JaM

I'm Flavour of the Month over at the JaM Gallery in Eton. JaM is located at 81 High Street, Eton, just over the bridge from Windsor. My work is also available on the JaM website (just follow the link to see). I'm also working at JaM part time. I am there pretty much every Thursday, so come by and see this lovely gallery. We have a wide selection of jewellery - including jewellery made by the jeweller who made the Algerian love knot necklace for my favourite James Bond film, Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. That's not all, though, there is also a dazzling array of glasswork and ceramics, along with cards, woodwork, etc. Come and have a look :-) In the meantime, here is a photo of some earrings that are part of my new collection:

Yay!

Yiipppppeeee the opening to my show (and 3 other fab artists!) is finally nearly here! The opening is on Saturday, 4-6pm at South Hill Park in Bracknell. My new collection is there to see and I will have matching cupcakes! The cupcakes have edible gold balls on top! Yes, I am overly excited about the cupcakes! wheeeeeee

one down, two to go.......

Well, the Crowthorne fair is over for another year. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and had a chat! It went well and it seemed busy - more so than last year. Now it's time to get the orders done from the show and get ready for the next fair, which is the Craft & Design Show at South Hill Park.

dates: 19 & 20 November 2011

price: £Weekend tickets £7, Conc £5 (Advance only)

venue: Wilde Theatre

Enjoy and explore handmade crafts from a wide range of UK artists.

Taster session available on the day in silversmithing, ceramics and printmaking.

Sat 19 Nov - 11am-6pm
Sun 20 Nov - 10am-5pm
Tickets on the day: £5, Conc £3, Under 10s FREE. Family £10 (2+2 or 1+3)

Craft in Focus 28-30 October

Next weekend is Craft in Focus at Crowthorne! I'll be there, along with loads of fabulous crafters like Lauren Denney - beautiful ceramics (stand 21). We'll be across from each other, I will be at stand 90.

1pm to 6pm Friday; 10am to 5pm Saturday & Sunday

Adults £4.50, Over 65's £3.50, Accompanied under 14's free!

End of Residency show

Come see my new collection! Opening reception is at South Hill Park on Saturday 3 December from 4 - 6pm. There will be a secret sweet treat related to my new collection for anyone who comes to the reception!

My end of residency show

Just a quick note - details about my end of Residency show over at South Hill Park are on the website - http://www.southhillpark.org.uk/3842/shows/fundamental-modernist-forms.html

More details to follow soon....with photos!

close-up

I've been busy, busy, busy getting ready for my End of Residency show. More details will follow, but for your calendar - the opening reception is 4-6pm on Saturday December 3rd at South Hill Park in Bracknell.
In the meantime, a close-up of a commission I did several months ago (aquamarine stone in 14ct gold with pearls necklace):

just some nice pics of cornwall

silver thimble

I made this silver thimble for my gran, who is 92 today! Oma is the Dutch word for grandmother. Happy Birthday Oma!!!!

Finished ring

White gold with sapphires.

Exhibition and news

There is an exhibition on in Didcot in which you can see the lovely work of one of the Caversham Artists, Julie Simmonds. Details below on the flyer, just click on the image to get a larger, legible version.

Also, the Jelly has acquired a new home - today (10am - 6pm) is the last day to help paint and fix up the new location. If you're free, it's at the Coopers Arms in Reading town centre, across the street from the main post office and NatWest.

And lastly, it's a hard time for arts centres, and several are struggling to hang on in the face of "cost cutting", reduced funding, or relocation. If you are interested in keeping The Fire Station in Henley as an exhibition centre, then move fast - attend the meeting at the Council Chamber of the Town Hall, Henley at 7.30 this Tuesday, 5th July.

South Hill Park in Bracknell has also lost a lot of funding - this is a thriving arts centre that hosts numerous exhibitions of painting, drawing, conceptual art, ceramics, jewellery, to name but a few. Many people attend and enjoy the courses in all manner of artistic fields. Hopefully it will still manage to do all these things, but of course a big chunk of funding gone means cuts have to be made somewhere! To support South Hill Park, please sign the petition here (we have 681 signatures, we need at least 1000): http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save_our_south_hill_park/

thimble

Here's a picture of my copper thimble. It's a small project I demonstrated for my classes. I wanted to do something a bit different. If the thimble was silver, of course the solder joins wouldn't show up as here - since I used copper with silver solder. If you'd like to make a thimble, this project and many other interesting projects are in this book: http://tiny.cc/o17r9

cufflinks

These are 2 of 5 pairs of different custom cufflinks I made last week. Each had a logo from a different company. They are to be presented at a congress today which a representative of each company is attending. I liked the idea behind it a lot - it is showing the links between the companies, between people and cufflinks link the cuffs :-)

just a nice picture of Wales

copper sculpture

A good friend asked me to make a copper sculpture...I came up with this:

phew

So, the Caversham Arts Trail is over for another year. Thanks to everyone who made it out and for all the lovely comments. You can see some lovely pics from the weekends over on Lauren's blog: www.laurenceramics.blogspot.com

I have work over at the Runnymede Gallery until the end of this month.

