This is Home

Have you heard about This is Home?

The first part of the project was to send an email about 'home' and then wait and watch the blog for your phrase to be uploaded. My contribution was 'home is where the cats are'.

The next part of the project is to create an image based on one of the phrases, and i'm delighted to say that someone has picked my phrase to use for their image. There's still a couple of days left to send in a submission if you want to get in on the action.

Michael Giles

Once all submissions are in you can vote for your favourite- the 10 winners will receive their design in a postcard pack that will also be sold online from the 15th September.

Weston Arts Festival updates

Sorry for the cross posting, but I thought maybe some of you would be interested to see who is taking part in The Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe this year (and if not, why not!)

I thought maybe it was about time we updated you with a list of who is contributing to the Sweet Shoppe this year, hold onto your hats it's an impressive looking list!

Edith Abeyta
Heather Anacker
Emily Chandler
Matt Cipov
Custom Made UK
Simon Daly
Laura Harris
Jenny Hart
Gunilla Jahnichen
Miss B
Katy Parrett
Alys Paterson
Peskimo
Claire Elizabeth Platt
Julia Pott
PRSC
Camilla Stacey
Tizzy Treatz
Ian Walker
Rebecca Weeks
Johanna Ziegler


I also wanted to let you know i've just set up a new blog for the Frou Frou exhibition- you can find it over here at Frou Frou. I realised that not everyone has access to Facebook, and it's nice to have somewhere to gather all the information together- hopefully there will be more added to it soon.

And now I have to sleep- i've had terrible insomnia recently, no doubt due to all the many and various projects on the go at the moment- I think I need to curl up in a big ball of lavender and see if that does the trick!

Just a quickie

I just updated The Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe blog with some photos from the venue we shall be using- take a look

I'm at full pelt at the moment organising things for my three events during Weston-super-Mare Arts Festival.

There's the Sweet Shoppe, which will be open weekends during the festival (12th Sept-11th October)

Frou Frou, an exhibition of work featuring Cathy Cullis, Joetta Maue, Karen Ruane, Lou Trigg and Elin Thomas, which will be opening on September 11th and running until the end of the festival at a boutique in town.

And then there's the Art in Uphill Quarry event that will be taking place on September 12th, from 10am-dusk and will feature artists creating site specific work, performance, a picnic and lots of sweets.

I've also just had it confirmed that I shall be curating the exhibition space in the University gallery- this was mentioned to me earlier in the summer, but I got the official confirmation today from Kate Parsons my tutor there. It's really exciting to think of having a semi-official gallery to play with, wondering how much different i'll have to do things to fit in with an organisation. In the past i've pretty much only curated events/exhibitions at spaces i've set up myself or borrowed for the duration- haven't really had to play along with anyone elses rules, but this will be good practice for next year when I should be down in Falmouth studying for an MA in Curatorial Practice.

A very mini break

Sometimes I forget how very small our little island is really. After traveling around Finland from town to town, it seems lazy not to make the effort to see more of the country I call home. So today when I was given the chance to share a ride to Sussex with a friend who was going to pick up her son, I decided to tag along.

On the journey down we drove past Stonehenge- I like how I can fit in several thousand years of history to one afternoon

I managed to co-ordinate things well enough to get to meet up with another friend and visit her lovely new home, which seems completely out of place in England (in the best possible way). We ate lunch outside and then I collected peacock feathers from her garden!

Our journey home again was shared with a teenage boy who kept us entertained with a million and one facts about things you never thought you would want to know about, and we both drove our chauffeur crazy with our sat nav impersonations. If someone had told me I would enjoy a car journey to and from Sussex so much I would never have belived them. Funny where you find the good times.

The association of Finnish Printmakers

As we were walking towards the Design Museum in Helsinki I stopped to photograph this old chemists sign. It was only when I looked down from the camera I noticed that this was actually the doorway to a small art gallery that is the headquarters of the Association of Finnish Printmakers.

These life sized paper dolls by Maria Matikka dominated the second room of the gallery and lead to me making some ooohs and ahhhs.

Outi Koivisto

In the first room was a bed laid out with this crocheted blanket on it- one part of it was faded, as if by the sun, or something more sinister perhaps.

