Art / Spike Island Open Studios
Spike Island gets ready for Open Studios 2024
Spike Island’s annual and ever-popular Open Studios is back for 2024, across the early bank holiday weekend.
Commencing on Friday May 3 with a special preview evening, the 80,000 square foot former tea packing factory will be open to explore all weekend, from the exhibition spaces to the +70 artist studios, UWE Bristol’s Fine Art department, and the award-winning Spike Print Studio – the largest open-access print studio in the region.
Visitors will have an opportunity to engage with artwork by studio holders, to meet artists, to engage in demonstrations and workshops, and to find inspiration for their own creative endeavours.
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A programme of performances, talks, events and activities will accompany the free-roaming that is encouraged across the weekend.
Screenprinting at Spike Print Studio – photo: Jo Hounsome Photography
London-based artist Olu Ogunnaike will be in conversation with Cédric Fauq to explore his solo installation, Fix Your Face, which has been exhibited at Spike Island since February.
Other highlights include: The Museums of Hauntology (ages 12+), the virtual reality environment created by artist Stephen Gray (otherwise known as ‘The Electricity Board’); a series of BFI Network South West film screenings; a Comfy Club collage workshop; a group listening sound installation experience with artists Esther Hesketh and Lily Frances; and letterpress printing at Spike Print Studio with Fiona Hamilton
Katy Connor, Spike Island Open Studios 2022 – photo: Martin Parr, Magnum Photos
Steven Paige, senior lecturer in fine art at UWE will be available for drop-in conversations about UWE Bristol’s MA Fine Art Programme over lunchtime across the weekend. Fellow senior lecturer Markus Eisenmann is a department colleague at UWE, and is hugely enthusiastic about Open Studios: “This event is a key weekend in Bristol’s cultural calendar,” he says.
“It offers visitors the unmissable opportunity to see and experience the exciting and diverse work of our Fine Arts students as they exhibit alongside other creative practitioners at Spike Island.”
Spike Island Open Studios 2022 – photo: Dan Weill
If previous years are anything to go by, thousands of visitors are expected to explore the site between during the event.
For food and refreshment, local pop-up vendors including purveyors of handmade dim sum, Ah-Ma’s Dumplings, and Small Fire Pizza will be situated around the site, alongside Spike Island’s on-site café, Emmeline.
Spike Island Open Studios 2022 – photo: Rob Browne
Spike Island Open Studios 2024 is on May 4-5 at 11am-5pm (note, this year’s event does not extend to Bank Holiday Monday).
There is a preview evening on Friday May 3 at 6.00-9.00pm, for which booking is advised; booking is also required for the Olu Ogunnaike event.
The entire weekend is accessible and free to attend. More information about the weekend programme is available at www.spikeisland.org.uk.
Main photo: Dan Weill
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