Thursday 10 December 2009

The Beermat show goes on tour and other news






I just received some good news. The Beermat Show is doing a tour the first half of 2010. My piece submitted for (sub)Missive (see previous blog), which was included in the Temporary Art Space's Beermat exhibition, will continue to show at 2 new venues. Please see my past/future page for details.

Last month I was fortunate to take part in the Handmade and Bound Affordable London Book-Art and Zine Fair at St. Aloysius Social Club. You can see lots of great photos on their link.

The first Handmade and Bound was realised in response to the demise of the LAB, (London Artists Book Fair) previously organised by Marcus Campbell. He has now joined forces with the Whitechapel gallery in a jury-run selection-process affair, which has automatically excluded many artists previously able to exhibit (including myself).

As some of you might know, I have recently expanded my repertoire under my banner of art/craft/design. All this selling and exhibiting at fairs activity has really given me a passion for trading, and so I have branched out into buying and selling of collectibles.




Starting out at Art Junky 3, I was given a great opportunity to display and sell my book art, multiples and trinkets alongside some funky accessories and bric-a-brac.



I loved it, and happily, sold equal amounts of the two types of items.

Since then, I have done another Art Junky and a new fair at Bentley Priory in Harrow, North London. At each I have sold equal amounts of art and collectibles. This has encouraged me to continue in this vein whenever possible.


Below is a slideshow of my table at the Bentley priory Winter Fair, the first of its kind, which will be repeated in the spring, in March 2010. It is possible I had too much variety on the stall, and my shop-like table/space didn't fit into a particular category. The organisers didn't know where to put me, having started out in the crafts area, I got moved to the antiques, as I had a lot of vintage stuff. It felt a bit odd squished in between antiquarian books and antique maps, but it was a great atmosphere and the other traders were lovely.






In the Bentley Priory slideshow above you may have noticed some other crafty pieces: a revamped 70's style stool that I re-covered with a vintage cloth napkin, and some funky cushion covers I made with vintage and new fabric remnants. I also made some recycled gift boxes using rubber stamps, and attached my button tags to complement.

When I went home to California last summer, I made some applique hoops during my traditional craft sessions with my mother. Gave me a warm glow all over returning to my youthful love for crafts: I used to embroider, macrame, crochet, applique, batik, beading, etc. As a seamstress for designers for 18 years I own an industrial sewing machine. But, it is in the utility room on the landing, hard to access and it doesn't do any fancy stitches. So, I got a new domestic machine and it is wonderful.







The new hoops appeared at the last fair at Bentley Priory. I will be listing these, and my other new craft works on my new etsy sight very soon!