warp

Last month I traveled to Matlock in Derbyshire for a days walking. Having booked the train tickets a month in advance for affordability I kept everything crossed for a dry day. The day arrived with heavy rain and biting wind across the UK. Still, I went. 

My planned route was a circular walk starting and ending in Matlock, passing Matlock Bath, through the forest to Cromford, up to Black Rocks, then returning past Starkholmes. Rather than heading off into the hills I walked the roads and ended up passing Masson Mills, a mill I'd often seen when in the wooded hill above the A6.

This loom sits in the entrance to the shopping area and immediately intrigued me, reminding me of my studies at Derby University in the early 90's. The complexity, skill and time required to thread this warp, the mathematics, technical knowledge and understanding needed. This and the beauty of it, threads made solid, shimmering, sculptural, constantly changing as I moved around the loom.  

The rain led me to this and I wasn't disappointed that my planned walk was scuppered. 

colour and line

Had a great weekend at The Hepworth inviting families to explore the painting and sculpture in gallery 6. Children were asked to find artworks that interested them and to make a colour and a line response. Gallery 6, Hepworth and St Ives, focuses on the artists that were drawn to this Cornish fishing village which became an internationally significant centre for post war artists. Painting by Terry Frost, Victor Passmore, Ben Nicholson and sculpture by Barbara Hepworth was singled out by the young creatives below. 

wakefield happening

"You've really brightened my day"

"Beautiful"

"Wrapping things in town and creating havoc!"

"Intriguing"

"It's not very good"

"What a waste of wool"

Yarn storm in Wakefield on a beautiful cold blue sky day. Working in the shadow of the Cathedral with crows and pigeons flocking overhead. Wrapping the town centre in acrylic yarn, drawing, outlining street furniture, keeping secrets, not telling the whole story, unraveling, colouring in, enticing passers-by to ask questions, to join us, connections, conversations with strangers and the inert city space, adding an unfamiliar texture. Young people, citizens of their city, inhabiting and leaving their mark over six hours. Wakefield Happening.

Early start in Wakefield

 Sophie untangling

  James and Shabina connecting tree with bollard

 Ben and Ryan beginning a 3D intervention

 Sam and spring colour

 Want to know more?

 Kate, Edward and Melvin working on the banister

 Arato from Budapest and his bench 

 Sophie, Erin and Ryan towards the end of the day

 Arato's bench

 Ben and his work

 Sam and Shabina

Wakefield Happening

bribe spiders

Ben: "Why can't we bribe spiders to do this stuff?"

A mysterious, colourful yarn trail will appear around street furniture in Wakefield city centre on 19.02.13. Young people can join us at any time between 10am-4pm as we make our way from Wakefield Cathedral to Costa Coffee in Trinity Walk. Help create a buzz in the city.

Why? Can’t tell you, its top secret... but by joining us you will get invited to events created by young people for young people in Wakefield.

children's art school

I'm running workshops for the new and inspiring Children's Art School, click below for my artists page on their site... the questions and answers are written for young artists (and older artists alike). Good stuff!

Karen's Q&A

put a sock in it

When knitting I know the basics and invent as I go along, I've also held on to the belief that I CAN'T READ PATTERNS (Yes, the voice in my head does shout). Recently I've challenged this belief and decided the time had come to knit a sock. It wasn't particularly easy, but with trial and error, YouTube videos posted by kindly souls and being prepared to unwind hours of work I got there. Now I can interpret the language of knit and understand st-st, k, p, m1, psso, k2tog, p2tog, p2togtbl, s1, s1p, ssk and make a Kitchener stitch (this particuar stitch requires 100% concentration).

My gravestone cosies are made in my old way, of invention and problem solving and with a pile of wool waiting to be made into a cosy for my Auntie Violet's grave in Clutton I do wonder if my growing knowledge will alter the way I knit. Watch this space.

 

rainbows

Last weekend I ran felt making workshops with the amazingly energetic volunteer Hilary at The Hepworth Wakefield (Hilary is a legend). Here I let you into a secret - felt making doesn't interest me much (gasp). This is my own personal attitude that I keep under wraps and again during the weekend I was reminded that my personal feelings are not important one jot. I was carried along by the publics reaction to the process and alchemy of creating a felted fabric using fleece and energy, transforming light and fluffy into a hardwearing and fixed (almost) ‘object’. 

My belief is it’s not always important for the creative practitioner to favour the subject they share. In this case my ‘distance’ from felt making allowed me to cut corners, making this a child friendlily and relatively quick activity. What a creative practitioner does need is joy in process, of clearly staging the learning journey, of encouraging and supporting exploration and learning by the individual at their own pace in their own way. In my own way I give guidance, 'listen’ to body language, and at times I consciously hold back to create a space for the participant to discover by thinking and doing. 

This is the workshop I notice the most heartfelt thanks at the end... it fires up something in people, I’d call it wonder, they really value the gift of the experience.

This little girl was about 6 and was wearing a beaded rainbow headband, her mother told me she loved rainbows. Here her dextrous and careful hands are expertly laying down her design onto the rolling mat. I was struck by the care she took and delicacy of her hand eye coordination. 

We are felt making again on the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th of December - so come along and work off the Christmas stupor!