Colour on the Moors - The Psychedelic Sheep of Fleecy Sunshine

The colourful sheep of Fleecy Sunshine have their home at one of our CADS studios. Elizabeth Crossley and Paul Sewell are two of the very talented artists of our community. Here, Elizabeth tells us a bit more about her art.

by Roxana Soica / 29 July 2015

Rainbow Ram and Son by Elizabeth Crossley

Hello, Elizabeth and thank you for finding the time to have a chat with me. Tell me, first, when did you and Paul discover your passion for painting and sculpture?

I went to Sheffield Art College for five years many years ago and I did Sculpture for my main subject. I was very passionate about it but it was very difficult to continue while also bringing up two children.

Paul, on the other hand, has only started painting just over a year ago. He used to run a pub and had never done any painting in his life before.

Old Church. Lubeck in Winter by Paul Sewell

 It is quite impressive to see Paul’s works now, knowing that he has no formal training and is very much new to this whole thing. He’s still very much in the learning process, Elizabeth tells me. But then again, she ponders, I suppose we never stop learning when it comes to painting and the arts.

When did you take over the studio at CADS?

Well, I live in a flat and, about three years ago when my son came back home, I had no room to paint anymore and I decided to take the studio. He is now gone, but I am still keeping it, because it’s a space just for me and it’s so nice and quiet! I go to there about twice a week, sometimes three times, but I also run some art groups for adults (see below for times) and take care of my grandson so I am kept fairly busy.

Tell me a bit more about you as an artist. What artists do you admire? What medium do you prefer?

I really like Claude Lorrain and Picasso. I also like sculpture very much. As for a prefered medium, I think it would be watercolours and acrylics. I have done lots of watercolours, as well as oils – and I did make some little sculptures as well. Nowadays I do acrylics mainly because they are light to move around (as I don’t drive) and because they don’t need framing.

Piccadilly Sheep by Elizabeth Crossley

What about your subject matter? Why the sheep?

I was born in London and we moved up here when I was about seven years old. When we arrived here, I was absolutely taken with the sheep on the moors and being able to go and feed them. I had seen nothing like that in the middle of London… and that was it, really. I suppose I’ve always liked sheep.

I used to do more traditional paintings – things like snow scenes with sheep and so on – and I still can do them, but at some point I decided to try and develop it into something different. Then, a few years ago, I did my first painting of multicoloured sheep. I entered the Great Sheffield Art Show and I won the Octagon Prize. I was so thrilled! And I suppose that’s what’s kept me going!

I guess you can’t keep any sheep since you said you live in a flat, but have you any pets at all?

I love animals! Unfortunately I’m not allowed to have dogs in my flat but I do have a little goldfish in an aquarium.

Colour Blind by Elizabeth Crossley

Elizabeth’s work has been exhibited at the Bradfield Art & Craft Fair, Art in the Gardens (at the Sheffield Botanical Gardens), as well as the Great Sheffield Art Show. 

She also runs art groups at the following locations:

Wood Lane Countryside Centre, Stannington

Mon (9-12): Painting for Pleasure 

Mon (7-9 pm): Structured Course

Christ Church, Manchester Road, Stocksbridge

Tues (10-12): Painting for Pleasure

St Mary's Church Hall, South Road, Walkley

Wed (10-12): Structured course

Visit www.fleecysunshine.com to view and purchase Elizabeth and Paul's artwork.

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From 0 to 92,000 in Under Three Years: The Media Directory

We sat down with Rob Hirst of The Media Directory to talk about the creative industries, starting your own business and the enterprising community around Sheffield. Here's what he shared with us about the exciting journey that The Media Directory has carried him through.

by Roxana Soica / 29 Apr 2015

When did it all start? What was the preamble to this brilliant idea?

It was around September 2012 that I was about to turn 30 and was working for an engineering firm while also trying to be a musician. I had a lot of friends who were artists, actors, photographers, all working or aspiring to work creative jobs. I, too, had a degree in Media Studies - which, in all honesty, hasn't really been of much use.

There were redundancies at the company I was working at and I wanted to leave because I had been there for 10 years. There was a lot going on - I was also paying for a rehearsal room, practising with the band, writing on my own, and then I just had enough. I decided it wasn't getting me anywhere. I felt as though my time was finished and it was time to help others.

How did you decide that this was what you wanted to offer as a business?

I was aware of other businesses in the sector because I was using their services. I did believe that their services were extortionate, though. I would pay £100 a month for subscription fees to try and get into the music industry as a songwriter, and it just seemed ridiculous…  And a lot of the jobs advertised were fake and I just thought – ‘Right, I wonder if I can do anything myself’.

There was a two-week period where I just thought, ‘I've got to do something’ – so I did some research, set up a twitter account and started re-tweeting all these different companies in different areas. I got about a thousand followers in three weeks.

What surprised you about how it evolved?

