The Manchester Contemporary
17/18/19 November
Mura Ma will be exhibiting at this year’s Manchester Contemporary.
We will be showing new work by three Mura Ma artists, Emma Richardson, Kate Jacob and Nan Collantine.
The Manchester Contemporary is a collegiate platform for young galleries, artist-led spaces, charitable organisations and partner institutions providing a critically engaged environment for artistic exploration and development.
Immerse yourself in art on 17-19 November 2023 at Manchester Central.
OPENING TIMES
Friday 17 November 17:00-21:00 (Preview)
Saturday 18 November 10:00 – 18:00
Sunday 19 November 10:00 -16:00
precious little paintings
Preview days 16/17/18 November
Opening night Thursday 23 November 7-9pm
Mura Ma has invited 14 contemporary painters to exhibit two small paintings each in our winter show.
Sue Asbury, Nan Collantine, Rob Hall, Ghislaine Howard, Kate Jacob, Josie Jenkins, Joe Kiney-Whitmore, Alison Friend, Jen Orpin, Joe O’Rourke, Georgia Peskett, Jayne Simpson, Helen Thomas, Mike Thorpe.
For a copy of the catalogue and price list please get in touch using button below.
The exhibition is open 16/17/18 November for previewing.
The official opening takes place on Thursday 23 November, 7-9pm. Everyone welcome.
instinctive energies events
with Cara MacWilliam and Candice Swallor
2-11 November 2023
Mura Ma is delighted to be handing over the gallery to the Jennifer Lauren Gallery for a joint exhibition of artwork from Cara Macwilliam and Candice Swallows entitled Instinctive Energies. There are some fantastic events to accompany this exhibition:
Friday 3 November, 7–9pm – Supper Club with local chef Claire Woodier. Book here, for a three course menu & welcome drink, inspired by the artwork of Cara and Candice. BYO wine/beer/spirits, soft drinks provided
Sunday 5 November, 11am–12:30pm – ‘Exploring the unseen’ clay workshop with Cara Macwilliam. Book here for a workshop looking at your internal self and emotions, with polymer clay provided. £10
Thursday 9 November, 6:30–8:30pm – In-person richly illustrated talk about automatic drawing with College of Psychic Studies Curator and Archivist Vivienne Roberts, followed by Q&A with exhibiting artist Cara Macwilliam. Book here for the talk, to include light refreshments. £10
Live with it WRAP PARTY
Saturday 21 October 2.00pm-4.30pm
Join us for a drink to celebrate the final day of Live with it! This Saturday artists Jane and Nancy will be on hand to talk about the artists house installation and guide you around the exhibition.
As exhibition concept Live with it will begin with a series of unseen performative elements, starting with the activation of the space with sculptures by Kat Button and Jane Fairhurst. More than 40 artists have been featured in this blockbuster show, all of whom are artists practising in Manchester and surrounding areas, so this is a great way to see art made locally and by professional artists.
Gallery opens as usual at 11am and the party starts at 2pm.
save the date
Instinctive Energies with Jennifer Lauren Gallery
2-11 November 2023
Mura Ma is delighted to be handing over the gallery to the Jennifer Lauren Gallery for a joint exhibition of artwork from Cara Macwilliam and Candice Swallows entitled Instinctive Energies. A variety of events including workshops, artists talk and supper club dining event will accompany this exhibition.
Cara Macwilliam is a Manchester-based self-taught, disabled visual artist. She started being creative in 2018 during a severe relapse. Living with an energy limiting illness, her work allows her to reconnect to something lost long ago. The repetitive patterns and meticulous details in watercolour pencil and pen, evoke a sense of rhythm and meditation, allowing her to travel into surreal landscapes and mythologies. Macwilliam finds solace and tranquillity within the creative process.
