Tag Archives: Wimbledon Artists Studios

More News About My Third Lung

Biologically impossible, I know, but my Dad has always called Richmond Park his third lung.  If you live close to London and spend much of your time struggling with the volume of people, the traffic, the fumes and all the other things that living near a big city involves – as well as all the great bonuses such as galleries, events, courses and so on – then having Richmond Park on your doorstep is a truly wonderful plus point.  I treasure it so much and its conservation is of considerable importance to me.

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The inside of this vessel is decorated with images which remind me of the life in and around the brook.

It was with that thought in mind that I arranged with the park manager to make a few pieces using material from the park and selling them for its benefit: 50% of all sales proceeds is donated to the Friends of Richmond Park for their use in conservation projects.  Having sold the first one at Kew Gardens during Handmade it was with great pleasure that I presented the Friends with a cheque for £300.  In response they posted a link to my website in their newsletter and on Facebook.  The result has been dramatic!  I am enjoying peak viewings on my website and have had a number of requests for similar vessels.  Given that I am short of work ready to sell during the Open Studios, which starts in less than a week, I had already decided that I would keep my space as more studio than gallery and would make Beverley Brook vessels throughout the weekend, as a kind of ongoing demonstration.  It seems that this is a good plan because, if activity and enquiries are anything to go by, I am going to need a couple!

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A new Beverley Brook vessel is already under construction.

At the moment I have one, slightly smaller one which is half finished so it looks as though I am going to be a bit busy before, during and after the show and that the coffers of the Friends of Richmond Park are in for a boost.

 

 

If . . . .

I love the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. I believe that it has a really great list of attributes for a true human being.  Yet Kipling missed something.  Earlier this week life became a little hectic.  On day one of the exhibition in Kew Gardens people were crowding into the aisles to look at all the wonderful things to buy but not many ready to part with much money.  They were, on the other hand, very happy to talk.  One lovely chap was asking about the cost of exhibiting, the time it takes to make each piece and the disconnect between the value and the cost of high quality craft.  Same old, same old.  We agreed that making this kind of work is a lifestyle choice as much as anything and that one cannot expect to be rich on the back of one’s creativity and he came up with a great extra line for Kipling’s poem.  I think it is going to be the way forward for me:

  • If you can keep yourself amused and still have enough for beer and cheese,

Seems like a plan to me!

On the other hand, Kew has been good for me and I am quite hopeful of being able to afford some reasonably exotic cheese as a result.  20161005_110254I began with my stand showing almost exclusively new work.  I wanted to promote my most recent ideas.  I filled my stall with my fragile, thin porcelain vessels which have inclusions of found clay.  It looked good and I was really pleased with it.  The trouble was, and don’t get me wrong, this is a good problem to have, so did the customers.  By the end of Friday it was looking decidedly bare!  So late on Friday evening I made a panic dash to my studio to get some work to fill up the gaps.

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Old work sitting along side the new to plug the gaps.

This meant that I ended up on Saturday with works which would not normally be anywhere close to each other and that fact alone has led to some interesting thoughts and comments.

 

I think the time has come for a bit of a rethink – the contrast is great when I sit one of my really rugged, sculptural pieces beside a fragile one.  How good would it be if I made pairs using the same material?

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Contrasting pieces look so good next to each other.

I need to get beyond the Open Studios first but, after that, it will be time for some serious research!