Refllection on recent events

Today saw the culmination of a lot of planning and collaboration for two small but significant Shallal Dance Theatre events.

Saturdays procession with Make and Mends and todays 10 min performance at The Ladder for a visit from the HRH Duchess of Gloucester, who stayed to chat with everyone immediately after the performance.

Dean Evans greeted her with some Passmore words and Jo L was there story telling ( for Writers block ) to a room full of under 5's and parents, so it felt a 'family affair' with tea and cake afterwards. Thank you to Felix and Josh for inviting us, it's inspiring to see The Ladder develop and open up more and more.

I have heard many good comments from the dance performed in response to Janets paintings and Amys soundscape, on Saturday at Back Lane West, congratulations to Becky, Anna, Miles and Zoe.  We work to give dance artists autonomy and confidence in their style, process and collaborations and it works, as shown by how well they did and the wonderful feedback from the audience. 

 Since the pandemic the cross over between groups which Zoom enabled and the relative availability of Shallal artists has meant we sometimes feel more like a loose collective,  today the feedback was how much joy and freedom people can feel from the performers even from a short performance, we are like a family and are a strong community. This always requires work, it is never something you can take for granted, and we need the special 'holding' understanding of each persons unique needs, but once our vulnerabilities are accepted/held then wonderful things can happen, in the creative space/moment.

Eddie and Zoe represent many of the sides and talents in Shallal and were there today, with Demelza signing the Lighthouse poem, Star and Colin in the puppets, Debs, and Jilly dancing  and Kerry T speaking her moving Silent Voice of Nature poem, which we ended with.

We managed to mention Signing needing to be taught in schools from early years onwards, and What  would Passmore do now?, some of our favourite topics!

Also playgrounds for people with disabilities might be a new one, Debs mentioned it today and i know Stewart worked on one in London. We might join it up with our research and Situated Action thinking, ' play ' is vital. Toilets that's another topic and oh so many!

Very nice to be asked on Creative Communities Advisory group, going in with Universal Design, Equity, Access, Culture Declares Emergency, Doughnut Economics, circular sustainable approaches and global crisis responses hats on!!

Podcast 8 out now 

Back Lane West Sharing on Saturday 1-4pm, Anna and I will be there with coffee and cake do drop in to have a chat and see the range of art produced.

HRH Duchess of Gloucester with everyone
Jilly, Andy - supporting Eddie -, Eddie, Star hidden, Duchess of Gloucester,
Ruby, Debs, Colin, Zoe and Demelza

Dean with Amanda from Writers Block,
 who have their installation at The Ladder

Josh and Dean
Passmore bust inbetween

procession paused outside Make and Mends

Debs at Back Lane West - photo George

Joseph’s Fancy Landscapes Crazy Cows exhibition price list

 Joseph’s Fancy Landscapes Crazy Cows

Exhibition by Joseph Wheeler 

Proper Job Cafe, County Hall Truro

Farmers Fields 

  Acrylic on canvas £35

Tehidy Woods 

  Acrylic on canvas £40

Hayle Beach

    Oils and acrylic mix £85

Small landscape 

    Acrylic on canvas £35

Landscape 

   Acrylic on canvas £40

Chocolate and cream cow. 

    Not for sale

Feeling Blue 

    Pens £15

Heart Cow 

    Pens 

    Unframed £15 Framed £40

Cow Love 

      Pens

      Unframed £20 Framed £40

Vanilla and Mango Cow £100

Fat and skinny cow

    Oils on canvas £100

Tough cow

      Acrylic on canvas £120

Tubby miniature cow 

     Acrylic £30

 Wonky Cow

    Oils on canvas £210

Payment:

Shallal Donate button https://shallal.org/donate 

Please text or whats app to let us know or to arrange BACS  07505 983710

Zoom art and news

 Still getting joy from seeing Art and Dancing on Zoom

blogging this as i tidy my laptop and think of tomorrows zoom session

It's easier to capture art, we show our work beginning and end of our session, we have themes, if we want to or not, freedom.

2 weeks ago

2 years ago!

Since then we have had:
 one themed online exhibition Hands,
one group exhibition SOIL,
2 illustrated stories on you tube
and now Josephs second showing of his solo exhibition - see previous blog!

We skip around styles, exercises and music choices in Dance,
playfully interacting with each other via the screen or happily in our own 'dream.'

We hope to reach out to more people now we have Bobby onboard advertising and spreading the word.


NEWS
So much on; Congratulations to the Studios for a great Zine launch with more opportunities to print posters with Redruth Press on Saturday at The Ladder.
Friday Shallal Dance Theatre skipped in and out of the rain, to film and research and feel the pulse of the Barbara Hepworth sculptures in the garden and draw in the afternoon, we will be back again soon
for more R&D with composer Matt Thomason.
Many thanks to the Tate who were fantastic hosts.

This Saturday sees Flamm and Make and Mends procession in Redruth!

Thanks again to Bobby, we now enjoy a diary showing all we do, we hope to share some of it publicly soon, so you can follow us more easily.

Behind the scenes exciting training to be planned and delivered by us and guests,
and
Situated Action, Improvisation and Play - flying around in emails with Jamie Moran with hopes for a podcast in the new year.

