Sheffield Icons - Parkhill 'The Scottish Queen' by We Live Here

Sheffield's art scene is currently very vibrant and interconnected, with a critical mass of city centre venues for contemporary art, some attached to artists studios (Bloc, S1, Yorkshire Artspace), an independent gallery with international remit (Site Gallery) and the public galleries run by Museums Sheffield (Graves Gallery and Millennium Gallery).

All venues work together on the biannual city-wide Art Sheffield events of which the most recent was Art Sheffield 08: Yes, No and Other Options, the fourth such event, organised by Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum (SCAF) – details are at www.artsheffield.org.uk/

SCAF also produce a listings guide for contemporary art in the city and produced the Sheffield Pavilion – a series of commissions by Sheffield-based artists in book form - which was launched in 2007 at the Venice Biennale. For listings of what’s on in Sheffield when you plan to visit and a map of the venues see http://www.artsheffield.org Entry to all exhibitions is free unless otherwise stated.

The walk begins at Sheffield’s central train station, taking in a number of art spaces and galleries en route, plus one or two local sights of interest.
Leaving the station, walk up the slope from the station with ‘the cutting edge’, Sheffield’s new and shiny water feature on your right.
At the top make your way across the road at the crossing. You’ll see the Showroom Cinema in front of you to your left. The Showroom sits on the corner of Paternoster Row. Turn up Paternoster road leading into Brown Street where you’ll find your first venue Site Gallery. There’s a café here if you want to stop for any food and drink at this point.

Work by Janice Kerbel, Kirsten Pieroth, Hilary Lloyd and Silke Otto Knapp at Site as part of Art Sheffield 08

Site Gallery is Sheffield's international contemporary art centre, with a changing programme of temporary exhibitions alongside artists’ talks and events. The programme includes work by internationally renowned artists (usually new commissions or work never before seen in the UK) as well as supporting emerging artists through a range of initiatives aimed at kick-starting new careers and hosting international residencies.
Find out about the current exhibition at www.sitegallery.org

Leaving Site, turn left and continue along Brown street. Opposite the Rutland Arms on the corner (good beer garden) you’ll find Persistence Works, home to Yorkshire Artspace, an organisation providing purpose built studios for 68 artists and makers, as well as running a residency/ commission scheme.

Kan Xuan’s work in the public art space at YAS, as part of Art Sheffield 08

Persistence Works has a showing space within the foyer which usually hosts exhibitions of work by studio holders. Exhibitions as an outcome of residencies are also housed in the public art space which are open to the public at particular times. See www.artspace.org.uk for details.

Leaving Persistence Works turn left down Sydney Street, towards Bloc and Sylvester Space. After passing the car park on your left hand side, cross over the road and continue walking straight ahead. You’ll pass by a few of the remaining cutlery workshops – and you may hear the machine pressing out the sheets of steel or spy piles of knives and forks through dusty windows.

At the end of Sydney street cross over the road to the building on the corner of the street, you’ll see signs for Sylvester Space – this is a former cutlery works now set up as a temporary artspace used for a variety of projects on an ad hoc basis – from MA degree shows to the Bloc Assembly events organized by Bloc next door. Check to see if there is an exhibition on when you visit at www.artsheffield.org.

Kerstin Kartscher’s work at Sylvester Space as part of Art Sheffield 08

If not follow the building round the corner and take your first right onto Eyre Lane, and a few metres on your right is the entrance to Bloc space and the Bloc billboard.
Bloc is a studio complex (housing 80 artists) and gallery space with a programme that includes regular exhibitions (of mostly emerging artists) in Bloc Space, commissions on the billboard, and the Bloc Assembly live events. For what’s on see also http://blocprojects.co.uk/

George Henry Longley’s exhibition at Bloc as part of Art Sheffield 08

Leaving Bloc turn right and follow along the edge of the construction site (to your left), soon turning left and crossing the main road (Arundel Gate) at the crossing.
Continue straight on in between two more building sites, crossing Earl way and making your way up to the Moor, an area of Sheffield totally rebuilt post-war and currently undergoing another radical renewal.
You’ll see Sainsbury’s ahead of you. Walk up the side of the store until you get to a busy road , Charter Row and cross over and veer right a little way until you reach the turning for Trafalgar Street.

You’re heading for S1 Artspace which will be visible once you’ve taken the next turn to your left into Milton street.
The entrance to S1 Artspace is situated in the courtyard behind Corporation nightclub. Go into the courtyard and you’ll see a door on the left, signed for S1. You may need to press a buzzer for admittance. Once inside you’ll climb some stairs to get to the gallery space (this space is currently not accessible for wheelchair users).
S1 Artspace is an artist-led organisation providing studio space for over twenty artists and a project space, which presents an annual programme of contemporary exhibitions, summer residencies, screenings (S1 Salon) and events. Recent exhibitions have included solo shows by Katy Woods and George Henry Longly. For the current show see also www.s1artspace.org.

Tomma Abts’ and Nicole Wermers’ work at S1 Artspace as part of Art Sheffield 08

Leaving S1 turn right along Milton Street and then left again up Eldon street with the Corporation on you right. Cross over Wellington Street and continue to head straight ahead up toward Division Street.
The Forum café bar is on the corner - Turn right down Division Street passing bars and shops, keep straight along this street for about 5 minutes until you reach the City Hall. Carry straight on to the pedestrian Fargate and take a right next to the neo-gothic town hall (Surrey Street) and continue down until you see the library building on your left. The Graves Gallery is on the top floor of this building. The Graves houses Sheffield’s historical art collection along with some recent acquisitions such as Marc Quinn's Kiss and Sam Taylor-Wood's Self Portrait Suspended VII. The gallery also sometimes hosts contemporary exhibitions, either self-contained or integrated within the collection or the fabric of the building – see also www.museums-sheffield.org.uk

Leaving the Graves cross over the road and enter the Millennium Galleries via the Winter Garden temperate glass house. This was where Roman Ondak sited his temporary intervention ‘Failed Fall’ as part of Art Sheffield 08 when this space of perpetual summer was invaded by an unseasonal autumn. The Millennium Gallery houses historic collections such as the Ruskin Collection, it hosts temporary exhibitions drawn from historic and contemporary art, craft and design and usually one exhibition of contemporary art a year, together with a programme of contemporary installations in its public spaces.  Plasma screens in the foyer are programmed with contemporary work including a regular collaboration with Lovebytes-Sheffield’s digital arts festival.  See also www.museums-sheffield.org.uk

Millennium Galleries during Art Sheffield 08.

Leaving the Millennium Galleries, by the exit near the escalators it’s a short stroll down the hill directly ahead back to the station. Ahead of you and to the left (behind the station) as you walk down is the monumental architecture of Park Hill flats. This housing scheme was the subject and location for Annika Eriksson’s work Maximum Happiness for Art Sheffield 08, when the façade was illuminated by floodlight for the opening night of the exhibition, highlighting it’s iconic status in transition between failed utopian housing project and redevelopment into contemporary apartments. (wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill_Flats).