From Culworth to Cornwall – art in all settings
The wonderful thing about art is that it is all around us. We might not notice it or consider it to be art, but the music we listen to, the billboards we pass on the street and the books we read all surround us and enrich our lives every day.
I’m so lucky to be able to ‘practice’ my art in many different locations and two of my favourites are in Cornwall – Valley View, my own Artistic ReTreat – and at the South Northants Art Trail in Culworth.
I have both of these locations in mind this month. I’m preparing for the 2022 South Northants Art Trail on 1-9 October. As per the past few years, I’ll be exhibiting and demonstrating my craft at Forge Coffee in Culworth.
It’s a privilege to be able to use the space at Forge Coffee to not only exhibit some of my Powertex sculptures and resin creations but also to show visitors how these pieces of art come together. It’s fulfilling to see how interested people are in the process and they often ask me lots of questions.
I’ve been lucky to be able to attend a few art courses at the prestigious Newlyn School of Art in Cornwall where the tutors certainly explore our ability to create art in different locations, from cliff tops to the famous fishing harbour in Newlyn.
My latest course, this month, is called ‘Exploring Colour’ and I’m sure our tutor Luke Frost will challenge our understanding of colour. Luke is well known for his exciting use of colour, coming from a family of colourists – his grandfather Sir Terry Frost and father Anthony.
Art is of course, a massive part of my life and influences what I do and how I earn my living. Whether we recognise it or not, art is something that defines us and allows us to express our culture and our interests.
Some aspects of art are so commercial that it’s hard to remember that it’s art at all. We often enjoy massive concerts and blockbuster movies and don’t really think of them as art, but this is simply the mass consumption of art at the other end of the spectrum from my relatively small-scale passion and business.
Whatever art you love, whatever art you create – celebrate wherever you do it, on a harbourside, in a studio or a coffee shop!
For inspiration on something new to try, either by yourself or as part of a workshop, why not visit my Artistic ReTreats website and shop at www.artisticretreats.co.uk
Photo by Kai Oberhäuser on Unsplash
