..working with my Community Arts London partner

I thought life would get quieter now that the academic year is finished ...but no....

I have been very busy working with my Community Arts London partner to complete a set of six double sided banners to decorate the lampposts at the centre of our community in Hither Green. 

Last month we ran a Sunday 6 hour workshop in a local church hall and invited residents to come along to make fabric collages. We provided materials, support and refreshments. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and we had a variety people attending ranging from toddlers accompanied by their parents, to grandparents.   They produced some wonderful work with everyone helping each other.  We took the work home, waited for the glue to dry and then cut the pieces out and machined them to fix the work in place.  

This week we have been preparing the banners which are 2 metres long by 1 metre wide.  This involves us turning the whole ground floor of my house into a workshop with the banner material laid out all over while, fuelled by copious cups of tea and yummy snacks, we try to organise the various art works into a coherent design which then needs to be machined together.  We only have this week to complete them all so I am working in the Enquiry Unit or my counselling placement during the day and machining in my converted sweat shop each evening. You can imagine how much I am looking forward to going on holiday on Saturday! 

I will post photos of the finished works when they have been installed.  However last night I didn’t manage to do any sewing because I discovered that my results for this year are out and – I PASSED!!  Him at home insisted on cracking open a bottle of fizzy to celebrate so that was me finished for the evening – in capable of doing anything more sensible than watching Springwatch!

A few months ago I wrote about our last project – the bunting collage.  That is all finished and looking wonderfully colourful.  We made this with the women attending a group run by a charity established in the 1960’s to provide help and support for the families and friends of prisoners.  This was where I had my first year placement - providing one to one support for three women.  I have kept in touch ever since and now really enjoy running these creative workshops there, helping women to make something colourful to brighten up their meeting space and their outings. The charity puts on picnics, other outdoor events and even summer holidays for the families.  Anyway here are some pictures of the work – enjoy.

Bunting:

Mr Fox - A regular around Hither Green

Butterflies and caterpillar

Butterfly (detail)

Flowers and mini beasts

A rather fat owl

...and a very cheerful frog

…so this is my pre holiday post and I will write about Madeira on my return - I hope the weather is an improvement on what I am leaving behind – rainy dreary London.  Have we finished with summer already?