It was always exciting launching it – that was the key thing. At the time I used to watch The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den and read all these blogs about businesses starting out and never getting to see their product out there. When it launched, I had built a following on Twitter of about 25,000 and in the first week the website had about 500 views. Needless to say, I was devastated. I couldn’t believe it! I was so naïve to think that all those people on social media would come straight to the website. That was a big shock, but also an exciting time. I thought ‘Here we go’.

How do you feel about the start-up/business community in Sheffield?

One of the highlights of this journey was being able to work with a few other Sheffield companies. I’ve been engaged with the start-up community in the last two-three years while I was building my site and I’ve found it to be incredible. I went to a few enterprise group sessions and I learned about taxes and HMRC, how to market your business and things like that. I had already read about all of that, but it was nice to have other people to talk to, who were all at the various points in their journey. I find that the Sheffield start-up community has developed a lot in the last few years. CADS has been around for about three years now, and Union Street just opened, too.

What do you prefer in terms of working space? Open or individual?

I think the co-working thing is a great idea, especially in the creative industry, and Sheffield has a lot of small businesses that wouldn’t exist without the connection that a communal working space provides. And at the same time it’s great to be part of CADS and have a space here. Even though I’m not working with them, it’s nice to be under the same roof with so many artists and creative people – it’s about the environment.

Do you come in at CADS like you would in an office? As in, you come from home, you do your work here and then when you're done you go back home? 

I do it all day and I do it all night – it’s crazy and it’s very exciting at the same time!I almost spent 14 hours a day, 7 days a week on the website. It’s become like an obsession, it just drives you on.

Finally, would you have a piece of advice for others starting their business?

Never give up! It’s really easy to give up and looking back at my bank account along the last two-three years, I could have given up a long time ago. If you believe in something and know that if you get to a certain point it will work, and if you do your research, have a solid business plan and you know your market, you should be fine – and you should just go out and do it.



Follow The Media Directory on Twitter @mediadirectory1 and Facebook to find out about the newest jobs in the Arts and Media industries.

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Blood Sport (human) drummer Sam Parkin talks about Sheffield, metronomes and Brian Eno

If you haven't heard about them yet, you probably will soon. Nick, Sam and Alex are Blood Sport, one of the most exciting acts to come out of the Sheffield music scene. They've come a long way since their first cassette in 2011, polishing their sound with every new release. Their recent LP, Life in Units is a polymorphous blend of contagious, rhythmic complexity.

by Roxana Soica / 22 Apr 2015

Pictured above: Nick (vocals &baritone guitar), Sam (drums &percussion)
and Alex (guitar &drum machine)

They've been very busy lately, playing a number of shows around Sheffield, including one with Vision Fortune at The Lughole. Some lucky Londoners have also had the chance to see them live at Café Oto, one of the coolest music venues in the metropolis. They have also played here, at CADS, several times, sometimes DJing and other times as a band.

All of them have been involved with CADS in some form or another, doing various things and being part of the hub of activity that CADS is in the Sheffield art scene.  But why do music in Sheff?

There’s a strong DIY culture associated with Sheffield that CADS embodies and lots of other organisations around the city do as well. Even though it’s a big city, the cultural scene is quite small and everyone pretty much knows each other. It’s pretty easy to meet like-minded people, feel included and practice cheaply. And the city has such strong music history... It pretty much ticks all the boxes; it’s like a breeding ground.

Listening to an album that's as daring and innovative as Life in Units, I couldn't help but wonder where their sound comes from and what sort of music the guys listen to. It turns out that Sam and Nick bonded over one of the most interesting albums of the '80s: David Byrne (Talking Heads) and Brian Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, now regarded as a high point in both musicians' discographies.

Alex was a big fan of the album too. It’s a fusion album where all of these different genres are pulled together to create something that sounds really unique. It’s all made of sampling and it was released at a time when that was a new medium. More recently we've explored this whole era of music in post-punk in the late '70s/early '80s. There were some experimental bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Clock DVA who used synths and drum machines as well as live instruments in really innovative ways and which proved to be very inspiring for musicians at the time.

Life in Units artwork by Nick Potter

All of the guys are pretty involved in the city's art and music community, but there's one space in particular that they are fond of.

The Audacious Art Experiment is our spiritual home. It’s where we practised for about two years and released our first EP on the label, too. Luke came to one of our gigs and reached out to us when we were really young as a band. We've since been involved in the Audacious space, we've played there a lot of times, we've run shows and Nick and Alex are still involved in running some of the nights and the label.

They're all 'soft southerners', as Sam jokingly tells me, yet the North has embraced them and they, it. Having met in Sheffield while at university, Sam and Nick started jamming in the summer of 2010, while Alex got involved later that year. The fourth member of the band, I would suggest, is the drum machine, an element that has become an essential part of their sound. They only adopted it recently and, by all accounts, they seem to be getting on pretty well with it.

