http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Art Allotments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:34:09 +0000 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://www.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   We have arrived at the point to reflect, evaluate & curate!  In just over one week we put up our first exhibition. This blog will document the curating process and exhibition outcomes.      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 The gallery space is essentially a long corridor and viewers will enter from either end giving two starting points to the exhibition.  We met yesterday and quickly looked through all the work seeking possible formats or order for the presentation.   There are themes emerging, a figurative narrative is appearing which was probably predictable we both make figurative work.   To help me think, to “play” with the images & to see where such a narrative could be taken I made a very quick ‘book’ folding & cutting an A4 sheet.  It changes the scale of the work and has become a collage of collages.   Pleased with the results I print out one or two but I am no further on with a definite plan for the presentation yet.  I need instead to start sorting out frames & mounting card.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Art allotments started as a weekly swap of images and ideas, like packets of seeds. We posted and received A4 envelopes of collage materials made up from what came to hand, a mix. The idea was to have an artist¹s conversation through something different, accessible and spontaneous.  The focus was on doing. It has grown over a year and so now it is time to see what this looks like in an exhibition and find out what other people think. The exhibition space is a long gallery connecting two buildings with windows on one side and zigzag walls on the other. Outside is rough ground. The thing about the art allotments and growing ideas is that it is about seeing what would come up. It has also been about working on an idea with another artist and friend. This has given two different perspectives in our choices of materials, the collages and the effect all this has on our other work. The exhibition is itself another collage to sort, place and build. There are narratives that appear accidentally, cumulatively and the ones that, for me, reappear.  What I love about collage is that its like a puzzle without a picture on the box. The activity is about space and placing things, shapes, colour, noise, creating sets, and movement.  The exhibition is a process in progress.  I can be wary of process but in this case, it¹s key.  Its great to see work recycled and returned and images have started to resurface such as  figures as part of the furniture or moving through it. The process has made new images and new work to develop and grow. I find it hard recycling some images sent to me and it is hard to rip up someone else¹s images!  Ok now I am starting to worry as one of the other things is that the strength of this conversation is that it has persisted in the face of many other demands of everyday lives.  I am clearing the path for this week and keeping my animation (work) sessions at bay.  Angela    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Last few days have been hectic. Publicity is now distributed, framing done … It seemed odd to be framing ideas & unfinished work including pages ripped from sketchbooks. By Saturday lunchtime the exhibition was up.  Thank you to helpers. Questions still surface. Is the work any good? Is it worth exhibiting? I give myself the answer. It has to be yes & yes, but there remains a sense of apprehension & unease.   So we have to remind ourselves again that this is an exhibition about a process.  “Finished” work will be for a future exhibition.   Next task is to plan for the “official opening” – Next Sat. March 6th.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   The grand opening has happened. No time to update this blog before hand as too busy making cakes & seed packets. It was great to welcome 50 or more people. We can’t be sure of the exact numbers because we had forgotten to bring a number clicker & at some point fairly early on I lost the pen & list I started & gave up. In order to have cake everyone had to first make a collage. We handed everyone a seed packet – an envelope full of random collage scraps - for the task. We didn’t make it compulsory but even so, half way through we needed to put out more tables.  Many people made one or more collage postcards and some took extra packets home. Gradually as the cakes disappeared, the notice board was filled with small pieces of Allotment Art.  The results ranged from exuberant to restrained, witty, abstract, figurative and even a 3D thank-you collage bouquet.   The feed back has been so positive. Everyone found the gallery despite some of the posters/directions going astray. The whole event felt relaxed and everyone said it was fun. As fun was one of the aims from the very beginning we now both feel exhilarated & inspired.   Several visitors want to join the project & so it will now move into the next phase but first we have a family workshop to run next week. ‘Art Window Boxes’.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Art Allotments grows out of ripped up artwork ....... So begins the article appearing today on BBC radio Shropshire website.   ..... Art Allotments was born out of the frustration that comes with artists block. In need of inspiration, Shropshire artists Angela Martin and Heather Prescott decided to send each other pieces of their artwork - to cut up. They added an assortment of other cuttings and materials and came up with a series of collages....   http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_a...  