Arts Week

Mine and Jo Herbert's work

Well here we are again the biennial North Somerset Arts week starts next Friday 1st May and continues until the 10th. Here are our pictures from the brochure. I haven't done a lot of new work this year so hope visitors will find exciting work amongst my other co exhibitiors. Jo makes beautiful silver, ceramic, and glasswork jewellery. The ceramic group cover a wide variety from pots to sculpture. We are Venue 81, on the Severn Estuary in Sand Bay if anybody happens to be in the area. More details at  www.northsomersetarts.org

My brother's work, part of the Severn Ceramic group

A bit of alteration

A week friday our biennial arts week starts. Due to working towards the Quarry exhibition and various other stuff I have had very little time to think about Arts Week. I have a few pieces that have been hanging around for a while not selling. They were flat framed pieces of marks on stones.
A friend mentioned that one of her friends when work didn't sell re-worked the pieces, hey presto I now have a few hanging containers, they are quite small and I think quite cute, hopefully they will be more appealing to visitors than in their previous form.

Eastbourne Beach

Alice Fox last day

Today was a day of unbundling and collating our work, printed and rusted papers were collected together and made into books. I forgot to take photos of a lot of work before it ended up in a book but I have some photos of some of the fabric pieces.

Rusted papers

Pamphlet book with plan paper and waxes rusted paper cover

Practise book with no sew binding

Pamphlets ready to be stitched

Spines

Rusted fabric

The pamphlets have now been stitched and the cover waxed.
This was a great course, if any of you in the UK get a chance to do it I would highly recommend it.

Alice Fox Part 3

A somewhat delayed part 3, things going on.

 It was really windy on this our third day, so a decision was made not to go for a walk. Most of us spent the day weaving, it was very quiet everybody was concentrating so hard. These weavings were all made with stuff found on the beach.

Alice Fox workshop day 2

On the beach again in the morning up at the end where the fishing boats are kept, lots of interesting finds, in the afternoon printing, something I haven't done before. There was a printing press available which I didn't use but I had lots of fun printing using rollers. Something I can do easily at home.

More rusty bits

Sea weed and rusty nails

Prints from sea weed and pampas grass

Prints from bits of found metal

Prints from a drinking straw and rubbings from shells

Alice Fox workshop day 1

Close up of Groyne (sea defences)

I have just got back from a four day workshop with Alice Fox,  http://www.alicefox.co.uk/ She was amazingly patient and calm with us all, we learnt loads about lots of different process and had a great if exhausting time.
Our day started with coffee and tea and then a walk on the beach collecting rusty metal and other flotsam and jetsam.

Rusty bracket on Groyne

I

Eastbourne beach

Collecting Day One

Rusty bits

More collecting day one

Wrapping and dyeing rusty bits

more rusty bits

and even more

In the afternoon we wrapped fabric and made marks on paper with the rusty bits we had collected which were thoroughy wetted with tea.
I had driven down the previous day and visited Charleston House near Lewes. I have been wanting to see this for years but somehow never managed it, it is a fascinating house where Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant lived. They were members of the Bloomsbury Group, Vanessa being Virginia Woolf's sister. The house is full of paintings by members of the group, even the walls and fireplaces are painted. I stayed with my good friend Liz (also taking part in the workshop)and her husband in a house we had rented on the marina, so great accomadation and company as well.