All events are free and run Sat 20 June- Sun 28 June, unless otherwise stated
This year’s Visual Arts Trail encompasses exhibitions right across Didsbury. Explore works by local artists in local venues and look out for works by local school children in shops and businesses too.
Anne Catherine Miller
On the Edge of Town | Bourbon and Black
A series of paintings by local artist Anne Catherine Miller
Cecile Elstein
Of Being | Jo Padmore, Wimslow Road
Currents act as metaphor for time and being in existence. The colour white as light catches the surfaces of matter. It dances over everything: the weight, texture, touch of the sea, shelter and tree. In this blue and white celebratory screen print, I have worked towards an equal balance of being and action.
Claire Atkinson
Bus 42 Photographs | East Didsbury Railway Station
Photographs taken from the window of the bus 42.
CM Bronsteanu
Buffering | Bourbon and Black
Photographic exploration of the peripheral urban landscape, aproaching from a conceptual angle spaces that lack definition - that are neither urban nor rural - and in a continuous state of transformation.
Cosima Lancu
Postcard from Wet Woodlands |Croma
Cosmina Iancu is a Manchester based art and photography enthusiast, using the camera as means of connecting with the natural world, never tiring of recording its beauty, form and subtle changes. Her project “Postcards from Wet Woodland” is the result of one year visual exploration of Didsbury’s green oasis Stenner Woods and Millgate Fields. What first started as a simple observation-based photographic recording of the environment had soon become an established project, ultimately a visual attempt of reconnection with the nature-rich landscape from back home.
Crystal Kershaw
NEST | The Parsonage Gardens
What does it feel like to be inside a nest? Responding to the unique characteristics of three trees in the Parsonage's exquisite gardens - a Black Mulberry, a Cedar of Lebanon and a Laburnum Cross - Crystal presents a trio of site specific sculptural installations.
Eamonn Murphy
Didsbury M20 | The Albert Bowling and Tennis Club
An exhibition of photographic artwork celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of the Didsbury urban environment.
Elena McLaren
Bus 42, Manchester Panoramic | Bourbon and Black
My creativity is my language, all I want to say about life! My works are about what I see in everyday life, beautiful and ugly. All things which excite me and do not allow me to stay indifferent, help me to create and work on new projects.
Emily and Anne
Lost in the Woods: An Animated Painting | Didsbury Library
Lost in the Woods is an animation shadow box, influenced by Joseph Cornell, fairytales, and the mix of countryside, suburbia and city. The physical space is made from a range of unusual materials, with animation screened behind it to create an ethereal atmosphere.
Go to the event page here for more details.
Emily Rusby
Wealth | Didsbury Library
A site specific installation based at Didsbury’s historic Library. Wealth explores the in-between narratives of people and places, in this case; Andrew Carnegie, his wealth, the library and Didsbury. It is the hidden and interwoven histories that come to light through the installation.
Ian Tattersall
Ian Tattersall | The Railway
I am interested in the accidental elements that emerge from 'in between' conscious and unconscious when making pictures. My work begins life as an expressive charcoal drawing. I then use digital media to remix the images further which throws up a myriad of new material. I then develop these into ink drawings.
Janet Walsh
Five Miles to St Ann’s Square | Bourbon and Black
This wall hanging represents the different nature of each one of 5 miles “between St Ann’s Square and mile marker in front of Third Eye Restaurant”. The fabric has been dyed with natural materials either found in each mile, such as turmeric from Rusholme, and cochineal for Manchester Museum.
Jayne Ford
Glass Artwork | Fletcher Moss Park
Looking like mysterious visitors from another world, Jayne Ford’s lily-like glass sculptures have chosen the Rockery at Fletcher Moss Gardens as their earthly home during the Festival. Shifting between silvery reflectivity and ethereal transparency as the viewer meanders through the garden, they occupy an in between place between visibility and invisibility.
Jean Maudsley & Kenneth Lawson
12 Paintings | Holt Pavilion, Didsbury Park
An exhibition of 12 paintings: 10 by Kenneth Lawson and 2 by Jean Maudsley
Jessica Leite
Man in a Room | Volta
Man in a room is a series of three paintings inspired by Kafka's "The Metamorphosis", created by artist Jessica Leite. As in the author's novel, the character, metamorphosed into a giant insect, neither entirely a human nor a bug, is seen from above in a bare room, a non-place in which all the possibilities are not yet realized.
