Wimbledon Snapshot

Construction Gallery is a three-month pop-up creative hub in Tooting, showcasing talent across the fields of visual art, live music and literature. Through the generosity of the Outer London Fund the main space will host ambitious large-scale sculpture with a further five project spaces dedicated to bringing together artists, writers, performers and designers to create new work for the public to explore.

RCA graduate Alistair McClymont is showing his work After the Rain in the main space for the next three weeks. There are also individual project spaces showing film and sound work, and rooms for both artists and writers to take up temporary residencies.

The Gallery has been brought to life by Wimbledon College of Art alumni Pippa Koszerek and Fiona Long. Recent WCA Fine Art Painting graduates Warren Andrews and Christopher Lawrence are working on the curation and design; and artist in residence, Sam Robinson’s paintings will go on display this week. Several current students are involved in the day-to-day running of the project.

The success of the Gallery depends on the people using it. So get involved!

The launch night with live music and bar is on:

Wednesday 25th January from 6.30pm to 9pm

Construction Gallery and Cafe, 74 – 80 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7PB (Nearest tube: Tooting Bec)

Congratulations to Wimbledon College of Art Time-Based Media graduate, Max Dovey, who has been named in the 2012 Catlin Guide.

Launched at the London Art Fair on 18 January, the 2012 Catlin Guide showcases what its editor, Justin Hammond, claims are Britain’s 40 most promising artists. The guide exhibits the 40 artists’  latest work and details future exhibitions, projects and aspirations for the coming year.

Dovey, who graduated from WCA in July 2011, is a performance artist. One of his previous performance pieces, includes the Emotional Stock Market (pictured above), which was presented as part of the 2011 Fine Art Degree Show. The Emotional Stock Market is where happiness, sadness and love can be bought and sold. The emotional data is streamed from Twitter, creating a live visualisation in the marketplace.

Click here for The Guardian’s article on Max Dovey and 5 other artists in this year’s Catlin Guide.

THE PERFECT NUDE, Installation View, WIMBLEDON space

More than 350 people attended the opening of THE PERFECT NUDE last week. The exhibition of 106 perfect (and imperfect!) nudes, continues Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm until Friday 10th February.

Dan Coombs, 'Woman Reading', 2011, Oil on Canvas

Phil Allen, 'Shop Soiled Nude', 2012, Oil on Canvas

Laura White, ‘Blue Nude’ (Installation View, WIMBLEDON space), 2012, Sugru

The London New Year’s Day Parade has once again ended in success for Merton Council after its float, ‘Horsepower’, finished joint first place with Westminister Council in ‘The Let’s Help London Challenge’.

This year’s competition which included nineteen London boroughs was themed ‘ The London Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’.

After collecting the top prize in 2009 and second prize in 2010, Merton Council was again victorious in Sunday’s New Year parade with its float ‘Horsepower’, which paid homage to the Merton borough for having the first licensed public railway in the world, the horse-drawn Surrey Iron Railway.

Mayor of Merton, Councillor Gilli Lewis-Lavender, gave a special thanks to Peter Wallder of Colour House Theatre and students of Wimbledon College of Art for their hard work in building the horse.

Merton was also awarded £7,000 for first place which will be donated to the mayor’s chosen charities: Parkinson’s UK, Merton Music Foundation, Merton Concert Band, Merton and Modern Guild, Merton Vision, Merton Priory Trust, Crossroads, Age UK Merton and Deen City Farm.

Congratulations to our students Adam, Ethan, Eleanor, Mel and Karl for their construction of the magnificent mechanical horse.

First entry in your new 2012 diaries? 12th January, 5 – 8pm is the Opening Event for this exciting exhibition curated by Dan Coombs & Phil Allen. Over 100 artists take part in this aesthetic experiment presenting a range of responses to the subject of the nude.

For more info please visit WIMBLEDON space website

We are delighted to announce that 3rd year BA Painting student, Eleanor Watson has been awarded the 2011 Hans Brinker Budget Trophy. Eleanor was declared the winner on 9th December in Amsterdam, taking home a cheque for 5,000 euros. This annual competition involves nominees from 5 British and 3 Dutch Art Colleges and culminates with visitors voting for their favourite work. Congratulations Eleanor on this huge achievement!

Back in July we posted about the Propeller Theatre Company’s critically acclaimed double bill production of ‘Richard III’ and ‘The Comedy of Errors’. Well another shout out must go to Design for Performance pathway leader, Michael Pavelka, the show’s set and costume designer, as it has recently been named in the Observer’s Top 10 Theatre Productions of 2011. Well done Michael!

Design for Performance pathway leader, Michael Pavelka , has designed the set and costumes for the new British production of ‘The Go-Between’.  This world premier musical/opera is an adaptation of LP Hartley’s 1953 romantic novel, which has recently been nominated for the 2012 WhatsOnStage awards for Best Regional Production. The voting is now open so please vote for ’The Go-Between’ here at WhatsOnStage!

This is the inaugural year of the prize, offering graduate artists from the 2011 degree shows an opportunity to exhibit alongside the five established artists who selected them. Phillip Allen, Carol Robertson, Iain Robertson, Alan Shipway and Gary Wragg toured shows nationwide to select their chosen graduate.

The £5000 abstract critical Newcomer Award will be announced during the exhibition, which will run at Kings Place Gallery from 30 March  – 20 April 2012.

Congratulations Gwennan on your selection, we look forward to next year’s exhibition!