National Original Print Exhibition 2019

Everyone is talking about The National Original Print Exhibition which will run from 18 – 29 September 2019.

Have a look at their sit: here The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers is one of the world's premier printmaking organisations. All of the Society's members are practising professional printmakers, elected after a rigorous selection by a panel of their peers. From their home at Bankside Gallery, next to Tate Modern & on the south banks of the Thames, they hold regular exhibitions showcasing the best in contemporary printmaking. Gordon Beswick and Harry Pye have had 2 works selected for the show. A CMYK screenprint of 'Brian Jones' and, a CMYK screenprint of 'The Life Drawing Class' (After Matisse) both prints are on 285 gsm Fabriano paper (70cm x 50cm).

National Original Print Exhibition BANKSIDE GALLERY Home of the Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH

New Woody Allen film, 'Rifkin´s Festival' stars Christoph Waltz

Woody Allen is back and busier than ever. His Jazz band are doing a sell out European tour, he's directed his first opera and he has just begun work on a new film which has been backed by a Barcelona-based company called Mediapro. The new film is called Rifkin's Festival it stars the brilliant German-Austrian Christoph Waltz (who has won many a Bafta, Golden Globe and Academy Award) plus Spanish actors, Elena Anaya and Sergi López plus longtime collaborator Wallace Shawn as well as Gina Gershon and Richard Kind (who have both appeared in Curb Your Enthusiasm). The director of photography on the film is Vittorio Storaro who is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential cinematographers of all time. Storaro worked on both Coppola's Apocalypse Now,Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, and Last Tango in Paris. Recently I've noticed more and more of Woody's friends and fans saying good things about him. These days it's news when Charlotte Rampling says her experience of making Stardust Memories was entirely positive: "we had this wonderful, platonic playfulness, constant playfulness" journalists assume she would want to distance herself from him. Likewise, much was made of Jude Law's comments about it be being "a shame" A Rainy Night in New York will be released in Europe but not America. Personally I was thrilled when I saw Woody's cheeky tribute to Diane Keaton a few year's back as it was clear there was still life in the old dog.

Scarlet Johansson was seen dining with Woody in Come Prima on Madison Avenue in May of last year. Allen directed her in 3 movies; “Scoop,” “Match Point” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Scarlet on Woody: "“I would sew the hems of his pants if he asked me to.”

Anjelica Huston collaborated with Allen on two of his his films, “Crimes and Misdemeanors” in 1989 and “Manhattan Murder Mystery" in 1993. Recently she told Variety magazine she would work with Woody again "in a second".

Posey Parker worked with Woody on Irrational Man. She told the Guardian that when she got told she'd been given the job she was so happy she burst into tears. In more recent interviews to promote her memoirs she has been quoted as saying, "Woody is a very talented, intuitive auteur and I think he knows intrinsically how to direct and how to push to the performance he wants. The roles he’s written for women are some of the best."

Kate Winslet was brilliant in Woody's 2017 flick Wonderwheel. She told the Sydney Morning Herald that she loved Woody's scripts... "I think on some level Woody is a woman. I just think he's very in touch with that side of himself. He understands the female characters he creates exceptionally well... His female characters are always so rich and large and honest in terms of how they're feeling and he just knows how to write dialogue for them to communicate all that."

Catherine Deneuve said in a recent interview with Paris Match that if Woody offered a role, she’d take it in a minute. She continued, “I would love to work with him, he is a man of immense talent,”

Miley Cyrus who worked with Allen on the series, Crisis in 6 Scenes, told Variety that she thought Allen was "an incredible person and an incredible Dad". Interestingly in the same interview she revealed that a framed photo of Woody Allen had been one of her most precious possessions for many years.

Alan Alda who has appeared in 1989’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1993’s Manhattan Murder Mystery, and 1996′s Everyone Says I Love You was asked about Woody in January of this year.He told reporters, “I’d work with him again if he wanted me... he’s an enormously talented guy.”

Ray Liotta was asked in June of this year which director he would drop everything to work for and straight away he answered: Woody. When pressed about the allegations made against him by the Farrow family Liotta added, "I believe what he says. I don't think he did what they accuse him of. He's too — for his particular case I don't buy it."

Alec Baldwin, who worked with Allen on Blue Jasmine and To Rome With Love and Alice has also defended the director on Twitter and in interviews. Baldwin claims the three times they've worked together were "privileges"

Javier Bardem is another actor keen to speak up for Wood: "At the time I did Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the allegations were already well known for more than 10 years, and two states in the US deemed he was not guilty. If the legal situation ever changes, then I’d change my mind. But for now I don’t agree with the public lynching that he’s been receiving, and if Woody Allen called me to work with him again I’d be there tomorrow morning. He’s a genius.”

The Wit and Wisdom of Woody Allen.

