My favourite bits from 'Natural Histories' exhibition, Artworks MK

'Natural Histories', a touring textile exhibition by Cas Holmes and Anne Kelly, at Artworks MK

Quilts exhibition at the V&A

My trip to the V&A was brilliant, I enjoyed the quilts exhibition but unfortunately no pics allowed.  I took some lovely shots around the Museum which I've included below.  I'd forgotten they were also hosting a Grace Kelly exhibition, showcasing some of her gowns, unfortunately all tickets were sold out on the day so I had to make do with a book. I love her stunning '50's dresses!

Sculpture from the main foyer

Sculpture in the courtyard

Words of wisdom but perhaps only for rich people? from above the entrance way to the cafe

Contemporary light fitting, beautiful guilt ceiling and stained glass windows in the cafe.

The Artworks MK exhibition was good too, I loved the bug and bird motifs and the sewn elements of the works.  I've included some pics of my favourite bits in my next post.  Thank you Artworks MK.

Dressmaking: summer clutch bag

Made from an upcycled shirt to my own drafted pattern.

Snap happy and quilts

I've spent a large portion of my time taking photos or reading about photography lately.  My end of course assignment is due in mid July and I have a lot of catching up to do!  I've started taking pictures manually, which are variable, but I'm pleased with some of them.

And I'm off to the Quilts exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum with my family this weekend.  I'm really looking forward to it, I've been wanting to go for ages.  I'm not quite sure what my parents will make of Grayson Perry's offering, but I'm sure they'll surprise me : )  And Monday I'm going to an exhibition a little closer to home, to 'Natural Histories', a touring textile exhibition by Cas Holmes and Anne Kelly, at Artworks MK.

Dressmaking: my completed Parfait dress

Added to the Colette Patterns flickr page.

My pigeon has landed...

Following my earlier post on the art project 'Have you seen this pigeon?', my pigeon picture has landed on the participants website.  Please check it out, as well as the other entries, there are some interesting and touching stories on there.  

I'm pretty pleased with how my pictures turned out, so I've included some more below, they were taken in the Sculpture Garden at Artworks MK, Great Linford.

Flower corsage workshop, 17 July 2010

Saturday 17 July 2010, 10am - 12pm
Venue: New Art Gallery at the Tecton Centre, Church Street, Fenny Stratford, MK2 2NY

Join me for this two hour flower corsage making workshop.  You will be guided through the process of making a hand sewn wool and felt flower corsage using pre-cut pieces.  Once you have joined the pieces you can choose whether you would like to finish your work as a brooch, bag brooch or hair band. 

All tools are provided and the cost of materials is included in the workshop price.  The workshop fee is £16.50 per person, with an early bird fee of £15 (to be booked before 08 July 2010).  To book a place please email sewheather@googlemail.com. 

Tea and coffee will be provided.  Places are limited so please sign up as soon as possible and tell your friends about us, we’d love to welcome you all!

The gallery, a new local attraction, also hosts original paintings by very talented local artists and local handmade crafts which you can browse before and after the course. 

Southwold in May

Ahh the trouble with camping in the UK is you never quite know whether you need your sou'wester or your factor 50 (usually the former...).  

The famous beach huts, sorry the pics are a bit blue, while doing my OU digital photography course assignment I fiddled about with the cameras ISO settings, I changed something and managed to make everything very blue.  I'm yet to discover the remedy, the joys of learning!

I love seeing people's creative endeavours on the beach.  I think this sandcastle is particularly architectural but also has a slightly wonky charm.  If you really peer into the distance you can just about see Southwold Pier.

 

Southwold light house with a blue tint...

More beach huts...

This is one of my favourite pictures, we got up at 5.30am to go and take pictures of the beach huts.  Because the sun rises from the East it only lights them from the front in the morning...  The campsite and surrounding fields were shrouded in mist and I managed to capture this bejewelled spiders web in the reeds.  I was very proud!

And of course a trip to the seaside wouldn't be complete without a picture of the sea.

T

This is my favourite picture, check out the cheeky seaguls at Southwold Harbour.  They had settled beside the very qaint and tasty fish and chip shop housed in one of the musty old sheds.  As guls go they were small, quite pretty and not too cheeky, no stealing out of people's hands, they'd wait until people shared their leftovers.

Photos from Kenya

I was very lucky to be able to visit Kenya for work.  It was really busy but great, I didn't get too much opportunity to play with my camera I did manage to squeeze in a few pics!

The number 1 secretarial agency in Nyeri, I fell over spectacularly before taking this photo, I blame it on the storm drain...

We came across these plants while taking a walk in the woods outside Nairobi the first day I arrived.  They were at least 7 foot and spectactular.

above: A hibiscus flower as big as my head, taken in the hotel's wonderful garden.

below: the wonderful Kitingela glass shop in Nairobi.  The outside is just as spectacular

below: The view from my balcony window, the hotel in Nairobi was a peacful santuary compared to the craziness of Nairobi.  

Towards the end of the trip we visited a community peace museum in Nyeri, which is about 2 hours drive from Nairobi.  I created a photobook of my pictures, which can be viewed here (pls ignore the sales hype, I can't get it to allow viewing without it).

You can also ready an article about my photography course, recent trip to Kenya and the Open University student experience.

Heather takes a creative break from Social Sciences

Ghostsigns Archive on the One Show, Monday 12 April, BBC1, 7pm

I´ve just received news that there will be a feature on the History of Advertising Trust Ghostsigns Archive, which will be broadcast on this Monday´s One Show on BBC1.

Date: Monday, 12th April 2010
Time: 7.00-7.30pm
Channel: BBC1

They invited me to submit one of my photo's to their flickr group last year:

For more information on the project please go to the Ghostsigns Archive website.  Exciting stuff!

Some pictures from the Kentish coast

Crocus carpet

Art project: 'Have you seen this pigeon'

I am taking part in a Milton Keynes art project called 'Have you seen this pigeon'. Participants will be given a ceramic pigeon which they will take to a place of their choice in Milton Keynes and photograph. Photos will then be displayed at The White Wall in Milton Keynes in August 2010. I intend to keep a photographic blog record of my adventures.

For more details about the project visit their website.

Photo by LordFerguson The Famous Pidgeon of Dortmund, he's a cheeky chappie : )

Linda Johns Workshop in Salcey Forest 2009

I was lucky enough to go to a workshop run by Linda Johns in Salcey Forest during the summer. After a quick tour of her artworks (see previous post), we spent the morning creating our own wire wrapped sculptures, using wire and wood we found in the forest.  It was really good despite the rain. Linda and the other attendees were lovely and the morning passed really quickly. I've included pictures of my sculpture, I was really pleased with what I'd made, someone even asked me if I'd bought it :).

Linda Johns Salcey Forest 2009

Photo's taken by me during Linda's tour of the Salcey Forest exhibition 2009. What a grey old day! There were some other lovely sculptures up in the trees, unfortunately the pics for these didn't come out at all, the sculptures melded into the grey sky. Linda took us on this tour before the workshop (next post), she noted how the public interacted with the sculptures adding bits. The larger spider web sculpture looked like a North American Indian dream catcher.

Linda Johns Open University Sculpture Walk 2009

Body Weave IV

You can view more images from the sculpture walk at my flickr account.