Jo Smith from Hoylake's Seagrass Studio

JO SMITH BIO

Jo is a mixed media artist and jewellery designer using both traditional and non-traditional materials.

Jo’s inspiration mainly comes from her daily walks on West Kirby beach with her beloved dogs. Her approach has evolved over time, through constant experimentation and play with mixed media. The results are a colourful and textural rendering of her emotional response to her surroundings reflecting the joy, love and awe that Jo feels through her connection to the landscape.

For the last 10 years Jo has exhibited widely across Merseyside, and her many commissions of paintings hang in homes across Europe and as far as Australia. Jo has a B.Ed Hons in Art and Design and is a practicing counsellor with a Diploma in Art Therapy skills. You can find her at Seagrass Studio Gallery by Hoylake Train Station where she is artist in residence.

The beginings of converting a donated vase

To the end results

Inspiration, Imagination, Intuition

Seagrass

Studio Gallery

9A, The Quadrant,

Hoylake

CH47 2EE

07732 533999

www.seagrassstudio.co.uk

www.josmithart.com

Rubbish exhibition in the park

Helen Smith's workshop with plastic bag flowers

 

A “rubbish” show in Birkenhead Park Visitors Centre doesn’t sound very appealing but with over 30 Merseyside based artists and craftspeople using junk it is definitely an exhibition worth viewing. The exhibitors have taken rubbish, litter and un-used items to recreate into artwork and craftwork showing how with a bit of creativity and skill - things that would inevitably end up in landfill can be transformed and be saved. The exhibition “de-junk, re-junk!” will be open daily from 9 til 4.30pm daily.

Following her involvement with the organisation of recycling art shows in 2010 and 2011, curator Alison Bailey Smith has had support from Wirral Council again in mounting the exhibition, she said of the forthcoming exhibition:

  "Last year, the exhibition took a different approach to the previous community show in 2010 with professional artists and craftspeople re-using my old kitchen and producing paintings, mosaics and sculptures. This year, we have used social media to ask for items such as milk bottles and plastic to transform as well as exchanging our own unwanted hoarded, redundant “gems”. We visited Bidston recycling plant to see the recycling process first hand. After which many of the artists reconsidered the items they were using to shift to items not currently being recycled through local recycling facilities.  One of the pieces to be featured in the exhibition will be our new sign made of scrabble parts and broken plates produced at a mosaic workshop during our de-junk, re-junk workshops funded by MRWA earlier this year and a piece of furniture made using reclaimed wooden floorboards by mastercraftsman, Damon Revans-Turner. Next year, in 2013 we will be looking for sponsors to be able to run the exhibition”

There will be "junk" available for people to take away and create their own de-junk, re-junk creation, photos can be emailed to Alison Bailey Smith info@abscraft.com and their recreations will be posted on the blog during the show http://de-junkre-junk.blogspot.co.uk/

Birkenhead Park Visitors Centre, Birkenhead Park, Park Drive, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 4HY