Read article : Here's where you'll find a 'misfortune teller' and a man cleaning a bath - in the name of art
A street can look very much like its neighbour but there’s one that is bound to stand out this weekend after a special artistic makeover.
For 363 evenings of the year it is plain Victoria Avenue, Whitley Bay , but for the remaining two – this weekend, August 19 and 20 – it becomes ArtHouses.
Coinciding with the annual Whitley Bay Film Festival , it involves householders and artists joining forces to create exhibitions and artistic happenings.
Since there is no formal gallery on Victoria Avenue, homes, gardens and public spaces are pressed into service instead.
And it isn’t just pictures on walls.
This year’s ArtHouses, the eighth, includes a fairground with a difference, a series of “guerrilla-knitted bollard-warmers” and a man whose artistic performance is to consist of cleaning someone’s bathroom.
Members of the public, of course, are invited to watch.
ArtHouses was born at the same time as the Whitley Bay Film Festival back in 2010 and Tracey Tofield, who lives just round the corner on Esplanade Place, was involved with both.
What started as a small idea got bigger so the work of staging ArtHouses is now being shared by four people, including Tracey, who works in the fine art department at Newcastle University.
“It has grown from one (my house) to two houses, a back lane and an ice-cream van through to dilapidated beach shelters, hairdressing shops, cafes and the Panama Swimming Club as a Whitley Bay-wide event,” she said this week.
“ArtHouses has settled on Victoria Avenue for a few years now for logistical reasons – and also, Victoria Avenue is the perfect site.”
As well as being pedestrianised and having sea at one end, it has plenty of people happy to get involved, either hosting art events in their homes or generally helping out.
Tracey said artists Rob Smith and Sophie Buxton had even moved into the street since the first event took place in 2010 and were now among the co-curators.
ArtHouses, which now attracts Arts Council funding, has gone from strength to strength.
“Lots of people and different houses have been involved over the years and in 2012 we had things at the Metro station, on the beach and all over the place.
“To be honest, it got a bit too big to manage. It is a volunteer event, very much in line with the film festival.
“But it is still very well attended over the two days. I counted 250 people on the street once.”
This year, as well as helping to manage the event, Tracey will be running a “pop-up fairground” on the community garden at the top of Victoria Avenue.
She promises a Lego version of hook-a-duck , a “murder mystery lady” called Hermione Poirot and a “misfortune teller”.
Lighting will be by sculptor Richard Broderick and there will be a contribution from Sneha Solanki who lives in Whitley Bay but has worked all over the world.
“She’s a really strong artist and she’s going to put on a sort of science and art performance and installation,” said Tracey.
“There will be stuff to eat and drink.”
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Whatever happens, one Victoria Avenue householder is going to finish up with a sparkling bathroom, thanks to Rob Laycock.
“He’s been involved with ArtHouses for quite a long time and has done different performances,” said Tracey.
“He did one called Bounce which involved a trampoline but this year he’s going to clean a bathroom.”
Rob will do well to upstage Helen Schell’s performance, Undress, which took place on the beach in 2013.
People watched as she lay in a rockpool and then swam away when her dress dissolved.
This year dressing up rather than dressing down is the name of the game, largely thanks to the local ‘knit and natter’ group whose members, with the support of the lottery-funded Big Local, have knitted cosy covers for the bollards.
ArtHouses takes place on Saturday and Sunday from 6pm to 10pm. Find details of this and the film festival attractions at www.whitleybayfilmfestival.co.uk .
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