Here's some info about the gallery from their website:

GALLERIA G is an art gallery maintained by the Association of Finnish Printmakers. The programme is diverse, focusing on graphic arts and artworks on paper, but the gallery also exhibits paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations.

Address Pieni Roobertinkatu 10, FIN- 00120 HELSINKI

tel. +358 9 700 285 01, galleria.g(at)taidegraafikot.fi

Opening hours: Tue, Thu - Fri 11 - 5 p.m., Wed 11 - 6 p.m., Sat - Sun 12 - 4 p.m.

Save Windmill HIll City Farm

I used to work at Windmill Hill City Farm and it's a great place, sadly suffering a funding crisis at the moment. There's a couple of things happening today to try and raise some much needed money- i've just cut and pasted from their website, but if you want to know more there are links at the bottom.

The Big Fundraiser

The farm will launch an urgent appeal to save it from closure with a number of big events starting this month.

On Saturday August 22, Windmill Hill City Farm will begin its Save Our Farm Appeal to deal with its current funding crisis, starting with The Big Fundraiser.

This exciting event includes:
Fun Day at the Farm 11am to 4pm
Fun Night at the Fiddlers 8pm til late (£6 / £5 conc)

‘The Big Fundraiser’ will be a day of fun and activity where people can explore the farm and see what it has to offer, followed by an evening of music, entertainment and dancing at local night club – FIDDLERS where there will be a special performance by The Hook ’Em Boys. International award-winning animators - AARDMAN - will be supporting the day and the farm’s own local celebrity - Rosie The Pig - will be on her best behaviour.

This event is the beginning of an ongoing Appeal to raise an urgently needed £50,000 over the upcoming months. The farm recently held an emergency meeting to tell members and users of the site about its current financial crisis. If it does not raise the money it needs over the upcoming months, then the hugely popular community farm may not be able to continue.

‘The Big Fundraiser’ on Sat Aug 22nd will comprise of:-

Fun Day at the Farm - 11am – 4pm

This is a family event for anyone and everyone to come and explore what goes on at the farm. There will be a range of fun activities for children and adults alike as well as a chance to meet the farm’s famous animals. The novelist Lesley Pearce, who has a long history of supporting the farm will be officially opening the event and there will be activities and games going on throughout the day with some amazing prizes to be won, including a term of Puddleducks swimming lessons worth £135, free family passes for PlaySpace, £50 Revilo Toys vouchers and many more. The day includes:

- supported by AARDMAN
- bouncy castle
- facepainting - live music
- stalls and craft - raffle and tombola
- food and drink - scavenger hunt
- mini-beast hunts - drumming workshops
- meet the animals - afternoon teas
- sponsored farm walks - welly throwing
- Adopt a Slug - egg collecting
- photography workshops - make your own family portrait
and much much more…

Fun Night at the Fiddlers - 8pm til late - £6 / £5 conc

Then after a hard day of fun and games at the farm, what better than a night of music and dancing at Fiddlers nightclub, Willway St, BS3. With live music and entertainment from a whole host of local artists including The Hook ’Em Boys, the party is sure to continue into the early hours.

The farm has an annual turnover of £1million and needs to raise 30% of this itself. Last year the farm fell short of this sum and has been using its reserves to continue operating as a free community facility. The charity is looking to make significant savings over the next few months as well as raise £50000 via the ‘SAVE OUR FARM’ appeal. As a registered charity, Windmill Hill City Farm relies heavily on donations and visitors to the site so the next six months will be a challenging time for the farm and its staff.

Is the Farm important to you? If so please join our Facebook group to take part in discussions and demonstrate your support for the Farm. Click here to go to our Facebook page.

Helsinki- Textile Art Now

While in Helsinki I was really excited to see that the Design Museum was hosting Textile Art Now! an exhibtion of contemporary textile art from Finland. You weren't able to take photos in the show, so I ended up buying the catalog (it has an English translation in too). Here's some of my favourites:

Maiju Ahlgren (site is in Finnish, but can be translated pretty well)

Touko Ussakainen

Nina Nilsonen

Maria Nuutinen

I think Maria Nuutinen's was my favourite- perhaps because i've been working with old photos, printing and hankies recently too. But there were very few pieces in the show that didn't excite me in some way. Once again good timing was on our side (and totally unplanned) as I had no idea this show was on when we set out for Helsinki.

