A fan for Anne….

The exhibition at the Haworth Gallery will be running throughout September so if you did make a fan for Anne please go and collect it. I have put some photographs of the results of the community work as promised….The fan for Anne is made up of miniature fans made by Accrington community and peacock feathers inspired by the Tiffany glass collection. Below is the Hollins Hill paper house. If you have still not got involved in this project there is an opportunity on the 9th October 12-4pm- I am running a Hollins Hill paper house workshop, where you will create your own paper house and get to look around the gallery, hearing stories about when it was a home. To book a place contact the Haworth Gallery. Hope to see you there!

Phew….

August has just whizzed by!……. and unfortunately that means i am no longer based at the lovely market in Accrington. I will miss the people of Accrington who  have shared so much with me! Please please come and join us tomorrow at 12pm for a commemorative exhibition at the Haworth Gallery. All the community work i have done throughout August will be shown…….but if you can`t make it tomorrow it is on for a while and i promise to put some photos on here. I hope to see you tomorrow…..

Creating wallpaper…

Most people walking by, young and old, were interested to find out more and wanted to make some prints using these blocks. The people of Accrington seemed to have an affinity to these objects and told me stories as they passed by. In the two days that we were printing we managed to get enough wallpaper to cover a small room! Tiring work hand printing wallpaper! The blocks were originally made to print onto fabric and are made from wood and copper.

Printing and more printing…..

I have been entrusted to use a selection of beautiful wooden printing blocks that are part of an unseen collection at the Haworth Gallery. The lovely people of Accrington have been popping in and admiring these beautiful blocks and having a go…

Paper house of Hollins Hill

We used the photographs that were taken just after Anne died, to recreate the gallery as a house. The house used to be known as Hollins Hill. Children, passers by and even professional illustrators came to contribute to creating a paper house of Hollins Hill. Personal touches were added, and an artistic license was used by all!

Fans for Anne……

I had the pleasure of being invited to the Mela festival in Oakhill park on saturday. We had so much fun making fans and naming our fans! We had ribbon fans, family fans and polish fans……but everybody was happy to give their ‘fan to Anne.’ 

I shared the story of Anne Haworth with the interested fan creators throughout the afternoon. The community were interested to hear about Anne as a sister, devoting her life to Accrington community and then finally giving the community the house that we now call Haworth gallery.

If you would like to make a ‘fan for Anne’ please come and visit me at Accrington market and your fan will contribute to the commemorative exhibition at the Haworth Gallery.

And to wet your appetite……

The lovely Jenny, the curator at the Haworth Gallery, showed me her amazing collection of printing blocks. They Date back to the early 1900s and were originally made for printing on fabric……and the exciting news!!……..Jenny is kindly letting me take five of these blocks to Accrington market! They have not been used to print with for a very long time so this really is a treat! Please come and join me on the 20th and 21st of August in Accrington market, where we will be printing from them to create wallpaper.

My first day!

Accrington is a beautiful market and if you haven`t been it`s worth coming, not only to see me, but there is an amazing old fashioned sweet shop near my stall!

The market has a friendly community feel and i felt welcomed into market life, but somewhat watched……….the butchers opposite me seemed to take delight in watching eccentric characters approach me,  one of which swooped and swiped a fan as if a sword!

My first conversation was unfortunately with a man, who having never been to the Haworth Gallery was adamant it should be sold and the money ‘put to good use.’ I asked what he would spend the money on, to which he replied,’ a new market floor,’ ( i later discovered that the floor he wanted to replace was the original stone flooring.) He insisted Accrington people agreed with his point of view……i was glad to find out he was wrong. Accrington community didn`t disappoint, and although there was some puzzlement as to what an artist was doing in their market, i heard from a lot of locals about how much they valued the Haworth. One local spoke about childhood visits there and described it as a ‘treasure.’