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 The family workshop today was busy - very busy. For over 2 hours children came & went & sometimes came back again. They drew all over the gallery windows and the windows in both entrances to the building with chalk pens. They filled their "window boxes" with flowers, trees, the occasional tank & aeroplane and some interesting semi abstract patterns. We should have said no to writing and we would have avoided a lot of "dudes" in speech bubbles  and references to football teams. In the end we wiped away most of the writing and kept just the drawings. The children also made a lot of small collages but not many made it onto the exhibition wall - most were taken home which is how it should be.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 When fragments come together & become inspirational, ideas grow & new work is made.  There are, however, definitely time, space and attitude weeds that get in the way and obscure the view and access to getting on with making. Now the exhibition is up I notice maps and figures and a lightness of touch. There are themes but no big statements, a series of sight bites. So far the exhibition is an airing of the collages over the past year presented on walls.   It is still growing after the 50 plus people made small collages out of the seed packets. Some even came later by email – from visitors who took envelopes home with them.  It has proved very popular and the good feedback continues.   Over 30 children and parents added to this yesterday. The plug on Radio Shropshire website and John Davall¹s programme helped – A big ‘Thank you’ to Genevieve Tudor who came to the launch & spread the word.  It is our turn now to review our work and decide what next. The work has fed into my work. My decision so far is to concentrate on making more landscape based mixed media work. Back to the image of growing – growing new ideas from new collage materials. We have decided we must start anew as the old stuff is pretty well composted. Angela  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   The exhibition is now down & stored for a while. In reflecting on the work made there were themes & links which emerged. When viewed chronologically the early images were closely related to the gardening theme. We often found ourselves playing with language ... growing, weeding, nurturing and companion planting ... terminology that proved useful in helping develop the visual image. At other times shapes & colours or an odd word of text provided the starting point. Some envelopes sparked several varying approaches while others took ages for ideas to properly germinate. At times the collage images began human narratives.  Who is this figure?  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   So I had to ask "Who is the figure that appeared?" I decided fairly quickly that it was Icarus with contemporary interpretations. The possibility that people can fly like the birds to escape from difficulties has always been attractive even with the associated dangers.  The first images began together but were separated for the exhibition. Later Icarus appeared with hands in the air. He appeared quickly as a response to Angela's cartoon drawings. Later still he is hanging on to a ?sun ?a clock ... ? to save himself.The phrase  "Flying to close to the sun" become the title for this image & the work (the print) that I is still struggling to come into being. I like to use myths & fairytales and Icarus could stand for both my low key anxiety & mistrust of my place in the art world and my moral & ethical concerns about the environment. I have always held on closely to the notion that any art work I make is transient and so the practical ways we have explored in creating the collages have been liberating. The act of cutting up old work, using material I have been given but have not chosen and then reworking and cutting up the first collages to make new collages is an exciting journey to new territory every time I begin. It still amazes me that at some point in the process the real images to which  am connected, and which I want to develop I as an artist start to come to consciousness in this process .  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   When looking back at the work in the exhibition and writing this it is evident that there were five streams that evolved during the project & were represented in the exhibitio. Narratives, of which Icarus is an example. Experimental work with print & collage combination. Photographed collages. Drawings that sparked ideas & also became combined in & on the collages. The playful aspect demonstrated in the early work, the publicity & the workshops.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Yesterday I sorted the collaged collographs; today I have uploaded some drawings from the exhibition by Angela as they have been important in underpinning the project from the start.             Now the focus is on the new work. Art Allotments has developed so that there are more people taking part. I just have a few more photos to take as the last pieces of work arrive through the post and the results can be displayed.              This time there are nine of us (one dropped out as too busy). Everyone received from me an identical envelope of bits at the beginning of April. Each package included a figure from a ghost collagraph print & a failed print from saline sulphate etched plate. It was an early attempt when I pressed snowdrops into a soft ground but messed up the timings. Angela put in drawings - sketches that never made it to the final art work stage. Added to this were some pages from an altered book that was begun & abandoned, some pages from a fallen apart music manuscript, some text, assorted paper, hay & other bits. - See photo!  