Now in its 6th Year the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Spinningfields in Manchester is recognised as one of the leading retail events for contemporary craft in the UK, attracting over 6000 visitors with collective exhibitor sales of over £200,000. This year it takes pace from 10th to 13th October. A record 11 Yorkshire Artspace artists have been selected to take part this year, including 6 artists from our Starter Studio Programme. They are: Cathy Sutherland,  Zoe Watts,  Sarah Pasley, Anne Laycock, Bryony Penman, Fay Jenkinson, Laura Lou, Chris Boland, Keith Tyssen, Jennie Gill and Penny Withers.

And our starter artists have also been selected for a number of other events: Starter silversmiths/jewellers  Cathy Sutherland and Zoe Watts are showing at MADE Brighton brom 21st to 24th November at the Corn Exchange, part of the Dome Complex by the Royal Pavilion where 120 innovative and original makers and designers show and sell their work directly to the public, from beautiful and unique jewellery, textiles, glass, ceramics to bespoke furniture and much more across all prices brackets.

Starter ceramist Anne Laycock and Fay Jenkinson are showing new work in Exploring Spode at the Original Spode Factory Site, Stoke on Trent from 28th September to 10th November 2013 part of the 3rd British Ceramics Biennial.  Nine emerging ceramists have collaborated to stage new work in response to the former Spode factory site. "The group have observed the space as a container holding the histories of those who have worked there, things made there and things left behind, and the passage of time. The multiplicity of the site is echoed though the diversity of approach from these emerging ceramic practices, illustrating the richness of the site. Their individual voices as makers interpret and retell possible stories and objects, memories, traces – whether though their own technical or personal approach to ceramics". The nine practitioners have all been part of the Crafts Council’s Hothouse programme for emerging makers that they completed in July this year.  

Anne and Fay are also showing work at the Design Event Mart at the  Globe Gallery in Newcastle from 10th to 20th October 2013 and at Made London on 25th and 26th October 2013

Ceramist Brian Holland is exhibiting at Burslem School of Art Gallery from the 1st to 31 October in the exhibition 'A figurative quartet' with three other Sheffield based ceramic artists: Karin Hessenberg, Gillian Sykes, and Gerald Unwin. This runs throughout the 'British Ceramics Biennale' in nearby Stoke.

Goldsmiths’ Fair 2013 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London EC2V 6BN offers the unique opportunity to buy contemporary silver and jewellery direct from the best leading and up-coming jewellers and silversmiths.  This annual fair is Europe's largest and most prestigious showcase for the skills and craftmanship in jewellery and silversmithing with each exhibitor selected by the Goldsmith's Company and every piece for sale bearing a hallmark.  Yorkshire Artspace silversmiths Rebecca Joselyn, Brett Payne, Charlotte Tollyfield and Zoe Watts will be showing their work in week one from 23rd to 29th September.  Colette Bishop is showing in week two from 1st to 6th October.  Opening times Monday to Friday -11am to 7pm and 10am to 6pm Saturday and Sunday.

Young Sheffield Product Design Company Psalt Design,  run by directors Richard Bell, Tom McKeown and David Powell have also just received a £4,500 loan from Gateshead-based Transmit Start Ups. This funding will enable them to showcase their latest collection at Tent London part of the prestigious London Design Festival 2013 from 19th to 22nd September.  The new designs which Psalt will be promoting are a bench and table inspired by architecture and structural design,  a range of wooden clocks that explore different finishes and materials and a sheet steel noticeboard that helps organise and arrange memories, keepsakes and notes.  ” Transmit Start-Ups director, Damian Baetens said: “Psalt are a brilliant company who look set to create products which will become nationally recognised. The interest in their work grows every week and with this new product range they are really putting themselves on the product design map. All of Transmit’s directors are experienced entrepreneurs so we can also give them mentoring to help them with their exciting growth plans.”    

Textile designer Sarah Waterhouse has just been shortlisted for a £10,000 business bursary in collaboration with Stylist magazine.  She needs votes to win so visit the Stylist Magazine website and vote for Sarah!  

Ceramist artist Emilie Taylor will be exhibiting at the Ruthin Craft Centre in Denbighshire as part of  'Ceramics Illustrated' - a nine person group show, curated by Sara Roberts that includes work by Lowri Davies, Sun Ae Kim and Hanne Manheimer.   The exhibition opens on 28th September and will run until 1st December. 

Lydia Lapinski was recently commissioned by Computer Arts Magazine to produce a series of photographed stage sets (pictured) to for their August issue to accompany the article 'Unite & Conquer' about how collaborating with other creatives in the design, illustration, music and photography fields. Lydia designed and built the sets and Tom Jackson took the photoos.

Artist Jamie Salmon will be showing an audio/visual installation in Newcastle as part of their Science Festival.  The work, made with Nottingham-based artist Noel Murphy consists of data captured from seven sunspots to create a computer visualisation projected onto a sound-reactive sculpture, generating a haunting solar soundscape. You can see it at The Globe Gallery from Saturday 7th September to Thursday 12th September.  

Aritst Research Bursay recipient Paul Allender will be running a one-off 'subjective tour' of Parson Cross council estate on Saturday 5th October as part of Art Sheffield 2013.  A  mini-bus will collect people from Site Gallery at 10.45 am and the tour will go to places in Parson Cross where significant things happened to him between the ages of 11 and 21. On the way out there Paul will provide an overview of Parson Cross and on the way back he will answer any questions that the tour participants may have.  It's a FREE event for maximum 10 people.  You read more about it by reading his blog about his adolescent experiences growing up  on a poor council estate in the late 1960s / early 1970s.

Porter Brook Studios' watercolour painter Tim Rose had his watercolour painting accepted for the Sunday Times watercolour competition, opening at the Mall Galleries in early September where another 159 paintings will be shown.  "Unfortunately, this time I did not win a prize" he said but was still very pleased to have been selected.

Sculptor Anthony Bennett is exhibiting in "I Can Do That" from 12th September to 20th December at Western Bank Library Exhibition Gallery, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN.  "Sculpture, 2d artworks, sound and video, from the past 30 years chronicle his sculptoral journey, illustrating his unusual career path, from emerging artist to emerging artist".

Artist Coralie Turpin is in the process of creating a sculpture for Barnsley town centre. The sculpture commemorates the Alhambra theatre which stood on the site where the new alhambra shopping centre is built. During her research Coralie found stories about cats that lived in the theatres to keep at bay the numbers of rats and mice, attracted by the food the audience were throwing at actors they didn't like.  Two cats still reside at the Globe Theatre in London and even have stage names!   Coralie worked with writer Emma Taylor at Pipers Grove Primary school to get the children to come up with interesting phrases to describe the characters of theatre cats. Emma has written a poem using the children's words and Coralie will be carving the poem onto the sculpture. The sculpture is just under 3m tall, has been made using mild steel with an aluminium face and will be installed at the end of September in the Sheffield Road underpass. 

Coralie Turpin is collaborating with fellow Yorkshire Artspace artist Owen Waterhouse on the design of new kiosk screens for the Moor area as part of its current regeneration. The kiosk will be installed in November this year.