Bank Holiday outing? A fundraising day in Sydenham

The African art gallery Azawala - our partners in our competition for an African headwrap - will be busy this weekend at an event in Sydenham.
Jos Brient, who runs the gallery with his brother Nick, will be taking part in a community fundraising day for JRHYS, a charity set up in memory of James Ross Hunter.

Jos explains:

"At the age of 18 James Ross Hunter with a bright future and ambition sadly lost his life to knife crime in June 31st 2014.
His attempt to stop a friend from being attacked resulted in James receiving the fatal blow.
Mother Collette Hunter has set up the James Ross Hunter Youth Support project to highlight this growing problem within our youth and encourage them to choose another path that leads to positive living."

There'll be lots of different activities during the day (see the poster).
Where? 111 Wells Park Road, Sydenham SE26 6AD. .

Embroidery workshop in Hammersmith

Great to be back at the Masbro Centre in Hammersmith to do another embroidery workshop with Bridging Arts volunteer Katrina Williams with the Centre's Befriending Group (teaming up older people with volunteers who help with everyday tasks). This was a chance for people who either hadn't done embroidery for years - or who had never done any embroidery - to have a go.

Linus suggested this was a chance for 'creative contemplation'

The result: everyone made some kind of mark on calico with a stitch. And everyone had a story to tell.
Linus, who goes regularly to the group, said it was a chance for 'creative meditation'. We thought that was a good way of describing it.
The workshop was part of our Stitch project - exploring the power of needlework and embroidery.

Manik, who was the first to finish his rose and nightingale design

A Bank Holiday outing - Monica Alcazar's show in Hoxton, London

A great outing for the Bank Holiday - photographer Monica Alcazar's work is in a group show Intersections in Hoxton, London over the weekend.  Here's an interview with Monica about her work.

Monica worked with us on our needlework and embroidery project Stitch in Harrow and made this wonderful short film one Valentine's Day.

Our headwrap competition in The Voice

Credit: Island Bo Photography

Our competition for an African headwrap is in the latest edition of The Voice newspaper - click here.

A great collaboration with Azawala art gallery in Elephant and Castle.

News from Brent artist Mary Pritchard

Portrait from A Stitch in Time

Good to hear from Mary Pritchard, who worked with us on A Stitch in Time in Brent. Mary took photographs of the women involved in creating a giant wall hanging which went on display in Willesden Green.  We're still working on embroidery and needlework - and over the years have kept up a blog ....

Here's Mary's news:

"JUNE 17-19th
This year is the biennial Queens Park Open Gardens/Studios which is a lovely event where it will be possible to combine visiting lots of local gardens and art studios on Sunday 19th June 1-6pm. My studio/garden will also be open on the evening of Friday 17th, 6-9pm and Saturday 18th June from 1-6pm when one will be able to sample some of Ray’s sangria (hopefully in the sunshine!)

If you fancy a trip down to the seaside……

JUNE 28th - JULY10th
FOUR STATES, 4 MINDS: An American Journey
A group show at Hastings Arts Forum PRIVATE VIEW Saturday 2nd July 2-5pm
General opening times, Tuesday - Sunday 11-5pm.


In September last year I travelled with three others through some of the most beautiful States in the USA: Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Although we all had the same experience, we all responded in different ways and made our own interpretations. The exhibition should be very varied and reflect these personal interests.
Work from :-
Quentin Ball, (photography), will concentrate on his ongoing project about 'The Great Divide’, a ‘watershed’ that runs all through the western states of the US. http://www.quentinball.com
Jean Davey Winter, (photography and mixed media paintings) will be showing work relating to her ongoing exploration of journeys and the land.
http://www.axisweb.org/artist/jeandaveywinter
Mary Pritchard, (photography, ceramics and artist’s books). I will be showing some ceramic ‘landscape’ sculptures inspired by the extraordinary territory through which we travelled, aswell as photographs and artist’s books.
http://www.marypritchard.net
Tony Wallis, (photography), images of Yellowstone National Park with all its variety of extraordinary geological features.
http://www.tonywallisphotography.com "

African headwrap design competition - we're off

Spending this morning circulating the press release for our new African headwrap competition. It should be an interesting few months - we'll be working with Africa art gallery Azawala to showcase the winning design in Black History Month this October.

WRAP IT UP: WIN THE SEARCH FOR NEW AFRICAN HEADWRAP DESIGNS

Feel overlooked? Ignored? Like your voice doesn’t count? A brand new competition is offering YOU the chance to speak out by creating new designs for Africa’s headwrap.
I’M STILL HERE - just launched - is run by African art gallery Azawala, based in Elephant and Castle, London with the charity Bridging Arts. It’s free and open to everyone all over the UK.
“Our gallery is in the heart of an area where the individual is being squeezed out,” says gallery director Jos Brient. “We’ve seen what’s been happening here so we decided to launch this competition. We want people to create designs that say something about their lives.
“You don’t have to be African – or a fashion student – or a print maker. You just have to have a voice and want to tell us about your life and experience.”
The winning design will be commercialised and showcased during Black History Month this October. To download the entry form or for more information, visit www.bridging-arts.org or text 0794 12 52 444.

The sport for everyone

Love these posters at Camborne Station, Cornwall - clearly designed, written and put up by Tony Smith and Roger Moyle. They've had an idea to invite people to the bowling club  - and then acted on it. Hats off.