Friday 20 April 2012

We're in the Journal








Grab a copy of this week's North Devon Journal, thumb your way through to the arts pages and Ta Da! there's a lovely feature on our forthcoming Spectacular Jubilee Craftacular on May 27th.


This will be a leisurely Sunday 'Crafternoon' with a 50's inspired make-do-and-mend twist. There's a printing project and you can create your own jubilee inspired masterpiece that you can take home and frame OR you can print your own commemorative tea towel. On top of that you will be making a vintage inspired jam-jar sewing kit ... just bring a clean jam jar (or sauce jar) along.


There's be crafty demonstrations showing you how to turn odd bits of vintage crockery into cake stands and we'll show you how to turn vintage containers into lovely candles.


And Lilico's will be laying on a vintage style tea party (INCLUDED in the ticket price!!)


The ladies from Nirvana will be there showing you how to perfect a 50's style up do and we're also hosting a vintage boutique with Country House Vintage.


Dig out your vintage clobber because we'll be getting dressed up!


The Vintage Boutique will be open to the public from 1 - 5pm the workshops and tea party are strictly ticket only. Tickets are £16 each and include all materials - all we ask is that you bring along an empty jam jar. Tickets are available online here or from Atelier on Tuly Street. You can also pay over the phone on 01271 268244


It's going to be a fantastic event so we're looking forward to seeing you there.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Emma Cocker's in Devon Life Magazine






If you grab a copy of this month's Devon Life magazine you will find not one, not two, but THREE whole pages dedicated to the very lovely and exceptionally talented Atelier artist and maker Emma Cocker.
Atelier met the journalist Caroline Rees when we were at the Country Living Christmas Fair back in November and introduced her to the wonderfully quirky world of stitchery and knit that is Ms Cocker. In fact I have a sneaky feeling that Mr Fox may have flirted with the the journalist a wee bit when I wasn't looking, which might have gained us an extra page. The upshot is a lovely feature looking at the inspiration behind Emma's body of work.
Emma has been working with Atelier since we opened the Barnstaple gallery back in July 2010. At the time, the focus of her work was her gorgeous hand-stitched applique art works on vintage linens and tableware and her quirky knitted characters. We showcased Emma's characters when they featured in our Winter Wonderland Christmas window display ... isn't it stunning? ... snow flake cuts outs in the window made from vintage doilies and little Christmas scenes featuring her characters doing Christmassy stuff like wrapping presents



One of the perks of this job is working closely with your artists and seeing them grow and flourish as they gain confidence in their distinctive creative voice. So last year when Emma was one of a small group of artists invited by Atelier to develop new works for our Craftdermy exhibition - taxidermy with a craft twist - Emma excelled herself and introduced the world to Mr Fox, a rather dashing creature decked out in the finest hunting tweeds, and knitted antlers. We never knew we needed them until now - and now we can't do with out them ...





We are keeping Emma rather busy again this year as she'll be working closely with local ceramicist Fiona Bates on some brand new works for a window installation for North Devon's Art Trek in July. Watch this space!


We have Emma's work here at the gallery as well as selected pieces online here.


And here's a chance for you to see Emma in action. She was out and about taking photos of her work with her talented photographer friend Mikey and they turned it into a brilliant short film. It's a little bit of Emma magic perfectly captured on film ...


You can find out more about Mikey here