Final figures for visitor numbers to the Barton upon Humber arts centre, The Ropewalk, see a rise of just over 36 per cent over the previous year’s record breaking numbers.
By December 31 last year a total of 106,861 visitors had passed through The Ropewalk’s doors compared to 78,412 in 2013.
“Visitor figures for 2013 exceeded all our expectations as they had risen by just under 84 per cent on the numbers for 2012,” said The Ropewalk’s Managing Director Liz Bennet.
“This year we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the opening of the southern end of the building and it is incredible to think that back then we attracted more than 17,000 visitors following our April opening.”
“It goes without saying we are absolutely delighted with these figures,” Liz continued. “Many of these visitors have been supporting us since the early days when we opened just the southern end of the building. But we are also welcoming many new visitors who we hope will take the time to visit us again in the not too distant future.”
Year on year visitor figures recorded at the Maltkiln Road venue have shown a steady increase.
“Not only are more people enjoying visiting our galleries, museum and Coffee Shop but we are playing to more sell-out gigs at Ropery Hall and the number of people using our meeting rooms has also increased,” Liz went on.
As well as visitor numbers increasing so is the number of full-time and part-time staff employed at The Ropewalk which now stands at a record 34.
“Many of the young people employed in the Coffee Shop on a weekend or part-time basis are able to take the skills they have learnt with us when they move on to university and are looking for part-time employment to supplement their income,” Liz continued.
The annual exhibition by The Ropewalk Studio artists. Featuring work by:
David Alcock
Sally Beaumont
Emily Connor
Debbie Grice
Richard Hatfield
Gill Hobson
Judith Land
Darren Langton
Tim Needham
Julie Oxenforth
Michael Scrimshaw
Shirley Trumble
Keith Woodcock
The Ropewalk’s popular Christmas Art Market will showcase the work of more than 40 makers and artists.
Taking place over the weekend of Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8 those makers and artists selected to take part will be selling original handmade gifts, cards and artwork (more…)
Helen Martino would describe her work as being ‘sometimes serious and sometimes playful’. For many years Helen worked as a functional potter, making batches of domestic pots on a wheel. Now she sees herself as more of a maker in clay, hand building each piece individually by using soft and flexible sheets of clay. These sheets of clay are freely cut, curved and sometimes twisted, this is how Helen is able to create different perspectives and distortion within her work. The surface is painted with slip, underglaze pigment and resists. Depending on the piece silver and gold lustre may also be incorporated.
Helen is fascinated by body language and how this can be communicated. She observes Mogul and Persian miniatures and admires how they are able to tell a story within one image. These artworks often show a significant event within the life span of a person or family. Helen’s sculptures are also intimate like the miniature and show a single event that can be applied to the past, future and present, allowing the viewer to determine the story of each artwork.
Working in Cambridge, Helen exhibits widely across the UK and is the founder member of Cambridge Open Studios. She will be exhibiting in the Box Gallery in November.
Yorkshire born and bred, Eleanor Tomlinson is a traditional artist and illustrator based in East Yorkshire. Inspired by the beautiful Yorkshire countryside she has grown up amongst, Eleanor predominantly works in ink and watercolour to specialise in capturing and celebrating UK wildlife and the local countryside. Eleanor’s distinctive style using ink and watercolour, combines traditional, well-loved subjects with a contemporary, illustrative twist. Her use and composition of contrasting white space brings a narrative and sense of movement and energy to her pieces. Eleanor’s artworks have also been developed into a wide range of cards, stationery, limited edition prints and homeware collections alongside her original pieces which are being sold in an array of independent shops and galleries across the UK.
LAND, SEA AND SKY
The theme for this exhibition ‘Land, Sea, and Sky’ was chosen because its wide-ranging associations might be interpreted in many different ways, and in part because the theme was seen to have some relevance to the location of The Ropewalk Gallery. No size limit was imposed and artists were invited to respond to the theme in as wide a way as possible, to be as traditional or as innovative as they wished both in process and format. The final selection includes three dimensional and large format pieces as well as more conventional prints.
Printmakers Council was founded in 1965 by a group of prominent printmakers to raise the profile of printmaking as an art form and to provide an exhibition society for members. For over fifty years PmC has continued to pursue these aims through a rolling programme of exhibitions, lectures and practical workshops.
Two new exhibitions with links to northern Lincolnshire are opening this Saturday (Sept 14) at The Ropewalk arts centre in Barton upon Humber.
In the Artspace is Re-Tellings, a solo exhibition by Grimsby based artist Sue Stone whose work is inspired by people, place and time. (more…)
