Category: Events

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Turn the Page workshop

Turn the Page is an annual book art fair held in Norwich at the Forum.

Books…but not as you know them.

Turn the Page

Following on from her Connecting Threads project, artist Gwen Simpson, was accepted to exhibit at Turn the Page.

Gwen had also wanted to produce a brochure documenting her Connecting Threads project. In support of the project, I designed the printed brochure below, which was available at Turn the Page.

To coincide with the exhibition, the fair also offered a series of free workshops throughout the day. Gwen had agreed to run a workshop and I volunteered to help her.

We asked participants to make a journal with a cloth cover that they could personalise with recycled textiles and kantha (running) stitch.

The images below are examples I had made to demonstrate how the covers could be stitched.

The workshop was to last an hour, so Gwen prepared kits of pre-punched signatures and pre-cut denim covers. Scraps of fabric, leftover from the large hanging, were provided along with a selection of embroidery threads.

The participants soon got involved in the workshop. It was fortunate that we were the last workshop of the day as everyone was so engrossed that we ran over time…no-one seemed to mind though!

Participants on the Connecting Threads workshop
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Celebrate with stitch and collage

In March this year, I ran a workshop at the South East Essex Embroiderers’ Guild called ‘Celebrate with stitch and collage‘.

The idea was to make a greetings card using a mixture of paper and stitch to create a simple vase of flowers.

A mixture of patterned papers and text from old books were used to cut out simple flower and vase shapes. These were then glued to a greetings card and decorated using bold stitches using embroidery thread and embellished with buttons.

Here’s a small selection of the lovely pieces made…

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Altered book: threads of thought

  • Colouring book embroidery
  • Spirograph embroidery

I ran a workshop at the South East Essex Embroiderers’ Guild called ‘Altered books: threads of thought‘. I love stitching on paper and wanted to share the idea of stitching in an altered book with the embroiderers. Not everyone in the group was comfortable with the idea of tearing pages out of a book – but most were willing to give it a try.

For me, the benefit of using an old book is to give something unloved a new lease of life rather than thinking you are ‘ruining’ it. Also, by using a page that already has content already on it, either images or text, can be a useful prompt and helps to remove the fear of the blank page.

I gave the group a couple of themes to play with: the first was an embroidered colouring book idea and the second was to embroider a spirograph. Each person took the idea and developed it in their own way, using collage, stitch, maps and even mirrors.

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Leigh Art Trail 2018

Estuarine

For this year’s art trail SEVEN has chosen an estuarine theme.

Definition:
1.formed or deposited in an estuary: estuarine muds
2. growing in, inhabiting, or found in an estuary: estuarine fauna

Throughout the year, SEVEN met every two weeks where a member of the group would run a workshop of their choice. In the following weeks each artist would incorporate these ideas into their own sketchbook. During the following weeks it was interesting to see how each artist interpreted and developed the original brief into their own style.

We each used an A5 concertina style sketchbook, and as with the estuary, the pages all flow into one another – there is no need to ‘turn the page’.

Secret Auction

As part of the art trail, each artist donates a piece of their artwork for the Secret Auction. Visitors to the art trail place bids on the work and if they are the highest bidder they win an original piece or art (or an experience). All monies go back in to supporting the art trail, which is a not-for-profit organisation.

Leigh Art Trail is on from Saturday 9 to Saturday 16 June 2018. SEVEN are exhibiting at Venue 49 at Planet Leasing.

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Next Generation Schools’ Day 2017

Arriving early Friday morning SEVEN set up our creative space in anticipation of the 4000+ school children who were expected to attend the Next Generation schools’ day at Chalkwell Park. The event is held each year, the day before the Village Green festival organised by Metal Southend and invites local school children to get involved in the arts – from drawing and painting to singing and performing on one of the festival stages.

We were offering drop-in sessions for the children and we invited them to either spend time: free-doodling on a continuous roll of paper; creating mandalas from magazines; or creating gift tag art.

It was a very busy morning with a constant flow of groups of children (and teachers) getting stuck in and enjoying their creative freedom.

‘Bling’ was a very common theme among the youngsters, who sought out any form of shiny jewels…

And by the end of the day our continuous roll of paper had been filled with some inspiring creative doodles…

During one of our workshops a teacher commented on how surprised she was to see one pupil sitting still for 20 minutes, whereas she would normally be very disruptive in the classroom. The slow, meditative process of creating something by hand can give the feeling of being ‘lost in the moment’, which in a time when we are surrounded by information 24/7 can be a welcome break.

It was very clear to see the value of creativity on the day and how much the children enjoyed it. At a time when the number of creative subjects being taught in schools has been systematically cut, the work that Metal does in the local community is essential.