Candice Swallows’ primary practice features layered marks in delicate lines or eruptions of energy across her drawings. Losing her sight aged thirty-one, Swallows has developed a unique way of working with a paper block, allowing her to maintain her independence. When drawing, all her senses work in tandem especially her sense of touch, often touching her face when working. Swallows is part of the pARTnership, an art studio linked to the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool.
About the Gallery
Jennifer Lauren Gallery is run by Jennifer Gilbert – a Manchester-based gallerist, freelance producer and curator, working with disabled, neurodivergent, self-taught, and overlooked artists. In 2017 she launched the Jennifer Lauren Gallery to internationally showcase these artists, having previously spent years managing a national arts charity for under-represented artists. Jennifer is passionate about showcasing the voices and artworks of these artists to wider audiences, allowing their true artistic language to shine.
Photographing your artwork with David Rutter
Sunday 15 October 4-6pm
£20, 15 places available
David Roscoe-Rutter will guide you through a 2 hour workshop designed to help you understand the fundamental principles of photographing your artwork using your camera or smartphone for the purpose of promoting and selling your work through instagram or your website.
During this 2 hour creative workshop expect:
– A short presentation highlighting some of the key ways to get the most out of your camera phone
– Tips for composition and working with light
– Editing from your phone
– Posting to social media
Plus you will have the opportunity to ask questions and put your new found skills to the test by exploring the current exhibition ‘Live With It’ – artist’s house and art take away.
Artwork by Jane McKeating, photographed by Dave Roscoe-Rutter.
Art and the Home with Sarah riccardi
Wednesday 27 September, 7pm-8.30pm
£13.50 includes supper and drink
Sara Riccardi, founder of Art Across invites participants to actively inhabit the space, interacting with the pieces on display and developing a reflection on the relation between art and the home, as a physical and metaphorical concept.
We will consider artists who have integrally merged their domestic spaces and their art, such as the members of the Bloomsbury Group, and we will ask ourselves, and each other, questions around the aesthetic experience of the home, from a sensory to a philosophical point of view. What feels like home? What role does art have in this? What do we consider art within our living spaces?
The evening will be rooted in ultimately very simple concepts – those of home, safety, belonging, on the one hand, and those of creative expression and experience, on the other. Just like the exhibition itself, it will be an open-ended, co-created event.
A bowl of warm food and refreshments is included in the event price ticket.
lessons in colour with ashley aspin
Wednesday 4 October, 7pm-9pm
£25
Unlock the secrets of using colour in the home with decorating and colour consultant Ashley Aspin.
This is an introduction to discovering the secrets of colour and how it influences our emotions and behaviours in the home.
How colour psychology and tonal colour harmony can be applied to great effect in your own living spaces. You’ll find out why you are drawn to certain colours over others and there will be plenty of hints and tips for creating colour schemes for the rooms in your own home.
£25 refreshments included.
the common room | artists lunch
Thursday 21 September 12-2pm
Free
Mura Ma artists monthly get together to discuss art, the scene, opportunities, ideas and bring along some work in progress – max ten people. Bring some food to share, brews are on the house.
Email to confirm you are coming as numbers capped at 10 per meet up.
Live with it / artists talk with Jane Fairhurst and Nan Collantine
Wednesday 6 September, 7pm-8.30pm
Tickets £10
Learn more about the inspiration behind the Live with it exhibition from the co-un-curators, Jane Fairhurst and Nan Collantine.
This talk will investigate the home as a place of creative endeavour, observe and discuss the practice of collecting and arranging, and explore how domestic labour and caring can be reframed as valuable creative capital.
More facilitation than curation, Jane and Nan handed over the installation process for ‘Live with it’ to the artists themselves, beginning with a pre-booked installation slot. Firstly though Jane activated the space with soft sculptures and invited another Cross Street artist Kat Button to join her.
Jane and Nan will consider their own roles in the process and refer to texts and work of artists from the past that have fed into their thinking and the process of putting together the exhibition.
