Reality Check exhibition - Corridor 8 Review by Elisabetta Fabrizi

The NewBridge Project has expanded and set up a new home in Gateshead. Right in the High Street, The NewBridge Project : Gateshead houses a gallery, studio spaces for artists and The Collective Studio, a new ambitious graduate development programme created in collaboration with Newcastle University and the Institute of Creative Practice.

Reality Check, the inaugural exhibition, brings together works by eight early-career artists, resulting from The NewBridge Project’s 2016-2017 Graduate Programme in partnership with Newcastle University. In spotlighting the work of young artists the show acts as a statement of intent, in that it underlines the continuing core aim of The NewBridge Project to support emerging talent.

At opposite ends of the bright rectangular gallery space two works by Oliver Doe welcome and engage us in a conversation about the body. ‘Touch me as you need me’ (2017) consists of a framed assemblage of everyday yet very personal objects – a t-shirt, towel, trousers and a plastic bag. Under perspex, the familiar elements are squashed and trapped. Objectified, they become fossils of intimate moments that we can’t help but stare at and ponder about. At the other end of the gallery, Doe’s ‘and no sex or gender will still be the pleasure of love’ (2017) consists of two abstract sculptures: pale and almost transparent, they appear delicate and mysterious. One leans on the other, which in turn appears to recede. Despite the minimalism of the shapes, a questioning narrative concerning two bodies appears.

The body is also at the centre of Olivia Turner’s ‘Eyepiece’(2017). The two sets of four large sculptural elements (cut plywood sheets) that make the core of the work can only be read correctly (as hands holding a microscope) when viewed at a distance, but become abstract forms as we get closer. And yet, the screens embedded in the sculptures (two surgical videos) can only be viewed up close. In creating the conditions for the impossibility of finding a fixed viewing point to look at the installation, the artist creates an apt metaphor for the difficult relationship between the physical and the cerebral, the verbal and the non-verbal.

With the text work ‘Portion Control’ (2017) Helen Shaddock successfully uses stream-of-consciousness writing to give us access to her perception of being an artist. We read: ‘I’m embarrassed to admit I feel the need to prove… Exhibition opening. Everybody asking: what are you working on?’ Whatever shall one answer? Hope is not lost though and we find it in Emily Garvey’s animation, ‘When life gives you lemons’(2017). Here we follow the life adventures of a lemon learning that, as one of the pop songs of the soundtrack remind us, ‘turning bitter into sweet’, is possible after all.

Visiting The NewBridge Project: Gateshead brings back memories of when, over ten years ago, Workplace Gallery opened their first space nearby, in the now demolished Gateshead Car Park, with the intent of supporting young North East based artists. These two organisations share the crucial common goal of creating the conditions for artists not to feel isolated and for talent to prosper in the region. Their new close physical proximity is a welcome development and acts auspiciously for the future of The NewBridge Project.

Reality Check, The NewBridge Project : Gateshead, Gateshead.

14 October – 28 October 2017 (Wed-Sat 12-5pm)

Elisabetta Fabrizi is a curator and writer based in Newcastle upon Tyne and London.


http://corridor8.co.uk/article/newbridge-project-gateshead-reality-check/

Studios available at The NewBridge Project: Gateshead


Become a Studio Member of The NewBridge Project

Artist Studios & Co-Work Space now available on Gateshead High Street


The NewBridge Project has recently transformed a former shop unit on Gateshead High Street to provide affordable studio and workspace for artists and creatives. Come and join our creative community. 

The NewBridge Project : Gateshead is equipped with individual studio spaces and co-work space for hot-desking, hosting meetings, events and workshops. 

NewBridge Studios offers space to artists at any stage of their career, working primarily within the field of visual art, with a desire to be part of a diverse and critically engaged community of creative practitioners.

NewBridge Studios promotes exchange and support in an engaged and discursive community of artists. The shared workspace is a critical and collaborative environment that allows artists to discuss and develop new ideas and projects.

