George Spencer Scrap Club
There’s an art market coming up on the 9th of July at George Spencer School, Nottingham. I worked with the scrap club to create this poster to advertise! They’ll be different stalls and artists there and everyone is welcome – it should be good fun!
The Wheel Turns Exhibition 8th January – 25th February 2011 Opening 7th January 2011
My work will be part of an exhibition at Embrace Art Gallery in Leicester that will showcase contemporary collage and assemblage artists. You can find out more at http://www.embracearts.co.uk/
There is a free open evening on the 7th January at 6pm where exhibiting artists will talk about their work.
Hope you can make it!
Exhibition at Gesso and Bole
My work is being framed and put on display at Gesso and Bole Picture Framers and Gallery on The Strand, Derby. Hopefully it will be framed and on display by Monday. Visit http://www.gessoandbole.com/ for more details!
George’s Collage
I am working with George, a fantastic and very creative 13yr old to create a collage for his home. It is about how music can take you anywhere. Here’s how its coming along…
Wirksworth Festival 2010!
This weekend was brilliant – thanks to all who clambered up the big hill to see my work! It’s made me want to get collaging again – my new flat is not going to stay tidy for long!!! Will put some new work on soon
If any one took any good pics can they email them to me – I didn’t take any myself 
It could be… Workshop 1!
It was lovely workshop on Wednesday with some beautiful creations from all ages. The idea is to make a big showcase of what can be done with your rubbish!
Come along this Wednesday, or the following one (11th or 18th August from 10:30 -12:30) to share your ideas, have fun, and chat over a cup of tea!
Photos from The Beetroot Tree
Get creative this Wednesday – ‘It could be…!’ Workshops
Over a series of 3 exciting workshops I will be working with lots of people to create a piece of artwork which is all about seeing the potential in rubbish…
I will talk a little bit about how I work and then we’ll get stuck in to making and gluing and stitching beautiful things for the artwork! You can come to one workshop or all three, and they are open to children and adults – the more the merrier!
The Beetroot Tree, South Street, Draycott, Derby DE72 3PP
4th August 2010, 10.30-12.30am
11th August 2010, 10.30-12.30am
18th August 2010, 10.30-12.30am
Exhibition now on!!
My work is on display at The Beetroot Tree Gallery in Draycott, Derby until the end of August. There’s a lovely cafe, shop, gallery and garden so it’s worth a visit! I’ll be running some workshops (for all ages) during the summer holidays, about how to make the most of rubbish! will post more details soon!
Playing in the Park!
Last Sunday was a very hot event at Parsons Cross Park in Sheffield! We set up a shop where we exchanged everyones great ideas about play for junk model making stuff and much needed drinks!!
You can follow the Recycled Play project on facebook by clicking here, and becoming a fan! 
Saturday 22nd May – Playful Places – A Recycled Playground Event!
Parsons Cross Park in Sheffield is the place to be next Saturday! There will be fun activities to launch the start of Sheffield NOW’s Recycled Playground project, where we’ll be collaging and building with recycled materials to find out what makes you play, why play is important , and how we can design stuff to make people playful!
The event is free and fun for children and grown-ups!
Thanks for coming to Willington!
Thanks to all those that braved the bank holiday cold and rain to come along to the Willington Arts Festival! My prints and greetings cards sold well, and I got chatting to lots of interesting people so it was a good weekend all round!
11th May Volunteer Induction for The Recycled Playground Project!
There will be a hands on workshop from 10.30 -12 next tuesday for anybody interested in getting involved in The Recycled Playground Project (described a couple of posts back!) The workshop will be held at our Sheffield NOW! Studio at Bank Street (find directions at http://www.bankstreetarts.com/)
If you are interested call or email me, or lisa on lisaprocter@sheffield-now.com and we’ll send you some more information!
Willington Arts Festival 2010 May Bank Holiday
On the May bank holiday weekend, I’ll be at the Old School in Willington as part of the Willington Arts Festival. As well as displaying some of my work, I will be selling prints and greetings cards. Hopefully see some of you there!
Volunteers needed for really cool Recycled Playground project!
Sheffield NOW! (you can read about the organisation in previous posts) has just got funding through for a very exciting project that I’m going to be working on called ‘The Recycled Playground’. We’ll be doing a series of fun, free workshops to explore parks in Sheffield and build structures out of recycled stuff that respond to specific spaces and what young people want to do/feel there. The project starts in April…
If you are interested in volunteering or you know of some good places to get recycled stuff (bottles, bags, fabric, wood etc) get in touch with either lisa (lisaprocter@sheffield-now.com) or me – my Sheffield NOW! email is nickyward@sheffield-now.com.
Exhibition 28th June – 22nd August 2010
I will be the featured artist this summer at The Beetroot Tree Gallery in Draycott, Derbyshire. I will exhibit some new collages alongside some pictures that have been exhibited before. Greetings cards with prints of my work (I’ve made some out of recycled magazines) will be for sale there too – I’ll put some pictures on here soon too.
Something a bit different..
When I was younger I liked creating little made-up worlds and creatures in coloured pencil – it would keep me quiet for hours! My brother and his housemate are fans of my earlier doodles, and when my brother asked me to spend maximum 2 hours doing a small doodle for his housemates birthday, I forgot just how long I used to spend getting lost in my imagination and after 5 hrs of happily doodling away, it started me thinking about how whilst some artists will capture their thoughts with a single brushstroke of colour, I’ll happily spend ages and ages and ages intricately drawing or cutting or painting or sticking!
With the doodles, it’s the process of going into an imaginary world that I enjoy, and with my collages it’s thinking about special memories of a place or person I don’t want to forget – it’s not always simply turning an idea into a drawing – when I draw/find something to put in a collage, that will generate ideas, and the whole process normally all goes on in one drawing or collage. I rarely, if ever sketch and develop an idea before I start it properly – the development of the idea is all on the same canvas. Collecting all the bits and pieces and working out where they best fit helps me better understand and consolidate my thoughts about people and places, and re-live happy experiences – This probably explains why I don’t like to finish a collage!
This post is a bit long and rambling now, just wanted to write my thoughts down somewhere, and here is as good a place as any!
Panto Fun!
My brother made a hilarious White Rabbit in his pantomime performance of ‘Alice in Heartland’ which he performed with the Botley Community Theatre last weekend in Oxford. I designed painted the backdrop with lots of help from the cast and their children!
The Beetroot Tree – Open Art Exhibition 30th Jan – 14th Feb 2010
My work is part of the the Erewash Open Art Exhibition and will be on display at The Beetroot Tree, a gorgeous gallery in Draycott, near Derby (DE72 3PP if you want to put it in your sat nav). There’s a shop and a shop with delicious hot chocolate and cake! The exhibition runs for two weeks from the 30th January.
Later on in the year, I will hopefully have my own exhibition here, and will post more details nearer the time!
The online shop
The online shop now works for cheque payments – yay! It’s a complete nightmare getting the card payments bit working, and I’m on the verge of throwing my computer out the window… Now I’m starting to think maybe cheques are better than card payments anyway (it’s probably safer not having to give your card details out online)!
I’d be interested to know what people think about the buying online system, and will continue to try and develop a safe and easy to use online shop!
Trouble with the buy online button!
Sorry if you have been trying to buy prints online – I’ve realised the system doesn’t always work. I’ve changed it, though it’s still not working completeley – I’ll keep perservering, but if you would like a print before Christmas let me know by phone or email, and we’ll sort it another way – thanks for your patience!
Prints available for Christmas!!
These pictures are all available as signed, mounted, limited edition (40) prints, and make fantastic christmas presents! Follow the instructions on the buy prints online page, or send me an email. An A4 mounted print is only £15.
The Giant Caterpillar!
It was great fun at the weekend in Longley Four Greens, Sheffield where children helped build a giant caterpillar out of cycle tyres…
Children also used the tyres to print onto fabric, making up caterpillar pictures and stories. These will be sewn together to form tunnels that children can play inside. There will be a waterproof outer structure (an old taupaulin), so the structure should last!
The children enjoyed playing in the caterpillar, and making up different games to play…
Come make a Recycled Playground! Saturday 31st October
This Saturday, I will lead artist for a really exciting Sheffield NOW! event at Four Greens, Sheffield (S5 7NN) It will hopefully (depending on funding) be part of a series of events to create a giant play structure out of recycled stuff!
So far, we have aquired loads and loads of old bicycle tyres, and on Saturday will be building with them to make a giant caterpillar structure. We will also be imagining what it would be like to be a caterpillar for the day, and printing, collaging and writing our stories on strips of fabric (old bedsheets!) that will be sewn together to form part of the caterpillars body.
The event is free and everyone is welcome! Wear scruffy clothes though – you might get paint on them!
Here’s a photo of me practicing building with tyres…
Dad Picture almost finished…
This picture is in memory of my dad who died in October last year following a two year battle with cancer. The writing is a mixture of dad’s own beautiful poetry and notes my two brothers wrote for the eulogy they read at his funeral (they spent a lot of time, and went through a lot of paper to get dad’s tribute just right. I couldn’t let the notes be thrown away!) You’ll also notice blue tack wrappers (dad relied on the stuff to fix any DIY problem – including broken light fittings!) , hedgy the hairbrush (When I was younger I bought it as a present for him despite him having no hair!) and other bits and pieces that remind me of him. The photos I’m working from make me smile every time I look at them!
