The Easton Arts Trail 2009
Welcome to the third Easton Arts Trail, which takes place in Easton’s open houses, cafes, pubs and community venues and in the open spaces, streets and cycle paths in between on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June 2009, from 11am to 6pm. This year more than 40 venues and over 100 artists, makers and performers are taking part in what promises to be another dazzling celebration of Easton’s creativity. We are also proud to announce 12 new temporary, site-specific installations, workshops and performances that are sited in the streets, open spaces and along the Bristol to Bath cycle path as part of this year’s arts trail. We hope these added attractions will encourage more of you to complete the whole of the Easton Arts Trail this year - so get your walking shoes on!
Below are edited highlights of this year’s arts trail. However, you can see where all the venues are by visiting our amazing interactive map at Venue Map and find out who is taking part by visiting Artists & Performers, and there are more details about the 12 new Open Space Installations, Performances & Workshops below too. Free guides/maps to the event will be delivered to every home and business in Easton during the first week of June and you should also be able to pick up guides/maps at most pubs, cafes and community centres in Easton from 15 June too.
Please also note: You can download a printable .pdf version of the guide below by visiting Your Guide To EAT09
Your Guide To The Easton Arts Trail 09
This year there are two big group exhibitions taking place in the Easton Community Centre on Kilburn Road and at St Marks Road Baptist Church, and there’s an exhibition of student’s work at Silai For Skills on Easton Road too. You can also see art exhibitions and/or hear live music at The Chelsea Inn, The Greenbank Pub, Cafe Maitreya and the Thali Cafe - please check with each venue for more details. There are also group exhibitions at at Salaam Shalom at no 404 (above BMCs) and at Breadolution at no 427 on Stapleton Road, and at Kebele Community Cooperative on Robertson Road.
At the heart of the Easton Arts Trail are the small group and solo exhibitions in the 21 Open Houses (& gardens). Make sure you visit the open houses on the outer edges of the trail as they are definitely worth the extra mile: from Vicarage Road to Turley Road and from Northcote Road to Robertson Road and everything in between there’s so much to see! There are also two special exhibitions of local children’s artwork at St Marks Road Baptist Church and at Baggator at The Pickle Factory on All Hallows Road so there’s something on offer for everyone.
Special Events & Workshops:
Easton Arts Trail Launch Party - Friday 19 June, from 9pm
We’d also like to invite you all to the Easton Arts Trail launch party at The Plough on Kilburn Road (opposite the Easton Community Centre) on Friday 19 June from 9pm until late, with our very own djs Stu Bigfoot, Marcus ‘dj booth’ Campbell and Disco Dave. Big thanks to Stu for organising this party for us again this year.
Easton Community Choir - Saturday 20 June, from 2pm
One of the highlights of last year’s arts trail was the performance by the Easton Community Choir. We are delighted to announce that Sheila Tang will lead the choir again this year as they perform a host of inspirational songs. They will be performing in the Easton Community Centre from 2pm on Saturday 20 June.
Saturday Night at The Plough, Saturday 20 June, from 8pm
Live music from Easton based blues band The Smokestack Shakers. Take the sound of the delta slide guitar add a pinch of simmering blues harmonica and slowly blend in the finest bluebeat, ska and latin rhythm and you have…The Smokestack Shakers. This will be followed by a DJ set by DanW playing a mix of ska, soul, funk and old school reggae.
The night also includes a showing of two locally made films made by NIGHT IN EASTON and HERITAGE RESEARCH PROJECT. The films are:
- VOICES: a documentary featuring honest and fascinating and moving migration stories of people living in Easton.
- NIGHT IN EASTON: a gritty piece of community art house film with fictional but typical of the larger than life characters to be found in Easton.
This event runs from 8pm until late and will cost £5 on the door.
Arab Egyptian Dance - Sunday 21 June, from 2pm
Maria Krajnik-Dachraoui and friends will be performing a selection of Arab Egyptian Dances, followed by a free taster workshop suitable for all abilities. The performance starts at 2pm on Sunday 21 June in the Sunshine Room upstairs at the Easton Community Centre.
Kebele Screen Printing Workshops - All Weekend
Kebele Community Collection on Robertson Road will be running free screen printing workshops all weekend - bring along a plain t-shirt and join in. Please check with venue for full details or email place2006@linuxwaves.com for more information.
Baggator Children’s Art Workshops - All Weekend
Baggator at The Pickle Factory on All Hallows Road invite children to come along to help create a giant sculpture for the centre. This workshop will be run as a drop in session all weekend, but a responsible adult or guardian must accompany children at all times.
