Bristol art trail finds new home

When it began on the streets of Totterdown in 2001, Front Room was the first art trail to appear in Bristol.

Now it is set to achieve another first, by holding the city's first art gallery preview of works to be featured in the exhibition.

Called Home Grown, it will be staged at the Centrespace gallery and will feature work from 30 artists chosen from the paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, textiles, digital media and video that have been submitted to Front Room 2009 by more than 100 artists.

So what is the point of Home Grown, when Front Room is already Bristol's oldest and largest art trail, attracting nearly 200 professional and amateur artists and more than 4,000 visitors to 60 venues?

Local resident and marketing consultant Nicky Hurran, 37, who came up with the idea, explains: "Home Grown is an extension of Front Room, offering people a chance to sample the best of the best, and providing a preview of what can be seen during the art trail.

"If the Totterdown Art Trail is the cosy Front Room, then the Centre Space Exhibition is the luscious garden displaying the wonderfully delectable and freshly 'home grown' artworks on a wider stage."

Rather appropriately, we are discussing Home Grown and Front Room while sitting in the front room of Nicky's home in Richmond Street, Totterdown. Also present are local artists David Collman, Femke de Jong and Dannie Brooke.

Work from David and Femke will be among those selected by an independent panel for display at Home Grown, and they will also be exhibiting at Front Room.

Dannie, 40, will have work on display at Front Room, but because she is the lead co-ordinator for the event this year she did not submit any of her work for Home Grown.

She says: "I did a degree in fine art and then lived in South America for many years. I came back about three years ago, because my son needed to do his GCSEs. Living in Totterdown has been great for us. Rob is now 17, studying photography and Spanish, and I'm working as a freelance artist and designer. I've been involved with organising Front Room in various roles, and Rob will be the official photographer this year."

David, 47, who works in high-speed broadband communications and specialises in High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) photography, was brought up in Totterdown and moved back to the area about a decade ago.

"I hadn't even picked up a camera with the idea of producing art at that time. Then I got involved in planning the exhibition three or four years ago, and after looking at other people's work I got inspired and bought my first digital camera in 2006," he says. "I think the art trail has put the heart back into Totterdown, after it was ripped out in the Seventies when so many homes were demolished for the Outer Circuit Road that never got built."

Femke, 32, a freelance illustrator and designer, who was born in the Netherlands and studied for a BA in illustration at the University of the West of England, adds: "The art trail is a special chance to find lots of fellow artists right in your neighbourhood. It gives a great sense of community"

The Home Grown Bristol exhibition will take place from November 6 to 11 at Centrespace gallery in Leonard Lane, just off Corn Street in Bristol city centre.

There will be a private screening on the opening night of November 6, and the exhibition will be open to public viewing from November 7 to 11.

The Front Room art trail runs from November 20 to 22 on the streets of Totterdown, and will feature fine art, sculpture, photography and film, plus workshops, live performances and competitions. The trail will begin on the evening of Friday, November 20 at venues across Totterdown from 6pm to 9pm followed by the opening night party at the Thunderbolt.

Venues are open from noon to 6pm over the weekend, and there will be a street party and market in Henry Street on Saturday, November 21, with live music and performances from Bristol Samba Band and a 30-piece bhanghra band.

This year a free guide will be available at locations across Bristol tracing the art trail path through the front rooms, gardens, shops, pubs, restaurants, and churches of Upper and Middle Totterdown. Front Room is supported through a Bristol City Council grant that supports workshops, street entertainment and venue hire where required.

The art trail map and other promotional material is funded by the artists, who pay a small fee to take part in the art trail and also commit to providing at least two hours' support to the art trail committee prior to or during the event itself.