Given the current depressing climate it’s nice to have things to look forward to.
There are two relatively big things for the SG team to get stuck into, and a change is as good as a rest, so they say!
The first is the exhibition for Somerset Art Weeks, focusing on the Quantocks. Will has teamed up with the brilliant Jenny Graham painter, photographer and print maker, and ashar, our lovely contemporary artist who resides in the office next to me and can often be heard hammering nails into walls and getting cross with her brushes when she’s “made a mistake”, to collaborate on the exhibition entitled “Them There Hills”.
I’ve been watching how the collection of paintings and glass has been growing over the weeks and months, and it’s been thought provoking and exasperating to all artists concerned.
Exasperating because a lot of energy goes into planning, sketching, determining the right colours, making prototypes, getting it wrong, breaking things, and finally, getting it right.
And thought provoking because everyone’s been given something to think of outside their normal sphere of work. For Will he’s been given the opportunity to think outside the box; and for the two painters, they’ve been hitting the Quantocks and having days out sketching and reflecting, trying new techniques, and coming up with a body of work ready to present to members of the public.
I’ve always considered artists to be pretty headstrong. They know their own minds and they know exactly what they want to create. So if it doesn’t turn out right, well, that doesn’t bode well; and if you ask them to work with other people, well that can go one of two ways!
Luckily for me and everyone else concerned, these three have managed to get on and produce some pretty fantastic pieces.
The second exciting thing on the horizon is Bath Christmas Market. There’s been a hiatus of a few years, given Covid and all the turbulence, but now Will is spending a lot of time putting together the stall; implementing his welding, painting, carpentry, and electric skills in anticipation of this massive tourist attraction.
It’ll give the chance for Will and Johnny to share their knowledge and spread the word about Will’s work to all the visitors, but I think really they’re doing it for the 18 nights on a campsite, drinking cider, and eating noodles!
- You can visit the Somerset Art Weeks Quantocks exhibition at Shakspeare Glass from September 24 – October 9.
- Shakspeare Glass will be at Bath Christmas Market from November 24 – December 11.