Hello,
I hope that everyone is keeping well and starting to enjoy the beginnings of the Spring? It's just a joy to finally see some colour in the garden as the flowers start to bloom and the sun has some warmth in it. There is a lot to inspire the artist at this time of the year.
Exhibition updates
The two Spring exhibitions of my work, one at VK Gallery in St.Ives in Cambridgeshire and Studio Vault in Settle, North Yorkshire both proved to be a fantastic start to the year. Below are a couple of photos of me (in red) with Emily, the owner of Studio Vault, and a jewellery designer in her own right. She's a very talented lady and a gallery well worth visiting if you are in the area.
The exhibition theme was trees so my selection of Klimt-inspired mosaic trees ftted the bill exactly. Sales were excellent, and I bid farewell to one of my iconic pieces, the large tree wall panel seen here. Commmissions have also been prompted by the exhibition, including house signs, which were an added bonus. The exhibition is closing next week, but Emily is keeping the remaining few pieces as they proved so popular. I am just about the start on a shop mosaic design for her.
In fact sales have been strong across all the galleries stocking my work, and repeat orders have both pleased and scared me in equal measure!
Work has also featured in the Festival of Craft exhibition held at the Shropshire Visual Art Gallery in the Darwin Centre, Shrewsbury. A selection of designers and makers from the VAN membership showed the breath and talent of local makers and has been very successful. It was an opportunity to show new mirror designs incorporating fish and streams within the floral, dragonfly motifs. The work was paired with the thoughtful and emotive textile designs of Katie Errington Davies.
Up-coming Exhibitions and Events
I have just completed new work for entry into the charity event Secret Artist Sale in Shrewsbury. Artists are invited to submit work which is kept anonymous, and people pay £50 for something they like and then the artist is revealed after the sale. It raised over £9000 last year for a range of wonderful local chraities, and I am thrilled to be asked to submit work this year.
After missing last year, I am also submitting work for the Belle Vue Arts Festival. This is a fantastic local community festival that just fizzes with creativity from garden deign competitions, interactive and musical events alongside the exhibition of artists and makers. The exhibition is on 7-10 June at St Barnabas Hall and full details are in the link.
I have also been working on new designs this year. Large mirrors and clocks seem to be where the work has developed with new designs based around streams and fish below flowers and soaring dragonflies. I love working on the larger 50cm mirrors, exploring the water and weed movement. The edgings have changed to the more matt Winkelman's porcelain tiles, not ones I usually use, but were the remains of a Roman mosaic project from a couple of years ago. I hate throwing anything away!
Another very exciting project for this Summer is an invitation by the charity Horatio's Garden to be their artist in residence at the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Hopsital in Oswestry. The charity creates beautiful gardens around spinal injuries units around the country. Amazing garden designers are invited to create these spaces for the well-being and rehabilitation of the patients, often on long-term stays. Find out more about their inspirational work here. I am inspired by the gorgeous garden created by designer Bunny Guiness and will be working over six weeks with patients, family and staff to create some mosaic artworks. I will share photos in my next newsletter.
Open Studio!
And lastly I just wanted to tell you about the Summer Open Studio. This year it will be just for one day, Saturday 10th June 2023 so please pop the date in your diary. The exhibition is called 'Flowerscapes' with work prompted by a commission from last year. I am also looking at wall panel shapes suggested by found wood - actually it's the off-cut bin at my local B&Q but I love the element of 'what beautiful thing can I create from nothing'.
Opening times are 10.00am to 6.00pm at Studio 38c Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury SY1 1XF but if you are unable to make that date do contact me to arrange to visit another time.
There are also the studios of Parker & Arrol, painted textile designers, and Linda Edwards, fine artist to visit very close by on the same day. Both are showing beautiful new work for this year so please check out their websites for further visiting details.
And a discount for newsletter subscribers ...
And to say a huge thank you for all your amazing support I am offering a discount voucher for 15% of everything in my website store. Just use the code SPRING15 to claim the discount. This is available until 30th June 2023 and can be used on my Open Studio day if you are visiting in person - mention it when you get to the transaction part!
Enjoy the Summer and I hope to maybe meet some more of you this year if you come to visit Shrewsbury.
Very best wishes,
Lindsey x