Artlandish February Newsletter

Hello Dear Artlandishers,

We have plenty going on at Artlandish and thought it would be prudent to let you all know what’s happening, what’s on and what’s coming up. 

We cannot believe we are over half way through the project now! Much, much more to come and plenty of opportunities to engage, please read on for more details. We have a new calendar on our website, it makes it super easy to see what we are doing, check it out.
https://www.artlandish.co.uk/calendar/​

Last Exhibition Opportunity 

Here Without Home 

Here Without Home brings together the central themes explored throughout the whole programme: loss, displacement and belonging. It asks what it means to exist in a space where home is no longer secure, whether through conflict, domestic abuse or other forms of forced leaving.

This open call invites individuals with lived experience, as well as those who wish to approach the subject through empathy and reflection, to respond creatively. Artists and contributors are encouraged to work in any medium, including visual art, text, poetry, film, photography, sound or installation, to express the emotional landscape of being without home.

The exhibition seeks work that conveys vulnerability, resilience, uncertainty and hope. It creates space for personal interpretation while recognising the weight of the subject matter.

Here Without Home aims to gather diverse voices and perspectives, offering a collective exploration of what it means to lose home and to imagine rebuilding it.

If you require more information please email: info@artlandish.co.uk

Flee Exhibition Details

We are very pleased with all the submissions for the next exhibition called Flee. This is a look at what it may feel like if you had to leave everything behind, how items can hold significance, wrapped in memory and what is most precious to us. 

You are invited to come and view the works at the Private View on Thursday the 26^th of February from 7pm, to explore the work, where you will find some stunning and thought provoking pieces, which will gain empathy for those that have suffered such trauma.

There still is time to submit work get your submission in by the 20th of Feb.

Charms of Belonging Workshop

Tomorrow afternoon from 2pm-6pm we have the second Charms of Belonging workshop.

We were blown away by the attendance last week, so many wonderful and thoughtful creations and great links and conversations were had. You don’t have to be there for the whole thing, so if you fancy a bit of Folk Art creating, just drop in and enjoy the vibe. All free, including the tea, coffee and biscuits 🙂

For the next few weeks we will continue to have folk-focused arts and craft workshops, and will be making anything you can dream up, along with lanterns and a large scale puppet for something wonderful that will be happening at the end of the project. So come down and get involved. Plenty of tea and chat – inclusive and free for all!

Artlandish present a two day Arts Event

Join us and shake off winter with workshops, music and general frolicking – all welcome.
More details to follow

Poetry Without Home Workshop

Tomorrow night, the 18^th of February, we have our third poetry evening from 7pm-9pm. The last two have been cracking. We have created some interesting works and learnt about structure and dynamic effects. In every session something new is learned, and something interesting created.

We are hoping to perform some of the works at the ‘Artlandishing’ event in March, but there’s still time for you to come down and enjoy a bit of wordsmithery – it’s a small but inclusive group but we’d love to make it bigger so come on down and have a play. Check dates below for other sessions. 

Compassionate Message to the Homeless Project

On Friday 20th & 27th February we have two stitch workshops, where you will be able to come down and stitch a square with a ‘compassionate message to the homeless’ on it. 

We have quite a few beautiful squares that folks have done but there is still a way to go if we are going to build a sleeping bag, but it may end up as a beautiful quilt. 

There will be tea and chatter and it will be a great social meet up for experienced and novice stitchers alike.

There will be an opportunity to learn some free motion embroidery techniques, and for us to share tales and just have a good natter. 

We do have some materials for you to use but also feel free to bring your own. 

Our First Film Night

On Saturday the 21^st February we have our first FILM night.

Chosen especially by our film crew we have two short films that represent our theme, 

Please come along, refreshments and maybe even popcorn will be available. 

We realise this is a lot of information (and dates!) to take in, so feel free to use the calendar on the website for a more concise overview of what is happening, when, and where 🙂
https://www.artlandish.co.uk/calendar/

Thanks so much for supporting us – your energy keeps this project flourishing!

Film Club (FREE!)

