Friends’ latest exhibition is just my cup of tea
Great British cuppa inspires art – from cosies and cups to pots and paintings
Knitters, ceramicists, crocheters, embroiderers, sculptors, felters and painters have used their talents to celebrate a great British pastime – drinking tea. Warming the Pot features, in one form or another, tea cosies, teapots, teacups and teabags.
There are paintings, sculptures, wall-hangings, bookmarks and brooches, fridge magnets and greeting cards displayed at Gallery 6, Victoria Road, Scarborough.
Music featuring songs about tea – including Tea for Two – also plays as visitors browse the gallery.
The exhibition is a collaboration between friends bookshop owner Leslie Stones and designer Angela Knipe. Jeweller and artists Chantal Anderton has also played a huge part in organising the event.
Both Angela and Chantal have work on display. Angela’s work includes tea cosy – one featuring Anne Bronte, the other Edith Sitwell.
“I sent out 105 invitations to artists and got 70 pieces of work back,” said Angela who owned Angela and Rosie in Bar Street, Scarborough.
Handmade tea cosies have also been donated by two groups – Newby and Scalby-based Crafty Articles and a group of makers from Todmorden near Halifax.
These can be bought by donation with half the proceeds going to the Scarborough-based charity, Art Therapy Yorkshire.
"The range of work is really varied,” said Angela. “People have also loaned us items including vintage tea cosies and a children’s tea set.”
Angela’s grandmother read tea leaves and she did consider leading sessions for the exhibition, which does include a piece dedicated to the art of tea-leaf reading.
Many of Scarborough’s leading artists are taking part in Warming the Pot. They include Lebberston-based Shirley Vauvelle, Woodend-based Lindsey Tyson, Adam King, who has a studio in Gladstone Lane and sea swimmer and ceramicist Lesley Warner.
Staxton-based mosaic specialist Sheila Downing made a tea cosy for the exhibition and her grandchildren, Max, seven, and Poppy, five, made coasters.
Among the exhibits is a penguin tea cosy made by Rachel Boddington using, among other things, a vintage tea towel, teddy bear eyes, pony club rosettes and a … bra.
The biggest cosy is by Sue Turner and is called The Cat’s Whiskers Tea Room while Vicky Snow’s cosy is made from wire. London-based singer Jeni Hankins has contributed Peg People Dream of Tea which includes a bed cover made of old tea bags.
Cloughton-based Christine Heath’s textile wall-hangings are on display in the window of the gallery as is a cup and saucer decorated with a Mabel Lucie Atwell illustration which belongs to Angela.
Scarborough-based dress designer Isabelle Randall has made a Chinese-inspired tea cosy with a dragon and phoenix motif and Wendy Doughty has made brooches.
Wendy’s husband Simon, a set designer, has tea-cup sculptures for sale. Called Storm in a Teacup 1 and 2, they feature vintage miniature figures in resin surf.
Fatima Fletcher has made a series of biscuits on a plate – including shortbread and bourbon.
Vivien Mousdell loaned a ‘naughty lady’ teapot for the exhibition.
There are also tributes to Ukraine and its people.
Warming the Pot runs at Gallery 6 until Friday September 30. The gallery is open each Wednesday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm.
Entry is free and most of the work is for sale.
1Scarborough
The Cask, Ramshill, Wednesday September 21, doors at 7.45pm Scarborough Jazz Club hosts its annual warmup for Scarborough Jazz Festival – September 23 to 25 – featuring Festival compere/saxophone virtuoso Alan Barnes with tenor saxophonist Dean Masser. A former member of the Jack Parnell Quartet, Dean has played alongside many of the leading names in British jazz. Dean and Alan worked together in 2017, touring with Alan’s Fish Tales project. Alan’stalent on saxes and clarinet needs little introduction to Scarborough audiences. Dean has a great sound in the style of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. The MG3 will be in hot pursuit.
Tickets £10 on the door or call 07703 434796.
2
Nathan Bell Jazz Club
Old Parcels Office, Scarborough Railway Station, Tuesday September 20 at 7.30pm
This is a welcome return to Scarborough for the gritty, award-winning songwriter and performer. Bell has honed his decades of commitment to blues, folk, jazz ,poetry and justice into a sound all his own. Support comes from Maltonbased blues duo the Twisty Turns.
Tickets £14 from Record Revivals, Northway, Scarborough
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Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until Saturday October 1
The curtain has gone up on the world premiere of Alan Ayckbourn’s 87th play. Elizabeth Boag, Georgia Burnell, Tanya-Loretta Dee, Antony Eden and Frances Marshall are directed by the author in the play which chronicles the trials, tribulations and temptations of three generations of one family across 70 years in the same home.
Tickets from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com
Family Album
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Hollywood Plaza, Scarborough, from Thursday September 15 to Thursday September 22
Top Gun: Maverick (12A): After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator. Tom Cruise stars.
Friday September 15, Saturday September 16 and Sunday September 17 at 5pm. All seats £5. Elvis (12A): The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star in the 1950s. Stars Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.
Friday September 15, Saturday September 16 and Sunday September 17 at 7:30pm. All seats £5.
Tad the Lost Explorer and the Curse of the Mummy (U): Tad unleashes an ancient spell
Cinema times
endangering the lives of his friends.
Saturday September 16 and Sunday September 17th at 2pm. All seats £5 including popcorn. Ticket to Paradise (12A): A divorced couple try to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made. George Clooney and Julia Roberts star.
Tuesday September 20 and Thursday September 22nd at 7:30pm; Wednesday September 21 at 1,30pm, 4.30pm and 7.30pm.
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Johnny Cash Roadshow
Scarborough Spa, Saturday September 17
Clive John pays homage to Cash’s career as the Man In Black alongside his wife June Carter, Meghan Thomas. Plenty of great music. Tickets: 01723 376774