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   The hardest thing about Art Allotments 2 was knowing what was in the envelope as I had made it up. I had to try & disassociate myself from the choices of contents made. It was also a challenge  to find 10 identical, or near identical, pieces of rejected work. Finding a few is usually not a problem as I take lots of proofs while making plates. This time I needed ten and luckily I had a near miss print of a long line of collograph figures of women. All were slightly different but alike enough to fit the bill. The etching proofs were mainly textural & big enough to cut up into similar sections. Angela's page of drawings was photocopied so that they were identical in each envelope I posted the envelopes and put the one I had randomly selected for myself from the pile to one side. When the first collage arrived back I didn't open it until I had finished my own effort. The figure and the crow were the starting points. I have always admired crows and been amused by their comical stance. My admiration grew after reading Corvus, A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson brilliantly reviewed by Olivia Laing in an Observer article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/24/scienc... I am aware that there is a deeper unconscious rational for my choices allied to loss & loneliness but for the moment that can wait for exploration. Mellie's and Angela's collages, the first to arrive, also placed the woman's figure  in a central position with each collage and all three were telling different stories.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Alan & Estella Scholes, husband & wife, both artists, both made collages.  In Alan's work the small figures appeared ambiguously in both pieces.  Was the crow about to feed them or eat them? Were they holding up the basket or was it about to crush them? Estella's work was unexpected. She had made a delightful small collage bag, different on both sides & filled it with unused bits.   Note here again to myself .... "Why didn't I think of doing that?"   It struck me that this is a great example of what Graphic Designer Alan Fletcher explores in his book 'The Art of Looking Sideways'.His work has been fresh in my mind since last month when I saw the inspiring exhibition of his work in Cube: Centre for the Built Environment in Manchester. The work there was brilliant, inspiring & also fun. It is having creative fun & the chance to play that has been the core of art allotments since the start. There are no rules here just guidelines to be stretched.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Artist Bev Horsley approached the materials completely differently using paint in the work. Her accompanying note described the process as easier when beginning with an “idea” as in the first collage “SEEDS”. The second one she describes as  "...a pure response to colour rather than concept... Once started I didn’t want to stop! Best fun I’ve had in ages."  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Sue Campbell's collage was full to bursting with pieces falling out of the envelope as I opened it & the glue still tacky.                 In contrast Jacs Collins' work was  economical, unmounted and held together with delicate stitching. I photographed back as well as front as that struck me as an important aspect.                  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604     Both pieces made by Jude Willerton are mounted on black. She says in her accompanying note "The first attempt was very random & spontaneous with no real plan... The second (The crow) came together easily & spontaneously."   Whenever I see the crow appear it is, for me, part of a story. .... He/she may be coming, going, comic, opportunist, onlooker, harbinger of doom, admired, feared, loved or despised. What next I don't yet know but crow has entered my own work and is waiting for the idea to take shape.   Now all the pictures from the first round are uploaded it suggests a time to reflect on how the art allotments are developing. It is really interesting to see how others interpret the same material in such individual ways. If I consider what influence this project has upon my own work so far it is to make me to open my eyes wider & wider to the possibilities of collage techniques in both the visual & non-visual world. I am determined to welcome images that appear. If things go wrong with what I am working on - I cut it up, rearrange & look again as many times as it takes. Cutting & pasting is a much more satisfying way of changing & making corrections. Reflection comes later...at least 24 hours. This process of taking a number of given materials and quickly choosing & combining a selected few in a playful manner continues to be inspirational.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Far too much time has passed while I have procrastinated about continuing this blog.  All was going well then there was an unexpected exhibition opportunity, which took up a few weeks, work  and lots of other stuff that needed to be done until suddenly I had all the finished Art work and was going on holiday posting the third set of envelopes as I travelled on my way.   So, having made my excuses I will finally I will put up all the work from  last month before this months envelopes start arriving through my letterbox.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 If the cartoons didn't trigger a response then the text, or in this case the letter z seems to have been the key.  Overall the responses seem to fall into 3 categories. Narrative, text/word or letter inspired or abstract as a response to colour, tone, texture or shape. The responses of the participating artists have been polarised. "It was really hard, I wasn't inspired & I took a while to make something. OR "It was great, I did if after a stressful day & it was fun and restorative"   Again the key to every response it not having to chose the materials.  