NEW FOR 2009:
EAT09 Open Space Installations, Performances & Workshops
Following on from the success of last year’s Cycle Path Bursaries, the Easton Arts Trail Steering Group is pleased to announce the creation of 12 new site-specific installations, guided tours, performances and workshops that will take place in the open spaces around this year’s trail. They have been commissioned to help to create exciting and interesting links between the arts trail venues and to encourage more visitors to complete the whole of the arts trail.
Thanks go to Bristol City Council’s Arts, Festivals & Events Team for the grant funding that has enabled us to provide small bursaries for 10 out of 12 of the Open Space Installations, Performances & Workshops. Special thanks to Evie Wonder for ‘Edge - Performance meets Foraging’ and to Nikki Petch, lead artist for the ‘Summer Solstice Poetry Workshop’ which they are kindly providing for us without any funding.
Live Street Art: Easton Community Centre - Electricity Station, Saturday 20 June (Sunday 21 June if it’s raining)
Well known Bristol Street Artist Silent Hobo has been working closely with a group of disadvantaged young people at the Trinity Arts Centre over the last few months. The group has been developing a site-specific design for a new graffiti piece for the walls of the Electricity Station beside the Easton Community Centre. Come along to see the team spray the piece live on Saturday 20 June (or on Sunday 21 June if it’s raining).
Edge - Performance meets Foraging: Meeting at The Easton Community Centre at 2pm on Saturday 20 June
Evie Wonder guides you on a walk along our celebrated urban greenway and wildlife corridor: the Bristol to Bath Railway Path. Exploring how our lives intersect and exchange with this space on the edge, the walk traverses the Easton section of the path to take you on a journey that connects many of the creative venues of the Easton Arts Trail. The focus on this walk will be to collect an edible or useful wild plant. The walk will be a collective act; part performance/ part workshop/ part forage/ part exchange of observations and responses. Evie Wonder will use performance to share and re-trace some of her and others experiences and memories of this green space. Meet at the Easton Community Centre at 2pm on Saturday. The walk will be approximately an hour long and can be joined or departed at any point. This walk will still go ahead in drizzle and light rain but maybe postponed in the event of heavy downpour and storms.
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party: Easton Community Centre Garden, Saturday 20 June, 3-5pm
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party will take place in the Easton Community Centre Garden on Saturday 20 June from 3pm. Local children dressed in fancy dress outfits will take part in this special tea party performance, inviting visitors to join in the fun and share the tea and cakes. Local artist and ceramists Berni Vinton will create a special Alice in Wonderland tea service for this installation and will take a lead role in the tea party making sure fun is had by all.
Summer Solstice Poetry Workshop & Performance: Easton Community Centre Garden, Sunday 21 June, workshop from 1-3.30pm & performance from 4pm
This workshop is designed to encourage the creation of a group poem during the longest day of the year. Come along to help create and contribute to Easton’s longest ever poem. One sentence will be written by each visitor with the workshop leader, Nikki Petch, providing the first line. Budding poets are also invited to come along to write their own-self-directed poem in this glorious space, be still with nature and allow your inner creativity to emerge. This workshop will be followed by a performance of the Summer Solstice Group Poem and by an open mic session (first come, first served).
Hemisphere: East Side Roots Community Garden Centre, Stapleton Road Station
The Guardian newspaper recently stated that “15 of the world’s biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world’s 760 million cars.” This installation focuses on the movement of consumer products around the planet. The artists, Tim Floyd and Baljinder Bhopal, intend to mix together locally sourced sustainable materials with materials that have been shipped around the globe, used and discarded in this unique installation. They intend to avoid the use of fossil fuels in the process of construction. Hand tools will be used to build the structure and all the materials will be collected by hand and transported to the site by bicycle.
Sedated By A Brick - Community Ties: Junction 14 of the cycle path from Bruce Road towards the Easton Community Centre, Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June, 12-3pm
Local performance company, Sedated By A Brick, will be creating a time-based performance and installation along the cycle path entitled ‘Community Ties’. Visitors will be encouraged to write a message on the neck ties which will then be tied together to create an ever-growing chain along the cycle path between Bruce Road and the Easton Community Centre.
