Spring Life Drawing at Waygood
March 4, 2010
It is nearly spring, at least the bulbs have started to appear on our allotment.
And with spring will come some more life drawing.
You may have heard in the news that the Arts Council and City Council have withdrawn funding from Waygood, which means that although I will be moving into the new studios on High Bridge there will not be a space in which life drawing can take place, as it was to have been run in the education space provided by Waygood. But it also means that we will all be in the current studios in Byker for a few more months than we originally thought. Hopefully by April it will be warm enough to resume drawing.
The studio artists have set up a website Wishes for Waygood (http://wishesforwaygood.tumblr.com) to gather support for Waygood and for what it represents to us, to local artists and to the wider arts community, not only in the North East but internationally, and to express disappointment at the decisions taken by both ACE and NCC in regards to the new building. It would be great if you could go and have a look at the comments and add your own.
I have been a studio holder and actively involved in the project for the past ten years. For me Waygood has always represented grass roots artists, offering not only studio spaces (the first studios in Newcastle to have heating) and a challenging exhibition programme but inspiring an active and inclusive community around the studios, working with and visited by artists and curators from around the world, working with the local community, with the universities and local schools, providing work opportunities, work experience, work placements, working hard to provide for Newcastle and the North East the kind of facilities that have been lacking for so many years. Several arts organisations have had their beginnings at Waygood to take their place in the diverse community of arts that has made the North East so exciting today and we should value them all equally for what they have to offer, and the loss of any one of them will be felt by all.
On Saturday 13th March there is a Studios Spring Clean Sale, at the studios in Byker, from 2-5pm, to which everyone is welcome. There will be all sorts of bargains and perhaps even some art..
I will update the blog and send out an email as soon as the first life class is possible.