At first it was a bit of a shock to the system, especially in terms of how you can play creatively with a drum machine. It sort of felt like playing to a metronome which was a bit constraining. We've worked out a 'system' where Alex, playing the drum machine, responds to what I’m playing and then I respond to that. We start with minimal counterpoints and gradually build it up. It’s something we've had to learn how to creatively utilise but we all really enjoy it now. And it features centrally in the new material.

The new material?!

We’re writing more new material and we've got a new EP coming out on Blast First Petite  this year, which we're trying to make a bit of a break from Life in Units with, as it’s the first material featuring the drum machine. This new EP will show the music we've been writing and playing over the last year. It’s more relentless, but also darker, in a way – I guess you’ll have to find out!

Blood Sport are going on tour from April 24. Check out their Facebook page to find out about dates around the country and be ready for a record release show in Sheffield after the tour, sometime in May.

To buy and listen to their music, check out their Bandcamp site. For more awesome artwork by Nick, follow him here: nickpottereyefood.tumblr.com

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Who's playing? Oh no not them!

Billy (guitar&vocals), Dan (bass guitar) and Chris (drums) have managed to come up with what might be the best band name in history. In their words, OHNONOTTHEM are "South Yorkshire's premier post-angular technical grindpop trio" while ironically, none of them are from South Yorkshire. However, their brand of infectious, upbeat punk rock is definitely rooted in the South Yorkshire's Sheffield DIY scene.

by Roxana Soica / 14 Apr 2015 

The band have been playing in their present formula for about two years and they took on a studio at CADS about a year ago, when playing in their basement was no longer an option. They've performed in their CADS home at The Cucumber Lounge, a night of art and music by Sheffield Art Forge, as well as in other venues around Sheffield, like The Bell Jar and South Sea.

Originally, OHNONOTTHEM took on the studio at CADS, and along came two other bands: Ditch and Juxtamahpigeon (Billy's 'floaty' folk side project). It took us a while to get used to the studio, but now we're using it more so that's really good. They're all working on various things at once - Dan is currently cooking up a surf-y concoction with Ditch members Josh and Dave. We already have half a set and should have a full one around June, when we want to record it. Juxtamahpigeon will probably be recording something as well, since they've been gigging a lot lately.

As none of them are genuine northerners, I thought I'd ask what they appreciate about the music around here. It's really good to be part of the Sheffield art scene, especially when you have these spaces like The Audacious Art Experiment, The Lughole, TyeDie Tapes - and they're all pretty unofficial. We also share the studio with a number of different bands and we have various side-projects. We've recently recorded an EP with Ben Hunter at The Audacious and we're pretty excited to start gigging soon.

To buy and listen to GIZAGIG, head down to their Bancamp site. You'll find them under the tags "post-angular" and "technical grindpop". Well, not really. They explain:

We asked somebody to describe our music and they came up with this ridiculously long description. They were like "oh, it's post-hardcore technical punk" and we kinda just varied that and went along with it as a joke (laughs). We might have to get rid of it because people keep taking it seriously... but yeah, it is funny. It's just a punk rock band, really.

If you want to enjoy OHNONOTTHEM's refreshingly chaotic sets LIVE, they're playing this week!

The Green Room  on Wednesday 15th April - get your tickets straight from the band via their Facebook Page
The Rocking Chair's first anniversary party on Friday 17th April 

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Steel City turned Creative City

For those of us who live and have lived in Sheffield, we all have a certain connection with Sheffield's Steel Heritage. We love being the Steel City, the hard nuts, the iron men and women of the industrial era but what's happening now? What's happening to the factories and workshops that years ago were the forefront of Sheffield's character and employment?

Well, it's the unassuming Creative sector that has taken them under their wings.

The demand for creative space in Sheffield has increased - Instead of moving to London, people study at Sheffield Hallam and then stay in the city. These days, artists are even moving (to Sheffield) from London - Haroon Mirza, 34, who won this year's Northern Art Prize. Companies like CADS are at the forefront of this revolution.

CADS (Creative Arts Development Space) was established 5 years ago and has grown from strength to strength, achieving charitable status in 2013. Its main headquarters are a credit to Sheffield’s creative takeover – Smithfield Studios formerly known as Nickel blanks. This was an abandoned cutlery factory quietly resting in Shalesmoor amongst the other various disused factories and workshops which surrounded it. CADS took it on and waded through plies of cutlery templates, knives, forks, rusty machinery and many other diseased objects/small inhabitants in order to transform it into the hub of artisan productivity it houses today. Jewelers, sculptors, musicians, artists, producers, co-operatives and much, much more have nestled into the old factory.

From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, but if you step through the blue door, you are met by a wealth of artistic ingenuity.

This is the reception to set the scene.

 And the Courtyard...

 And the corridors...

So much diversity, creativity, textures, colours in one building is truely amazing and is a credit to all those involved. For more insights into the artwork at CADS follow our instagram account.

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