BLOG | Dominic and Liam talk about being part of Manchester Open Exhibition

Dominic Bennett: Hi, my name is Dominic and welcome to the HOME Open Exhibition. You’ll see a lot of art, but my favourite artwork is 'The Little Shop of Horrors' by me – but don’t worry I’m not here to scare you!   I love art, I come to Venture Arts – its place where you can make great art. I make ceramics, sometimes I take pictures, I make textiles, I do mask making (but that project is personal business!). I’ve loved making art ever since I came to Venture Arts because I know I belong here, and now look at me, I am part of a family!   How does it feel to have my work in the HOME Open exhibition? That’s a good question! It makes me feel superb! It feels great to have my work in the exhibition, it feels cool. I like that some people have said my work is great and awesome. I thought the opening was brilliant. I enjoyed every bit of it – it felt like you were in the public and that feels awesome.   I have two pieces of work in the exhibition, they are inspired by Little Shop of Horrors and Wind in the Willows. My favourite Wind in the Willows character is Chief Weasel, in the exhibition you can see my 'Army of Weasels', I made the weasels out of clay. I made samples of them which are part of this piece, they went in the kiln and I glazed them with red because they have been in a battle. Then I taught lots of people to make their own members of the weasel army at galleries like Waterside Arts Centre and a group from HOME – now they are part of the weasel nation.  

    This is the shop from the Little Shop of Horrors (pictured below). My favourite character is Audrey 2 who you can see here [in the exhibition], he wants to take over the world with an army of plants. Just as I want to take over the world with an army of weasels! I made 'Little Shop of Horrors' out I clay, I glazed it, put it the kiln and now here it is! I feel it is a masterpiece! I would like to be able to go inside the shop and say, “Hi” to my mate Audrey 2. I want the public to see my artwork and feel the film come to life. Remember when you come to the exhibition you can vote for your favourite artwork. I am making a campaign – I want you all to vote for The Army of Weasels and I promise, from the bottom of my heart, the Weasel Nation will give you safety. Remember there is a weasel in all of you! Weasel Nation – join the Nation!   You’ll enjoy the exhibition because you can come in from the rain and feel the warmth of the art – you’ll see what you like. I want you to spread out and see all the artwork.     Liam Ashworth:     The HOME Open exhibition is a place for people to be included regardless of whether they have a disability or not because anyone can submit artwork and there is work by Venture Arts in it. It’s a place where people can be inspired by other people's artwork.   The piece I have in the exhibition is called 'stir fry'. It is about food because I enjoy food and stir fry is one of my favourites. It's a photograph made with a technique called long exposure - I spelt out the letters in the word stir fry with a torch and took the photograph.   I think the Open is important because it makes people feel included and it is something for everyone to talk about. This is good because it allows you to talk about and share your work and people are able to experience new work.   If you are thinking of coming to the exhibition, I would say you will really enjoy it because there is loads of work by different artists. The staff at HOME are also really nice too, which is important because it makes you feel welcome and you look forward to going back. I also volunteer in the gallery at HOME which is great because I am working where my art is.   It's been great to see my artwork in the exhibition and see people take notice of it and tell me they like it. It makes me feel proud and happy. When I went to the opening it was great to see it.