Come and join in the fun on Saturday February 22nd to celebrate Mardi Gras with a parade through Preston city centre, down to Avenham Park. Led by Worldwise Samba Drummers, the parade is open to anyone to join in and wearing of costumes is encouraged. Musicians, dancers and performers – you are all invited to just come along and join in the fun. On arrival at the Pavilion in Avenham there will be further performances before pancakes are served.
Mardi Gras, literally meaning Fat Tuesday, marks the day before Lent when tradition in many countries and religions is to eat as much as possible before fasting begins. In Britain and many Commonwealth countries that became Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, the day before Ash Wednesday. Elsewhere, the day became more celebratory and carnival-like, so in the Deep South of Louisiana in the US for example, thousands take to the streets in parades led by jazz bands from all across the state, ending up in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Whilst Shrove Tuesday is actually on Tuesday 25th, it was felt that in Preston a Saturday was more practical for a parade as families would be free/able to take part and whilst not on the same scale perhaps, this is our opportunity in Preston to celebrate and just have fun.
The parade starts at 11am Saturday 22nd February from the Mobility Centre Car Park. Meet there or join at any point along the route up Cheapside, along Fishergate, in Winckley Square or in Avenham Park.
Costume-making workshop – run by Preston City Council and led by our Evelyn, is free to go along to at the Pavilion in Avenham Park on Saturday 8th Feb 10am-1pm. Everyone and all ages welcome. Take any old clothes or fabrics along and make a fantastic costume to wear in the Mardi Gras parade.
We were excited to hear our Arts Council bid for 2020 had been successful as this meant our ideas for expanding Making A Mark could be realised. This will be our 4th Making A Mark so we wanted to both extend and expand it’s reach whilst enabling more of Preston’s artists and creatives to be part of it. In turn this would help reach a wider audience and offer even more opportunities for visitors to take part in a broader range of activities.
Are you an artist, musician, poet, performer or other creative practitioner based in or near Preston? Would you like to be part of Making A Mark in 2020? If so, send us your proposal by 21st February and we’ll select those we feel show creativity, that best reflect the spirit of the event and which will best complement the other activities planned. The theme this year is Changing World which is open to wide interpretation.
Download further information and a proposal form here:
Oxheys in the Community Gallery at the Harris Museum
This last weekend, Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December 2019 saw the Harris Christmas Fair at the Harris Museum & Art Gallery in Preston. It was a lively event, which saw the Harris packed full of artists, makers and traders with a wide variety of stalls offering all kinds of products making ideal Christmas gifts.
Oxheys was there of course, on the first floor in the Community Gallery. Four of our member artists, Caroline Finnegan, Evelyn Rose, Bernie Velvick and Denise Swanson provided the items and took it in turns to man the stall. We had pretty little table and tree decorations from Bernie, beautifully hand-made crocheted scarves with hand-dyed wool from Caroline, delightful hand-made reindeer greeting cards from Evelyn and a selection of photographic prints and greeting cards from Denise taken in local nature spots. It was a busy couple of days in which we saw a lot of people including many old friends from our days at t’mill, making a lovely opportunity to catch up.
We had a steady stream of visitors and sales throughout the event, although Saturday seemed to be the busiest day – most popular were probably the Diversity Elves from Bernie, all of which were sold, bar one. Caroline’s Nail Binding kits also proved very popular as did Denise’s small prints.
Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello or to buy something. We do appreciate your support, as always.
The past few months have been somewhat busy so apologies for the lack of recent updates. After the success of this year’s event we wanted to ensure that Making A Mark in 2020 could be bigger and better than ever, so almost as soon as this year’s was complete we started planning ahead for next. We wanted to get an early bid in to the Arts Council for funding so that if successful, it would allow us more time for actual planning.
We took the time to look back at previous events, at what worked well and what not so well and the outcome was a decision to radically change the way this event would work. We decided to do away with a stage and performance area and instead concentrate on activities that encouraged engagement. We also wanted to open up participation to a broader range with an open call to artists and performers working locally and change the format previously used. This allowed us more scope for ideas and so our biggest funding bid yet was finally agreed, completed and submitted.
We are delighted to announce we have now heard that this bid has been successful and are thrilled that we can start working on these ideas. Look out for our Open Call which will go out soon. And be sure to put July 11th 2020 in your diaries – it is slightly later than past years.
