Real Events! In person! not on zoom!

 Hurrah, things are finally showing signs of perking up! I am *delighted* to be taking part in the following: 

Oxford Arts Week 2021

As soon as I know what days I will be there, I will post! I am excited about chatting with people again! 

14 – 24 May 2021

Peach Croft Farm Barn, Twelve Acre Drive, Abingdon, OX14 2HP
Venue #176 website:  Peach Croft Farm Artists Facilities Available:  Accessible for Wheelchairs, Demonstrations, Refreshments, Parking

You can see my exhibitor’s page here: https://www.artweeks.org/artist-profiles/2021/machi-de-waard

With jewellers: Janet Richardson, Julia Benning, Judi Rowlands, Alexandra von Widdern and Sally Spencer

Henley Arts Trail 2021

10 – 11 July and 17 – 18 July

I will be participating in the Henley Arts Trail at the Henley School of Art. More details to follow…

Cookham and Maidenhead Art Trail – CAMAT

11-12 September 2021

I will be participating in this arts trail at the St Lukes venue. More details to follow….

 

Also, I am very happy to exhibit my work from June - August 2021 at the Platform Gallery:

Platform Gallery, Station Road, Clitheroe, BB7 2JT

https://www.facebook.com/theplatformgallery/

 

 

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

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):

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/

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!! :-)

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.

twit

I've succumbed to pressure and joined twitter. so if you're into twitter then I'm @magpienest. I'll see how it goes. So far it's fun to see what the big organisations write - I thought I'd follow the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Those are interesting. But I'm not so sure I can think of much interesting to put on there...ah well I'll just see how it goes. So I have a lot of plans for today, including yet another trip to the post office. I also need to continue with a huge custom job for a wedding of a good friend. I'm already working on it, but it's requiring a couple of goes to make sure that the materials are right for the desired end result. In the meantime, I still have work over at the Craft Study Centre, Norden Farm and at the Evolution exhibition at South Hill Park. For that last one we all did a piece themed on DNA and I made this pendant:

Evolution show opening tomorrow!

All welcome to the opening reception of the Berkshire Designer Jewellers "Evolution" show tomorrow evening 6.30pm - 8pm at South Hill Park in Bracknell.

wah!

Yikes I have a lot to do today! I've just had two very long days over at South Hill Park. All the classes went well and I got loads of my own work done too. But leaving the house so early and getting home so late is going to take some getting used to! Plus there's no internet access so have just been catching up with emails. Usually I guess there wouldn't be so many emails but I'm (along with another jeweller) organising the Evolution exhibit over at South Hill Park and that is SOON. So there are flurries of emails flying back and forth about stock sheet formats and allocated shelves and cases and set up times and so forth. I'll be great once the exhibit is set up!!!
So today I'm working on that a bit plus I really need to get a box together of things to hallmark. I'm still working on the gold ring from the below post. Nearly there, but have no photos yet. Will have them hopefully soon, all being well.
Anyway, it's all a bit hectic and I'm hoping I can stay calm and carry on! Ha!

"Evolution" by Berkshire Designer Jewellers

Please click on the above poster for a closer look! If you're in the Berkshire area, you're very welcome to attend our private view for this exciting show!

The exhibition presents designer jewellery and metal work responding to the theme of DNA as well as selected pieces from the makers’ individual collections. Jewellery will be available for sale.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday 5th February, 6.30 - 9pm. ALL WELCOME!

EXHIBITION OPENING TIMES:
Monday to Saturday: 9m - 11pm
Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am - 10.30pm

ADMISSION FREE.

South Hill Park Arts Centre
Ringmead
Bracknell
RG12 7PA

DIRECTIONS: http//www.southhillpark.org.uk/aboutUsTravel.jsp

exciting stuff going on....

1. Reveal - a fantastic showcase of talent right in the middle of Henley. Private view this Thursday evening. Details on this flyer or on the Reveal website. (I'm at this show!)


2. My lovely friends over at ToDryFor (tea towel experts) are giving away FREE TEA - can it get better than that? Go check it out over here.


3. Art show displaying the talents of artists who live in Caversham, Reading. Caversham Artists present "Exhuberance". Details on this flyer (click for larger view)! (I'm not at this show, but the lovely Lauren is!)

Exhibition in 2010

I had to laugh when I read one of the newsletters I get this morning - there are always lists of shows to apply for and applying is always required well in advance of the bigger shows. It's now time to apply for the autumn 2010 shows, but there was a typo and there was a call for a show in 2020! ha ha, that would be crazy in advance booking...heh...well, I guess I'm easily amused. In any case, speaking of planning ahead, I thought I'd put up the link to the next exhibition of the Berkshire Designer Jewellers (ie the Berkshire branch of the ACJ) which is going to be held at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.

Evolution

Berkshire Designer Jewellers

The exhibition presents designer jewellery and metal work responding to the theme of DNA as well as selected pieces from the makers’ individual collections. Jewellery will be available for sale.

Opening reception Friday 5 February 6.30-8pm

sing song

Norden farm, Norden farm, Norden faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarm,
you are like a nice warm baaaaaaaaaaaalm,
tomorrow night you will see such a siiiiiiiiiiight,
lots of lovely jewellery under bright white liiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Is that a haiku? no? poem? terrible poem? ha! I think I better stick to jewellery.

ps. Looks like I may be having my jewellery at Norden Farm later this year as well, in their cases in the foyer area, from August onwards some time!! :-)

ps2. I put some things in my online shops, including this pair of earrings. They are silver folded over with texture on the inside and one is laser hallmarked. I think they would be perfect for someone who likes their earrings large...not huge, but not tiny:

Norden Farm, Maidenhead

Yesterday morning we (Berkshire Designer Jewellers) set up the cases and jewellery and other bits and pieces for our group exhibit at Norden Farm Arts Centre. It looks fabulous and there is lots of exciting and beautiful jewellery on show. We are having a private view on Thursday evening from 6-8...you, oh myriad readers of my blog, are cordially invited (yes even the ones in California, although I think it might be a bit too far for you!). If you can make it, you can meet the makers and have a glass of wine :-) Directions are available on the Norden Farm website. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me at machi (at) magpienest.co.uk
Hopefully see some of you there!