Crossing Borders Art Trail 2013

The Crossing Borders annual open studio event, the Art Trail, is nearly upon us!

Split over two weekends to allow visitors to explore a large area, artists across the borders will fling open their doors for you to come and see their work, chat, get involved and have a good day out!

If you haven't picked up your guide yet you can download a digital copy and pick up a paper copy at your first venue.

Dates for the Art Trail for 2013 are:-

• West - FRIDAY 30th August to SUNDAY 1st September
• East - FRIDAY 6th to SUNDAY 8th September

Rich and I will both be at Allanbank Arts with Gill Walton, Hannah Longmuir and Richard Oldale on the 6th, 7th and 8th of September. The venue will be open 10am to 5pm each day and I am running a morning 10am-12pm and afternoon 2pm-4pm drop in workshop each day. For just £5, to cover the cost of materials, you can try your hand at wire wrapping your beach finds to create a necklace or earrings.  It takes about half an hour to create a piece of jewellery and you are welcome to drop in for a workshop between 10am and 2pm or 2pm to 4pm. I have arranged it into two sessions after finding that I didn't get much chance to talk to other visitors when I ran workshops all day, not to mention failing to eat lunch or go for a wee!

Having gone on the trail as a visitor and participated as an artist last year I can highly recommend an arty jaunt around the borders! Do take a few minutes to plan your route, look out for the artists you are particularly interested in meeting or find out where you can do workshops. All the information is in the guide, including contact details for each artist if you need to ask anything beforehand.

I hope to see you on the trail!

An Arty Day to Edinburgh. In the Rain.

I finally found somewhere to get my beloved lovely lens fixed up in Edinburgh so we combined a visit to drop the lens off with a bit of gallery prowling.

First up, the skies were immense and the city drenched.

 

We found the camera repair shop (JP Camera Repair Company) and struggled not to gawp at the array of cameras and bits stacked on shelves all around! JP himself put my lens doom fears at ease and declared it fixable; utter relief and very reasonably priced.

After a swift dash through the rain we went to the Man Ray exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. This was my first visit to the gallery and I will certainly be back, there is so much to see. We managed the Man Ray exhibition, which was great, personal favourites being the portraits of Picasso and Lee Miller.

We accidentally glanced the painting that gives Rich the fear, and another which I'm sure must also be by ken Currie seen through a lift shaft on an, as yet, unvisited floor.

 

Lunch, thanks to my Mum and Dad's paper anniversary gift to us, was at the gorgeous Henderson's before heading to the National Gallery.

 

The children's Art competition winners were displayed and we were utterly struck by the talent and imagination in each and every age category. The work is on display until October and I urge you to go see and enjoy. Although I warn you, the monster section will blow your mind, the winner is the one cut off on the top left, you need to see it!

 

 Lastly, The Kiss. Stunning.

I have to pick my lens up in the next week so I may well get to look at another floor at the National Portrait Gallery. Edinburgh is brilliant.

 

Exhibition: A.D. Johnson and Rich Johnson

Rich Johnson, Art at Ancrum

A quick shot of some or Rich's work at Art at Ancrum. He is teaching for a term at the moment and the weekend was the first chance he'd had to do any drawing for ages. He loved it and produced another Salty Dog which has a new home already!

I love his drawings and this one especially because of the serendipitous 'surly' on the sea chart just above his right shoulder, splendid!

Blue Sea Glass Rings

Two ready-to-polish blue sea glass and recycled sterling silver rings.  I love them stacked together like this and have been sorting through glass to make more in greens and aquas.  Yum.

ReSide - Scotland / India Textile Residency

Calling all fans of textiles!

Some of you may know the Border Tart, well Lindsay is off on an adventure with knitwear designer Jenni Allison  as the Scottish part of the exchange and you can read all about their exciting adventures here .

I had the joy of meeting Swati and Murji who have been in Scotland for a month or so before heading back to India with Jenni and Lindsay. The group came over to Paxton House to have a look at the 18th century costume and the costumes created this year by fashion and textiles students at Heriot-Watt university.

photo courtesy of douglasmcbridephoto@mac.com

Such an exciting exchange and I look forward to hearing and seeing more!  

Crossing Borders Art Trail 2012

We have just finished our first ever open studio event as part of the Crossing Borders Art Trail.  The lovely people at the Chain Bridge Honey Farm kindly invited Rich, Tony and myself to set up there.  We had our art trail sheep pointing the way.

