Friday 22 July 2011

Sydenham Arts Festival

Last weekend I tootled down to London for a rainy but fun weekend at Sydenham Arts Fesitval.

I began by finally visiting Webbs Fine Art, where Liz and Sue have been showing (and selling) my work for a little while now, based in the very nice Clapham/Battersea area of the city. From there I continued up to The Wallace Collection near Oxford Street where I had a swift but welcome half of ale with my good friend Sophie, who I used to work with at the Whitworth Art Gallery. Then on to Barnet where I was picked up by one of my best and oldest friends Sue, who generously put me up for the stay. (By oldest I mean we go back a bit - she's not ancient.)


Liz, the owner at Webbs, lives in Sydenham and so she had kindly included my work in an event at Mayow Community Gardens. As an experiment I was to be tucked away in an extremely cute little shed, which was full of character and with the surrounding flower beds alive with bees and butterflies it really was a beautiful setting. Just a short way away there was the work of several other artists, plus creative demonstrations, tea, and plenty of cake, so it all felt very relaxed and lovely. The only downside was the downpours, which hadn't really been counted on. Practicality was not the shed's strong point, but with Sue's help we managed to keep the work safe from harm and had a bit of a laugh into the bargain.

The next day the rain was still persisting so my work was moved to a bigger and more watertight shed, where it was easier for Liz to keep an eye out, so Sue and I took the chance to visit some of the open houses in the area. I felt a bit shy initially going into people's homes but everybody was incredibly welcoming and we saw some lovely work.

Later, a little trip to the Dirt exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, which was well presented and fascinating (also conveniently near Euston for my departure), and I was back off 'up north' before I knew it. I was pooped by the time I got home, but it was a lovely weekend all in all, yes yes.


Sue with the work