Snow !

Well finally the snow arrived properly in fact I can't remember ever having this much snow in Bovey Tracey ! So time to make a snow man whilst Godfrey clears the paths.
 Isn't it pretty whilst it is all pristine and white? !

Firing Up !

After the Saturday Club I went on to a meeting about Firing Up,  the initiative by the Crafts Council to get Ceramics back into schools, I am hoping to be involved in this pilot project
We all got to play in the Ceramic Workshop in the college,  very quickly making site specific installations.

Here is mine , I made marks from a drain cover then used the pieces of clay to cover a pipe - my play on words being that a drain cover  is being used to cover  a drain pipe - I think it has potential ! What do you think?

Saturday Club

I started teaching at the Plymouth College of Art Saturday Club. the group I have are  aged 9-11 years and are a lively bunch ! Here are a few examples of their first silk paintings

Dartington Christmas Tree

Here is the Community Christmas Tree as decorated by Devon Guild Members

On it is Bunting made of some of my mothers clothes so her memories of being at  Dartington Hall for Christmas celebrations continue.

Also some new Crisp packet Bunting to add a bit of glitter!

http://www.dartington.org/arts/christmas-tree-festival-devon-guild-of-craftsmen

Christmas Bunting!

This is my first piece of Crisp packet Bunting
Before taking it down to Dartington Hall to get it put up on the 4m Christmas tree

Thanks to the kids at The Saturday Art Club at Plymouth College of Art who ate vast numbers of packets of crisps to make this !

Note it is so cold I still have my warm hat on indoors!

Increasing Impact through Technology

I went on a great course this afternoon which was just what I needed about using social Media - such as blogs, Twitter, facebook etc
So now I understand far more about how it works !

The course was run by The NCVO and was a good social networking occasion in reality as I learnt a lot from the other people on the course

Supporting organisations large and small to create successful collaborations: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/collaborative-working

Helping organisations to achieve more through effective use of ICT: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/ict

Thanks very much Louise

Micro Kiln

Another freezing cold day and we went off to CTM Pottery suppies for a course on using Micro Kilns - amazing little gadget that means you can fire up to 900 degrees in minutes in a micro wave !
I learnt lots from my mistakes and I do think it is quite a steep learning curve to get it right especially with thermal shock on such a cold day, but I think it will be really interesting  so a medium size Micro kiln is on order for me!

Christmas Tree

Christmas is here and it is time for the Guild Christmas Tree to go up in the courtyard ready for the Christmas event on Saturday 4 December with Carol singers and Mince Pies!

After a recent Devon Guild Members Forum Janet Wingate and myself thought it would be good to brighten up the Christmas Tree with some member made decorations, so we both made some Bunting - of course!

It really does cheer it up

Material Actions

We went to the opening of Material actions at CCANW Haldon Forest and I discovered the most amazing idea that can link in with the Silver Thread Bunting.
She has made yarn out of discarded Crisp packets
Recycling Crisp packets
See Alison Harpers Blog
 http://www.alisonharper.net/

It was very cold at Haldon
but beautiful views from the
Bird of Prey look out

Mothers Sewing Machine

I am now using my mothers old sewing machine to make Bunting for Christmas Trees !
It's not quite 100 years old , however it is still fairly ancient, but still going strong

I have got the position of lead artist for the community project to celebrate 25 years of Devon Guild of Craftsmen being in Bovey Tracey  in 2011.
So the organising of meetings and looking at materials starts now!
I don't think this will be the last post on the blog about the project !

Singer Sewing Machine

I was kindly given a lovely old Hand Singer sewing machine, it was in need of a bit of TLC but after a service it now seems
to be working fine, just a bit of a learning curve with threading
and winding thread onto the bobbins!

From the unique number on it we have found that it is 100 years old next year so it is great that it is still functioning !

So now I can make Bunting without electricity!

London

A weekend in London which involved the Lord Mayors procession which made everywhere very busy, but there was  great fireworks! we were hoping to see them whilst on the eye but they went off earlier than expected. So just to prove that I went on the eye anyway! Here's me!
 We also did both Tate's, mainly to see the Gauguin exhibition  which was fascinating.
The Sunflower seeds I found very controversial - I could debate that one for hours!

This is a photo of a jump jet in the Tate Britain by Fiona Banner.

Working!

I am back to making pods again now as I have run out of the smallest ones again, I have started making even smaller ones now , using an ex 'China in your hands' Champagne glass to cut out the starting point - joining 2 things together !

http://www.chinainyourhands.co.uk/
If you ever need to hire China, Cutlery or glasses this is the place to go!

Sunday

Had a lovely walk in the sunshine on Sunday from South Milton to Hope Cove, there is a great  little Gallery  in Hope Cove that a few artists I know work in. Well worth a visit !

Winter is here!

The clocks went back on Saturday night so now it is dark so early that I end up doing smoke firings in the dark ! Well I guess it is a bit like having a bonfire night party, Just without the fireworks!

It must have been a busy week over half term at Devon Guild of Craftsmen as a lot of my pods and candle pods  have sold already after stocking them up recently, so as it is my concentrated making time over the winter I will have to get more done even quicker to replace those sold.
Its good to be busy!

Wonderful Painter

This is the work of Rachels youngest Daughter Kate and I think it is relly exceptional for some one so young!

Talented Painters

We went to stay with my oldest childhood friend Rachel and discovered that her 2 daughters are extremely talented painters.

Jessica Leighton

I wish that my photography was better as this doen't really show the wonderful texture that is in this painting.