It was great to be able to set up at the Honey Farm as it is such a popular venue and over the weekend we had well over 150 people visit.  Rich and Tony had prints and paintings and I had a display of my recycled jewellery and a workshop table where visitors could make their own wire wrapped sea glass, pottery or pebble necklace.

Thank you to everyone who came over to see our work, buy pieces, chat and participate in workshops and to Felicity who brought in her rock tumbler for us to have a play with!

More photos over on the book of face.

Crossing Borders Art Trail

From Crossing Borders Facebook page

Rich and I are both taking part in the Crossing Borders Art Trail which is an annual Open Studio event run over two weekends.  First up artists in the Western side of the Borders, from about Peebles to Chesters and Jedburgh way and lots in between, will be opening their studios on Friday 31st August until Sunday 2nd September.  

The following weekend of Friday 7th to Sunday 9th September artists on the Eastern side of the Borders all the way over to Berwick upon Tweed will be participating.  This second weekend includes us!  Rich, his Dad and myself will be setting up our studio space in a wonderful room at the Chain Bridge Honey Farm.  We are so grateful to all at the Honey Farm for letting us use the space for the weekend and I'm getting really excited now!

The pressure is on to get a good selection of pieces finished, especially with having a second job and getting a reminder about a month long exhibition of my work over in Peebles which I'd shamefacedly forgotten about!  I got all in a rush and a panic yesterday and ended up bashing my finger with a large hammer which reminded me to calm down and just keep going steadily.

As well as my silver, copper, sea glass and pottery jewellery there will be a new range on show for the first time ever created in collaboration with my husband! Art Trailers you will have the first look!

Furthermore, I'll be running drop in workshops throughout the weekend if you would like to have a go at creating a wire wrapped pebble or sea glass necklace then come on over!

For more information on the Art Trail and to request a copy of the guide to plot your route around the artists go to http://www.crossing-borders.org.uk/about_us.php .  There are loads of guides out and about and I have some left so if you'd like one just let me know!

Gymnasium Open Exhibition

Day 114 


We went over to Berwick to have a look round the annual Open Exhibition at the Gymnasium Gallery, where Rich, Mr J and our friend Caroline Underhill had pieces on show.

Somebody forgot to note the artist but I loved this piece.

Once again there was an interesting mix of work from local artists and I heard yesterday that Caroline was awarded 3rd place with her Highland Cow pastel painting!  Many congratulations!

Lavinia takes a little sip of tea and, apologies again, I have forgotten the name of the artist

Detail from Self Portrait with Migraine by Gill Walton

 Just while I'm making fleeting reference to Gill Walton's work you may be interested in her latest venture in conjunction with Oliver Reed - Allanbank Arts.  Dubbed "the space to create" Allanbank Arts is a beautiful venue in the Scottish Borders, near Allanton, where Gill and Oliver will be running a range of creative courses and artist mentoring.  Definitely worth checking out whether you are local to the Borders (Scottish Borders Council employees get 10% off!) or are planning a creative holiday in the area.

Lastly, R made us pasties for tea and they were splendid.  Can you tell Hugh F-W has been on the tv?!  Thyme, goats cheese and spinach, yum.  

Day 67 - 69

Day 67 - Rich receives a very exciting parcel which may or may not be a result of us falling for a very clever marketing campaign and requiring cheap car insurance.

Day 68 - Scruffy! For the last few months I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the adventures of Scruffy the blackbird who has become very fond of Mrs J and her sultanas! He seems to know where she will be at any given moment, having even sat on her bedroom windowsill staring in when it was sultana time and she was not at the back door!  He really is an adorably scruffy little fellow and I'm glad to have got a photo of him; shame it is through glass but I didn't want to scare him away.

Day 69 - A visit to Caroline Underhill's exhibition in the Hayloft Gallery, Paxton House.  The exhibition runs until October 12th and Caroline will be there each day taking workshops and is available to discuss commissions.  Her pet portraits are particularly popular so if you are thinking of an idea for a splendid Christmas gift now is the time to go and see her!

Crossing Borders Art Trail

The Crossing Borders Art Trail kicked off today and will be running this weekend (2nd - 4th September) and next weekend (9th - 11th September).

