Time and Tide Exhibition

I was invited by Maria Walker, on behalf of Art Untitled, to take part in their group exhibition entitled ‘Time and Tide’ at Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse in Northwich. The artwork was inspired by the proverb ‘time and tide wait for no man’. Artists responded to this central theme using a diverse range of media ranging from stitch, mixed media and print to photography, paint and ceramics.

I created two new illustrative mixed-media characters (Reginald and Agnes) and a more abstract piece based on an old family garden plan (155 Kingsway) specifically for the Time and Tide exhibition. Considering the idea of time marching on by whether we want it to or not, my characters had an undeniably melancholy narrative. Both Reginald and Agnes had a sense that time and ambitions were passing them by. They felt duty bound to always do the right thing by others but deep down wished they had the courage to pursue their own dreams.

I was really impressed with the standard and quality of all the work on display. Not to mention the fascinating nature of the museum itself. I should imagine that the original residents of the workhouse would have been intrigued by our art work and the modern use of the building!

‘Time and Tide’ ran from Saturday 12th September to Sunday 15th November 2015.

Fabric Book Workshop with Becky Adams at Unit Twelve

Unit Twelve is home to a contemporary craft gallery and artist workshops.

It can be found on Tixhall Heath Farm in Staffordshire and is best described as a hidden gem! Jennifer Collier runs the space and it has her signature attention to detail everywhere. A bright exhibition space full of exquisite textiles work greets you as you enter the converted farm building. Just beyond the gallery is the workshop area and studios belonging to Jennifer Collier, Emily Notman, Louise Dawn Wilson, Julia Jowett and Brady & Proud.

I left home on a sunny Saturday morning in April and drove down to Unit Twelve for a Fabric Keepsake Book workshop with the lovely Becky Adams. Becky is a quietly spoken and witty lady – I could happily listen to her stories for hours! Her art work has a nostalgic feel and at the heart of everything she makes is a snippet of a story or saying. Her ideas and observations are translated into stitch and applique.

Becky had brought along selected sketchbooks and one of her fabric books that focused upon her love of walks along her local pier. She was very generous with her ideas and had a genuine interest in all the stories behind each workshop participant’s creations. The premise of the workshop was to make a fabric book that remembered a personal memory or family saying. We had been encouraged to bring along our own memories such as a photograph, souvenir and trinkets.

I had every intention of making a fabric book and decided that my book would be based around my gardening grandad. I had brought along some of his letters to work with. Just to note, he has written to me every week since university (that is a lot of ink and stamps)! I have kept all his letters and I really treasure them as a record of how both our lives have changed over the years. I started off by making a miniature envelope out of an old gardening book as I was going to incorporate an envelope into one of my fabric book pages. However, I enjoyed the process and outcome so much that I decided to make another one and another one. In the end, I had a pile of small paper envelopes that I decorated with text and fabrics before stitching together to make a book. I used Becky’s stamps to print ‘Dear Clare, love and best wishes grandad’ on to the paper as these words are a feature of all his correspondence to me.

The day was a great success and everyone left with a book to treasure. The beautiful fabric books that other workshop participants made can be seen below.

Many thanks to Becky for being such a good teacher. Thanks also to Jennifer for organising the day and thanks to Julia for being a superb hostess (ie plentiful tea, cake and biscuits!).

 



‘One’ - Local Creation

‘One’ took place at Local Creation on Thursday 28^th March 2013. The event celebrated Local Creation’s first birthday with an enjoyable array of activities ranging from drop-in clay workshops and a graffiti demonstration to live music and open studios. Oh and not forgetting John’s barbecue in defiance of the bitter and unseasonal weather!

Local Creation is an Arts facility situated on Central Way right at the heart of Altrincham (behind the Bricklayers Arms). Director, John Wonnacott set up the space in 2012 with the intention of developing a creative hub in the area. John firmly believes that creativity and culture have a role to play in the regeneration of the high street. 

Jo Cushing works alongside John as Director of Local Creation Altrincham, the charitable part of the company. Both John and Jo work hard to maintain, promote and develop the gallery and studio spaces whilst building up an ever expanding range of workshops for the local community. 

The past year has seen the building transformed from a run down unit to a busy arts space hosting a range of eclectic events such as Burlesque Life Drawing and Glazed Expressions, an exhibition of ceramic sculptures by local pupils as part of the Crafts Council’s Firing Up programme. Since taking on a studio there in December, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to get stuck into my own creative practice and meet like-minded people. 

If you’re out and about in Altrincham, pop in and see what Local Creation can offer you!

The First Cut – Students’ Responses

The teacher’s preview evening of ‘The First Cut’ exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery included the opportunity to work with artists Nicola Dale and Andrew Singleton. Initially, the artists gave us an overview of their work to date and afterwards delivered workshops where they shared their secrets with us!

  This proved to be great fun and it was beneficial to us all as educators to be in the position of a learner for a change! I enjoyed the workshops so much that I took the ideas back to school and challenged my Year 12 students to take Nicola and Andrew’s ideas on board. Students were shown the artists’ work and after a demonstration were asked to work in small teams to explore the qualities of paper. 

Students initially experimented with different techniques ranging from piercing and slicing to rolling and wrapping. They were then asked to use the best of their ideas to create a group piece that could be hung in the style of Andrew Singleton. Their homework task was to take an old Manchester Art Gallery guide and create a small sculpture from it, as Nicola had asked us to do during her workshop. They were given the theme of water as the old guide was for a watercolour exhibition. One of the results of this task can be seen below. 

  It is interesting to see that this paper workshop and exhibition are still influencing students today as they work towards their final submission for Unit 3. I look forward to seeing the end results and would like to say a big thank you to Manchester Art Gallery, Nicola and Andrew for delivering such an inspirational session back in July.