The calendar has now been fixed to be entirely legible (!) and updated to include all know upcoming events – it’s looking busy for the next 7 weeks! Have a browse and hopefully see you at some of them 🙂

Hi all, we’ve added a new calendar feature to the site, to make it much easier to navigate what’s happening and when, and see at-a-glance dates for submission deadlines, events, exhibitions & workshops. Click on entries in the calendar to get more details.

Check it out by clicking on ‘calendar’ in the menu, or you can also click here

Thanks, The Artlandish Team 🙂

Wednesday 4th 2-6pm – House Building join us for part 2 of the Cardboard house workshop, a great chance for simple crafting, tea & chatter, all welcome

Wednesday 4th 7-9pm Poetry Workshop – This is the second opportunity to come play with words in a low pressure fun environment

Thursday/Friday/Saturday- last chance to view the No Place like Home exhibition 7, Gomond street open 11-5pm

So plenty on, get involved 🙂

Artlandish are excited to be pairing with the amazing Weirdshire to put on more performance nights in the Project Space at 4, Gomond Street, Hereford

First gig with this collaboration is the amazing Si Patton and the Retinal Circus on the 11th of February, doors at 7pm. Entrance fee is £10 on the door.

Weirdshire says: We’re delighted to have Si come back and play again, after his storming performance last September at The Victory (which also saw the once and only once performance of the legendary Vibe Destroyer, for those lucky enough to have been there).

Si is an academic, with a fluxus influenced approach to performance, freely improvising and noise generating on his bass. It’s going to be another great one.

And we’re also really chuffed to be able to bring Retinal Circus to Weirdshire to perform – Craigus has been around the Weirdshire and Unorthodox Paradox scene for a long time. Onetime prolific singer songwriter turned multi instrumentalist composer, his music in trio, duo and solo format has been described as “mutant shifting acid fried psych pop”. Retinal Circus will be solo for this performance.

Tonight is the night for our first FREE performance night, we are excited to present Child Owlet, a previous Hereford resident now living in Weston-Super-Mare, bringing his dark folk vibe to the space, it is truly compelling and vibrant. 

Opening up the evening is Bertram ‘that Geeza bird’, they will be rapping their poetry, with commentary that will invoke mini sing alongs and dazzling commentary on life today. We will also be showing a couple of poetry reels that have been created by Artlandish members, so a mixed bag of wonderful diversity. We also have an installation in the upstairs space. 

It’s FREE IN, so please join us for art, music and poetry – because without you, we are nothing.

We’d love it you could join us for this, we had a wonderful time last week making cardboard houses, so much so we are going to do it all again this Wednesday, a gentle time to craft and create, drinking tea and chatting whilst being busy with our hands.

Drop in any time between 2-6pm Wednesday 4^th of February. 

Link to a Facebook reel…

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1446714137020845

…what do you mean you’re not part of the Artlandish Facebook group? Get involved 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeshires/

Quick look at what’s on this week! 

Visit our ‘There’s No Place like Home’ exhibition and catch up on the Private View

Check out our new exhibition opportunity ‘Flee’, open for all the community

Create in our free House building workshop, tea and chatter while creating cardboard houses

Attend our first Performance Night, see poetry, film and musical performances for free

Update on Poetry club 

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Opening exhibition @ Artlandish, Hereford:
‘There’s no place like home‘ – part of the Here Without Home Project

There’s No Place Like Home is the first exhibition in Artlandish’s three-month community arts project Here Without Home, exploring what it means to live without the safety, comfort, or the certainty of a place to call home.

This opening exhibition reflects on sanctuary, belonging, and identity — asking what ‘home’ is, and how important it is. 

Through artwork created with and alongside the community, the exhibition sets the emotional and artistic foundation for the wider project.

Here Without Home will go on to explore homelessness in all its forms, including the often-unseen experiences of:
• Sofa surfing and hidden homelessness
• Temporary or unsafe accommodation
• Street homelessness
• People displaced by war and persecution
• Families and individuals escaping domestic abuse
• Anyone living in limbo, between places, or without stable shelter

There’s No Place Like Home invites visitors to begin this journey with us – to look closely, to listen deeply, and to imagine a community where everyone can belong.

We were all set up and just waiting for people to arrive. Always a scary moment.

Number 7 was full of folks looking at the works and enjoying chatting to each other, we had over 65 people during the course of the evening, and we were very pleased with the reception.