NewBridge Studio Members will benefit from:

•   A new support network from which to cultivate further opportunities and develop work. We 
are committed to NewBridge Studios remaining a discursive and productive working 
environment
•  The opportunity to be a part of an exciting and vibrant community of visual artists
•   Affordable 24hour access studio space 
• The opportunity to help shape NewBridge’s programme and future direction through our artist committees and steering groups
• Access to our pioneering artist development programme, Practice makes Practice, offering opportunities, training and mentoring
• A range of facilities offered to NewBridge Studio members including bookable project space, production and making space, co-work & meeting space, social space and a darkroom


The NewBridge Project : Gateshead is also home to NewBridge Gallery Space, a gallery and project space with a programme of contemporary exhibitions & commissions and The Collective Studio, a graduate development programme in partnership with Newcastle University Institute of Creative Arts Practice.

How to Apply

If you are interested in becoming a studio member at The NewBridge Project : Gateshead please complete our online application form. 
We currently have a number of ground floor studios available (10m/sq) and we will be assigning them over the coming weeks. 

We think it is really important that our studios and facilities are as affordable as possible for artists; the studios in Gateshead are priced at £70 per month (inclusive of all utilities).

Deadline for studio applications: Thursday 9th November, 12pm


Please note: You can apply for our studios on a rolling basis but we will be assigning the available studios in Gateshead based on the applications we receive by the deadline. 

Please specific on your application form that you would like to be considered for a studio in Gateshead. If you have already completed the form previously you do not need to complete again.  

If you have any questions please contact Studio Coordinator, Clare Gomez on admin@thenewbridgeproject.com or call 0191 232 8975. 

Use our Co-Work Space 

Become a NewBridge Hot-desking Member to access our shared Co-Work Space and other facilities. If you’d like to have regular access to the Co-Work space please complete the application form (insert hyperlink to form). 

Our Co-Work space is also available for anyone to use for workshops, events, talks and socials – if you’d like to use the Co-Work space for an event please get in touch with us. 

The NewBridge Project, a Newcastle art success story, is soon to open in Gateshead - article in The Chronical by David Whetstone

The artists, with the support of Newcastle University, are taking over a former town centre shop unit occupied by Poundland




Success follows success for the artists of The NewBridge Project. As DAVID WHETSTONE reports, they’re soon to open in Gateshead

Demolition could have spelled doom for an artists’ collective in Newcastle. Instead they moved to smart new premises nearby and are now about to pop up in Gateshead.

The NewBridge Project: Gateshead is shortly to open on the High Street in an empty shop unit that used to be Poundland and before that was Woolworth.

Artists will breathe new life into the old unit in a collaboration between the artist-led NewBridge Project and Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice (NICAP).

The building will be a base for artists, photographers, architects, filmmakers and others as they establish themselves professionally. It will also be the base for a graduate development programme.

The NewBridge Project has been a North East success story since it was established in Newcastle in 2010 by a pair of Newcastle University fine art graduates.

It provided a supportive environment and an affordable space to work for arts graduates in the former office block, Norham House, on New Bridge Street West.

Peppercorn rents were possible because eventually the building would be demolished and the occupants would have to move on or disperse.

By the time Norham House was scheduled for demolition, the NewBridge Project had become acknowledged as a valuable addition to the city centre.

It was recently granted four-year funding by Arts Council England, as part of its National Portfolio, from April 2018.

As the demolition team moved in early this year, the Newcastle artists moved into nearby Carliol House where they have signed a longer lease which means more security.

The Gateshead development, also going under the name The Collective Studio, is the latest chapter in this particular success story.

Julie Sanders, pro-vice chancellor at Newcastle University, said a graduate development programme based at NewBridge Project’s Gateshead offshoot, also known as The Collective Studio, would help to bridge the gap between university and work.

“Our graduates play a vital role in the cultural economy of the North East and this programme demonstrates the university’s commitment to furthering their contribution to our region’s cultural ecology,” she said.

“We are delighted to work with The NewBridge Project.

“Their development from a pop-up initiative to Arts Council National Portfolio organisation in seven short years is testimony to the strength of talent our universities produce and to the value of collaboration between higher education and the creative sectors.”

Her sentiments were echoed by Charlie Gregory, director of The NewBridge Project, who said The Collective Studio demonstrated an ambition to work together to support artists early in their careers.

“We are excited to be launching The Collective Studio with Newcastle University who have shown invaluable support for NewBridge, our programme and artist-led approach and generating new forms of graduate support,” she said.

The graduates based there will be able to take part in professional workshops led by leaders in their respective fields. They will also have access to a mentor and be able to draw on expertise within Newcastle University.

The scheme will culminate in an exhibition of the work they have produced.

As well as the graduate scheme, The NewBridge Project: Gateshead will provide space for artists at any stage of their career and house NewBridge Gallery, which will present a programme of contemporary art exhibitions and commissions.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/newbridge-project-newcastle-art-success-13696311

//// The NewBridge Project is setting up shop in Gateshead ////

Charlie Gregory, Director, The NewBridge Project, (left) with David Butler, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University at The NewBridge Project : Gateshead (Image: Mike Urwin)

A pioneering new graduate development programme based in a new space on Gateshead High Street aims to develop the next generation of artists and creatives in the region.

The Collective Studio is a collaboration between Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice (NICAP) and The NewBridge Project.

It will see a formerly vacant shop unit on Gateshead High Street transformed into a base for 20 artists, photographers, curators, architects, filmmakers, musicians and writers as they begin their careers.

The Collective Studio will support the development of creative talent in the North East region and equip practitioners with the necessary skills to manage their creative practice, bridging the gap between University, studio-based practice, the gallery and the workplace.

Alongside The Collective Studio graduate programme, The NewBridge Project : Gateshead will also provide studios & workspace for artists at any stage of their career, a new home for NewBridge Project Space with a programme of contemporary exhibitions & commissions, as well as co-work and event space.



Julie Sanders, Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Newcastle University said: “Our graduates play a vital role in the cultural economy of the North East and this programme demonstrates the University’s commitment to furthering their contribution to our region’s unique cultural ecology.

“We are delighted to work with The NewBridge Project. Their development from a pop-up initiative to Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation in seven short years is testimony to the strength of talent our Universities produce and to the value of collaboration between higher education and the creative sectors.”

The Collective Studio will give participants the chance to be part of a vibrant and supportive community, shape their own programme of training and development events and provide opportunities for exhibiting and showcasing their work.

The NewBridge Project’s Director, Charlie Gregory, said: “The Collective Studio demonstrates our joint ambition to work together to support early-career artists to transition from education into professional practice.

“We are excited to be launching The Collective Studio with Newcastle University, who have shown invaluable support for NewBridge, our programme and artist-led approach as well as generating new forms of graduate support.

“The upcoming programme will see us working with a diverse group of practitioners focusing on peer-led development, radical approaches to programming and an alternative support framework helping encourage artists to live and work in the North East and develop new forms of practice.”

The year-long, cross-disciplinary programme will offer graduates subsidised shared studio and work space, helping generate a supportive and dedicated community of artists, makers, writers, architects, filmmakers, photographers, musicians and curators. Graduates will take part in professional practice workshops led by leaders in their respective fields, and peer-led events, such as workshops, talks, field-trips, performances, exchanges, one-to-one sessions and discussion groups will take place.

In addition, those on the programme will have access to a mentor and will be able to draw on expertise within Newcastle University and the region’s wider cultural sector. The programme will culminate with a showcase of work by The Collective Studio in September 2018.

/////

The Collective Studio is funded by Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice.

The Collective Studio has developed from a successful pilot trialled in 2016 and forms an integral strand in The NewBridge Project’s wider Practice Makes Practice, artist development programme which is supported by Arts Council England and Newcastle Culture Investment Fund at Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

The NewBridge Project : Gateshead has been made possible by the support of Gateshead Council, TILT Workshop and Design Office at Newcastle University.

http://thenewbridgeproject.com/news/news-newbridge-sets-shop-gateshead/