Events in Rochdale - Arts

Annual General Meeting and report from Yvonne Hardman, Art Gallery Officer on the work of the Gallery at Touchstones Rochdale in 2011. Please note earlier start time of 12.15pm.

For many years the Friends have been helping the Art Gallery to conserve and acquire paintings for the collection.

Talks by invited speakers about art history and craft are held most months with the occasional trip to visit other art collections. No booking required. All welcome.

Runs every second Tuesday of every month.

This workshop lets you experience how comic actors and directors set about making their audiences laugh. A short talk will introduce Roman comedy: its content and authors and their use of stereotypes, stage-space and physical theatre. Then, using a section of a Roman comedy as a script, you will work together to bring out its side-splitting potential – from how you say the lines to what you wear and where you stand while you say them. 

Booking required - please ring Touchstones on 01706 924492. For older children aged 10-16. Unaccompanied children must bring a completed parental consent form issued on booking.

An exhibition showcasing the work of two of Rochdale's freshest and newest artists, Helen McCarthy and Zak Hammouda.

Helen uses close up and macro photography to capture floral detail at its most striking and radiant. Zak uses acrylics on canvas to capture tones of an abstract lifecycle, through the movements of grunge, garage and pop art.

To attend the preview evening on Friday 3rd February please contact for an invitation.

A selection of works from the Art Gallery’s permanent collection exploring how artists capture different elements of landscape. Featuring both historic and contemporary works, artists will include Adrian Berg, Ivon Hitchens and Mariele Neudecker. The exhibition will also include a new acquisition by artist Vincent James.

The exhibition will include a new set of activities in our under 5s activity station linked to paintings on display and other hands-on activities for 5-12 year olds and their families.

They have dominated the Rochdale landscape for over 40 years; this year College Bank Flats, known locally as the Seven Sisters, will be the focus of seven films created by artists Catherine Corlett and Zachary Ingham.

During the summer the artists will create the films by positioning cameras at the top of each of the Seven Sisters. The cameras will be attached to sails, which will rotate on their axis in reaction to the direction of the wind and record panoramic views of Rochdale borough and the other towers. The films will blur both urban and rural landscapes and challenge our perception of the area.

The films will be installed at Touchstones Rochdale this winter. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of workshops for young people.

The Seven Sisters project has been made possible by funding from the John Grant Davies Trust.

Nora Fok is one of Britain’s leading contemporary jewellers, who works with quite ordinary materials to create extraordinary results.

The processes Nora uses – knitting, weaving, crocheting and knotting – transform linear nylon microfilament into simple and complex structures, inspired by her fascination with the natural world and the mathematical models that underpin it.

Much of her work can be classified as jewellery, but she pushes the definition to its limits making larger bodywear and pieces which stand independently as sculpture.

Steve Duxbury, lecturer in the Art Department at Hopwood Hall College will speak on the artist Christopher RW Nevinson and Britain's early Modernists.

For many years the Friends have been helping the Art Gallery to conserve and acquire paintings for the collection.

Talks by invited speakers about art history and craft are held most months with the occasional trip to visit other art collections. No booking required. All welcome.

Runs every second Tuesday of every month.

The Festival runs annually and has classes for all areas of the Performing Arts.

The Festival is administered through the Rochdale Music Service on behalf of the Rochdale Schools Service. It consists of numerous classes both competitive and non-competitive, followed by one or two celebration concerts.