Unrelated to all that, on Saturday I went to the Dollhouse Show in Kensington to go look at loads of miniature things. It was amazing, everything you could imagine in miniature! I have two tiny bears and I thought they needed a chair and now they have their very own park bench. Oh and I saw another mini bear who was just too amazing to be left behind, so now I have three tiny bears. Here's a pic of my grumpy little bears on their little park benches. With a pound coin in front to give an idea of size...

Plenty to do

So, if you're at loose ends about what to do this weekend, there's plenty to choose from:

Runnymede Gallery Exhibition - modern jewellery by me, Jane Tadrist, Dana Kidson and Jo King. The opening reception is on Saturday from 12 - 4pm. Follow the link for the address...

Caversham Arts Trail - open 7 & 8 May and 13 - 15 May. Opening reception at Albert Road Day Centre in Caversham from 10.30 a.m. You can download and print a map of the Arts Trail here: http://tiny.cc/z980n


There is also another fantastic Third Thursday event coming up on May 19th. Please click here for more information.

It's been a busy week already, getting ready for all the shows. I also have a couple of new items added in my case in the foyer at South Hill Park if you happen to be going there.
Classes have started again, so it's all go!
Hope everyone is enjoying the fabulous weather, long may it continue!! :-)

Caversham Arts Trail

Caversham Arts Trail coming soon - 7 & 8 May and 13, 14 & 15 May
Here's our lovely spread in Craft & Design Magazine! Click for a bigger view...

Runnymede Gallery show 7 -30 May

I'm exhibiting at the Runnymede Gallery in May from the 7th to the 30th. We are having a opening view on the 7th of May from 12 - 4pm. We are: Jane Tadrist, Dana Kidson, Jo King and me. Details to follow...
In the meantime, my hinges course was last week and seemed to go down quite well. Everyone did really well and made at least a couple of hinges. Here is a photo of some of the samples I made, mostly made from bit of copper. I didn't clean them up, so these are just to demonstrate the mechanics of making various types of hinges.

Caversham Arts Trail

Will be 7 & 8 and 13-15 May... here's the flyer!! Click for a larger view....

Craft & Design awards

It's the last week to vote over at the Craft & Design selected awards - http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard/

It's busy as usual here - been working on an interesting bit of fashion for a fashion retailer...will post more about that after I see if they're happy with the first piece I did, which is in the post now!
Also this week is the last week of term over at South Hill Park. However, I still have a packed week next week as I'm teaching a three-day course on hinges there. Hinges and tube, here we come!
Today the plan is to finish a pile of polishing. After this polishing, I think I'm actually nearly ready to start on some new designs! Well, after the hinges preparation, that is. Nearly there...
Hope everyone enjoyed the measily couple of warm days we had. It's back to chilly now, but there are still people walking around in shorts and t-shirts as if it's tropical weather out now. I guess it is officially spring because of the time change, but I still need a scarf!

custom pendant

Photos of a custom pendant made to match my silver bud collection...

finished pendant

This is the pendant I was discussing in my last post, now finished:

the ides of march have passed

I've been making tube and it's a bit addictive. I keep wanting to see how much smaller I can get it. Here's a photo of two of my attempts - both made from sheet. (I had to colour over my nail in photoshop because being a jeweller is not a good thing for the state of my nails!!)

