
On Monday, we were joined by artist, Mary Oliver. Mary talked about her practice and we discussed work including 'Mother Tongue' in which Mary performed in synchrony with herself as her mother and her three sisters and more recent works like 'Fly me to the Moon' and 'Somewhere between Heaven and Earth'. This was followed by members of the Academy in turn presenting recent work. Much of the days discussion was focused on art education with Mary sharing her experiences of working within University based art education.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Visiting Artist: Mary Oliver 07/04/08
Friday, 21 March 2008
Film & Video. Lunch & Dinner.
Last Tuesday saw the first of a month long series of films organised by the Art Academy and G. Leddington taking place at Islington Mill. The focus for the inaugural Film & Video Lunch & Dinner was early experimental film and video anthology. Over the next three Tuesdays (25th, 1st and 8th) we will have more films for you. There will be a program of short films at lunchtime, starting 1pm and lasting one hour and then one or two longer feature length films in the evening starting at 7pm. We will be serving food for the evening screnings from 6.30pm. If you would like to come along or would like details of the films we will be showing, please email: artacademy@islingtonmill.com
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Sheffield Gallery Visits
Monday, 18 February 2008
14/02/08 Visiting Artist: Philip Davenport
Last Thursday we were joined by poet and artist, Philip Davenport at the Art Academy. Philip gave us an introduction to his work and brought along some examples from a piece of work called 'Imaginary Missing People' to discuss. We first encountered Philips work at Mid-Pennine Gallery when we went on a group visit there for the 'Language and Science' show last year. We had the very strange and enlightening experience of talking with Philip over speaker-phone about his piece of work while we were in the gallery that day. After Philips talk, we each discussed our own individual practice and the collective work we have been doing as a group.

Monday, 11 February 2008
Bristol visit
Last week we went to explore Bristol's Art scene.
We visited Cube, Microplex Cinema and venue which is run by a group of voluntary artists and promoters.
We also visited Spike Island a place where artists make and exhibit their art. It began its life as an artist led initiative and has now grown into a center for new and innovative art.
Friday, 18 January 2008
Writing Residency by Anni Rossi & Rollin Hunt
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Scientific Exposition by Dr. Adil Mughal
Morry invited Dr. Adil Mughal to give a talk/presentation on the physics of soap bubbles at the Olafur Arnalds gig on Saturday night. Adil presented a lecture entitled, ‘Soap films, surface tension and computation’. He demonstrated how soap film can be used as a type of analogue computer to solve complex problems. The talk referenced the work of Escher as well as many other artists and physicists. This was Adils first experience of presenting work to a non-academic audience. The presentation was followed by a set from Olafur Arnalds who is from Iceland. Liondialer from Manchester also played.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Free gig to raise money for the Art Academy and Medicins Sans Frontieres



Music was provided by John Peel favourites, the legendary Nightingales and the one and only Hotpants Romance.
Friday saw the Night School project in the club space at Islington Mill really kick off with the first of many art works happening live on the night. Andrew ran a stall selling written words. Morry projected the song title and artist name of the song being played by the live DJ or band as it happened, and invited people to join in with this. Craig designed a poster. Laura made donations boxes and flyers on found leaves.
Thanks to everyone who came and made the night a great success.. we made a lot of money for charity!
Monday, 26 November 2007
Tuesday 20th-Sunday 25th November – Cauliflower planting on the Greenwich Peninsula
The Art Academy went to London to help artist Kerry Morrison with a project on the Greenwich peninsular. Kerry was very helpful when we were setting up the academy and the invitation to help her in London was an opportunity to repay the favour and see a piece of her work develop. The project involved building an allotment of cauliflowers as a memorial to the cauliflower farm and allotments that used to exist on the Greenwich peninsular years ago. The allotment also served as a statement about local produce. Craig, Laura, Lowri and Louie worked alongside local people to help build the allotment and plant most of the cauliflowers. Maria helped Kerry plant the remaining cauliflowers, guerrilla style, around the Greenwich peninsular. The experience was enjoyable for all and we look forward to the cauliflower cheese gala in the spring. More information is available about the project at www.100cauliflowers.com
Monday, 29 October 2007
Visit to Gropiusstadt, Berlin
Group visit to the flat at Gropiusstadt, Berlin where the Pilotprojekt is based to meet with Uwe Jonas who runs the project. The flat is on the 10th floor of a block designed in the shape of a horse-shoe. The design allows for a view of almost all of the other balconies in the block from any one. Gropiusstadt appears green, leafy and well maintained. Many of the residents have moved here from less desirable inner-city areas.
We visited some art galleries on our last day in Berlin with Ingo Gerken. Near Alexander Platz there is a small network of streets with thousands of independent galleries that are showing new work from established and emerging artists, artists from Berlin and around the world. There is so much art packed into a small place.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Berlin Research Trip
Visit to the Gallerie im Kornerpark, Neukolln, Berlin for a show of work from the Pilotprojekt residency program in Gropiusstadt, Berlin. Pilotprojekt is a year-round residency program in a highrise flat in an area of Berlin called Gropiusstadt. Artists live and work for 1 –2 weeks at a time in the flat and the surrounding areas. A book, detailing the works produced or proposed is published at the end of each year. The project has been running since 2002. Gropiusstadt is a post-war overspill town on the outskirts of Berlin. The masterplan for the area was designed by Walter Gropius but due to severehousing shortage in the post-war period, his plans were substantially altered.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Nightschool: An Artschool as a Nightclub

Nightschool is a new project by Islington Mill Art Academy that will see the group take up residence in the club space on the ground floor of Islington Mill in Salford.
The group will be responsible for the day to day running of the club and the events that happen there as well as using it as their working and project space. They will have free reign to change, adapt and alter the space according to their working practices.
The project presents an interesting opportunity to reappraise the methods in which The Art Academy functions and the participants are keen to see how their current working practices adapt to this new and unlikely environment. Similarly, they will be interested to see how their interventions will affect the use of the space as a nightclub and events space.
In addition to this, the group are tasked with implementing effective working and organisational systems for the club, which will be handed over to the next managers of the space at the end of this project.
The club space at Islington MIll has provided a free and accessible space for a wide variety of events in the past two years and this project promises to open another exciting chapter in its future development.
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Who Wants Yesterdays News?

Andrew handed out yesterdays MEN newspaper in St Annes Square. He collected the papers the day before from people handing them out around Manchester city centre. He handed them out from 1.30 - 3.30 pm, at which point he was approached by 3 staff from the MEN and two police officers and threatened with an £80 fine.
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Monday, 10 September 2007
Monday, 23 July 2007
Friday, 20 July 2007
Monday, 2 July 2007
Sunday, 20 May 2007
The informal Summer art academy at Islington Mill begins.
A two week course working alongside artists, Helmut Lemke and Kerry Morrison.
