our friends in the north…

Moira+I went up to Leeds over the weekend for the opening of the ADVENTurous art exhibition at LeftBank. Our wonderful, multi-talented, arty friend Si was involved in curating the show (there are also corresponding shows running in London and Colwyn Bay) and, although we’d seen photographs of the venue, the former St Margaret’s church building completely took our breath away (don’t be fooled by the rather ordinary exterior, the interior is stunning!). The building had essentially been abandoned as a place of worship in 2002, after several years of serious decline in church congregations. There’s now a lively steering group who are actively involved in bringing this wonderful building back to life.

There had previously been a very successful Advent Art show in 2009 – which Si also helped to curate.
This year, I was fortunate enough to be invited to submit a piece of work and, frankly, having previously seen glimpses of the amazing work by the other artists, it was with some trepidation that I made the journey north!
A truly wonderful evening and, as an added bonus, it was just great to meet up with two of my fellow-volunteers from Iona, Judith and Adam – who made the journey into Leeds especially for the event.
I have to say, the entire evening was quite magnificent – the inspiring art, the great live music, the people we met and, in particular, the venue itself.
Photo: I’m afraid I only took a handful of photographs (and those weren’t at all good in terms of quality!). The above image shows three pieces – one was a ‘neon art’ piece from Joel Baker entitled “Amen”; the painting “Gabriel” by Richard Stott is just right of centre and, to the far right, there was some amazing work by “We Stitch Angry” about the high walls that surround Bethlehem and the appalling way people living in Palestine are being treated.
PS: Moira+I stayed overnight with Sue+Si’s lovely, generous friends, Emma+Rob in their simply brilliant house. We’d never met them before, but they were wonderful, welcoming hosts and we felt VERY blessed.
PPS: Somewhat incredibly (well, in my view anyway), I actually sold my piece of work - and VERY early on in the evening too! I still can’t quite believe it.
PPPS: I arrived home to find a bill from the tax man for £121.60… so the sale of my artwork came at JUST the right time!!