Alongside the planning, our artists have also been busy on their own projects and with other activities:
Robin curated and has work featured in the exhibition Concomitant at UCLan Hanover Building in Preston. Denise has continued developing the project for which she received a CVAN Bursary, investigating what happens to the plastic we recycle. Bernie has been busy with various ArtFull events and activities, Caroline has been busy making, whilst Tim and Denise have been making a lot of noise with the Worldwise Samba Drummers at various events in and around Preston. We also continue to run the monthly Life Drawing sessions at the Harris Museum and have a number of other projects on the go!
We’ll also be a the Harris Christmas Fair this weekend, Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December on the first floor – do come along and see us. We’ll have a variety of hand-made Christmas decorations and cards for sale as well as some lovely unique items that make ideal gifts.
Oxheys were at Preston Mela on Saturday July 6th 2019, with a stall demonstrating how wool from locally bred sheep had been hand-dyed using locally found wild plants to create a beautifully diverse range of natural, organic coloured yarns suitable for weaving or knitting.
Specially designed frames, produced on a 3D printer, were made available for visitors to select a yarn and then start weaving a square. The squares will then be combined to create a large artwork that will hopefully appear in the Harris Open exhibition later in the year.
Visitors were fascinated by the process of both dyeing and weaving and over one hundred squares were added to the artwork during the few hours that Preston Mela was on. Our Caroline and Evelyn were literally rushed off their feet coping with the interest being shown as visitors were fascinated by the process, as well as by the end results. Many, who initially declined joining in, suddenly found themselves putting down their bags, picking up a frame and starting to weave a square.
We were also pleased to assure those who asked that no sheep were harmed during the process as only their wool was used and in the summer heat, the sheep were probably quite pleased to be relieved of it!
This was Dyeversity in action – it was a multi-generational, multi-gender activity that everyone who took part enjoyed!
The sharp-eyed amongst you may recognise the backdrop in the photos – it was the hand-woven fishing net, made by Caroline, that recently appeared as the Ghost Net in Making A Mark with Preston Youth Theatre.
Making A Mark in Preston last Saturday was our biggest event yet, involving over 30 different artists/musicians/performers or artist groups. It was a fantastic event and the feedback we have received to date shows that everyone really enjoyed the atmosphere and the diversity of activities available.
Here are some galleries featuring more of the images covering the Parade, the Flag Market and the incredible Big Clean-up at the end. We hope you enjoy them. More images here and also on our Facebook page.
Lubaina Himid speaking briefly about the contribution made to the arts in Preston by former Oxheys' landlord, mayor and Councillor Albert Richardson who died last year. Accompanied by Alison the BSL interpreter
What a day on Saturday 15th June, the day for Making A Mark in Preston. The change in weather forecast meant a few last minute changes were needed as the Flag Market can be a little exposed, so we tried to ensure that all those taking part had at least somewhere to shelter if necessary. As it turned out, it was just as well as whilst the sun made an appearance just as the event started and for the first hour or so, it wasn’t long before the rain came.
We are delighted to confirm that Oxheys co-founder Denise Swanson has been awarded a bursary from Contemporary Arts Network North West. This is to assist further development as project organiser for Making A Mark, enabling more opportunities and developing more ideas than the initial plans and funding for the event provided. The outcome of this will benefit all involved, as it will allow more time to widen the scope, opening up more opportunities for artists to be involved or for greater involvement from those already involved, as the project progresses.
One area to gain is the Ghost Net, initially to be a static installation but which now has scope to be developed further into something which will hopefully make the event more engaging and entertaining whilst getting our message across with more clarity.
Keep an eye out for the Ghost Net at the event on 15th June, featuring Preston Youth Theatre performers, fishing net crocheted by Oxheys artist Caroline Finnigan and sea creature costumes made by Caroline and fellow Oxheys artist Evelyn Rose.
Other activities are also being developed further, both for and after the event. Remember – 15 June 2019 12-4pm on the Flag Market, Preston
Making A Mark 2019 is set to be bigger and better than ever. Our Arts Council funding bid was successful so once again we’ve been able to commission local artists and activities. Where last year we addressed the issue of increased use of food banks, this year’s theme addresses the impact of single-use plastics on our oceans.
There is a vibrant selection of activities taking place this year so do please put Saturday 15th June 2019 in your diaries and make sure you are in Preston and on the Flag Market by 12 noon when it all kicks off.
