Unravel at Saltaire Arts Trail, 28th May

Unravelling back to West Yorkshire again... we ran an all-day workshop for Saltaire Arts Trail!  A very busy one, with lots of people attending who had travelled miles to come to the three day arts festival. 

The workshop ran alongside Cherry Kino's mobile cinema, which gave visitors a chance to watch experimental film as well as engage in making it.  Lots of kids got involved - it's always fun trying to splice the film togther at the end... and the final screening took place in a room designed to look like half a passenger plane!  A great day out for everyone involved.

Unravel at Saltaire Arts Trail this weekend!

Unravel: the longest hand painted film in Britain at Saltaire Arts Trail - this Saturday.

FREE ENTRY!

Saturday 28th May, 12-4pm.

At the ‘Unravel’ drop-in animation workshop you are invited to contribute to Britain’s longest hand-painted 16mm film!

The workshop will take place behind the Mobile Cinema, in Shipley College’s Salt Rock Cafe - all ages welcome.

Unravel @ Basement Arts Project, Leeds, Sunday 15th May

Basement Arts Project is a brand new space in Beeston, curated by Bruce & Deborah Davies. They've been working on the cellar of their house to turn it into a studio and gallery, which will be available for residencies and exhibitions on a regular basis. 

Check out their current call out for submissions in collaboration with Derek Horton, SPEAKEASY: art in an age of prohibition (closing date for entries is 1st August 2011).

We joined in by facilitating an Unravel workshop on Sunday 15th May: instead of winding the film around tables, we stuck long strips of film to the walls so that people could paint and draw whilst moving around the space.  We projected the film in possibly the smallest and most intimate cinema space as yet on the tour... with tea and cake provided, this was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

Unravel May bank holiday weekend at Hot Bed Press, Salford

As part of the Sights from the Other City weekend festival, we ran a two-day 16mm stint at Hot Bed Press.  Hot Bed Press is an amazing venue - a fully functional, not-for profit, open access printmaking studio close to Islington Mill in Salford.

Participants experimenting with live drawing techniques

Manchester is one of those places that does this kind of thing really well - people getting together, reclaiming equipment that's being thrown out, setting up a studio that is NFP and self-sustainable.  OKO likes!  Hot Bed Press offer affordable studio space and courses - teaching everything from letterpress (which we had a go at) to screenprinting, and from lithographs to etching.

Screenprinting onto 16mm film by Kelvin Brown

There was some really nice techniques used on the film made over the two days - intricate scratching and inking frame by frame and some people tried screenprinting directly onto the film, with great results.  We'd definitely like to return and experiment more with these kind of techniques.

Final screening on Day 1