Tomorrow a podcast with new trustee Elizabeth Tomos,
touching on education, XR and other areas of interest
which leads me back to tidying my laptop to make storage for it!

BLW is on,
 a great day had by George, Steve and Debs,
short surprise film and walls to be cleaned.

Joseph’s Fancy Landscapes Crazy Cows at Proper Job Cafe, County Hall, Truro

Good news that Joseph's exhibition is on tour! next stop the Proper Job cafe at County Hall.

https://planetradio.co.uk/pirate-fm/local/news/proper-job-project-cornwall/

Anna and I are installing it tomorrow...

not sure how long it will be up for!

Joseph’s Fancy Landscapes Crazy Cows

Paintings by Joseph Wheeler. 

Joseph is 29 and lives in St Ives. He wants to say that he has a learning disability and autism. He has a love of cows and a joy in the landscape surrounding him which translate into wonderful vibrant colourful and, often quirky, art work.

Joseph has been involved in Shallal (an arts charity ww.shallal.org ) as a visual artist, dancer and performer for 10 years. Since the pandemic Joseph has worked remotely from home, with Shallal’s weekly zoom sessions ‘Dance and Art Connection,’ which makes this exhibition and the opportunity for his work to be seen even more special.

Previous exhibitions

Fancy Landscapes Crazy Cows solo exhibition at Dark Pony Coffee Falmouth 2022

In Your Hands, ‘Foraging Nectar,’ Shallal with Arinda Daphine at Newlyn Art Gallery 2021

Small Picture Show at Newlyn Church Hall 2018

Grateful thanks to Lizzie Dennison for support and connections, to the Proper Job Cafe, and to Clive Gaylard and Cornwall Council, for this opportunity to show Joseph’s work to a wider audience, and Anna Willis Shallal’s artist in residence for curation.

Some of the paintings are for sale, please message Jo at admin@shallal.org for prices and information.                                                 www.shallal.org

Back Lane West 2023! yay and some news

 Back Lane West Residency - a favourite time!

draft copy to share and a few thoughts 

and a few spaces left in the diary for artists ...so do contact me

Shallal is excited to be back!

" Back Lane West residency is always a highlight of my year" Jo Willis creative director

A chance to explore and deepen our processes, collaborations and opportunities. To immerse ourselves in cross art forms and collaborations.

To have more time to explore and 'play.'

This year we are pleased to be part of Flamm with Rise and Fall showcasing Janet Hollands vibrant work, with film, music and dance inspired by and surrounding it.

Saturday 26 October 12-6pm https://flamm.creativekernow.org.uk/event/rise-and-fall-shallal-artists/ 

with dancers 1-1.30pm

With residency artist Anna Willis https://www.instagram.com/anna__sophronia/?hl=en*

we are researching artistic relationships, process and materials for our Tate St Ives Winter Festival commission, which has come from explorations from our 2022  residency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Vqu-AjK2s

We are enabling solo artists to have more studio time ie: Bobby Johnson ( who has a St Ives School of Painting Emerging Artists bursary Porthmeor Programme online)

Along with so much more and we hope the '50 Coats' will get an airing!

We aim to have a Sharing during the weekend of 28/29 October, times tbc. 

* Anna has been involved on our BLW residencies since they started and epitomises the cross art form blended creative approach, my words not hers. As her mum i have to be careful what i say!! 

https://www.instagram.com/anna__sophronia/?hl=en

so Congratulations to her for surviving the seas of a Fine Art degree and we are pleased to share sometime with her on projects she has inspired by her practice and inspiration.

Also fantastic to be meeting with Laura Menzies today who was involved in our first residency and whose inspiration it was for us to apply for a residency at Porthmeor Studios, which was an important milestone in the development of Shallal Studios.

Lou who wrote a successful bid for that Porthmeor Studios residency went onto to develop the Studios has also made a film for Rise and Fall,  Colour in the Air.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm3-J0Z845Y

Looking forward to 

'In this Together' exhibition and also Gaia!

We have enjoyed working with Make and Mends and creating a RELEVANT banner, in these times everything has to have relevance to answers and solutions and awareness raising.

On another personal note my brother Mark Deeble, who i interviewed on Passing on Passmore Podcast 1, https://youtu.be/tKj-KT0GymA?si=gMGeA43-_A0lgreH

has just received, with his wife Vicky Stone, a Legacy Award for their work from Jackson Wild film festival 

https://www.jacksonwild.org/legacy-award.html

and within work/art family my inspiration Wolfgang Stange was awarded an honourary doctorate from Roehampton University

 "A good teacher is not a person who passes all the tests, but one who shows humility and is willing to learn from their students"

Whilst truly celebrating these moments and thankfulness for peoples generous creativity, and life times contributions. I hope Wolfgang gets more recognition!

Shallal never has, and i hope never will, give out certificates, accreditation or awards, we are about life long involvement in the creative process, collaboration, access, equity, community and learning from our own starting points, the sheer joy of it all!

Last thing so enjoyed chatting with architect Adam and Hannah, so glad to see Access Equity at the beginning of conversations https://adamkhan.co.uk/

and Arts Lab have put in a sustainability on their latest application form: What measures might you put in place when planning and delivering your project that promote environmental sustainability? E.g. materials, travel

Universal Design and Sustainability in the heart of it all, we need to see the change!