So for the last three weeks, I've been lucky enough to be staying at the most beautiful of schools, Shiplake College,
where the hub and I scored the deal of being artists in residence.
Set on the River Thames, it's like Harry Potter with rowing facilities. (Their Dep.Head is an Olympian Gold Medal Rower, don't you know...)
As you can see, the beautiful surroundings, wall-to-wall sunshine, misty mornings and general eagerness to explore and learn at the college were hellish....
With the luxury of an orchard all to myself, I was able to while away the hours crocheting on the trees,
using neolithic principles to build a loom
and creating a 12th Century-inspired spinning wheel from 21st Century junk.
I span Herdwick on the newly-built wheel. The resulting cob made my heart leap, as it mirrored the huge cones on a nearby fir. Pleasure perfection.
I ventured into new realms of natural graffiti, creating leaf stencils
and veneer marquetry to reinstall in nature.
Along with students, we explored the space amongst the trees using threads and fibres,
then challenged our egos by taking them down, often without even a photographic record. (These are two of the few taken.)
Ask yourself, as an artist, do you need everyone to know that you created a piece, or was the process satisfaction enough? Ironic to discuss on a public blog, but I for one, do not show and tell a great majority of my work. Sometimes it's a secret between me and the piece.
So the adventures continue to bloom and blossom, not just in England, but in just a fortnight across the pond, in the USA, too. Again with the hub, I will be exploring all these ideas and more, with the students of St Lawrence, Canton, NY. I am beside myself with excitement and cannot wait to meet them all. I hope they're looking forward to it, as much as me.