Someone else has done that, it is fun, there are no value judgements and it does seem to  inspire other ideas and inform other work.   Today when struggling to shape an idea I tipped out a collection of relevant reference materials. There was no help where I needed it but instead something new has appeared. Lying among the scraps & cuttings, a random chance arrangement. I have left it as I write this and will return later & look again.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 I am still posting pictures from July as the new envelopes from August are coming back in the post. Reading again the accompanying comments I am struck how it is the importance of  immediacy in the project that keeps everyone focused. Estella related "I decided to go for the first idea that struck me and not get involved with adding to much - just a bit of pen - The temptation is to add paint and consquently make the collage into a more serious Work of Art by obliterating a lot of the elements. Better to be spontaneous in the spirit of the idea!" Jude was more serious and in her work pasted some thought provoking speech bubbles from two people in conversation.  "Thinking & talking"  How is it affecting me? Why? and What is it about?  and What is it meaning? She comments that she wasn't sure she liked the outcome ... Alas something common to us all occuring much too often. Bev ... illustated here, found her idea flowed easily. "Thanks again for a really great envelope of stuff - what a pure pleasure to do something uncomplicated, fun and stress free!!! My contribution was inspired by colour (again) - the purpley - pink colours immediately evoked lavender, cypresses, holiday in Umbria... Tomorrow I will open the new batch!!    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Oh dear the blog has lapsed again and that goes against the very nature of blogging as I understand it. I admire writers who can engage me repeatedly with accounts of their daily creative enthusiasm & struggles all wrapped in expressive language. I have had a pile of Art allotment envelopes looking at me for several weeks but the spare time I wanted at a time that suited, with the will that I needed seemed to elude me..... until now!   Before I opened anyone else's envelope I finally opened my envelope, took photos of the contents & began to make my piece/s.  Amazingly it was easy. It proved so very easy & so very restorative. Why didn't I do it sooner I ask myself?  I am now creatively inspired, keen to make more collages and ready to open & photograph everyone else's envelopes.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 As I post more of the latest work I am reflecting on where next & a new exhibition. It seems to be arranging itself. A new Gallery organied by 'VAN' Shropshire & Telford Visual Art Network (A Charity) is now open. It is in  a corner of the Market Hall in Shrewsbury and will primarily showcase work by Shropshire artists. The Gallery is run by artists & those interested in the visual arts. All of them are volunteers. We have been invited to put up the 2011 Art Allotments show there in the new year and run workshops in the adjoining space. At the same time this projct feels as though either the exhibition will mark the end or, if it continues, it is time for a new approach. So in the next few days we will consider what that is likely to be.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Angela & I had a long conversation yesterday about the project. Now we have an exhibition in sight we need to structure the final stage. We discussed what had come out of it so far and what had changed now that there were more artists involved. First it made more work. Second neither of us had been able to give the attention to it we felt it needed. Third - one participant returned the last envelope unopened as it didn't spark any inspiration.  So in all it seemed to have lost some of the momentum we had at the beginning when it was just the two of us.Our resolution now is to pair up the participants and see what results. We will ask them to each make two more collages before Christmas & then we will put together the exhibition.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Here I have loaded up the remaining pieces of work. The new envelopes have been posted and the participants paired up to go on working in twos until the exhibition in February. There is something very satisfying about cutting or tearing up old work. One idea I was working on was pinned up for weeks waiting for inspiration on how to take it forward. The inspiration never came. In destroying it - I am free of it and one of the random pieces has already led to new work. The moral here is obvious ... I should have torn it up sooner.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Yet again it has proved difficult to stick to our self imposed deadlines for keeping this blog going. However the pictures I have now gathered together are from the final envelopes sent out where everyone received identical collections of collage materials. The feed back has continued to be unanimously positive proving that it has been well worth the effort. It never fails to be interesting seeing how different artists react to the contents and what they make of them. The real assessment of the impact of making the collages will be the exhibition that brings it all together.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Suprise here as this time Bev has made collages  that hint at stories instead of being pure colour & shape. Also two images from Nigel & Estella that are A3 ... (the guidelines are A4) .. but  they arrived folded up and so can get away with it.