Children of Colombia is a UK registered charity that aims to help very poor, sick and abandoned children in Colombia, South America.
http://www.childrenofcolombia.net/
My friend Rachel is  the chairperson for Children of Colombia -  web.mac.com/matthewleighton/
This web site links you to some fabulous photographs taken by Matthew Leighton in Colombia

New Brewery Arts Centre

 We went for a little trip to deliver Pots to the New Brewery Art Centre in Cirencester, a Lovely Arts and Crafts Centre with a great little cafe where we had some Halloween Soup for lunch, and looked around the exhibition of 

'Reality Craft'Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen Biennial Exhibition www.newbreweryarts.org.uk/

Then we had a pleasant time wandering around the centre then looking at the shops in the Town

World Trip

Exciting times as my youngest Son Tom leaves for his world Trip with his girlfriend , so of course it is party time before he goes,so here we are trying to do, Halloween, Bonfire night, Birthday and Chritmas all on one day !

Off to L.A. then New Zealand, Australia,Thailand and Indonesia
I wish I was 22 again!

Fowey

We stopped in Fowey on the way down, which had lots of interesting little galleries and shops. Although the streets were scarily narrow !
I seem to have developed a fascination for Bunting so this blog may well get filled with examples of how other places do it. This was very posh looking stripey orange bunting that I liked in Fowey.

Cornwall Mini Break

Finally manged to escape for a few days to Cornwall staying in Boscundle Manor near St Austell.

So of course that meant a trip to The Eden Project, very busy there as half term, but we manged to get there early enough, before it got really manic! Enjoyed The Seed once again and the autumn colours.

British Art Show

Another trip down to Plymouth for a Teachers meeting at Plymouth Museum.
The event is being hosted by The Plymouth Visual Arts consortium and supported by Arts Council England . The British Art show opens on Saturday in Nottingham, but comes to Plymouth in September 2011 - as Plymouth is now recognised as a cultural destination!

So good to find out more about it, renew some acquaintances and meet some new people. Good to  make contact with Richard from Barefoot the Plymouth equivalent of DAISI and to hear about the Big Festival that takes in the Summer. Sounds exciting! So there may be opportunities for the Crafts to be involved as well as Art !

Firing Up!

I went to the Launch of 'Firing Up' last night at Plymouth College of Art a Crafts Council initiative that is aiming to get young people back into making Ceramics.

There is going to be a pilot project running through the college  with 9 schools in Devon, Cornwall  and Plymouth, where the schools still have kilns these will be restored and Teachers given training to use them plus Artists residencys to inspire the young people to want to create in Clay. There is sponsorship through Pottery Crafts and the whole project is supprted by funding from The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Esme Fairburn.

So an exciting project at this time when funding cuts are the usual story of the day

Away day

All the Trustees of Devon Guild have an away day once a year to get to know new Trustees and develop areas to take action on over the following year.
This year are meeting was at Escot House, a wonderful location. After a hard days work we were given the opportunity to visit the Green wood Centre at Escot where we could hold a Devon Guild Social event in the future !

Trustees at Play

The photo of the Tree was taken from a specailly provided carved Tree trunk that you can lay back in so that it is possible to get a great image of the tree whilst lieing comfortably and cleanly !

Silk Painting

The next course for Silk painting in Bovey Tracey is Saturday 16th October
10.30 am - 3.30 pm at the Phoenix Hall , Bovey Tracey Activities Trust, Bovey Tracey

I am also going to run smaller, more select groups in my studio - contact me for future dates bridgetarnold66@aol.com

Indian Summer!

Wow ! What a fantastic Day. It was so lovely to be able to work outside most of the day.

I am busy getting together a trade order for the New Brewery Art Centre, a Craft Centre based  in Cirencester. So I have been decorating my Pods ready to smoke fire later and cleaning and polishing those done previously.
Then we just couldn't resist and went up on the Moors for a walk, we are fantastically lucky to live so close and be able to have such amazing views

Mela

Sunday became a lovely day after the weather men threatening gale force winds and torrential rain, which it did actually do over night.By the afternoon the sun was out and so were the crowds in Plymouth City Centre


 

So lots of people turned out for the Big Draw Mela.there was so much happening with 3 stages and stalls selling Asian food and more. The tent I was in was near to the one for dancers and it got quite busy from the start at 11am. The images show the start of the first Sarong being painted there was lots of interest from adults as well as children.

The Student ambassadors from Plymouth College of Art got other young people involved in taking part and did some great drawings themselves.

The Bunting came out for another Arts event as you can see in the background!

Mela in Plymouth

This Sunday 3 October there is the first Mela happening in Plymouth.
(A Mela is the Asian word for a gathering or Celebration.)http://vimeo.com/15191289 %20Plymouth%20Mela
As part of the Big Draw I am running a drop in Silk Painting experience in a Tent in the Piazza of Place de Brest, Drake Circus Shopping Centre.
We will be there from 11am - 3pm come and help paint a Sarong!

OrganicARTS

I also had some Magic Mushrom sculptures at the Organic ARTS venue at West Ide Farm where they were focusing on Clay as part of the Devon Open Studios, the attempt was being made to make 1,000 clay cows out of the clay that they have on the farm.

West Country TV came and filmed on the Friday before the end of the open studios - I got my hands filmed making a cow!

New Blog!

After a busy summer running workshops and making Bunting for the Devon Open Studios, now that the evenings are starting to draw in it seems the right time to create a new blog about me!
I got the opportunity to tun a family workshop at CCANW up at Haldon making Bunting to celebrate the Devon Open Studios which takes place in September. This workshop took place in a yurt - of course most of my life seems to revolve around running events in tents.
The Bunting went up at the Launch event at Hannah's at Seale Hayne, also at The Art Chapel in Moretonhampstead; Joanna Radfords Open Studio venue at Hannaford Lodge near Spitchwick; OrganicArts Farm at Ide and Heathercombe near Manaton. The last 2 were venues where I had some of my sculptures displayed