No Borders Exhibition

Exhibition View

Over the past few years as part of my work with Prism Arts I've been working with the No Borders group, a group of adults with profound disabilities who all attend Carleton Day Centre. It's been interesting, exciting and gratifying to see the group develop over time, to see their skill and confidence grow and to be part of this enthusiastic group who are always up for trying new things and pushing their boundaries.

'The British Army' Clay figures

'The British Army'

'The British Army'

Over the past few weeks I've been working with the group to put together an exhibition of their work from the past year. This has involved much discussion about what work should be included, how it should be displayed and what 'feel' they wanted the exhibition to have. It also involved a lot of preparation, mounting, finishing and general tidying up. The exhibition took place in their work space and was a great opportunity for the group to show everyone what they've achieved. The exhibition included prints, textile pieces, clay work and a sound piece.

'People Paint Print' displayed on perspex

'People Paint Print' (detail)

Prints on fabric, displayed on perspex

The group had some really interesting ideas for displaying the work, I particularly like the use of the big perspex sheets for showing work in the windows. Having the light coming through gives a totally different effect to if the pieces had been conventionally mounted and also makes good use of space! Other work was more traditionally displayed to show off the quality of the pieces, we wanted to create a really polished and professional show and I think we achieved this.

Thread Wrapped Branches

'Magic Tree'

'Sea Swirls' Print on fabric

One of the projects that the group has worked on over the past year was a beautiful sound-scape with artist Mark Newport. The group put this together with a slide show of images taken during their sessions which gives a real feel of how the group works and shows that the work is all theirs. We had this playing throughout the exhibition which helped create a really nice atmosphere and gave visitors and insight into how the group operates.

'Tree Colours' Thread wrapped card

Detail of 'Tree Colours'

Exhibition view

Exhibition view

Display

Brooch Displays

I'm doing another Craft Fair next weekend; at Armathwaite Hall, Bassenthwaite. It's the West Cumbrian Game Fair and I'll be with the Solway Crafters in the Fell Gather Tent. This will be the biggest event I've done so far and I've been thinking of ways to improve how I display my work. I think the last stall I had at Appleby had too much on it, I'm going to try and edit my display more carefully this time. I also wanted to display my brooches more effectively so today I went and bought some frames and have turned them into brooch displays. I just bought fairly cheap silver coloured wooden frames as I wanted something nice but not too showy as this would distract from my pieces!

Frame with Button Heart Brooches

It was really easy making them into badge boards; I chose frames with stands (extra easy to display on my stall if they stand up by themselves) and then took the glass out and covered the hardboard backing with wadding and felt to give a cushioned surface to pin my brooches to. I burnt my fingertips on the hot glue but apart from that it was quite an easy job and I think the finished product looks pretty good.

Frame with Felt Flower Brooches

Frame with Suffolk Puff and Origami Brooches

The frames will get a test run tomorrow as I have literally just been offered a stall at Carlisle's Culture Bazaar tomorrow. It is at Richard Rose Central Academy from 11-5 if you're in Carlisle tomorrow!