1) "As a child I attended an interfaith camp where I was sadistically beaten by boys of all races and creeds.” 2) "The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck." 3) "If my films don't show a profit, I know I'm doing something right." 4) "God is dead, Marx is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself." 5) “I’ve never felt Truth was Beauty. Never. I’ve always felt that people can’t take too much reality. I like being in Ingmar Bergman’s world. Or in Louis Armstrong’s world. Or in the world of the New York Knicks. Because it’s not this world. You spend your whole life searching for a way out. You just get an overdose of reality, you know, and it’s a terrible thing.” 6) "I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable." 7) "If my film makes one more person miserable, I'll feel I've done my job." 8) "There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah, I know; and such small portions.’ Well, that's essentially how I feel about life." 9) "Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t tech, teach Gym." 10) "I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself, but I didn't." 11) "The most beautiful words in the English language aren’t ‘I love you’ but ‘it's benign.’" 12) "80% of success is showing up." 13) "Between the Pope and air conditioning, I'd choose air conditioning." 14) "You know a lot of geniuses, y’know. You should meet some stupid people once in a while, y’know, you could learn something." 15) "That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works. And don't kid yourself. Because its by no means up to your own human ingenuity." 16) “I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens.” ... 17) “My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.” 18) "I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it’s the government." 19) "Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television." 20) "“Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over much too soon.”

Sir David Frost painted by Harry Pye and Emma Coleman

Sir David Frost (1939 - 2013) once observed that "Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your living room by people you wouldn't have in your home." I liked the fact he did cheesy TV shows like, Through The Keyhole but of course his big achievement was to interview 8 British Prime Ministers and 7 U.S presidents.

In 2015 I decided to celebrate my 42nd birthday by collaborating 42 different friends. Emma Coleman and I have known each other a long, long time. She contributed to two shows I curated ("Four By Four" and "100 Mothers"). I found a cartoon of Richard Nixon by Philip Guston. I had an idea we could somehow turn the small b&w cartoon into a large full colour painting. Emma talked about the Frost/Nixon film and suggested we also painted David Frost. I said we could have 2 separate paintings and then she came up with the idea of the Frost and Nixon both being on a TV screen. Below is my first attempt at painting Frostie.

Emma took away that painting and painting I'd done of Nixon and gave them a bit of T.L.C.

The paintings were included in "Life of Pye" (my exhibition of 42 collaborations) Part One of the show took place at The Angus-Hughes Gallery in Hackney. Part Two took place at Studio One Gallery,in Wandsworth Plain, SW18.

Last week I couldn't resist giving the Frost painting a few final tweaks. I changed the black TV set to burnt Sienna, added the Pye logo and volume, gave Sir David some teeth, and some ears etc. I also gave the painting a new title, Television Man which comes from a song by Talking Heads which features the lyrics, "When the world crashes in into my living room, Television man made me what I am." 'Television Man' will appear in a group show taking place in September called, You Know More Than I Know. More news soon

Introducing Stephanie Croydon

Over 100 artists are taking part in The Tate Staff Biennale which will take place on the last week of August on Level 5 of Tate Modern. Over the next few weeks The Rebel Magazine will be chatting to some of the Tate staff who are showing their artwork. Today it's the turn of Stephanie Croydon

Where did you grow up and what kind of education did you receive? "I was born in South Yorkshire and lived there until I was 18. I went to a comprehensive school and stayed on into sixth form but I wasn’t encouraged to pursue art as a career. I then moved to Cornwall and went down a different career path for a few years. In my late 20’s I enrolled on an Art and Design access course and then studied Ba (Hons) Contemporary Creative Practice with Plymouth University."

How long have you been working at the Tate and what's the best show you've seen there? "I have been working for Tate for just over 2 years. I loved Yayoi Kusama at Tate Modern in 2012. Kusamas’ dedication to her practice and the immersive installation of dots in infinitely mirrored space was remarkable. I also really enjoyed ‘Virginia Woolf: An exhibition inspired by her writings’, Tate St Ives 2018. This exhibition showcased a variety of pieces by women from 1850 onwards, highlighting feminist perspectives and women’s suffrage.

What can you tell me about the work you're exhibiting in the Tate modern show? "I am exhibiting one landscape painting which is taken from a larger body of work called ‘Out West’, created with the starting point of looking in more depth at the ancient Cornish landscape. Evolving from my previous work; looking at how the world touches us on an emotional level, continually questioning our movement in the landscape. Places for quiet contemplation, where we can be still from the world."

How can people find out about your work - do you have a website or do Instagram? My website: here Instagram: here Facebook page: www.facebook.com/stephaniecroydon.art

What's the best thing about working at the Tate? "Everybody is lovely! I am continuously inspired to keep going with my own practice through the exhibitions, talks and resources I am lucky to have access to."

The Tate Staff Biennale will take place on Level 6 of the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

How Lee Church of England Primary School celebrated their anniversary on the 12th July 1984

On the 12th of July 1984 there was a parade with pupils, teachers and clergy dressed in period costume which celebrated the 150th Anniversary of Lee Church of England Primary School.