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   As it is January 1st and I am trying to begin the year purposfully especially with regard to making art. I am now typing this and posting the last few images. The project is in the final stages leading up to the two exhibitions in February & March. A preliminary poster has been circulated and the participants have been paired up. Now it is back to Angela & myself exchanging envelopes. I have a large brown package from her ready to open but only after this post is done.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 This is the last picture that I have to add to this blog for 2010 before I begin making 2011 collages. As always at the beginning of a new year I feel a need to reflect on the work done, think about how making collages has affected my own work and decide if blogging about it (even in the fairly factual way I have adopted) has helped either my own work or the work of others participating to develop in any meaningful way.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 I have been looking at my latest envelope from Angela since I last posted an update. I  remained determined not to open it until I knew that I had time to make work from the contents. So why has it taken me so long I ask myself - What have I been doing? Procrastinating?  I confess to prioritising other work but I console myself that I have also been sorting out the framing, discussing the publicity & organisation and then making, printing, & distributing the first batch of posters. Similar to last years poster- when this all  began - the poster has a new shoot which has now grown and has 3 sets of leaves for the 3 Art Allotment exhibitions. The first was in March 2010 the next will be in February 2011, and the third in March 2011.      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 The last envelope has been opened and It is really full of stuff. So much that I have split it into two piles neutral & coloured - a bit like washing. No idea immediately jumps to mind from the items so I have decided to begin with the coloured materials. Before I begin I decide to rearrange the coloured materials and take another photo.The very act of rearranging the pieces helps me start to think of an idea.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Well I have, at last, made a collage from the last envelope of stuff -  I began with the coloured pile. and an extra piece of strong colour that had got overlooked.  It became the all important starting point. Bird imagary has crept in. I have resisted it up until now as I see so many birds in cages in design & art work and to use that motif always feels a little like plaigerism. However, this bird, hat & figure arrived spontaneously from a conversation with Angela and refused to be rejected so it has stayed with a multiplicity of meanings and associations that can be choosen by the viewers. This will be the last collage for the time being. On Monday the exhibition goes up. ... 10 artists, 30 plus pieces of work and more in browsers. Then on Tuesday it quietly opens. Where will art allotments go now ......?    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Today was the last day of a really good two weeks of the Art Allotments exhibition. It has been open in the Visual Arts Network community Gallery in the (new) market hall in Shrewsbury which is is not the easiest place to find located on the top floor.  Even so 80 visitors came through on the busiest day. The feed back was really positive and exciting. many were excited by the idea of one artist having fun using another artists reject work to make some new work of their own. Already others have taken up the idea. A small group of jewellers are now organising a scrap metal  art allotments and A quilter immediatly saw the possibilities for textile artists. Lots of people of all ages  stopped to chose an envelope of collage and make a postcard size art work to hang on the wall. We also received emails of thanks saying how much people had enjoyed themselves which was a great feeling after all the work we had done. Here are just a few images  to give a taste of the project    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Yesterday was the official opening of the exhibition at the SPARC centre Gallery in Bishops Castle. A steady flow of visitors of all ages came and saw the exhibition, made a postcard & ate cake. The exhibition will be up until the end of the month. As the wall of images built up over the morning people became ever more creative. It was a strange feeling to think that this part of the project which we had been involved in for nearly two years was coming to an end. Angela & I have resolved  that we will continue to share collage envelopes between the two of us  and wait and see - what next. We still have a basket of envelopes left - so who knows what we will use them for in the future. Ideas, I feel,  are already rising to consciousness.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 Here are a few more images. More good feedback keeps coming in but one postcard was very moving. Someone took an envelope away and then returned the flower image she had created writing on the bottom edge of the card "Go cancer" It brought home to me again how "art can seriously improve someones well being"... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604   Although this blog virtually stopped for months on end the project carried on. There were more workshops and occasional exchanges of envelopes between Angela & myself.  However 2012 has brought new ideas, new enthusiasm, and new plans for workshops and exhibitions. The reason Art allotments keeps going is  the positive impact the collages have on creativity. When ideas flag, a project hits the wall or a design gets stuck and generates rejects and a lot of recycling it helps to put it to one side and open an Art Allotments envelope instead. The alternative is abandon a current piece of work and change direction then put the rejects in an envelope and put in the post. Here are the most recent results.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/605604