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A local sculptor has unleashed a 'menagerie' of clay creations at a local gallery, ranging from dogs to hedgehogs, owls, bugs - and even covid-19.
Every Friday, Express presents a selection of online and offline exhibitions, performances, workshops, events and other historic, creative and delicious content to help islanders get their weekly dose of culture.
Here’s this week’s offering…
Local sculptor Pippa Barrow has brought together a mixture of her unglazed clay works for a new exhibition at the Link Gallery at Jersey Museum.
Pictured: One of Pippa Barrow's jester bugs.
Born in Zimbabwe, Pippa grew up in South Africa where she qualified as a goldsmith. She left home at the age of 20 for London, where she worked for eight years as a workshop assistant for artist-jeweller Wendy Ramshaw, as well as designing and producing catwalk ranges for Alexander McQueen and Givenchy.
Her “lifelong ambition” of working with animals then brought her to the island as she successfully applied to work with the gorillas and the macaques at Jersey Zoo, where she spent seven years.
A period of ill health brought about another change in direction, and in 2010 Pippa opened her studio at the Old French Harbour, combining her creative skills with her love of natural forms and textures.
Pictured: Pippa's exhibition focuses on her unglazed clay work.
Over the past 10 years, she has given life to hundreds of animals, ranging from hedgehogs, owls, dogs, pigs, to anemones, bugs and sharks, all in her distinctive style.
Ceramics, clay, wax, terracotta, resin, bronze - the materials she uses are as varied as the subjects they help create.
However, unglazed clay is the focus of the attention at her latest exhibition, with 30 pieces on display.
“It’s bit of a mixture of older works,” Pippa explained. “Last year, I had a window display at Hamons for three months, the curator at Jersey Museum saw my display and asked me to do an exhibition.”
Pictured: Pippa's 'menagerie' is on display until near the end of the month at Jersey Museum's Link Gallery.
The display features a bull terrier, a jester bug, hedgehogs as well as owls and some planters whose shape is reminiscent of covid-19 (pictured top).
“It’s a bit of a strange one,” Pippa said. “I started those a while ago. I love planters and keeping cacti, I love the way they bud off and propagate. Obviously, in the last year, the covid image has been so pervasive so it has become a three-dimensional form.”
Entitled ‘Menagerie’, the exhibition is on display to the public until 29 July.
“I chose the title, which is defined as a 'strange or diverse collection of people or things', as it sums up what the exhibition is all about.”
"Someone up there’s got something against me"
Jersey-born singer-songwriter Rich Allo's latest single is out today - one of his "angriest" and most personal releases to date.
Video: A flavour of the new track, 'Someone Up There’s Got Something Against Me’.
After performing songs by Queen, David Bowie, Elton John and Ed Sheeran, he decided in 2017 to start writing his own songs.
He took on the challenge of teaching himself guitar and piano, built a home studio in his bedroom and began turning his poems into lyrics.
Rich released his first album - a pop-rock record titled ‘Sensations’, which he recorded in London while away at university - in 2018. The following year, he released his second album, ’Strangest Sin’, in which he experimented with genres including hard rock and ambient music.
Although he enjoyed performing shows to promote the album, including at Channel Islands Pride and the Fighting Cocks Bar in London, Rich said his personal life was starting to crumble, which led his mental health to suffer and inspired his latest single, ’Someone Up There’s Got Something Against Me'.
“I began having quite an intense existential crisis, mainly due to high levels of anxiety and not knowing where I was supposed to be heading in life, and this led to me writing my brand new single,” he explained.
“Inspired by larger-than-life rock bands including Queen and Panic At The Disco, it’s the angriest song I’ve written and challenges all of the rage and confusion you feel when having an existential crisis.
“I hope that people suffering with their mental health will find comfort in the lyrics and be given reassurance that, actually, it’s okay to be angry and not understand why things happen the way they do in life. Ultimately, beneath the angry surface of the song is a hopeful undertone, and I hope listeners will be able to find solace in this.”
Pictured: 'Dizzy Boy' one of Jason Butler's recent works.
Jason Butler is presenting his latest series of works at his studio-come-gallery at 10 Commercial Buildings.
The work consists of small gouache paintings and collages on paper on which Jason has spent the last two-and-a-half years working on.
“Much of the imagery in the collages are taken from photocopies I have used in past work so I have a personal connection with it," he explained. “The work is trying to deal with space, light, time and many other things.”
The exhibition will be open to the public from Monday 12 July until Saturday 24 July, Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:30.
Local musician DJ Stefunk (Stefan Rousseau) is back behind the decks for the return of the real-life ‘Funky Fridays’ every week between 12:00 and 14:00 at West's Centre.
He said islanders can expect a "smooth and funky mix of funk/soul/jazz/afro/latin/brazilian/reggae beats" and urged islanders to “pass the word around and join us to put a smile on and get in the groove for the weekend."
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