Liz Scantlebury
The Magic Garden | Nazarene College
The Magic Garden is a series of drawings and paintings focusing on the incidental beauty of our local green spaces.
*Please note restricted public opening times: 20 - 28th June
Sat-Tue: 1-6pm
Wed: 1-3pm
Thurs - Sun: 1-6pm
Lizzie Finlay
Children’s Book Illustrations | Didsbury Library
Lizzie has illustrated both picture book and young fiction titles as well as writing and illustrating her own picture books: Dandylion, which was awarded the Dundee Picture book Award 2010, and Little Croc's Purse. Some artwork from her books will also be on display in the library.
Lynne Duric
Twilight | Simon’s Bridge | 21st-25th June
Lynne Duric will be painting in situ between Simon’s Bridge and Stenner Woods. Come and see her at work. Check our website for more details on times and locations. See the completed works at a Twilight - Preview Evening, Friday 26th June, 7pm, Simons Bridge.
Annual Print Exhibition | The Parsonage
The exhibition is a handpicked selection of members' prints with a variety of subjects including landscape, abstract, portraiture, natural history and sport. Club members will be on hand during the exhibition to welcome visitors and to answer any questions they may have.
Maxine Taylor
Hidden Didsbury |Didsbury Library
Hidden Didsbury’ illustrates the hidden gems of the popular suburb. The acrylic paintings are a dreamlike interpretation of what is there, or isn't there. Painted using a unique style inspired by Paul Klee’s idea of ‘taking a line for a walk’, combining abstract painting and emotive words into the pieces.
Meha Hindocha
20/43 | Didsbury Perk
The exhibition 20/43, explores Didsbury’s hidden gems as well as local favourites. My work includes a series of detailed black and white line drawings and paintings in different mediums including spray paint, watercolour and acrylics. Born and raised in Kenya, my art has been influenced by the batiks and crafts of local artisans, my intricate pattern work draws heavily from rangoli and henna designs of my Indian background.
Memo
Didsbury Trail | Various
As part of this year’s festival you are invited to explore the village and discover the eight wooden letters of Didsbury. With help from schools and the local community, each letter has been illustrated to celebrate the diversity of the area. The letters are located in different places throughout the village.
Go to the event page here for more details.
Michael Stevenson
Many Waters | Nazarene College
An exhibition of paintings derived from studies of waterfalls, lakes, rivers and the sea.
*Please note restricted public opening times: 20 - 28th June
Sat-Tue: 1-6pm
Wed: 1-3pm
Thurs - Sun: 1-6pm
Michael Swallow
Mike Swallow Photography | Home Cafe, Emmanuel Church
I first started taking photographs on childhood holidays in North Wales and I’ve been absorbed by the medium ever since. My vision and technique have been honed and refined by over 30 years of image making, both commercially and through my own artistic practice.
Michelle Olivier
Local Sketches | Fusion Deli
I am a local artist and believe in affordable, accessible art. Didsbury Arts Festival is a great way of making this possible. I hope that you can see in these paintings and prints my love of the natural world and how I register colour, shape and form.
Skafford
Tales of my Neighbours | Parsonage Gardens
Sckafford: Andy Fear, Kevin Linnane and Craig Need work separately in sculpture, photography, kinetic art, film and sound. The three artists periodically come together to investigate and explore environmental relationships. Tales of My Neighbours the work of, refers to Fletcher Moss folklore book ‘Old Customs and Tales of My Neighbours’.
Didsbury Secondary Schools
Secondary Schools in Shop Windows | Various
Local Secondary Schools are exhibiting their artwork in the shop windows of our Didsbury traders. Look out for surprises in their windows when strolling around Didsbury.
Didsbury Open House Trail
In addition to the Arts Trail, Didsbury Arts Festival presents for the first time an Open House Arts Trail, with local artists and art-lovers opening their houses to act as gallery spaces for the final weend of the festival.
See the full list of those involved here.