The Civic has a small exhibit that follows up the main stairway of Barnsley College student's print work. Ranging from textile prints, graphics and lino prints. This really showcases the level of talent and quality that the students have in Barnsley. This exhibition is also in preparation of The Civic's upcoming Freshly Pressed Print Fair in July, featuring all kinds of pressed work, from printwork to magazine prints. See the photos of Barnsley College Art & Design students work below, visit for yourself until April 8th.

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All photos belong to Barnsley Fashion Creatives. All work made by Barnsley College Students.

The Civic in the town center has a few fashion related exhibitions coming this weekend and all are a must-see! The first being 'Fashion & Freedom', based around the first world war as inspiration to leading fashion designers to create contemporary pieces. The second 'VS David Bowie' is about a local Illustrator who has challenged nearby designers and artists to colour in images of David Bowie drawings, as well as a Life Size Paper Doll workshop inspired by them. There will also be a Pop-Up Print Showcase from Barnsley College students.

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From Saturday 11th February, the exhibition 'Fashion & Freedom' will be showcasing fashion items from designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Holly Fulton, Roksanda, Emilia Wickstead and more. All inspired by how the First World War has impacted women's life and work and how fashion changed to accomodate that. This exhibition that was commissioned by 14-18 NOW has come from Manchester Art Gallery and is here until April 8th.

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'VS David Bowie' is an exhibition celebrating local Illustrator and Adult Colouring Book designer, Mel Elliot. One of her bestselling books was based on David Bowie images and The Civic has asked numerous local artists, designers, illustrators and creatives to 'colour-in' one of her many images in their own way. This exhibit is on 11th Febraury to 8th of April.



To go alongside both of the above exhibitions, there will be a life sized paper doll workshop on 22nd February & 15th February to create your own designs and have the fun of modelling them on the runway. You can book onto the workshops here www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/events/lifesize-paper-doll-workshop



In light of The Civic's upcoming Print Fair in July, they are showcasing some of Barnsley College's students print work from textiles, to lino prints, etching, screen printing and digital prints. Available for viewing from February 8th also.

Let us know what you think to all the exhibitions when you go and visit this weekend!

All photos belong to The Civic.

 

The Cooper Art Gallery on  Church Street in the town centre is a glorious little place with its changing exhibitions, cafe and gift shop. We had the chance to visit and see its newest exhibition '45 rpm' by Terry Brookes, the permanent pieces from the Cooper Collection, new pieces in their newly built extension and the 'Expressed' exhibition showcasing the best of Barnsley College end-of-year shows. There's a lot packed into this deceivingly 'small' gallery and really worth the visit.

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The Terry Brookes 45 rpm exhibition is all about mod type artworks and 3D objects. Also includes a wooden sculpture of a Vespa accompanied by a green parka and bike helmets for you to dress up and play on! We had much fun on this. My model boyfriend showed this off perfectly, in which I couldn't resist and had to join in too! Our favourite painting was the one of the tapes, on our forever wish list.

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Their permanent exhibition from their Cooper collection looks more beautiful than ever since the area has been renovated and now includes more interactive elements for a friendlier visit for all the family. Next to them is the newly built extension with more amazing pieces as well as some ceramic, pottery and sculptures. We also enjoyed the interactive games like the hexagonal jigsaw and re-building the magnetic pot.

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Then finally I headed upstairs into the Sadler room to see the 'Expressed' exhibition from Barnsley College. The Cooper Art Gallery chose their favourites from the end of year showcase that all Art & Design students do in the final projects. There was a nice range of paintings, 3D sculptures, graphic design and Fashion garments.

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Have you visited the gallery recently? What was your thoughts?

'The Stories of the Somme' exhibition at the Experience Barnsley Museum began 24th of August and runs up until 20th of November. Alongside their other Barnsley memorabilia, stories from the Battle of the Somme were presented with items, literature and memories of by-gone soldiers. Dotted around the museum were also garments created by Barnsley College Fashion students from their World War one project earlier this year which brought the theme more to life. The exhibition is definitely worth a visit as well as seeing all the other items within the museum.

Here's the photo journal of the visit.



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In Barnsley you can learn the art of sewing at many places, from how to use your sewing machine, to pattern drafting garments and making accessories. Here are a few places you can pick up a new skill or two.


Barnsley College has both a full time course and an evening course in Fashion. Their full-time course in Fashion is one of the best in Yorkshire. a 2 year course covering sewing, marketing, textiles, illustration and more. See the full details here.

Their part-time evening course runs over 10 weeks with a different subject each time, the first one starting in September will be covering 'Skirts', then the next courses in January & April will covering a different garment type. You can learn to use sewing machines, pattern drafting, made-to-measure and different techniques. Find out all about it here.





Oh Sew Sweet Shop have two locations, one in the Fountain Parade, Mapplewell and the other on Dovecliffe Road, Wombwell. Their shops are based around fabrics, quilting, craft supplies and sweets! But they also run a lot of regular sewing classes, including some garment making and bag classes.

You can see their full class schedule in this PDF or visit their full website www.ohsewsweetshop.co.uk




Barnsley Council run adult learning classes that usually last 5 weeks long and their sewing class covers basic skills, learning your machines, inserting zips, etc. Along with other courses like life skills and creative subjects, theses courses are great foundation building blocks for the money they charge. They are based in the Wellington House on Market Street, see more info on their course here.



If you know of other sewing classes that are happening or you are someone that teaches the skill, get in touch and let us know all about it and we can share your story.

All images belong to above businesses, header image by Barnsley College.

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