The tube on the left is copper and just over 2mm outside diameter. The one on the right is silver and 1.3mm outside diameter. I'm thinking this will be useful for making hinges, possibly for odd shaped hinges. Also a wee bit cheaper than buying tube ready made.
So yeah, that's been the excitement this week! I've also been working on a custom pendant for my soon-to-be-ex-boss (she's leaving to pursue her own art). It's a silver rectangle, with edges, so it's sort of a shallow open box. We're going to fill it with the internal components of her father's watch - all the teeny tiny cogs and springs and things. Then we're going to fill it with clear resin. It's the ultimate personal piece of jewellery - made by someone my boss knows, filled with material from her father's watch, and she'll pour the resin herself. Hopefully I'll get a good photo of it when it's done...
Also working on some wedding rings, birthday presents, and making more gold ball stud earrings and rings. Photos coming soon...

time flies

It has been incredibly busy again and I find it hard to believe that tomorrow is March! It was just Christmas! This past weekend was eventful. Saturday I helped out in the morning with our Caversham Artists show in Kings Walk in Reading town centre. It was a lovely show and the opening especially, as one of the Third Thursday events, was very well attended. My next show will be the CAT (Caversham Artists Trail) in May.
Then yesterday I taught a one day ring course over at South Hill Park. The idea was for beginners to make their very own ring, which indeed they did, and some even managed to walk away with an impressive four rings at the end of the day! It went well but I was pretty knackered by the time I got home. But today it's back into the fray and I have loads to do as usual.
The weather has been so dreary and the garden is all dark so I also bought a bunch of lovely mini daffodils over the weekend. From one day to the next they flowered like mad, they look super cute. I'm not a great gardener, but hopefully I'll plant them soon to get some colour into the garden.
Anyway, I leave you with a photo of a stack ring I completed recently...

King's Walk Saturday 26th

It's been busy around here again - and more coming up! Firstly Caversham Artists will have our show open again this coming Saturday the 26th in King's Walk in the centre of Reading. Come and have a nose around if you're in town! The opening night last Thursday was lovely, with lots of people milling about and enjoying the live music (and wine)!
This week is half term, but on Sunday I'm teaching a day course on how to make a ring over at South Hill Park. In the meantime, I'm hoping to get a bunch of items finished today. The aim is to finish a ring that I've started on and also a pendant which has some pesky firestain.
There's still time to vote for me in the Craft & Design Selected Awards (you can vote at the bottom of the page here: www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard).
It's such a gloomy day out, I think I need a lot of tea to get going. At least I've cleaned my desk and put up a sign that says "Keep Calm and Carry On"...surely that will help....

Third Thursday

My next event as part of the Caversham Artists will be taking place on 17th February 2011 at Kings Walk, Kings Street, Reading, RG1 2HG from 5.30pm until 9pm. Why not come along, we would love to see you there.

As part of the Third Thursday events for one evening only the shop windows will come alive, you will see demonstrations from artists, have the opportunity to talk to the artists and purchase the art work on show, all in the ambient surroundings of Kings Walk through sponsorship by London and County.

There will be musical entertainment, wine tasting from Award Winning local Organic Wine Merchant, Vintage Roots and The Third Thursday team will be on hand to talk about the partnership project between Reading UK CIC, jelly and the future arts events.

Our next event after the Third Thursday will be the Caversham Arts Trail on 7th & 8th and 13th-15th May 2011. There will be 15 venues with 31 exhibitors. Click here to see who is taking part.

(thanks Lauren Ceramics for this text and image!)

Exciting events coming up

Plan to go out the evening of February 17th - and enjoy an exciting Third Thursday event in Reading town centre: Please see below the note from Reading's very own Jelly: (Please RSVP to come along!)

We would warmly like to invite you to an evening of creativity at our next Third Thursday, on 17 February, The Walk, Kings Street, Reading from 5.30 until 9pm.

The hosts for the evening are the Caversham Artists who have taken over the currently available units in The Walk, through sponsorship by London and County.

The Caversham Artists have over the past few years put on a number of successful Arts Trails. The work ranges across many mediums including painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, decoupage, printmaking and jewellery.

For one evening the shop windows will come alive, you will see demonstrations of how the artworks are made, talk to the artists, all in the ambient surroundings of The Walk.

There will be musical entertainment, wine tasting from Award Winning local Organic Wine Merchant, Vintage Roots and The Third Thursday team will be on hand to talk about the partnership project between Reading UK CIC, jelly and the future arts events.

Why not extend your evening by enjoying the delights of the restaurants and bars in the The Walk ~ details can be found here on the Rguide or if you fancy musical entertainment, head up the road to South Street for Thirdsday Blues where National Steel - Cumberpatch, Cohen and Geraghty with their take on late 19th, early 20th Century Delta Blues will be performing. Click here for full details on Thirdsday Blues.

For more information on the Caversham Artists, you can take a peek at their website http://cavershamartists.co.uk/. The exhibitions will continue throughout February, with a further Open Day on Saturday 19th.