The event was written about in the local newspaper...

Back in '84 someone told my mother that if she asked nicely, The Mercury would let her have copies of the photos they took. In the photo below (I'm the boy in the middle) and you can see that a list of "Rules for Teachers" has been framed. I'm not sure how genuine this amusing artifact is, but it is interesting to think how much the lives of teachers have changed.

The Rules for Teachers 1872

1) Teachers each day will fill lamps, trim the wicks and clean chimneys. 2) Each morning teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the days session. 3) Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils. 4) Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they attend church regularly. 5) After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or any other good books. 6) Women teachers who marry or engage is unseemly conduct will be dismissed. 7) Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so he will not become a burden on society. 8) Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

The newspaper clipping mentions ex Lee C of E pupil Colin Moynihan showing up. Lord Moynihan studied Philosophy at Oxford, was Minister for Sport in Thatcher's government and later worked for Tate & Lyle.

Despite his many achievements, Lord Moynihan is not Lee C of E's most famous pupil, sadly that honour goes to Richard Reid.

Introducing Scherry Shi

Over 100 artists are taking part in The Tate Staff Biennale which will take place on the last week of August on Level 5 of Tate Modern. Over the next few weeks The Rebel Magazine will be chatting to some of the Tate staff who are showing their artwork. Today it's the turn of Scherry Shi.

Where did you grow up and what kind of education did you receive? "I was born and raised in China from where I was trained to be a fine artist. I moved to London to study design courses at Central Saint Martins and I am returning to school for MA at Royal College of Art this year."

How long have you been working at the Tate and what's the best show you've seen there? "It’s been nearly a year since I worked at Tate. There have been so many great exhibitions I’ve seen in Tate over years! Yayoi Kusama, Wolfgang Tillmans, Damien Hirst, Matisse… too many to mention. I think the ones I enjoyed the most in the last 2 years are David Hockney exhibition at Tate Britain and Joan Jonas at Tate Modern."

What can you tell me about the work you're exhibiting in the Tate modern show? "The work I’ll be showing is a series of photographs I took at a transportation node for mined and processed ores in South Africa. Inspired by the movement of mining commodities and the way in which the mining industry is reshaping, a narrative has been developed to depict the every-day fast paced working industrial landscape in 21st century’s South Africa. Beyond observing the spatial changes of the industry, this work also raises several key questions surrounding the values of the diaspora - people who relocated or got dislocated within the process, the geographical migration of the industry, and the impacts of technology on them."

How can people find out about your work - do you have a website or do Instagram? "I’m currently working on my website, you can find me on Instagram: here What's the best thing about working at the Tate? "Always the people. Everyone works in Tate is talented and passionate about art, you learn from people everyday."

The Tate Staff Biennale will take place on Level 6 of the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Introducing Natasha Vassiliou

Over 150 artists are showing their work in The Tate Staff Biennale which will take place on the last week of August on Level 5 of Tate Modern. Over the next few weeks The Rebel Magazine will be chatting to some of the Tate staff who are showing their artwork. Today we say Hello to Natasha Vassiliou...

Where did you grow up and what kind of education did you receive? "I was born in London and grew up in Cyprus. While studying for my A Levels, I also worked amongst other practicing artists connected to the Cyprus College of Art. After moving to the UK, I took a foundation course at Central St Martins (UAL) and then a BA in Graphics and Media Design in Advertising at LCC (UAL). Realising I wanted to take a different direction with my work, I studied for a Graduate Diploma in Photography at LCC and then a Postgraduate diploma in Fine Art at Chelsea (UAL)."

How long have you been working at the Tate and what's the best show you've seen there? "I started working at Tate in late 2012 for the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition. There are endless exhibitions I have seen at the Tate, but my favourite works were the ones exhibited in the Turbine Hall such as the Weather Project (the sun installation) by Olafur Eliasson and Marsyas (the red horn installation) by Anish Kapoor. My favourite spaces are the Tanks and the Turbine Hall."

What can you tell me about the work you're exhibiting in the Tate modern show? "I will be exhibiting one photograph from a series of twenty-four called Nostalgia, which documents a journey through Cyprus and captures the emotions in the form of dream-like images. Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s polaroids, this series is a result of a developed passion for mood, colour and distorted imagery.Using movement, light, expired film and a 120-degree rotating lens camera, the photographs have an appearance of liquid colour or paint. Apart from the removal of dust and sand particles, visible on the images, no other post production was used on this series of photographs.The whole series will be available to view on my website from August."

How can people find out about your work - do you have a website or do Instagram? "I am currently working on my website, which will be available from August @ www.natashavassiliou.com You can also find me at my Instagram account @natasha.vassiliou

What's the best thing about working at the Tate? "Other than the artwork and the books, the Tanks is where you’ll find me when I'm not working."

The Tate Staff Biennale will take place on Level 6 of the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern