Things to Make and Do

Hello again, and another happy (and sunny!) Monday. Are you doing anything exciting this week?

It’s the last of our workshops this week, before we take a little break over Easter (don’t worry, we’ll be back with a new, jam-packed timetable after the holidays!!). Tonight is woodcarving with Bill Hudson, a great chance for beginners to learn the art of woodcarving to make art or furniture – or advanced woodcarvers can drop by to use our space and equipment. Thursday is pottery with Leyla Folwell, she’ll be running classes all afternoon and evening for children as well as beginners and advanced adults. For a full list of our workshops and to book your place please click here.

There are plenty of great events going on all over London this week. On Thursday 29th, the Courtauld Gallery is holding a special late night opening of their Mondrian/Nicholson exhibition. The gallery will be open until 9pm – with live music, talks, workshops and drinks – with free admission to all of this if you dress in the style of the glamorous 1930s!!

The Fashion and Textile Museum has recently opened the exhibition “Designing Women – Post-War British Textiles“. This exhibition showcases the work of three important female textile designers who’s use of colour and abstract forms helped bring modern art into the family home.

Make sure you get out and about and enjoy the sunshine. Sunday 1st of April is the 14th Streatham Common Kite Day – fly your own kite or watch some of the stunning displays. There are also instructions on the site for making your own kite.

Whatever you do this week, have a great time!

Things to Make and Do

Happy Monday! What a lovely, sunny start to the week – fingers crossed it stays that way…

It’s a full week of workshops and classes this week – a great time to come down to Burgess Park, enjoy the weather and get creative! Tonight is woodcarving with Bill Hudson, learn all about the art of woodcarving or drop in to use our space and materials for your own work. On Tuesday, Andrea Sinclair will be running a pewter casting workshop – creating unique pieces of jewellery using the ancient art of pewter. Thursday is all pottery, Leyla Folwell will be running drop in classes all afternoon and evening for children, beginners and advanced potters. On Sunday Jill Newman will be running a Remake/Remodel Recycled Fashion workshop. Learn how to update and ‘up-cycle’ your old clothes to create new and original clothes and accessories! For more information about all our courses and how to book your place, click here.

Have you seen the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery? Chihuly works in glass, creating stunning installation pieces and elevating the medium from craft to groundbreaking fine art. This is a beautiful exhibition of Chihuly’s work, truly breathtaking to see.

It’s the final few days of New York crochet artist Olek’s exhibition, ‘I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone’. Olek has covered a gallery space and all the objects within it in colourful crochet. A strange and stunning sight to behold, finishing on the 25th of March.

If you missed the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photography exhibition, there is still a chance to see some of the highlights displayed in the ground of the museum. On the 23rd of March, 80 of the photographs will be displayed on the Museum’s East Lawn – so enjoy them on the grass and in the sun!

Are you looking for a fun, crafty project to try this week? How about these diy garden markers? A great way to keep track of your herbs and greenery.

Are you doing anything exciting? Let us know what you’re up to, and have a wonderful week!

Experimental Sensory Project

In 2011, Kitty Schuhard and I designed and delivered some very experimental workshops to an after-school club for teenagers with complex special needs.
We had 6 sessions, each one exploring one of the 5 senses: Touch, Taste, Smell, Sound and Sight- and the 6th session would be suggested by the group of young people themselves.

We focused on the experiential: An exploration of what can be felt and learned through the process of the activities, rather than working towards making competed, tangible pieces of art. In this way, we allowed each individual group member to connect in their own way and time.

A lot of the activities were about Trust: giving and receiving, gauging responses of self and others, and  learning the art of relaxation. They so enjoyed the relaxation and meditation techniques shared at the close of each session that they voted for “a chill-out party” to be the 6th and final workshop.

Each workshop was a vibrant, playful collision of art, science, therapy and play and an exploration and celebration of ourselves. We wanted the group to be stimulated, to interact, engage, relax and have fun.
We made Barefoot walks, sound mobiles and sound recordings, an improvised shadow-puppet show, clay sculptures, wore blind-folds, mixed herbs for our baths, made (non-alchoholic) healthy cocktails , U.V  and aromatherapy paintings – and lots of other things.

We received a glowing testimonial from one of the groups’ regular staff:
“We would like to congratulate Jill and Kitty for their inspiring and rewarding workshops……..they have provided an excellent  approach of how to address the particular necessities of each member…enabling them to interact and to communicate with us….., revealing changes in behavior and helping to be calm….. a fantastic opportunity to see  the success of such workshops“

I recently gave a talk At the Art in the Park studio about the project to students from Birkbeck College and I have been encouraged to write a Research Paper which I am currently doing. I would love to be able to further develop this kind of work with Kitty. We both feel that we can progress far with our ideas. Everybody got so much from this project.

Things to Make and Do

Happy Monday! Are you doing anything nice this week?

It’s a full week of workshops at Art in the Park. Bill’s woodcarving classes continue tonight – learn to carve wood and create your own work of art or sculpture. On Tuesday Andrea will be running a pewter casting class, teaching the ancient art of pewter to make stunning pieces of jewellery. Thursdays is pottery with Leyla, with classes running throughout the afternoon and evening for children, beginners and advanced students. And this Saturday is the first of two mosaics workshops – learn how to make beautiful mosaics and use it to create art or decorate your own furniture, mirrors and picture frames.

There is a beautiful and moving exhibition currently running at the Brunei Gallery at the University of London. ‘One Thousand Pot, One Thousand Thoughts’  is
 an installation by artist and ceramicist Yozo Hirayama commemorating the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami of
 11th
 March
 2011. Hirayama handcrafted one thousands pots to stands 
as 
a 
marker 
and 
a memory 
of those
 who
’s lives were taken in the disaster.

The first UK solo show of the New York crochet artist Olek continues this week at Tony’s Gallery. In ‘I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone’ Olek covers a gallery space and all the object within it in colourful crochet. A strange and stunning sight to behold.

If you’re feeling inspired by Olek’s exhibition to pick up a crochet hook, how about this mobius strip cowl – a mathematical scarf with only one side!

And don’t forget Mother’s Day this Sunday! There are two great workshops running which would make a great Mother’s Day treat. The Forge is holding Mother’s Day Ruin, a gin making workshop with a talk, gin making workshops and cocktails – sounds like great fun! For more conservative mothers, the Idler Academy is running a Cooking with Flowers Tea Time Event, tastings and demonstrations and the chance to learn recipes for Rose Cream Scones, Lavender Biscuits and Flower-infused cordials… Yum!

Whatever you do this weekend have a great time, and if you’re doing anything exciting, please share it with us!

Stone Textiles

Art in the Park artist Andrea Sinclair has been working on a beautiful textile piece inspired by the textures of stone and the small organisms which live on it. Below are some of the stunning photographts Andrea has been taking and a few sneak peeks of her work. Read more about her work in Andrea’s wonderful inspiration post.

Congratulations Cynthia & Brian!

Art in the Park is thrilled that two of our amazing volunteers, Cynthia Smith and Brian Quinn were among those honoured at Volunteer Centre Southwark last week, at an event celebrating those who generously give their time to Southwark’s voluntary groups. Unfortunately, Brian was unable to attend the ceremony, but Cynthia was there to accept her award from the Worshipful Mayor of Southwark, Councillor Lorraine Lauder.

Brian and Cynthia have been members of the Art in the Park team for many years, and are invaluable for the work they do in our garden and grounds. They help to keep our garden blooming and Art in the Park running! And where would we be without Cynthia’s delicious plantain?

Thank you so much Cynthia and Brian for the amazing work you do at Art in the Park!

My Inspirations

We are very happy to have a new inspiration post from Art in the Park artist Andrea Sinclair. Andrea is a multi-disciplinary artist and co-founder of Art in the Park, and here she shares the sights and sounds which are currently inspiring her.

I am visiting….. Dorset, for my friend Gill’s birthday bash, 25 people in a beautiful Rectory near Bridport. I love Dorset, with it’s undulating landscape of subtle colours, amenable farmers (no keep out signs), and of course the dramatic Jurassic coastline. I took lots of photos of landscape, details and colours which I might use in my textile artwork.

I am thinking about…… Colour and texture in stone and the small organisms that live in and on it…lichens, mosses, insects, eggs. Sedimentary stone that holds ripples in sand from millions of years ago.

I am cooking…… Beetroot cake, with the last of the beetroot from my allotment. It’s delicious. This recipe won the Art in the Park cake competition, and we’ll be posting the recipe on the blog very soon… Try it!

I am hearing…… I did a lot of singing this weekend, as it was a very musical group of people at this party in Dorset. I sang a Czech song from our choir with my friend Nicoletta (song called Okolo). Check out our choir web-site on wingitsingers.webeden.co.uk

I am making…… A textile wall piece using my photos of stone as inspiration. I have used techniques of batik, fabric painting, machine and hand-embroidery and am currently adding some texture using needle felting.

I am seeing…… The beautiful Dorset landscape. I also saw the Grayson Perry, just before it finished and loved his diverse selection of objects and his down-to-earth comments about being an artist / craftsperson.

I am reading…… The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Waal, which is about small, exquisitely crafted objects and how they weave in and out of a spectacular family history.

Things to Make and Do

The sun is shining and there are plenty of great things to do, visit and create this week.

Art in the Park’s workshops and classes continue this week. Tonight the wonderful Bill Hudson opens the studio to teach woodcarving. If you’re already a keen carver, come by to use our space and equipment to produce your own work. Pewter casting with Andrea is back this Tuesday – learn the ancient art of pewter casting and make your own piece of jewellery from scratch! Thursday is pottery with Leyla Folwell. Classes in the afternoon are open to children, and in the evening a drop in class is running for beginner and advanced students. You can book your place and see the full timetable of classes here.

We’re really happy to be based in the wonderful Burgess Park (which will be even more wonderful when the new regeneration is completed!) This week, the Friends of Burgess Park are welcoming volunteers to join the Burgess Park food project workday on 11th March, from 1pm to 3pm. They’ll be planting an edible hedge from the Woodland Trust – sloes, rose hips and crab apples. A great way to get outdoors and get involved in the community.

It’s the final week of the Wildlife Photography of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. A stunning exhibition of photos, by turns breathtaking, charming and tragic, a must see!

South London Women Artists are holding a small exhibition of work at Dulwich Library until the end of March. View these original works of art displayed among the stacks of books – inspiring and a great excuse to visit the library.

And this week is your last chance to enjoy Zarina Bhimji’s exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery. A beautiful exhibition of photography and film installation exploring landscape and locations of India and West Africa.

And don’t forget to get crafty and creative this week. I love these paint-dipped wooden spoons from House of Earnest – they look so pretty (and easy to do!)

Whatever you do this week, feel inspired and creative. And enjoy the sun – if it stays around!