Delving into the work of Francis Bacon, the Art Povera movement, Kirsty Bell, Gaston Bachelard The Poetics of Space, Soetsu Yanagi The Beauty of Everyday Things, artist Sol Calero’s exhibition Casa Encontrada, Shaun McNiff, Trust the Process, this talk promises to be an enlightening evening of discussion.
Refreshments included.
Live with it / artist's house exhibition and art take-away
2 September – 21 October
Preview Friday 1 September 7pm-9pm
Mura Ma has invited 30 artists from across the North help to co-create our latest exhibition, ‘Live with it’ – an art installation, exhibition, performance piece, art take-away and home store rolled into one to explore the idea of the home as an artistic practice.
Facilitated by artists Jane Fairhurst and Nan Collantine, who have handed over the installation process to the artists themselves, Live with it will begin with a series of unseen performative elements, starting with the activation of the space with sculptures by Kat Button and Jane Fairhurst.
The exhibition will be accompanied with a varied events programme and workshops. Join our mailing list to find out more.
PAINTERS IN CONVERSATION - with the mye painting collective
Thursday 17 August 2023
7pm-8.30pm
This artists talk will offer an insight into the MYE collective, and their respective painting practices and what brings them together for this project.
United in a deep engagement with the practice of painting and a willingness to dig deep into their medium to develop their own vision, this talk will reveals the results of a challenging unpacking and rebuilding of their practices over the past three years whilst studying for the MFA in painting at Manchester School of Art.
Free event, includes refreshments.
Subtle Rebellion, helen and david roscoe rutter
21 July – 5 August
Preview 7pm-9pm
Manchester-based visual artists Helen and David Roscoe-Rutter will be presenting a two week long residency comprising photography, short films and a series of creative, immersive events at Mura Ma Art Space from the 21st July to 5th August..
Helen and David share a body of work that is both new, reflective and interactive. Ideas that have been drawn from communities they have either formed, lived or traveled through and explore the subtle shifts and connections that are felt in community.
EVENTS – to book please link below
21 July Subtle Rebellion opens 11am
21 July Opening night 7-9pm RSVP studio@roscoerutter.com
24 July Gentle Yoga morning class
26 July Yoga, Self-care and the Menopause evening workshop
27 July Meditation and Gentle Yoga evening classes
29 July Yoga & Sound Bath evening
30 July Get the most out of your camera phone workshop
31 July Gentle Yoga & Family Friendly Yoga morning classes
2 August Get the most out of your phone camera workshop
3 August Meditation and Gentle Yoga evening classes
the art of desire with art historian sara riccardi
Thursday 13 July
7pm-8.30pm
£12 plus booking fee
Emma Richardson’s paintings are an expression of the artist’s ideas and research about female desire.
This evening, facilitated by art historian Sara Riccardi, founder of Art Across, will provide a space to explore personal responses to the paintings, contextualising them within the artist’s influences, and in the broader context of representations of intimacy, sexuality and desire in art.
Sara has worked on the theme of intimacy and art for a few years, and is passionate about the idea of self-discovery through the experience of responding to art. She will share her own journey with the paintings in the exhibition, and her responses to them, both from a personal and from an art-historical point of view. Participants are invited to join in, share their own responses, and discover something new about themselves and others in the encounter with the art.
Includes refreshments.
A sensuous supper club with market chef, Claire Woodier
Friday 23 June
7pm-9pm
£48
An immersive evening, inspired by Emma Richardson’s paintings exploring the relationships and experiences of rapture.
Claire Woodier, Market Chef will be serving an exciting amuse bouche, followed by perfectly and imperfectly intertwined flavours and textures, ending with a luxurious and heady dessert.
To see the menu and to book tickets click the link below. Limited availability.
the common room | artists lunch
Thursday 15 June 12-2pm
Mura Ma artists monthly get together to discuss art, the scene, opportunities, ideas and work in progress – max ten people. Bring some food to share, brews are on the house.
