Exhibitions in Saffron Walden and Olney

It was as I was about to go on holiday early in June, that Helen at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden asked me if I'd like to have a solo exhibition . . . in September. So, taking out my trip to Alaska and recovering from the virus I'd caught while out there and preparing and going to Folk East, that gave me 8 weeks to get over 30 prints framed - if possible some completely new work - and lots of unframed prints packed and more greetings cards printed. 

The past couple of months have been very busy!

I delivered all the work to the gallery on Friday afternoon. I had nothing to do until Sunday afternoon when the doors opened for the "Preview", thank you to everyone who turned up, especially as it was a beautiful warm sunny late summer Sunday that would be perfect for sitting outside in a garden instead of coming into town. It was great to see some Twitter friends 'in real life' and also someone I worked with a very long time ago!

My exhibition continues until October 4th and is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. 

My work is in the the front area of the gallery and Helen has arranged complementary ceramics, crafts and gifts to style the area. The back room has the gallery's usual wonderful selection of artists work, so there's lots to see.

For those of you who live in the East Midlands, the Market Place Gallery in Olney has a selection of my work in their 'Selected British Printmakers' exhibition.

Olney, like Saffron Walden, is a quintessential small market town, surrounded by lovely countryside, with lots of interesting indie shops and some lovely foodie places for lunch. Both are worth a day out.

So what next? . . . 

I need to get my head around stocking my online shop and meeting the requests from galleries for Christmas (there! I said the C word but very quietly!) But mainly I need a few days to recharge my batteries so this week I'm tidying up my studio, getting out in the garden and enjoying the fabulous weather . . . maybe I'll actually have time to use my brand new box of watercolours? You never know!

Celia

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August is show time!

The past few weeks have been so busy! I'm gradually synching with the timetable of the retailer's year . . . the Christmas cards are printed and already I have orders coming in from my increasing list of stockists, it's all very exciting!

Summer is the month for holidays and festivals, I'm taking part in two . . .

The first is this weekend, Saffron Walden Maze Festival; Helen at the Church Street Gallery asked for prints on the theme of "A State of Bewilderment" for the special maze-related exhibition.

My linocut 'When I find you' will be available at the exhibition, framed and unframed (in the smart new packaging). Cards are also for sale, if you are unable to get to the exhibition you can buy the cards here.

So, with my prints and cards safely delivered to the gallery for the opening of the exhibition tomorrow, I could turn my attention to FOLKEAST. This major festival has moving to a stunning new venue - Glemham Hall in Suffolk. A huge amount of work has gone into making this year's festival fatastic in everyway (I know, beacuse my best friend Kathy has been working her socks off making the web site and facebook page look great, as well as designing the printed programme while her other half is gearing up to run the sound). So when fellow Suffolk printmaker Mandy Walden got involved to organise 'something arty' on the festival site, I could hardly say no to taking part.

On Saturday 24th August I'll be at my stall in the Art Arcade on the FolkEast festival site, selling my prints and cards and also demonstrating cutting lino and wood blocks and maybe doing some printing too. So, if you're at the festival please drop by and say hello.

With just over a week to go there's still a lot to do! Framing, packing, etc. But why not add more pressure? So yesterday I started work on a new linocut specially for FolkEast . . . I'd better do some carving!

Celia
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A new woodcut: The watchful hare

  

The watchful hare
Woodcut on handmade Japanese Kitakata paper

edition of 10  •  hand burnished  •  6 colours  •  30cm x 40cm

A late summer evening on the edge of a Suffolk barleyfield,
among the Rest-Harrow and Shepherd’s Needle
a hare quietly watches.
 

There's nothing like a deadline to speed up productivity! I was very excited when Helen at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden told me about exhibition titled 'Neo Bardfield' that she was planning as the first major event for the gallery's partnership with the Curwen Studio; and I knew at once that the print that had been simmering on the back-burner in my brain for over a year (I know! I'm into slow-cooking of ideas) had to be finished in time.

If you follow me on Twitter you probably noticed the sneek previews as this reduction woodcut evolved; and although it was a challenge to hold my nerve through the 'when it's carved it's gone' process, I enjoyed every step and want to do many more.

I took photographs to record the process, because each step destroys part of the previous carving and the block is gradually reduced to just the few lines that print the darkest colour.

 

As well as 'The watchful hare', the exhibition will include my latest linocut, 'Up with the lark'; some of my other linocuts and cards will also be for sale in the gallery.  I hope that some of you will be able to visit the exhibition, you can read more about it on my web site, here.

Celia

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Saffron Walden Arts Festival 2012

So many outdoor events have fallen victims to the weather over the past few weeks . . . the Cambridgeshire County Show was called off and the Suffolk Show closed after just one day. But the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant went ahead and the French Market stallholders on Saffron Walden Common were determined to stay, come what may; so full of British grit and determination the Saffron Walden Arts Festival carried on regardless of rain and gale force winds . . .

The four "Living Crafts" tents became two after one tent blew away and another had to be dismantled for safety reasons; here's the view of the Common as I arrived on Saturday morning – the good thing was that it was not raining.

Within an hour I'd transformed my corner of the larger tent with a display stand of prints and cards and working area . . .

I was busy serving customers and demonstrating carving a lino block for most of the day; we could hear a great selection of live music from the main marquee next door – the audience is well wrapped up!

Sunday. Time to do it all over again . . . but look – blue sky and sunshine :-) the third tent had been erected and the tent-sides were opened so we didn't get too hot!

We put up a board advertising the workshops . . . thinking on my feet, I decided to allow people to drop-in at any time for £5 in line with the other activities in the same tent.

Outside I could see lots of things going on: tai-chi, the local art society exhibition and an amazing display by Maggie Auld and Dennis the dog (wish I'd been able to photograph that but it sounded such fun!)

On the other side of the tent Katherine Childs was popular with hands-on pottery sessions, and a huge communal coil-pot was gradually growing in size (I can't believe I didn't photograph that either!)

Returning to my workshop table . . . by afternoon it was getting really popular and I had a full table of people cutting lino and making prints.

Here's some of their work . . . all absolutely brilliant!

Then a band arrived! The Drum and Bass workshop band arrived from the Castle to show off what they'd learnt . . . fabulous stuff!

Then it was all over! Goodness knows how I managed to get all my stuff packed into my car as the scouts demolished the tent around us . . . and here's the view from my car/tardis as I prepared to drive off the Common and home.

To say I was tired was a huge understatement . . . thank you to Cliff who helped me set up on Saturday and was there when I got home on Sunday with the Plymouth Gin and Fever Tree tonic lined up ready!


Unpacking the jumbled mess from my car on Monday wasn't fun but looking back it was a good experience . . . and I really enjoyed teaching the workshops (something I might do more of – I'm making plans). I hope everyone who came along enjoyed all the activities – lots of people had put in a massive amount of work to make it all happen.

And it didn't rain!

Celia
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