The Purple Shed Studio: Playing with Fire

The Purple Shed Studio: Playing with Fire: Ooooh.  I made charcloth to help with my fire lighting skills today!. I

Woodland Management, New Events and an Art Walk

I'm on a woodland management course this weekend and yesterday I felled my first tree!  I was working with Ian and Andy who both own small woodlands, we started off with some smaller trees using the step method, but really... We wanted to fell a big one! So we all had a go at the 'beak' method and really made an impact on the area we were working on. By 3pm, the sun was streaming through and hitting the woodland floor giving some of the ground layer plants a chance to grow.

Its been a busy few months lately,  I'm crocheting lots, volunteering at a local school who run forest schools, studying and I've also started to volunteer at a wood to gain extra knowledge.

With Corridor Arts, we're also organising an Art Walk for May and talking to the Eden Project about having a Big Lunch Extras event the same weekend. The art walk will be in the Belper Parks and take place over spring bank holiday weekend.  The Parks will be filled with art work, yarn bombed and have some activities for visitors too.

Bobbins V Gravity - an art installation

I spent yesterday afternoon out in the park again with artist Andrew Martyn Sugars, as he created an amazing installation using string and bobbins.  The bobbins were donated by The North Mill and had been used when the mill was up and running.

This work was a development piece that grew out of a previous installation at The Eco Centre in Wirksworth and drew on Andrews own history of working with laser beams. We had a very soggy day which was thoroughly enjoyable, friends popped in and strangers stopped to chat with their inquisitiveness piqued.

I also took the opportunity to experiment with some of the pieces I've been crocheting to help explore future community yarn bombing projects.

Wild Art Session

I've just got home from possibly my most chilled out arts session ever,  I'll let the photos below do all the explaining.  But if you fancy coming down to the woods in Belper to relax, make stuff and chat, the next sessions are  on Thursday 14th August and Thursday 28th August.  You can email me on ctgray@corridor-arts.org.uk to find out more or book a place.  

Yarn Bombing

I've recently been introduced to the idea of yarn bombing and it really appeals to me.

There is something very playful about going out into the local community and covering things in wool.  I had a go at making pompoms last weekend and had forgotten how much fun they are to make, I am now imagining the trees in my high street covered in pompoms and all those ugly fences (you know them, every town has them) beautifully decorated with lace and crochet. There is a space outside my studio that is just crying out to be decorated.  I'm slowly formulating a plan for next years food festival in Belper to decorate some of those little corners that need some love. 

I found the images below on Pinterest and I'm not sure who they are by, I love the stairwell image as filling that space has always appealed to me.  But I am now aspiring to the fence and the tree. I'm currently ignoring the fact that I don't know how to crochet! 

If anyone else fancies joining me, just give me a shout!

Big Lunch Extras at The Eden Project

I've had a whole week to reflect on my experience at the Eden Project's community building programme, The Big Lunch Extra.  I struggled to get an objective point of view at the time, mainly due to a lack of sleep (hot hotel room = 3 nights of insomnia) and a full on day of talks, activities and workshops.  I found spending so much time with other people quite exhausting.  I don't even spend that much time with my own kids and I've grown quite fond of them!

However, one week later and my energy is fully restored, the facebook group has been set up and further plans to meet up have been arranged and I find myself chatting online to other camp attendees, growing some friendships from just a few short conversations and really seeing the benefit of going down to the beautiful environment that is the Eden Project.  I am actually feeling optimistic and confident that my ideas could work and even if they don't, at least I tried.

I've got a couple of ideas I want to develop, and yes, one involves fire after hearing Sue Hill talk, possibly one of the most inspiring talks I've ever been too.  What struck a chord was her saying it's ok to do things small & delicate, that it doesn't need to have fireworks and speeches, you can just do something sensitive too.

I much prefer to work this way and give people the space to take their own interpretation away.  A much more gentle approach.

I took lots of photos over the weekend, spent a time in the toilet photographing the mosaic artwork and the gorgeous plants, but here's one of the banners that's up in the Core.

I intend to keep playing, stay grounded and stay young.  (but I'm still going to use my lovely new old lady shopping trolley)

Community Art

I've had a busy couple of weeks, we started building the mosaic at Belper Goes Green last weekend, I estimated about 200 people have taken part in putting it together and I'm really happy with how it's looking. 

I also had two helpers, Eleanor and Heidi, both from the university of Derby, who volunteered their time to help make the mosaic and chat to participants. There's still a bit more work to do before it can be installed, but its looking great. 

On Friday I ran a drop in workshop for Somercotes library, it was their 25th anniversary and this little treasure trove of tomes held a well being event with hand massages, refreshments and me, making silver anniversary decorations with memories from the past 25 years written on them. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, art, books and people chatting about their lives. I spoke to some fascinating people including a lady with a wealth of qualifications including a degree in glass making and a lovely chap who made a fish, simply saying that he used to fish a lot. We also had some emotional moments as another lady remembered her father in law, he had died 25 years ago and she obviously thought a lot of him. 

This is the part of community art I love, it becomes a real privilege to listen to people's life stories and its always fascinates me to hear all their stories.