Staffordshire Contemporary Artist & Designer Fair 2013

The weekend of the 30th Nov/1st Dec saw the second Staffordshire Contemporary Artist and Designer Fair at the Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek. Last year, our first event,  was a great success and this year superceded that with over 1000 visitors over the weekend. As last year all work was selected by me! Totally self indulgent; choosing artists from Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire whose work I like! Work selected was seen by visiting galleries and designer fairs across the counties such as the Wirksworth Arts Trail weekend, Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Great Northern Contemporary Art Fair, Unit Twelve,  Totally Locally Sunday Supplement market, and general research on the internet. Also word had got out from last year and we had artists enquiring about entry - a great result. The response from the public and the artists was really great. Our students sold lots of work as did the artists - great weekend - hard work but worth it.

Photos below show the event.

The set up:

8.00am Saturday morning - the artists begin to arrive and the transformation from function room to designer fair begins....

The public arrive:

will anyone come....Yes! over 1000 over the weekend. it looked fantastic...The work was fantastic - lots of great comments about what 'high quality work was there'...'very professional'...'contemporary design not just 'craft''...'a great event for Leek'...felt very chuffed!

the lovely Penny Meakin - artist  & author - first designer fair

  

organisor Suzanne Mellor (Left ) & Anne-Lise Fraser

Chris Farrow

http://chrisfarrow.com/ 

Chris Farrow

Kit Anderson

www.fotoceramica.co.uk

Kit Anderson

Judith Brown

www.judithbrownjewellery.co.uk/‎

Judith Brown

Judith Brown

Lewdy Birds

www.sherratt&reece.co,uk

Pot-a-nik
potanik.blogspot.com

Helen Billingsley

www.helenbillingsleyceramics.co.uk/

On my Pinna

On my Pinna
www.facebook.com/Onmypinna

Melanie Patterson

Emma Wilson

Emma Louise Wilson
www.emmalouisewilson.co.uk

Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson - www.warmgloo.net

Eve Redmond

www.everedmond.com

Viv Ross

www.viviennerossceramics.co.uk

Zoe Badger

http://www.etsy.com/uk/people/Zebedeeprint

Jack Laverick

Split Tin Guitars

split-tinguitars.co.uk

Jackie Harold & Karen

www.facebook.com/JacquelineHaroldDesigns

Gail - Newfields Gallery

Buxton & Leek College Foundation Degree students work:

...another 'normal' day at work...has the stress of the move got to us?!!

 

just having a quiet word...cant get privacy anywhere...another normal day!!

 

 

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Textile Surface Manipulation - Nigel Cheney

Really excited that an old uni friend of mine, Nigel Cheney, from my time at Manchester Metropolitan University has written a book - Textile Surface Manipulation . Nigel and I both specialized on our MA in stitch and in using the multi-head embroidery machine - Nigel always produced amazing drawings and  combined his excellent drawing skills with stitch - a really talented guy.

The book is fantastic; as a teacher I think it is a 'must have' to show how to really push the development of design ideas - every student should own it.

 

 

http://www.nigelcheney.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.nigelcheney.com/

'Textile Surface Manipulation is about developing a diverse variety of textile surface design techniques from personal visual inspiration sources, and applying them to your projects. The techniques covered are an assortment of traditional and unconventional methods, from smocking to soldering, and the end products might range from fashion to interiors to textile art.

The book encourages the full exploration of visual sources to discover their potential for imagery, texture, structure and manipulation, supporting readers in the development and creation of their own unique pieces. The purpose of the book is to inspire artists to explore alternative possibilities, to manipulate existing textile surfaces or to create new ones. Textile Surface Manipulation will inspire students as well as engaging more experienced artists and makers looking for new inspiration and techniques'.

 

Nigel's drawings & stitched textiles:

 

My very own original Nigel Cheney art work/drawing - when we left MMU we all swapped pieces of our work and this is my drawing from Nigel - still love it,