New Exhibition Opportunity

Artlandish Presents a Community Art Exhibition

FLEE: The Suitcase Project

What would you take with you if you had to leave everything behind?
Not just the objects you own, but the memories, the hopes, the small comforts that make life bearable.

Artlandish invites artists and non-artists alike to explore this question through art, music, film and poetry. 

These suitcases carry stories in form. Some hold words, some hold music or poetry some hold shapes, some hold the weight of quiet courage. Some are light, some are impossibly heavy.

Each suitcase becomes part of a larger installation: a fragile, temporary neighbourhood of journeys, a map of resilience, of departure, and of hope.

Suitcases can be symbolic vessels that carry what cannot be left behind, or what is needed to survive.  The project is about movement, choice, and the intimate reality of leaving.

It honours and includes those who have fled war, abuse, or unsafe homes — and it asks all of us to imagine what it might mean to step into uncertainty, carrying only what matters most.

This is a space to think, to imagine, to feel and share — to consider what we carry with us, and what it means to move forward when home is no longer safe.

How to get involved:

Art

Make a suitcase or use a small suitcase to fill with evocative objects. Hand made, or not, these objects convey a message or perhaps tell a story or express emotion. We can help you do this if you’ve not been in an exhibition before.  We invite folks who feel called to this project but haven’t done anything like this before to come to our free sessions at our project space where we can help you to identify and express what you are feeling to achieve your goals in a low pressure environment, in our Project Space on the 27^th of January, 3^rd of February & the 10^th of February at 4, Gomond Street, Hereford.
Message info@artlandish.com.uk  for more information. 

 Poetry

Create poetry or submit works that echo the theme.  We can help you to do this. Come to our free poetry nights on the 4^th of February and the 18^th of February where we will be looking at these themes in a low pressure environment, in our Project Space at 4, Gomond Street, Hereford.
Message info@artlandish.co.uk  for more information 

Music

Create music with this theme in mind. We have performance events that will allow you to share your music live, or we can use your digital creations in our gallery and to put with short films that folks are creating.
Message info@artlandish.co.uk for more information.

Film

Make short films, with us or on your own. Tell a story or express emotions connected to this theme. Come to our free film club nights where you can learn to use cameras and how to edit from our team in a low pressure environment, in our project space at 4, Gomond Street, Hereford.
Message  info@artlandish.co.uk for more information.

The only limit is your imagination.

Submissions close on the 14^th of February 

The exhibition opens with a Private View on Friday 20^th February at 7pm and closes on Sunday 8th March at 5pm

How to Submit your work –  

Email  info@artlandish.co.uk  and share ideas, drawings, photos of what you are planning, we are excited to see what you can come up with, this is an inclusive exhibition for artists and non-artists alike so do not feel intimated, all welcome. 

House Building Workshop 

Join us for a fun housing building workshop, expect tea and chatter and a fun time just making simple crafts. ALL WELCOME.

Our First Performance Evening 

Artlandish are pleased to announce our first multi disciplinary performance night, it’s the first of many to come and we would love you to be there. We will be having two live acts and showing some of the poetry films to kick things off, expect the unexpected and prepare to be entertained.

Child Owlet will be playing some evocative dark folk, and Bertram the Geeza Bird will be rapping their poetry, which will be bringing the context of the project into focus. As always it’s a free gig so you’d be mad to miss it. Doors at 7pm – be there or be square 

Poetry Club Update

Week One; There was a tiny group of five at the first session. We called it ‘the acorn’, in hopes that more folks might come and help us grow into a mighty oak poem machine.

We looked at the form of a modern sonnet, focussing on the subject of ‘doors’, which reflected the lack of privacy that homeless people encounter. We played around with structure and context, then composed and recomposed our poems. Lots of fun, learning and playful experimentation with words was had by all.

By the end of the evening everyone had created something that was special to us.

We’d love for you to join us at the next session on Wednesday 4th February at 7pm, in number 4 Gomond street Hereford.

That’s all for now, keep your eye on the website for more updates, and please do get in touch if you would like to contribute or help out in any way, have any feedback, or would just like to chat about what we’re doing 🙂