For more information on Third Thursdays, please visit this page http://jelly.org.uk/third-thursdays/

We are always looking for new venues to take part, new artists across all art forms and new guests to come along too so please feel free to pop by, bring a friend and find out more.

Hopefully see you there
Suzanne, Jo and Justine

RSVP suzanne@jelly.org.uk by Tuesday 15th February

Progress

Progress is finally being made - I have nearly prepared all the demos for my classes for the whole of this term, which is a big relief. There's a wedding ring on the horizon, a stacking ring, a pendant, some cufflinks and a clasp to repair. I finally got around to buying some PNP paper for etching, seems to work much better than just using a transparency. I took ages to buy some because I didn't know that I had to look at enamelling suppliers! So, some on order.

On the 27th of February I'm teaching a one-day course for beginners on how to make your own ring. On 6,7,8 April I'm teaching a three-day course for advanced students on hinges. If you'd like more info, drop me an email or comment.

I'm entered for the
craft&design SELECTED AWARDS

please vote for me
by visiting
www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard

The Public Vote is open until 31st March 2011
Thank you for your support

Finally getting better

Well, the holidays were all about tissues for me. What fun. I am finally emerging from a fog of tissues, pain and medicine. Today's the last day of antibiotics and I am actually getting things done. A craft fair application out of the way today and trying to sort out my domain and hosting for my website. Hopefully this will not result in website failure. If I've managed to code it properly, everything should just continue working. However, if you do happen to spot website blips, I would be most grateful if you could let me know so I can fix them!!

In other news, I sent out a newsletter today. If you'd like one, just drop me a line in the comments. The most exciting thing is that you can vote for me in the Craft & Design Selected Awards on their website here: http://www.craftmaker.co.uk/machidewaard/. Just go to the bottom of the page to vote - registering and voting is free. Also, you get entered into a prize draw so you can win stuff too! Brilliant!

Internship opportunity at South Hill Park Arts Centre

Live Art Internship, South Hill Park, Bracknell, Berkshire


2-3 days a week, 3 months with possibility to extend (voluntary)


An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our dynamic visual arts team. The intern will gain experience of multiple aspects of exhibitions work with a particular focus on Live Art during our Live Art season. There will be an opportunity to gain experience of the following tasks:

* Administration
* Artist relations
* Supporting the development of new Live Art work
* Invigilation
* Marketing
* Installing and dismounting exhibitions and events
* Researching
* Supporting events.


South Hill Park has been a centre for innovation in the arts since 1973. In a grade 2 listed 18th century mansion and gardens, people of all ages and tastes find something to enjoy. South Hill Park is proud of its tradition of nurturing talents, among many big names. The centre has six exhibition spaces and an innovative exhibitions programme.

Live Art has been a fixture on South Hill Park’s exhibition schedule and the 2011 season will include the following:

Rules and Regs (www.rulesandregs.org) is an organisation that promotes artistic development. It is also the name for a residency where three artists are invited to create new work in response to a set of rules devised by a curator as a challenge to explore new ways of working. For 2011 Jo Bannon, Florence Peake and Melanie Wilson will be undertaking residencies at SHP.

Testing Grounds (www.testinggrounds.org.uk) a Live Art and Music platform supportive of artistic risks where artists are commissioned to make and present new work rather than reproducing a set performance (participating artists to be confirmed).


Finally, in April At Play returns to South Hill Park for its third year. At Play is an exhibition that explores play and includes Live Art performances at its opening.

Person specification:



This position would suit a graduate with an interest and/or experience in live art processes either personally, as part of their own practice, or professionally. Who wishes to gain more experience of Live Art and more generally an exhibitions department within a public venue. Your primary role would be to assist the exhibitions department during the Live Art Season and act as point of contact for the participating artists. An enthusiastic attitude, time management, organisational, interpersonal and basic IT skills are essential. A driving license and access to a car is helpful as the art centre is outside the town centre with limited public transport. The position may include occasional weekend and evening work.



Please email your CV and statement to:



Gemma Cumming

Email: gallery.tours@southhillpark.org.uk

Website: www.southhillpark.org.uk



South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell RG12 7PA



The CV and statements should indicate: Your availability, why are you interested in this position, previous experience in arts and educational background.



The deadline for application is 5pm 4 Feb 2011.

We aim to interview week beginning 7 Feb and would expect the post to commence on the week beginning 14 Feb



Kind regards

Gemma Cumming

Gallery Education Intern
South Hill Park