of the publication, which for all the style and high-quality journalism  is worth a buy. If you want your own copy, I’m sure you can ask the any one of the Pigeon team how to get one. And to Pigeon – ‘I hope we we collaborate again soon’.

http://pigeononline.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who came to look at the Studios yesterday. It was really great to see such a great turn-out, and gave us all a chance to see the potential for the studios.

We hope that you enjoyed looking around and pick up an application. If you didn’t or didn’t make it at all, you can still contact info@vanillagalleries.com or info.cusp@gmail.com as we go on to decide who will be in the space for the first term.

CUSP are also maintaing the spread of information on their blog cuspblog.blogspot.com

Anyone in touch with Vanilla or CUSP will already know – we are opening up a new space together in Leicester. It’s going to have studio spaces for artists upstairs and our own events/exhibitions space on the bottom floor. I know what you’re thinking, and If you just calm down a second I’ll tell you exactly how you can get involved.

If you consider yourself to be an artist, illustrator, photographer, sculptor, furniture designer, swiss cheese maker or whatever else needs a workspace along side a bunch some creative minds, you can apply to have your own workspace on our top floor. It’s a huge building, however in total there are will only 16 places available. That means there will be plenty of space for anyone who likes swinging cats, but you’ll have to make sure you book fast so not to miss out!

The space itself lies smack down between the Curve and the Phoenix Square cinema (two of the largest cultural developments in the city) in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter. There is also the LCB Depot close buy for anyone who needs help with the business end of creativity. Without forgetting, you’ll be on top of one of the worlds most brilliant gallery spaces. It’s an opportunity to mingle with these zones and get your name about, as well as let your hair down and make some damn-hot art.

We know that if your focused on being creative you probably won’t have much money, so the cost of each space is a mere £65 per calendar month. This is likely to seem very affordable to anyone who has had to rent studio space in the past.

We have an open-studios event on Monday this Tuesday 20th September between 5:00-6:30pm, where anyone is welcome to see the potential. It’s also a good opportunity to make yourself known to us and book your place in the studios.

For those on you who like simple facts, here they are…

Open studio (come and see the space): Tuesday 20th September 5:00-6:30pm

Address: 2 Queen Street, The Cultural Quarter, Leicester, LE1 1QW

Cost per space: £65 per calendar month

See the location:  Google Maps

To book you’re place in the studio, email: info.cusp@gmail.com

For more info contact: info@vanillagalleries.com or info.cusp@gmail.com

I watched this film last night after Alex pulled it off the shelf in our local video shop. ‘The Film Shop’ itself is amazing, and full of the kind of film people should be watching, international film and those from independent film companies. Located on Church Street in Stoke Newington; it’s only just become local to us since we moved to London. Also, it’s arranged by director which is a massive deal.

…so Alex was looking for a Las Von Trier film to test the water before watching ‘Melancholia’ (preview screening – it’s not out yet). It just happened that ‘The Bothersome Man’ was on the shelf above marked ‘Scandinavian’ – lucky for us Alex got lost.

A Bothersome Man is exactly my kind of film. It’s a deadpan fry-up of neo-capitalist socialistic futurism. It’s based in a materialistic society obsessed with style and career, and follows a man who discovers he wants more than the general conception of ‘happiness’. But this film doesn’t shout out you like 1984 or Amercian Psycho (two stories closely related), it subtlety taps you on the shoulder and tells you a hilariously original and equally surreal joke about the problems with where we are heading in the western world, before stepping back into the alleyway and shooting itself in the face. One to watch!

5/5

Chair Couple (drawing 02)

I’ve just opened a shop on Etsy.

It’s an experimental kind of thing. I’m selling drawings from a series I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks. I’m selling the original drawings only. Although I do retain rights over the work to use the images myself at a later date. I’m going to be adding about two listings a day, although this might drop off a bit if nothing at all sells. This aim of two drawings per day was decided based on the kind of salary that could be earned working in retail or something nearly full time.

This is the first time I’ve really decided to try and sell work like this. I’ll keep you posted on whether anything happens.

Here’s a link to the shop; http://www.etsy.com/shop/cinemateus