wickedwitchery.co.uk

“No Name Art” at Wells Spring Craft Fair

web admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:53:11 +0000

The Stand at the Spring Craft Fair - Wells, 2010

Over the Saturday and Sunday of the Easter long weekend “No Name Art” – the new Somerset art collective featuring Sharon Honeywell of Wicked Witchery, Sophie Piddock of Disco and Fish Designs and Hagar Reynolds of Frou Frou Beads – displayed and sold their art at the Wells Spring Fair.

With thousands of people attending the craft fair last year this was a good opportunity to display a varying range of items to gauge public response and comment.

Though the weather did no one any favours there was still a pretty god attendance on both days with many pieces being sold. A great range of local crafts were on display, from specialist botany from Dinder Nursery to hand made soap and even hand crafted shower caps.

It doesn’t stop there for the Easter weekend though with an appearance at Mells Daffodil Festival scheduled for Easter Monday. See you there!

Willow Sculpture Course at Churchill

web admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:05:50 +0000

On a Saturday at the end of January, Sharon held a one day Willow Sculpture course at Churchill School, Somerset. Having collected the materials the previous week (read about it here) the next challenge was to strip off the side branches and prepare it for use by the students.

The processed hedgerow wood. Can you tell which are the commercial bunches?

The image here shows the collected willow and hedgerow wood along with some commercially purchased willow. The different colours and textures make for an interesting finished product. If you take care with your processing (after an initial care when selecting the wood you collect) you can end up with an excellent supply of quality materials suitable for producing high quality sculpture.

Below is a gallery of the work completed during the day. Everyone developed their skills and as the gallery shows the work completed was to a very high standard. Those that chose to work outside really showed dedication as it was freezing!

If you would like to attend a Wicked Witchery Course please get in touch or check out the upcoming courses on the Education & Courses page.

Hedgerow Sculpture – Collecting Willow, Hazel and Dogwood

Sharon Honeywell — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:36:12 +0000

With a one day course in willow sculpture coming up we headed to the lanes nearby to collect some materials. Though the course was to focus primarily on introducing willow as a sculpture material it is beneficial for new and developing practitioners to get their hands – literally – on a variety of hedgerow woods to introduce a variety of colours, textures and structural strengths.

Willow for sculpture can be bought affordably and in great quantity and quality at the Somerset Levels Basket and Craft Centre. There are of course many other retailers of willow and willow products but this is where we go when we want to purchase willow rather than run up and down the hedgerows looking for it. The great advantage of buying your willow for sculpture is that you get a consistent height and thickness of withy and you can purchase particular types of willow for varying effects and structural types – from basket making to large scale animal sculpture or living willow garden features. Though we had decided to collect some materials from the hedgerows we also bought in a few bundles to ensure the students gained experience using commercially available willow to give them the experience to explore their options for future sculpture efforts.

Young willow branches on an old willow tree by the road

So on a very cold and misty day we found ourselves wandering around the Somerset landscape with some shears and a keen eye for willow, hazel and dogwood trees. We follow some strict rules when collecting materials in public space:

Don’t take more than is needed
Treat the trees and hedges with respect. Don’t just slash and grab at them
Ask permission where needed. It is only polite and most farmers will be more than happy for you to prune a few branches here and there
Always be aware of any impact on wildlife. For example, when collecting hazel you should be aware that the protected and increasingly endangered Dormouse tends to nest in hazel hedges.

Even when taking these simple rules into acount collecting materials for sculpture need not take all day and it is a rewarding and healthy activity (despite the freezing tempratures!).

Hazel Hedgerow outside Wells, Somerset

The tall hazel rods available in the hedgerow in the picture above are great for structural support in willow obelisks and tall animals. This is a commonly available material and is easy to harvest with good shears. However, be careful when reaching in to collect the cut rods as they are vey sharp as the picture below attests.

Take care in the Hedgerow! (Maybe those gloves aren't really suitable?)

After driving to a few different spots on the levels we had a car load of wild dogwood, hazel and willow with the added bonus of a found cane foot stool which will be treated and painted for use in the garden. While we were cutting dogwood on the road near the recycling centre the foot stool came loose on a passing car and ended up in the middle of the road. As they continued going and left it in the road for the other drivers to deal with we felt it a good idea to collect it.

Sculpture materials and a foot stool!

The one day course was held on Saturday the 30th of January at Churchill School and shortly we will publish a review of the day with pictures of the work made. For details of courses available please visit the Wicked Witchery Education page or contact us using the form below.

Wicked Witchery at the Giant Flea (Part 2)

web admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:04:22 +0000

The stall at the Somerset Giant Flea and Collectors market was a great experience and allowed the artists to exhibit their work in front of an audience that were expecting a more usual “car boot” style of product. A lot of interest was shown in all of the work and a few pieces sold on the day.

Though events like these aren’t “traditional” art exhibition environments it is important to display art work to as many people as possible (and in as many different environments as possible) and to engage with the viewers thoughts and feelings about the work on show. The reaction to the art stand was certainly different to those offering “all on this table £1″ and it was positive to see that people who hadn’t attended primarily to see “art” were engaged and interested in the work.

Hagar Reynolds of Frou Frou Beads (www.froufroubeads.co.uk) had many fine pieces on display as did Sophie Piddock of Disco and Fish Designs (www.discoandfishdesigns.co.uk). Both artists gave the stand the look of a Jeweller’s with a well lit and attractive display of fine jewellery using materials including beads, sterling silver, silver wire and glass as well as other items including photography.

Sharon Honeywell of Wicked Witchery displayed sterling silver jewellery, wire sculpture and ceramic figures and thrown pottery. The wire sculpture in particular generated a lot of interest with some returning to view the wire ducks and wire hare more than a few times.

All three omerset based artists will be in attendance at the 13th Annual city of Wells Spring Craft fair on the 27th of February.

Wicked Witchery at the Giant Flea

web admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:06:53 +0000

The Art Stand will be setting up at the Shepton Mallet Giant Flea and Collecters Market this Sunday the 17th of January, 2010. The art stand will feature the work of Sharon Honeywell (Wicked Witchery), Sophie Piddock and Hagar Reynolds (Frou Frou Beads), all of whom will be in attendance.

The Giant Flea and Collecters market is held at the Royal Bath and West Showground (click here for map) and is open to the public from 09:30 – 16:30 and features hundreds of stalls, banking facilities and a restaurant. The Art Stand is located at stand 179 which is upstairs on the balcony in the main pavillion.