With the long weekend and the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day in sight, a wide range of artistic, historical and musical activities are lined up to help islanders make the most of all the time off.
Every week, Express presents a selection of 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…
Solo street art
A St Helier art gallery is opening an stylish new exhibition which combines street art and urban life with the natural world this weekend.
Guernsey-based artist, Tiffany Matthews – who has amassed a large Instagram following – is exhibiting at JARO Gallery from this Saturday 3 May until Saturday 7 June.
Marking her first solo exhibition in Jersey, ‘Tiffany Anna’ will showcase large-scale, colour-splashed paintings and limited-edition prints that capture the spirit of wildlife with a modern edge.
A preview evening is set to take place on Friday 2 May from 17:00 to 19:00.
Visitors will be able to meet Tiffany for a live Q&A at the event.
Anchors away
The three-day annual Barclays Boat Show sets sail this weekend from Saturday 3 to Monday 5 May.
During the largest free-entry public event in the Channel Islands, over 30,000 people are expected to pay a visit to the luxury yachts, motor cruisers, paddleboards, kayaks, and maritime gadgets to the St Helier Marina and Weighbridge Place.
This year, professional flyboarder James Prestwood will also bring some excitement as he performs live displays over the harbour in front of Albert Pier on Saturday and Sunday at 11.30, 14:00 and 16:00, and on Monday at 10.30, 13:00 and 15:00.
Also new this year is the arrival of two Commando Raiding Craft and an amphibious Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel from the Royal Navy, which will be moored in the marina.
The regular attractions and stalls will fill the Lifestyle Zone on Albert Pier, and there will be plenty for the youngsters to do at the Kids’ Zone in Marina Gardens.
The boat show is open from 10:00 to 18:00 on Saturday and Sunday, and from 10:00 to 17:00 on Monday.
Heavy Weather
Some of Jersey’s young talent will take to the stage in a new play this weekend.
From Thursday 1 to Saturday 3 May, Jersey Arts Centre’s youtheatre will present their take of Lizzie Nunnery’s Heavy Weather.
Directed by Nicole Twinam and Hettie Duncan, the performance will explore climate change and the power of young voices.
Performances start at 19:30 each night. Tickets can be purchased here.
Lunchtime learning
This week sees the launch of Société Jersiaise’s ‘Liberation 80 Lunchtime Talks’, a series of free public events sharing the knowledge of local experts about Jersey’s Occupation – and what came afterwards.
Held in the group’s Members’ Room at 7 Pier Road, the talks will offer insights into various aspects of the Occupation, the Liberation, and the Post-War period after 1945.
The lunchtime talks take place on Wednesdays at 13:10, with refreshments served from 12:45.
There will also be a film screening of the documentary ‘Living with the Enemy’, which is based on the book by islander Roy McLoughlin about his experience of being occupied.
The screening will take place on Wednesday 7 May at 18:00.
The talks run from Wednesday 1 to Wednesday 14 May – you can view the Société’s full calendar and reserve tickets for the events here.
ArtHouse openings
Arts charity ArtHouse Jersey is treating islanders to a double-bill of opening events this weekend.
As part of the Liberation 80 programme, a new exhibition celebrating and commemorating the lives of Jersey internees sent to a prison camp in Wurzach in Germany – which is now Bad Wurzach.
‘Structures & Memory (A Place called Wurzach)’ opens at Capital House on Friday 2 May and features the work of four Jersey artists Emily de Gruchy, Shan O’Donnell, Oliver Le Gresley and Nicole Sheppard.
The exhibition will be available to view until Sunday 8 June.
It will be accompanied by a series of artist talks, residencies and performances around St Helier. All of the details can be found here.
Also opening on Friday 2 May is a series of Jersey-based cultural dance performances, facilitated by ArtHouse Jersey.
Featuring renowned Welsh dancer Sioned Huws, two performances titled ‘She Rose’ aim to celebrate the connection between body, language, and landscape.
The pieces invite participants of all dance abilities to weave a thread, by way of their bodies, using Jèrriais.
The first performance takes place at the square in Cyril Le Marquand Court on Friday 2 May, with the second and final taking place on Saturday 3 May at Le Pinacle rock in St Ouen.
The project was produced by The Moving Arts Collective and supported by the Jèrriais team at Jersey Heritage.
No booking is needed for the first performance at Cyril Le Marquand Court.
Tickets for the second showing at Le Pinacle can be purchased here.
Island songs
The Jersey Festival Choir and Jersey Island Singers are joining forces this weekend to mark the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day with a special concert.
On Saturday 3 May at St Helier Methodist Church, the singers will celebrate the joy experienced on 9 May 1945 and also commemorate the dark experience of the Occupation.
The choirs will present music by Puccini, Faure, Vaughan-Williams among other wartime classics – with tenor Greg Tassell and bassist Themba Mvula as soloists.
The performance starts at 19:30. Tickets can be purchased here.
Lib in the Square
Thousands of islanders are expected to dance the night away at a music festival in the Royal Square this weekend.
‘Lib in the Square’ returns this Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 May.
Residents artists Simon Gasston and Warren Le Sueur will join Groove Armada, TSHA, David Penn, and Sian Owen will on Saturday’s stage, whilst Pete Tong, Floorplan, Sarah Story, and Rio Tashan are taking to the decks on Sunday.
The event runs from 17:30 to 23:30 on both days, with last entry to the Royal Square at 19:00.
Tickets for Saturday’s event are sold out, but you can still purchase tickets for Sunday here.