Old Agricultural Calendars from Finland

I can't be the only person that goes on holiday somewhere and comes home with three Agricultural Calendars in a language she doesn't understand can I?

But how could I resist this guy?

Or these handwritten pages

Or this fold out pocket at the back of the book



Now I suppose I will be expected to find a use for them...

My very own Finn Family (not Moomintrolls)

I found this amazing photo in an antiques shop in Tampere, while I was in Finland on holiday. I like to collect vintage photos of people, for 'my family' as I have started to call it. So far the majority of my family has come from the UK, with a few members being donated from a friend in Israel and some from Slovenia. These are the first members to have been located in Finland. I think they are a lovely looking bunch of people- obviously have a good sense of humour and maybe an artistic/theatrical side to them. I wish I knew who they were, or where they really came from- but the photo is mounted onto card and has no marks on it other than the price I paid.

Hyphen- Tania van Schalkwyk

My copy of Tania's book arrived in the mail the other day. I started to read it and found that I was having a little cry! I am so proud of all my talented friends who have had books published this year. You can now buy Hyphen via Amazon, and i'd recommend you do.

Also check out Allyson Shaw's The Desperate Ones, a cyber punk, apocalyptic novel, and Gunilla Jahnichen's Drawings, a collection of her drawings (we have copies of that available in The Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe)

I love maps

I love maps. Because my desire to return to Finland is so strong I was searching through a selection of old maps in the Salvation Army shop yesterday, hoping to find one of Finland. I had no luck with that quest, but I did find this world map from 1984 which looked pretty unremarkable on the outside, but when opened up was filled with loveliness.

Gunilla Jähnichen

(CROSS POSTED FROM THE MYTHICAL BEAST SWEET SHOPPE BLOG)

A package of beasties arrived in the mail today- all the way from Germany. Gunilla Jähnichen has sent over three framed postcards and some copies of her new book of drawings for inclusion in The Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe UK.

The framed pieces will be selling at £30 each

and the books go for £17

Work will be for sale in The Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe UK, when it opens it's doors on September 12th, and then it will also be available online.

Finland- Day One- Tampere

Moomintroll statue outside the Moominvalley Museum in Tampere

Knitting statue in Tampere

Finnish fields and Finnish barns from the window of a Finnish train.

Home from Finland

I'm back home again from my holiday in Finland. I'm a little daunted by the huge pile of stuff I have to tackle now i'm back- it feels like I haven't had a single day of just doing nothing since we broke up for summer. I've started to upload my photos to flickr and i'll be posting some of them here too, in the meantime if you'd like to take a look (in reverse order) here are photos from Helsinki.

I'm still processing everything that I saw, and waiting for my legs to recover from all the walking and swimming they did. Whilst we were there it was super hot and I found I had packed totally the wrong kind of clothes- luckily I had remembered to pack my swimming costume so I got at least one good swim in the Baltic sea.

I'm off to Moominland- see you when I get back!

A sort of to do list...

Some of the many things I have ticking along at the moment include:

organising a sculpture exhibition in the quarry

some of the artists that are going to be showing work in the quarry

curating an exhibition of lovely embroidery work at Frou Frou

Work from Karen Ruane, Joette Maue, Lou Trigg and Cathy Cullis

rustling up artists for The Mythical Sweet Shoppe UK

Proposed Venue for the Shoppe

and anything else that The Weston-super-Mare Arts Festival chooses to throw my way.

In addition to Arts Festival work I have been invited to be the curator at the Bath Spa University Gallery, at the Weston College Campus, which means i'm going to be doing a lot of emailing and plotting and planning in the hopes that we can get the space off the ground this year.

As well as all that I am still trying to make my own work- I shall be exhibiting as part of the quarry exhibition and as part of the Sweet Shoppe- just when I shall get my work made i'm not so sure!

But...before all that happens I am heading off to this place:

photo by rbanks

I'm going to MOOMINLAND!!!