Art Auction Art4Space

As some of you may know I have be spending my time volunteering for Art4Space.
I have done a variety of tasks from working in the garden with young offenders, helping run after school clubs and assisting with workshops at community fairs.
The most recent of event I have worked on has been the preparation and running of Art4Space first Art Auction, helping to raise money for a reconditioned pottery Kiln. With this Kiln, A4S can run all ages workshops with the local community as mosaics can only be done with 8+ year olds.

It was a wonderful time creating individual art pieces in ceramic (fired at the local pottery shop North street Potters) and mosaic picture frames, mirrors, baubles and artworks. We spend many days chatting over coffee and dancing round the studio to keep warm, given the freedom to create any thing we chose.
With a total of over one hundred pieces, plus the BBQ and bar we raised £600 towards the kiln. It was very rewarding to see people fighting over our creations. My sister kindly brought one of my favourite mirrors, she hasn't decided to keep it or give it to my brother, I am pleased to know it's staying in the family because I am quite impressed with the final result.
The night of the auction was wonderful, with live music, free range sausage buns, cocktail bar with the ArrrrrrrtinSpace special cocktail, and plenty of mulled wine and hot cider.

There is now talk of planning for a Spring fete to help raise the rest of the money.

Anyone interested in having a go at mosaic themselves will be pleased to know Mosaic workshops will be running on a drop in basis from the 4th January Every Tuesday night from 6:30pm £20 and the last Sunday of every month 10-4:30pm £45. More details can be found through eli@art4space.co.uk

Cartoon Commision

Had the wonderful fortune of being asked to use my cartooning skills to create a portrait of a couple on the wedding day.
Here is the result.

Stockwell Festival 2010

It was a blustery autumnal day in Stockwell. Over the years since I was little I have been to Larkhall Park to run around like a screaming loon or to cloud gaze as a teenager. I’ve always thought of Larkhall Park as small but this particular day the park looked huge and brimming with activity, because today was 

Stockwell Festival.

For 10 years the festival has been building in size and on its tenth birthday the park was full of all sorts of marquees, pop up tents, canopies and bouncy slides all enthusiastically flapping about in the wind. I had specially ventured down to help out with Stockwell Studios and Art4Space stands, promoting their presence in the community and activities in our little pocket of sunshine that is Stockwell. As I was swept in by the breeze, I shared greetings with Art4Space co-ordinators Eli Seath and Jewels Norburn before we knuckled down to building the giant fake cake. They pre-prepared pieces which we fitted together into a giant cake to celebrate Stockwell Festivals 10^th birthday. With hand drills, staple guns and a sprinkling of magic we pieced it together, wrestling the wind which wanted a piece of that cake, and threatened to blow out the giant fake candles.We successfully finished as one o’clock struck just as curious kids came flocking. With our Arts Workshop we decorated paper smarties and cardboard candles with glitter and wishes for Stockwell and decorated the cake.

Once the workshop was running smoothly, I went in search of some hot food and some old faces. Being a local to Stockwell I spent much of my childhood in the little church on the park, Courland Grove, where my parents still go, I knew they’d be open with bric-a-brac and hot food and tea, I got myself some chicken and chips and lots of hugs. Then waving farewell continued my wander through the Oasis Nature Gardening stands, the Oasis Go-Karts, the Wellbeing Zone, the stilt walkers, the Punch and Judy man and the awesome Pineapple Car. I stopped off for a fantastic coffee (possibly the best in London) at Morgan’s Coffee Experience (Cart), for an impressive cappuccino, usually situated outside Clapham Common tube 7 days a week, this coffee is the famous Monmouth coffee, and expertly prepared this is probably the best coffee around. Walking around the festival it was fantastic to see the signs created by the Elevate volunteers, such a good job! Finally I jigged along to the Pineapple stage with its impressive collection of performers. I discovered the MC for the pineapple stage was gospel singer Adelaide Mackenzie an old school friend and local, small world Stockwell indeed.

                

Back at Art4space the workshop was teeming with kids creating and getting their faces beautifully painted. The cake was overflowing with candles and wishes. And it was nearly time for the parade. At 4:30 all the children came back for their candles and lined up behind Lady Pineapple and all the pineapple kids, the pineapple car, Oasis go Karts, Cheerleaders; Fyer Flyz, drummers, stilt walkers and all the Art4Space and Stockwell Studios crew and to the beat of the drums the parade began with dancing and singing all the way around the park at which point the sun came out and beamed cheerfully. A big cheer rang out for Stockwell Festivals 10^th Birthday celebrations.

Even with the wind a great day was had by all. As things got taken down at the end of the day and sheets were chased and vans loaded. Our faces glowed with wind burn and shone with smiles.

Assiting Sculptor: Steve Lawrie

For the last month I've been assisting sculptor Steve Lawrie for his Brockley Open Studio piece. Made with golf tee's, miles of cotton and a hand drill we successfully made over 100 hundred star shaped objects. Inspired by micro-organisms, these individual stars together make one organic inspired shape crawling out of a cupboard. Turn out at the Open Studio was good and the piece, received well. Photographer Timothy Leek came in to document the work.

Tiny Paintings in Gouache

 Currently looking after mum whose has had an operation on her toes so I'm at home helping out with Dad. Decided to jump at the chance to paint. Painted with gouache on small to tiny canvases, one, a portrait of my sisters cat Oscar and the other Old man's building is a painting of a small old building that survived the bulldozers because the owner a little old man refused to sell up. There had been a large building next door Freemans catalogue a factory supplying work for a hell of a lot of people. It has now been destroyed and created into (more) luxury flats, the old man's house remains....when I was a kid we used to deliver food parcels for the elderly, back then he was an old man and we dropped our parcel off, I thought he was odd and mysterious.

Oscar is 6" by 4" and the house is 3" by 2"

Arts4Space: Volunteer

I been spending some of my time volunteering at Arts4Space, a Community Arts Organisation based at Stockwell Studios in Jeffreys Road, Stockwell. Arts4Space create community arts projects to increase accessibility and empowerment through art to various groups, helping develop communication, promote diversity and social cohesion within my neighbourhood. I'm loving working with them.

Recent project, which is up and now in situ, was the creation of a mosaic mural for Streatham Wells Primary School, most of the work had been done but I stepped in and helped finish the piece. Partly created with the kids of the school this piece is now in proud position on the wall in their front entrance.

Since then we worked on another Streatham Wells mural that I helped restore. I am particularly interested in murals as my sister, Ruth Miller, has set up the London Mural Preservation Society. She is currently in the process of researching who created the original mural we are restoring which was made at least 30 years ago. It was great fun bringing the old mural back to life, and I learnt alot about mural restoration. 

The LMPS have a mural walk coming up soon on the 15th August in North London (All Welcome!) My colleague and fellow filmmaker, Louise Murray, and I will be filming the event for the web.

Onwards and Upwards!

Mini Monsters

Currently numbing my finger by working on a batch of mini monsters. I plan to make a dozen before trying to sell them. Have some nice ideas for packaging but I'll finish these guys first. The red and black little guy has already found a new home, snapped up whilst they were just sitting around my workspace, don't worry it was a good home and the buyer paid nicely. More on the way...

.....two more already assembled over night.