Email to confirm you are coming as numbers capped at 10 per meet up.
Emma Richardson, hang each night in rapture
9 June – 15 July, preview Thursday 8 June, 7-9pm
Mura Ma is delighted to present a brand new body of work by artist Emma Richardson. The title of the exhibition is taken from the 1980’s Blondie track, ‘Rapture’ and reflects the artist’s interests in themes relating to desire, transcendence and connection.
Emma Richardson is a painter who graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, London with a BA Honors in Fine Art in 2004. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in London, Southampton, Hong Kong and Barcelona.
Her paintings are held in private collections in Canada, America, Italy, Spain and the UK. Alongside painting Richardson is also a musician, and previously wrote and performed worldwide with Band of Skulls for over ten years. Her paintings appear on a selection of their album and single releases. She lives and works in London, UK.
Louise West, Aevum
13 April – 6 May
Preview Wednesday 12 April, 7pm-9pm
A solo exhibition of paintings by Dublin artist, Louise West.
The exhibition, titled ‘Aevum’ presents a significant body of work in which West combines a contemporary perspective on the still life tradition, with her sublime use of paint to imbue forlorn and forgotten objects with a force of love, humour and hope.
The preview will take place on Wednesday 12 March, RSVP using button below.
stories of still life with art historian sara riccardi
Thursday 18 May
7pm-8.30pm
£12 plus booking fee
What inspires artists to create pieces that celebrate common objects?
Still life is a centuries-old subject in painting, and it has been re-interpreted infinite times – yet, it is still a very fertile and stimulating source of creative expression.
In this event, art historian Sara Riccardi, founder Art Across, will bridge the personal, contemporary still lives created by West with the historical tradition of still life painting. Examples from the Dutch Golden Age, through to the 20th century, will contextualise the pieces in the exhibition. The evening will be an opportunity to explore the many conversations that still life can inspire, and to bring our own perspective, stories and responses to a very rich subject that was instead, in past centuries, placed at the bottom of the artistic hierarchy.
Includes refreshments.
Aevum elevensies supper
Saturday 13 May
7pm-9pm
£48
A very special dining experience in response to the current exhibition of paintings by Louise West.
Created by Claire Woodier, Market Chef in response to the nostalgic memories Louise West refers to in her paintings, the objects and the traditions of growing up with her extended family of aunts and grandparents in Ireland.
To see the menu and to book tickets click the link below.
Joey Collins Mechanical confection
NEW OPENING DATE: 18 March – 1 April
Preview Friday 17 March 7pm-9pm
Mechanical Confection is a solo exhibition of new work by Manchester artist, Joey Collins.
A significant exhibition of Joey’s most recent body of work which embodies layered and laboured processes of drawing, screenprinting, collaging and digital compositioning.
The preview will take place on Friday 17 March, RSVP using button below.
Edgelessness finissage
Saturday 25 February 2023, 11am – 4.30pm
Free event
Join us to celebrate the final day of our debut exhibition, Edgelessness. All four painters will be here for our closing party for the chance to talk to them about their work and the exhibition.
CREATIVE WELLBEING DAY WITH RACHAEL ADDIS
Sunday 12 February 2023, 10am – 5pm
£76, including materials
Join one of our opening exhibition artists, the Royal Academy of Arts trained artist, Rachael Addis for a tranquil creative day in which you can explore a range of creative techniques that can help your health and wellbeing. Techniques will include meditative drawing, journaling and colour therapy.
Rachael Addis’ creative practice has been informed by meditation. During the day she will give insight into the techniques developed to promote wellbeing in her practice.
Rachael has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has 20 years’ teaching experience.
SPRING QUIET WITH HELEN ROSCOE
Sunday 19 February 2023, 10am – 12.30pm
£20-£25
A morning of yoga and mindfulness practices with Helen Roscoe designed to inspire creative thought.
Fully booked