Performances
Tuesday 8 Oct, 6-9pm Take a Seat exhibition private view
Wednesday 9 Oct, 6-9pm Absurd Visions Live Performance Evening (performances will be durational and start from 7pm)
Exhibitions
Exhibitions open for Frieze Week Wed 9 – Sun 13 Oct, 10am-6pm.
(then Thurs-Sun, 12-6pm until 3 Nov)
Exhibitions are free, and all are welcome – wheelchair access via lift inside.
Take a Seat
40 unique and sculptural artist-made chairs that mischievously merge the aesthetics of form and functionality, inviting audiences to both play and sit down across Shaftesbury’s vast open plan space.
Take A Seat is a collaboration between Bow Arts and curatorial duo ha.lf, (Haydn Albrow and Flora Bradwell). Several of the participating artists have created their site-specific chairs at Shaftesbury as part of a residency, responding to the building by both assimilating and rejecting the ‘desolate’ office environment.
Absurd Visions
Absurd Visions will see mechanised sculpture, film and performance create a labyrinth of bizarre and technological discovery throughout Shaftesbury’s ex-offices.
Absurd Visions features work from Rosie Gibbens’ Parabiosis series and Tim Spooner’s A New Kind of Animal which will weave themselves into the office detritus left behind in the Shaftesbury building.
Parabiosis unpacks the pregnant body with sculptures that combine ‘puppets’ and machinery. The title refers to the surgical technique of joining two living organisms together to share a physiological system. Inspired by this process and theories about artificial robotic wombs, Gibbens creates various ‘birthing’ contraptions.
Workshops for Teachers
Continuing Professional Development
Bow Arts provides inspiring workshops to equip teachers with new mediums, tools, and creative skills that can be applied immediately in the classroom, while aiming to reshape attitudes to what it means to work with art materials sustainably.
Our next programme of workshops will take place inside Shaftesbury Avenue across Winter 2024. Find out more and book your place below.
Coming Up at Shaftesbury Avenue
Back to the drawing board: Redefining our relationship with Drawing (Bow Arts CPD for Teachers) (Part 2 of 2)
Join artist and educator Jasmin Bhanji for a transformative two-part workshop that explores the power of drawing.
Introduction to Mono-Printing, (Bow Arts CPD for Teachers)
Join artist Emily Hopkins for a fun and informative workshop where you’ll learn the exciting art of monoprinting.
Power in your hands: Making the most of clay in your classroom (Bow Arts CPD for Teachers)
Join artist and educator Esther Neslen for a dynamic workshop that unlocks the potential of clay as a versatile learning tool across the curriculum.
Teachers in Residence at Shaftesbury Avenue
Over the summer, Bow Arts Learning are hosting an Artist Teacher Summer Residency at Shaftesbury Avenue. Seven teacher artists are honing their practice, and exploring how developing their work can positively translate into classroom arts-based learning.
Artist opportunities
Develop professionally
Along with offering affordable studio spaces, we also provide opportunities to help you to develop professionally, such as workshops, training sessions, peer crits, panel discussions and the sale of your art through Own Art.