Mistress of Mosaic

The first week of exploring mosaic with Octagon, and I was blown away by how the group took to arranging chopped up flyers into magical worlds. Jasmine started out reluctantly, and by the end of the session she had the entire staff at her command in her mission to acquire more red. And it was worth the effort!

Wire Masterpieces on Display

In its last week, I thought I'd attempt to record my 10:15 Club's work on display in the ongoing Flux, Flow, Flight exhibition at Orleans House. It was hard to photograph due to the spotlight, but I'm really impressed and proud of their wire work.

A Quick Linocut

A quick linocut ... printed onto tissue paper and used to adorn a vase along with the prints of my colleagues, a gift to our departing Schools Coordinator.

Mixed Media Wishlist

Art Club are exploring their dreams and aspirations in a mess of mixed monochrome media ... these are they!I believe we have a flight, a guinea pig and a cat, artists to be confirmed.

The gigantic visions of Sean Michael

Recent recruitment for freelance artists allowed me to soak myself in creative inspiration as I browsed numerous portfolios and dreamed up infinite new projects. One that caught my attention was Sean Michael, builder of enormous collaged landscapes that make you feel you are living a fairytale.
And, as much as anything else, I loved the concept of a '40 hour drawing' ...

Grown-ups can have fun too

We finally held a long-awaited skill sharing day among the Education staff at Orleans House. We had much to report back on, from the inspirations of the Engage conference to the aims of the Challenging History project. But then we were allowed to play, and at last Rachel could show us the fun she'd had with the team from Quay Arts, who led a workshop at Engage.

Potatoes! Who would have thought they could lead to such creative freedom? These little, non-descript roundish-but-not-round-enough objects generally used to introduce tinies to printmaking. Also commonly used for eating. And, as it transpires, distinctly useful for infinite creative purposes. We found ourselves using them as joints in willow structures that reached the ceiling, and we found ourselves dipping them in paint and rolling them across the floor to create a plethora of twisty, turny patterns (and a lot of mess).

More Christmas Crackers

Having made over a hundred crackers in workshops, it was an easy step to make eighteen of my own ...