Since the beginning of the Exhibition / Open Studio on the 4th June there seem to have been streams of people visiting, workshops being run and new contacts being made. There have been lots of local visitors, many of them asking for workshops (so I have programmed some more in), teachers asking if their schools can be involved in some way and just people wanting to have a look at the artist in her natural habitat. So one of the requirements of the residency, that it brings people to St George's Church seems to be being fulfilled. I have really enjoyed the whole process too.
There have been some visitors from further afield. One of whom was fellow blogger Roz Cran who dropped in on a papermaking workshop enroute to a cousin's house. We were looking at basic papermaking techniques and then embossing paper with words from flagstones around the church. Roz left me with two enigmatic scraps, one labeled 'Hope' and the other 'Sorrow'. I think one of her aims had been to talk about how a residency works in the context of a church but things were too busy to have much of a discussion. Another time maybe.
Other visitors from Brighton were Amy Turton and Edith Eyo from Arts Council SE who braved the wilds of Esher. It was good to actually meet them in the flesh as it were. It will make me feel much more in real communication when I send off my next update or evaluation. Bettina Linstrum my wonderful mentor from Arts Agenda also came up to give me some very sensible advice which so far I have been far too busy to put into action!
There have been four workshops apart from the one Roz attended and each in their own way has been a really good experience for me. I hope everyone who came along enjoyed them as much as I did. They were such a lovely bunch of people. Or 'bunches' I suppose and I am very glad to have spent time with them. Some lovely work too. Each person who comes to a workshop leaves me a page or more for a 'book' which is growing fairly fast at present.