Download your Art Trail brochure here

Two weekends – two routes - two countries!

Whether you are a previous visitor to the Crossing Borders Art Trail

or planning your first visit, you are sure to love early autumn in the Scottish Borders and North Northumberland. It’s a great time of year to enjoy our spectacular countryside, letting the art trail lead you over the rolling Cheviot Hills, through picturesque towns and villages. You can follow the River Tweed until you reach the dramatic castle-dotted coastline, with empty sandy beaches and the big North Sea! Leisurely visits to artist studios, spliced with stops for local fare at some of the charming tea rooms, restaurants and pubs along the way will offer you the perfect day out or three-day break.

We realise we are leading you literally across two countries and so – New for 2011 - we are splitting the Art Trail across two long weekends, offering more time and greater opportunities to visit the studios and workshops of the artist community that give this landscape its creative heart. A chance to see painters, potters, textile and glass artists at work, see wood turning and furniture being skillfully crafted – a chance to chat to artists and makers about their passion and products – and buy direct!

The trail is divided into two easily navigated areas and there’s something for everyone, even if you only have a half-day to spare. With over fifty artists waiting to welcome you, now is the time to start planning your route. Crossing Borders members look forward to opening their doors and showing you some unique and beautiful things!

Art Trail Press Release 2011

Day 29 and 30 From the Workroom

Day 29 some jewellery work on the go.  One of the little copper squares on the earrings still has some lettering from its former life as a water pipe, which is rather cool.  Am pleased with the sea foam bubbles ring and just creeping into shot is a pair of sea foam earrings like these.  All will be polished and available at the Vintage Market, The Maltings, Berwick upon Tweed this Saturday 27th August from 10am - 4pm.

Day 30 is a detail of one of R's paintings in progress.  I remember when he set up and photographed this still life and buying the squash back when it was autumnal and, yes, it's changing out there people!  For those of you in the area R will be at the Wool Festival in Coldstream this Saturday with an array of prints and cards of loveliness!  


I have just had to renumber the my photograph numbers as, a quick computer tidy has shown me I am missing three days of photographs.  I am searching through to work out where they have gone and have a feeling I may have borrowed R's camera and said photos may be gone, meh, never mind, plenty more to come!

Day 10 Allanbank Open Studios

A visit to Allanbank Mill Steading Open Studios

Home of textile artist Pauline Burbridge

Drawing by Charles Poulsen and Quilt by Pauline Burbridge

and her sculptor husband Charles Poulsen

I actually visited twice, once with some artists from Church and then I really wanted R to see the work so I went back with him the day after!  There was so much to look at I am glad I had the chance for a second visit.  Charles Poulsen's growing sculptures grabbed most of my attention and have been lingering in my thoughts since discovering them.  I feel there are comparisons to be made with Andy Goldsworthy's work; an interesting contrast between growing sculpture and, in a sense, dying sculpture as many of Goldsworthy's pieces use natural materials which are already dead, fallen leaves for example.    Just a thought and not fully formulated as you can tell, I greatly admire the work of both men and am struck by points of comparison.  There may well be an evening watching the Andy Goldsworthy DVD again.  Think on.

Crossing Borders

Last week both R and I were delighted to be accepted as members of Arts group Crossing Borders and now have a selection of our work on display in the Crossing Borders Gallery at Paxton House.


If you are visiting the Scottish Borders, North Northumberland area, and interested in the Arts, the Crossing Borders website is a great place to start with information on artists and galleries in the area.


Please excuse the poor photographs, they were a rush job and I had to use flash. At various times over the next few months we'll be working at Paxton House, I'll let you know when. If you come and visit do say hello, I'm the one who looks like this!

David Hay

Well, the fair at the weekend was very poor on the sales front in that there were none. That's right - two days, no sales! I think many people were away holidaying as the turnout was very low considering how much effort had gone into advertising by the organisers. Still, I don't think I'll be booking another one.

Today has been a designated day off as we've been working hard on completing the PTLLS course, creating pieces for sale and attending fairs. This morning was the start of a much needed Spring clean and this afternoon we went over to an exhibition at Duns Castle.

River Walk David Hay
image courtesy of Art Amoria

There was some fine work on show and the stand out artist for me was David Hay. His layered glazes create atmospheric and absorbing landscapes and it was good to see a collection of his work together. I have only ever seen one painting of his before and was impressed that each piece on show today, from the very small to the very large, were all of great impact.

We paused down by the river when out on the bikes this morning and nattered about how much we love living here. Tomorrow marks a whole year since we moved and I can fully confirm it was a good move!

New British Comics Volume Three

New British Comics volume 3 is available now and features a host of fabulous work including Here Comes the Neighbourhood which was created by Matthew Craig and Rich Johnson. I'm incredibly proud of Rich and his work and it is so exciting to see his illustrations in print not to mention his paintings in a gallery, his poetry in a magazine! Eeeeeee! I'm gushing, he is a talented man!

Andy Goldsworthy

In the midst of getting ready for this Saturday's fair at the wonderful St Abbs Wool Festival we realised it was nearly the end of the Andy Goldsworthy 'Lost Landscapes' exhibition at Peter Potter Gallery, Haddington. Goldsworthy has been one of my favourite artists ever since I was introduced to his work by my high school Art teacher and his work never fails to entrance me, so I really didn't want to miss the chance to see images of his work on a large scale. Goldsworthy works with nature and the environment around him to create sculptures resonating with ephemeral beauty as it responds to natural forces of light and dark, time, the seasons, growth and decay.

Yesterday, we took a break and tootled up the A1 to Haddington and enjoyed our visit to the exhibition. I felt a bit greedy because I wanted to see more work by Goldsworthy and just as I was thinking that a browse through one of the books on display revealed the Midsummer Snowball works which I had never seen before!

From the Amazon blurb:

Just after midnight on 21 June 2000 - midsummer's day - Andy Goldsworthy supervised the unloading of 13 huge snowballs from refrigerated trucks parked by Smithfield Market in the City of London. Each snowball was several feet in diameter and weighed about a ton. Over the next few hours, they were carefully manoeuvred into predetermined sites on the streets of the City to be released from their plastic wrappings at dawn so that they were there to greet the workers in London's financial district as they streamed off buses and out of tube stations on their way to their offices. The snowballs were then left to melt - a process that, even in the warmth of summer, took anything up to six days. All this amazed, delighted and sometimes affronted the passers-by, and a rich element of "Midsummer Snowballs" is the public's responses: gazing, touching, smiling, laughing, or simply walking by and pretending to ignore the enormous mass of snow on the pavement. These reactions are covered in spontaneous photographs taken by a team of photographers who worked around the clock. The introduction by Judith Collins places the snowballs in the context not just of Goldsworthy's work but in that of earlier painters and sculptors. The story of the snowballs is told by Goldsworthy himself, and chronicled in the colour photographs.

The narrative of these giant snowballs revealing their various mysteries to passers by greatly intrigued me and this book is firmly on my really, really want list!



Trailer from the fantastic Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time

Popular Crafts

pages from Popular Crafts Magazine

Thanks to a twitter chat with editor Kerry Wilkonson, of Penny Dog Jewellery, my RedBubble site has been included in Popular Crafts' Painting, Printing and Stamping edition. The article looks at various ways to sell prints and products featuring your art work.

It's an interesting area and something I might pursue more in the future. Red Bubble is centrally focused on prints and greetings cards of your work, however, if you are interested in printing a greater range of items you should check out The Useful Art Company who "are happy to talk to artists about publishing your work" and offer a huge range of printed products from cards to mugs and canvas bags.

The Gallery in The Alley, Jedburgh

My sea glass and sea pottery jewellery is now available in the lovely Gallery in the Alley! Situated in Grahamslaw Close just off High Street the gallery is attached to the studio of Linda Lovatt; talented illustrator and creator of beastie brooches. Now you have to visit to see what they are!

On the way home we went on a detour towards the snowy Cheviots. Oh yes, I said snowy!

So in mid-November this is what we're seeing in the borders. . .

Click to see larger

Rejoice

On Saturday afternoon we went to the opening of the Berwick Gymnasium Gallery Open Exhibition. We've been to a few exhibitions at the Gymnasium since we moved but this one was extra interesting as R had a painting accepted for inclusion!

So you can see some of his textured boaty rust-acular delight in person at the Gymnasium Gallery until the 11th December 2010 and you can read about the creation of 'Rejoice' on his blog. There is a huge selection of work by local artists and well worth a visit.