Open Studios, Inspiration and Collaborations

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Hello,

And welcome once again to my monthly snapshot of what is coming up and what has been going on.

I hope you have been enjoying the Summer and will be able to make it to one of my up and coming events, it would be lovely to see you. Please get in touch if you have any thoughts or want to collaborate; I am so excited about developing connections with friends and fellow creatives. This is turning out to be the most transformative year!

I look forward to seeing you soon,
Paula

1 OPEN STUDIOS - It's this month!
2 INSPIRATION - Biennale and books
3 CREATIVE COMMUNITY - Thriving from connecting
4 STUDIO - Work in Progress
5 TRAINING - Partnerships
6 BLOG - Going live in September

Photo: Open Garden and Studio in Queens Park, 2018

1 OPEN STUDIOS

Whetstone / St Albans / East Barnet
Private View of Barnet Artist: Friday 6^th September, Compass Residential, Whetstone - 18:30 - 21:30
Launch Weekend at St Albans - 7^th - 8^th September
Weekends at my studio in East Barnet: 14^th- 15^th and 28^th- 29^th September

Herts Open Studio is in September, a fantastic county-wide event organised by Herts Visual Arts (HVA), this is my third year, and I’m looking forward to it!

We have a great local community of Barnet Artists, there are 6 locations to choose from in Barnet with 13 artists. The one weekend we are all open is 14^th-15^th September, so that weekend you could get to see us all. June Faulkner will be hosting scarf painting if you want to get involved and John Brown is a stone sculptor who has lectured and sold his work worldwide, he lives in one of the oldest houses in Barnet. Julia Elmore is the closest Barnet Artist to my Studio with her nature-inspired painting and is my good friend having met at Open Studios 2 years ago. The Launch weekend is in St Albans where I have a solo show at the Nude Tin Can Gallery for the Saturday and on Sunday I will be in the HVA group show at the St Albans Museum.

The additional joy of visiting St Albans this weekend is that it is the last weekend of the fabulous Barbara Hepworth Exhibition at St Albans Museum. So on Sunday, I will be exhibiting under the same roof as one of my sculpting idols. Please see my social media and blog for more updates.

Photo: Last year's open studio with Liz Purkis - Temple Avenue Arts, 2018

2 INSPIRATION
Last month I listed my two favourite podcasts, I enjoy podcasts, but I’ve also been getting lost in books this month too.

The Artist’s Way - Julia Cameron
So far, I’m doing morning pages and artists dates, the two key components. Morning pages are three pages of longhand every morning, dumping the nonsense from your head, this is tough to get done, but I’m finding it is making a difference. Have you followed the Artist’s Way? Or are you interested in a study buddy? Julia does recommend joining forces on this, let me know if you’d like to buddy up!

For my artist date last week I went to see Opal Seabrook in Stourbridge for the Great British Glass Biennial. It was inspiring to see a world different to the one I am used to, and the quality of work was incredible. It also showed me the power of social media as Opal was connecting with so many artists that she followed on Instagram and was finally meeting in person.

Photo: A view of the show at the Great British Glass Biennale

3 CREATIVE COMMUNITY
I have my own studio and don’t share it because of the unsociable nature of my work: grinding, welding, polishing, which is all noisy and dirty. But I have found it very isolating, and over the last year, I have been connecting with many artists, and it’s making all the difference.

Artist Mentoring Group
Set up with two good friends, one an illustrator and the other a poet, we have just started weekly video calls to help motivate ourselves and keep our ideas fresh and alive. Three sessions in and we are already feeling the benefits.

#BarnetArtists
This group started last year in the run-up to Open Studios with HVA artists in Barnet. We meet once a month in each other's homes and discuss up and coming events and our creative practices. I feel so much more a sense of belonging from doing this. It’s so good to find your tribe. I will be doing a blog post about Creative Community at the end of September.

6 More
6 More is a fantastic group of 6 HVA artists. From connecting last year at the Big Art Fair in Hitching, Judith Moule suggested we got together to meet up every six weeks, and it has been amazing! We are doing our first group exhibition in Harpenden in October - more details on my next newsletter!

Photo: 6 more's August meeting

4 STUDIO
Work in progress: On my bench right now is some new work for the Open Studios, I've so many ideas, and it's so close now. If you're visiting you will be able to see finished pieces on display, works in progress on my bench and some of the metal I have accumulated over the past 30 years. My next priority is a new collection for Alon Zakaim Fine Art as two of the three pieces sold at the Godinton Show. Also, I have an exciting new commission that I can tell you about in the December newsletter!

Photo: Work in progress - currently on my bench

5 TRAINING
I’m currently studying in a training programme with best-selling author Daniel Priestley’s organisation, Dent. This programme is providing me with a stronger business vision and mentorship, and this month’s training session with Julia Langkraehl and was focused on Partnerships. I love partnerships and developed many over the past 11 years, and this training has given me a more definite structure on how to develop these relationships in a better way. I’ll cover some more of my learning in future blog posts.

Photo: Julia Langkraehl, during the Partnership Training

6 BLOG

I will be launching my new blog through September, with one post a week, I will see how that goes and review the frequency from there!

Visit the blog on my website.

First topic: Barbara Hepworth - St Ives and St Albans

Photo: Barbara Hepworth's studio garden, St Ives

*** While in St Albans visiting my Open Studio Launch there is a tiny Barbara Hepworth exhibition that is well worth a visit:

Barbara Hepworth:
Artist in Society 1948-53
At The St. Albans Museum

This exhibition is currently running and closes on 8 September.
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: 11am - 5pm

Photo: From my visit to the exhibition!

On my website, you can go to the Sculpture Shop for available work or you can see details on how to commission a bespoke sculpture too!

If you like social media I use Instagram or Facebook the most, love to see you there: