Be very wild – Sunday 26th June

Go wild in the Country….feel  absolutely free

Join us on Sunday 26th June , 1pm until 5pm ,with Sussex Wildlife Trust and Anne Kelly ,renowned author of Textile Nature, a new book celebrating wildlife and giving invaluable guidance on how nature can be inspirational in  textile art .

Being Wild in Your Garden

How to attract wildlife into your garden is among the advice on offer at this open day.

Gardening expert Peter Crawford ,from the Sussex Wildlife Trust , will offer tips on attracting butterflies, hedgehogs and toads into gardens and green spaces.

Your gardening questions can be answered by Peter and learn how children can be encouraged to go wild and sow seeds in paper pots to take home.

Anne Kelly, Textile Artist

Anne Kelly featured as our artist in residence in 2014 and was really inspired by her time in our garden. On Sunday  Anne will be joined by many of her fellow artists and contributors to the book and we will see the unveiling of The Stitched Shed . The shed will be travelling as part of a major exhibition being taken by Anne to The prestigious  Knit and Stitch Show in London, Harrogate and Dublin. Anne will be available to sign copies of her new book , and lucky winners in the Sussex Wildlife Raffle will be able to win an original artwork from Anne and others.

Half Price Voucher

follow the link to this voucher to get half price entry to Sussex Prairies on Sunday 26th June   https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/admin/resources/swtprairegardenvoucher.jpg

 

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Textile Nature – Anne Kelly Book Launch

We are delighted to be be able to announce that we are hosting the launch of Anne Kelly’s latest book -Textile Nature – on  Sunday 26th June 2016 , 1pm until 5pm.Anne and a number of the artists who collaborated with her and whose work feature in the book should also be here  to enjoy the garden .

Anne Kelly Detail from Natural History Waistcoat

 

Anne Kelly Bags Quilt

We were very lucky to have welcomed Anne as our Artist in Residence at Sussex Prairies in 2014 ,and Sussex Prairies ,and the influence it had on Anne’s work is beautifully documented in the book.

Jennifer Collier Birdhouse

As gardeners and designers we are continually exploring nature in all its forms , textures and hues in the natural gardened world . From the smallest of stem colours,shapes and textures to the largest of leaves and flower structures we are exploring the endless possibilities of pattern and texture.

Hillary Waters “Untitled”

This has been our inspiration in creating a huge living and dynamic natural ‘canvas’ here at Sussex Prairies. In the same way we can clearly identify with both Anne and many of the textile lovers and creators who come to our garden to visit and run workshops.

Specimen Box Jane Nicholas

Lovers of the natural living world will also be inspired by the focus on birds, insects and wildlife in the book  and we are very pleased to have created a link with Sussex Wildlife Trust who will joining us for that day as part of their ’30 Days Wild’ initiative. Sussex Wildlife Trust will be holding a raffle  that day and you will have a chance to win an Anne Kelly original piece of artwork , as well as artwork from other artists featured in the book.

http://www.annekellytextiles.com

 

 

 

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Five Go to Sussex Prairies in 2016 – Sandra Ventris

Our Group of artists in Residence this year is a very talented group of textile artists and designers- Ali Rabjohns, Vicky Mappin, Susan D’Souza, Sandra Ventris and Bridget Honour.

Their major exhibition will be showing with us from 1st June to 16th October 2016 and the group will be leading some marvellous and inspirational workshops during the course of their time with us .

Focus on -Sandra Ventris

Sandra Ventris began her creative training at Brighton Art School on Foundation Year and then studied Fine Art BA Hons at Sheffield School of art .
Her involvement with theatre began at Sheffield Crucible , a 6 month tour as Wardrobe Mistress –adding tailoring and cutting to her skills she worked as a Theatrical tailor for various Opera and Costume houses in London and Sussex.
Sandra has been involved in many fringe production in a variety of roles performing , directing and designing .
In 2005 she took up a place on the Motley theatre design course in Drury Lane as a postgraduate student
The opportunity to work with textiles to bring the threads of my skills into play with making and celebrating FELT in the fantastic environment of Sussex Prairie Gardens is a wonderful opportunity

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Five Go to Sussex Prairies in 2016- Bridget Honour

Our Group of artists in Residence this year is a very talented group of textile artists and designers- Ali Rabjohns, Vicky Mappin, Susan D’Souza, Sandra Ventris and Bridget Honour.

Their major exhibition will be showing with us from 1st June to 16th October 2016 and the group will be leading some marvellous and inspirational workshops during the course of their time with us .

Focus on -Bridget Honour

A former fashion designer who has swapped the world of womenswear
for printed fabric designing, cushions and quilting.

 

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Five go to Sussex Prairies in 2016- Ali Rabjohns

Our Group of artists in Residence this year is a very talented group of textile artists and designers- Ali Rabjohns, Vicky Mappin, Susan D’Souza, Sandra Ventris and Bridget Honour.

Their major exhibition will be showing with us from 1st June to 16th October 2016 and the group will be leading some marvellous and inspirational workshops during the course of their time with us .

Focus on Ali Rabjohns

Ali Rabjohns is a Crafts Tutor at The Mount Camphill Community, teaching young adults with special needs a range of crafts including felt, wet on wet painting and basketry. Ali’s aim is to inspire independent creative discovery, resilience and craft skills. Community building and practical creative skills are common themes in her teaching practice, enabling her to work in a very inclusive, person centred way. She has great respect for the Steiner ethos and her teaching practice incorporates a mixture of anthroposophical, therapeutic and holistic approaches, which are constantly evolving

Ali graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art with a postgraduate in Theatre Design. After starting her family, she discovered the magical world of felt at an arts centre in Shoreditch called ‘Arts For All’. She had been searching for something relaxing and natural that she could create at home. Twelve years on, Ali focuses particularly on three-dimensional pieces and art garments, wall hangings or installation work, developing and experimenting with new 3d felting techniques. Ali is mainly inspired by the natural world with all its seasonal colours and forms. She is now studying part time to be an Arts Counsellor at Tobias school of Arts and Therapy and will complete her masters level training next year in 2017.

 

Ali enjoys allowing the land and fibre to work though her. Exhibition opportunities in Canada during the summer of 2010 and 2013 enabled her to create a form or unfold a textural idea in response to her spiritual connection to the landscape. Through Ali’s experience of shamanic healing and her previous travels to Peru studying shamanism, her passion is to create a sacred space through felt making and textiles. Her intention is to enable her audience to step outside of time, re-connecting their souls and our ancestor’s cultural heritage. It is also to create a timeless space where people can sense the mystery and wonder of life. Threads of possibilities define an infinite dreamscape where healing and vision can occur.

 

Ali has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions internationally and locally, including The Moon Rain Centre, Canada, Brighton and London, UK. Inspired by the textile arts trail she participated in Canada during the summers of 2010 and 2013, she decided to bring this idea to Sussex Prairies .The Arts group ‘Elemental’ was established by Ali with the intention of working collectively as a group around a theme and for continuing traditional crafts techniques in a contemporary way. She has especially enjoyed developing her visual ideas around the archetype of the ‘Woman between the Worlds’ surrounded by the stunning and magical backdrop of Prairie Gardens.

Workshops at Sussex Prairies 2016
Workshop cost £65.plus £10 for materials
(If people booked all three of my felting workshops, it would be £175, for two workshops it would be £120 and for one it would be £65.)
The aims of this course are:
To develop technical skills associated with felt making.
To develop creative skills in translating personal ideas and designs into felt.
To introduce the work of other artists and designers working with felt.

Through this process, we will become familiar with examples of traditional felts and the work of contemporary artists and designers using felt in their work.
We will work predominantly with merino wool tops (loose wool fibres) but also incorporating other materials to create texture. Carding and blending of coloured fibres in preparation for the felting process is also demonstrated.
The techniques for felt making covered include: making flat felt, nuno and pre-felt ,wall hung and sculptural forms, needle felting.

Please pay the full amount via BACS to Mrs AJ Rabjohns: Acc no 50480355, Sort Code 20-36-16. Please state your name and ‘Sussex Prairies’ as a reference

Flat and Nuno Felting with simple natural dyeing techniques.

Workshop cost £65.plus £10 for materials

30 July 2016. 10am – 2pm.

 

Felted Wild Flowers or sculptural hollow forms,

using resists, pebbles and 3d natural materials.

Workshop cost £65 Materials cost: £10. 6 August 2016. 10am – 2pm

Needle felted Deva’s, Goddesses and Fairies

13th August 2016. 10am – 2pm. Workshop cost £65 Materials cost: £5.
To secure your place, email Ali at i@feltgoodfeltfine.com.     tel 07528614747

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Little Paper House on the Prairie : Chelsea Fringe Paper Performances

Chelsea Fringe -The Headline Acts

The Paper House herself

With the paper garden in tow and now its attendant art gallery coming along for the ride !

The gallery includes some amazing pictures which were so kindly sent to me by a teacher Lisa Wee and her class of pupils from a school in Nairobi ,Kenya… so here they are being exhibited in the garden.. the paintings will also join Anne Kelly’s exhibition in our grade room for the rest of the season.

When we thought about our week (31st May until 8th June 2014)  of paper related happenings,workshops and exhibitions  for the Chelsea Fringe down on the prairies ,we knew we would have wealth of stars to help us get into that groove and here are the best stars we have been able to line up for you

Pages by Stages : Alison Crosthwaite

Prairie hens in paper kilns : Sabine Dahn

alongside these stars are their co-stars

Anne Kelly : our talented textile artist  in residence who will be inspiring us with her textiles ,and guiding craftwork in paper ,textiles and beyond from the prairie wagon in the garden room

Jill Tattersall  : an artist with an eye for paper making who will be helping you send out postcards from the prairies and who will be constructing concertina books to baffle and bamboozle and she will be showing you how to make your own Matisse masterpiece

 

 

Jill Staples : a lovely local photographer working with images applied on to Japanese papers.She also makes beautifully colour co-ordinate photographic books

Paul Cox: sculptor extraordinaire turning his hand to big paper sculpture

Lydia Crook: paper sculptor whose work we shall be exhibiting via our virtual online gallery

Julia Widdows : writer extraordinaire who will be promoting her books and will be running a win a book competition

the ways of paper are many and mysterious.. And it is time for you to experience their many layers and latitudes..

And don’t forget the strangely challenging and wonderful Paw People exhibition by Tom Barker now showing in a marquee in the garden.

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