Six Pieces Of Chocolate: Chocolate Factory along Cooperation Road
Six of Bristol’s most prolific street artists have been commissioned to create site specific pieces for six blocked up doorways to the Chocolate Factory along Cooperation Road. These pieces will be created during the run up to the arts trail and will act as an outdoor art gallery creating an extra draw to this corner of the trail. See the work of Silent Hobo, Motorboy, Sepr, Dan, 3dom and The Fly in this semi-permanent outdoor gallery. Special thanks to Squarepeg for their permission and support for this project.
Henry’s Juggling Workshop & Acoustic Music Sessions: Corner of Turley Road and Greenbank Road outside the Greenbank Cemetery gates, Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June, 12noon - 2pm
Come along to watch Henry’s entertaining juggling demonstration using balls and clubs, followed by a free workshop for the young and old. Learn how to do a three ball cascade or a five club passing pattern, you can also try the diablo and devil-sticks. There will also be a live performance of humorous satirical songs followed by an informal acoustic music session. Juggling and live music will take place on Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June, 12noon - 2pm.
Flutter: Bloy Street
Textile Artist, Angeline Carroza, got her original inspiration for this installation from the sound that a plastic bag makes when it’s caught in a tree and from time spent watching Monarch butterflies fluttering about. By using recycled and reclaimed materials to create this installation she intends to explore the inter-relation of nature and non-organic materials and how they coexist together in the modern world.
Acrobatic Star Installation: St Marks Baptist Church Terrace
Easton based artist Simon Davis will create a free standing three metre high sculpture made from reclaimed car panels. The installation will be sited in the front terrace area of St Marks Baptist Church and it represents creative collaboration with each star shaped panel relying on the support of the next to create this structure. More of the artist’s work can be seen as part of the group exhibition inside the church.
Train Carriage Workshops: Railway Trains from Templemeads & Clifton Downs and Stapleton Road Railway Station, Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 June
A series of short workshops will be provided free of charge to passengers (especially children) of the train service between Bristol Temple Meads and Clifton Downs as it runs through Stapleton Road Railway Station. Passengers will be asked to contribute words or drawings based on the theme of travel/journeys these will later combine to make a single installation. The workshops will take place on Saturday 20 June and the exhibition of work created during these workshops will be on display on the railings at Stapleton Road Railway Station alongside East Side Roots Garden Centre on Sunday 21 June. Contact jessicamarycooke@yahoo.co.uk for more information and for train times for the workshops. The workshops are free but please remember to buy a valid ticket for travel before getting on the train.
Stencil Street Art Workshop: Kensington Park, Sunday 21 June from 12noon-4pm
Local artist and resident, Kerry Russell, will be running a free stencil based street art workshop creating a Caribbean themed mural that will help to brighten up this cut through from the M32 underpass as it connects to Stapleton Road. Come along between 12noon and 4pm on Sunday 21 June to take part in this free workshop to learn how to make your own stencils and to help create this new community mural. Special thanks to the owners of Nisa on Stapleton Road for permission to use their wall.
More From The Easton Arts Trail Organisers
The Easton Arts Trail is organised by volunteers from the local community who have created an annual community event that celebrates the quality and diversity of creativity in Easton. We are an artist-led organisation, founded in December 2006 by local artists, with the aim of showcasing the broad range of creative talent in Easton by providing a platform for local artists, makers and performers to promote and develop their work in their community. We are always looking for volunteers to help co-ordinate the event and for more artists and performers to take part, if you are interested in getting involved email info@eastonartstrail.co.uk.
We would like to say a big thank you to Ruth Essex, Easton’s Community Arts Officer and to Bristol City Council’s Arts, Festivals & Events Team for the grant we received from the Community Festival & Event Fund.
Opening hours for the event are 11am - 6pm on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June unless otherwise stated. We really hope that you enjoy all that the Easton Arts Trail has to offer, and we look forward to seeing you out in the streets of Easton with your map in hand, supporting this fantastic event and all the artists, makers and performers that make it possible.
love & paint
Sally Reay, Chair
Rebecca Ellis, Treasurer
How to Get Here If You Don’t Live Here Already
We are really keen to encourage visitors from outside Easton, so invite your friends from outside the area and tell them they can jump on the train or the bus or get on their bikes to come and explore Easton during this year’s arts trail.
By bus - get either the No 48 or No 49 from Bristol Town Centre or from Fishponds, both buses run along Stapleton Road, ask the driver to let you off near St Marks Road.
By train - there’s an hourly service from Temple Meads and Clifton Downs to Stapleton Road Railway Station.
By bicycle - you can also get to Easton via the Bristol to Bath cycle path, park up at the Easton Community Centre for best access to the Easton Arts Trail.
