Recent comments about my book!

Beware free range artists ….

… so said a sign alongside the Artists’ Quarter at the Big Saturday event of the Taunton Live Arts Festival 2018, where I was privileged to be able to stage a drop-in quilling workshop for a steady stream of  keen participants.

I  was kept busy all day long helping children and adults alike learn the basics of quilling, alongside a talented ‘free range’ creative team of painters, print-makers, glass fusers and a sculptor.

It was great, and my most cherished moment occurred when I witnessed a young girl successfully explaining the quilling process to her brother using EXACTLY the same steps that I had taught her earlier!

Here are some pictures of the event, kindly shared with me by fellow creatives Mark Adkins, Anthony White and Adam Grose:

I’m delighted to say that my ‘Adopt An Artist’ placements at the Festival have been a great success too. My new ‘Insignia’ series of quilled collage pictures have been well received in St Mary Magdalene church, while my quilled jewellery has actually been selling well in Taunton’s Polkadot Jewellery Gallery.

The opportunities that Taunton Live has brought me are absolutely fantastic, and I am so grateful to the organisers Jenny Keogh and Liz Hutchin for enabling me to get involved.

The Art Of Storytelling

In my last post, I reported on the video interview that was filmed by documentary-maker Owen Nutkins featuring me and my quilling, during my recent residency in Taunton.

The finished documentary containing this footage has now been released and you can view it here:

 

Its title, ‘The Art Of Storytelling’, reflects the content of the video which examines ways in which a group of different artists – myself included – endeavour to tell stories through their art.

It was a privilege for me to be involved in this project, and it was great to have the opportunity to speak publicly about quilling in a way that may, hopefully, help to bring it to the attention of a wider audience.  The other participants represent a wide variety of artistic genres, and so we all had very different ideas to contribute.  Storytelling through art is certainly a very interesting topic to explore.

I have managed to collect a few ‘screen grabs’ from the video, and am posting them here because they provide an excellent record of the exciting two weeks that I spent in Taunton.  Here they are:

The interview at Hestercombe with an inset photo of me teaching quilling

 

Quilling at Hestercombe in a biting easterly wind!

 

Quilling outdoors on your lap is certainly not easy!

 

At work quilling during my residency at CICCIC

 

Quilling a new design using pins on a board

 

A selection of my quilled pictures on the gallery wall at CICCIC during a meeting of the local Creatives Club

 

All these moments have taken on a somewhat dream-like quality for me now, but fortunately it will not be long before I am back in Taunton once again to play my part during the forthcoming Taunton Live Arts Festival 2018, whose organisers – Jenny Keogh and Liz Hutchin – are also featured in the documentary.

I hope to have plenty more news from my activities in Taunton before too long.

 

 

What’s my story?

I have just returned from a memorable two week stay in Taunton, Somerset, where I had the privilege of being ‘Artist in Residence’ at the vibrant Creative Innovation Centre gallery in the town centre. It was a wonderful opportunity to get a lot of quilling done and talk to visitors whilst doing it …and I also offered workshops at which visitors could come and learn the basics of paper filigree art. A rewarding experience indeed!

At the beginning of my stay, I was interviewed on camera by a local film maker, Owen Nutkins, who is making a documentary entitled ‘The Art of Storytelling’. The focus of Owen’s film is to be an investigation into different ways in which artists tell stories through their creations using many different types of media, and it was a great pleasure for me to talk to him in this context about me and my quilling.

The interview took place in the beautiful surroundings of Hestercombe Gardens, and you can see a complete uncut version of it here:

Owen is going to select some of what I said and include it alongside other artists’ comments in his documentary, which will form part of a wider initiative called ‘What’s Your Story?’ on a website of the same name.  I hope you’ll agree with me that this is an exciting collaboration, and a great opportunity to spread the word about quilling as an art form.

I was filmed at work in the gallery, too, and it is possible that this footage may also be included in the documentary, along with various still photographs which Owen took.  I will publish further links as and when they become available.  Meanwhile, here are some other photos of my space in the gallery taken during a memorable two-week stay:

My quilled pictures can be seen displayed on the far left.

Some happy workshop customers:

One of the best things about the residency was that I got LOADS of quilling done! I took the opportunity to start work on a new project for a very special purpose: I’m creating an abstract piece which is going to appear on the front cover of a book that I have recently been commissioned to write – a comprehensive practical textbook on quilling techniques.  If all goes to plan, the book should be published and available for purchase early in 2020 or maybe even sooner … watch this space! As you can imagine, I am very excited indeed about this new challenge, and will publish updates on my blog as the work progresses.

 

It’s all happening in Taunton!

There are now just six weeks to go until the Taunton Live Arts Festival 2016, and from my point of view things are really starting to come together!

Last week I received confirmation that permission has been granted for my exhibition of quilled collage pictures in St Mary Magdalene church to go ahead, and so now I am busy sourcing the necessary display stands and designing the flyer leaflets that will accompany the pieces. I have written before about the breathtaking beauty and atmosphere of this wonderful church – see this previous post – and I cannot tell you how privileged I feel to be able to display some of my work in the very place that has inspired several of my quilled tracery patterns. Although I have now completed the six pieces that will be on show (from 18th July – 6th August), my brain is buzzing with more ideas after visiting the church again last week – hopefully I will find some time to explore some of them in the weeks ahead.

Just as the exhibition had been confirmed, I also received word from Taunton Library that the poster for my pre-bookable quilling workshop on 22nd July 2016 is now ready – here it is:

I have limited the places at this workshop to a maximum of 10 so that I can give each of the participants plenty of individual attention. If there is sufficient interest, however, I have agreed to stage a second workshop at a later date, so that anyone who misses out on this one will not be disappointed. Watch this space!

Now I am just waiting to confirm the details of the drop-in ‘make and take’ workshop that I will be running in the Orchard Shopping Centre, Taunton, on Thursday 21st July 2016. Hopefully there will soon be a poster available for that event too.

During my visit last week, I also delivered the two quilled festival logos that I had made at the organisers’ request, and I was delighted to learn that these are to be awarded as prizes to people who produce outstanding creative work after attending one of the many workshops included in the festival programme – what an honour!

I cannot describe how much it means to me to be so deeply involved in a festival of the arts in the place that I love beyond all others. One day I hope to be able to make my home in the Taunton area once again, but until then this is unquestionably the next best thing!!

 

It’s all here!

I’ve been interviewed!!  Everything you might ever have wanted to know about my quilling life (and probably plenty more besides!) is here on Jennifer Grier’s Paper Spiral blog:  http://paperspiral.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/artist-interview-philippa-reid.html

Musings of a magazine editor

Such is the power of social media that I seem to be picking up new ‘Followers’ of my blog and ‘Likers’ of my Facebook page at an amazing rate, despite the fact that I haven’t actually published any new material on either of them for ages! Suffice to say that life, death and family matters have conspired to divert me from playing a particularly active role in the world of quilling over the past couple of months … and all this has unfortunately kept Quilliance very quiet indeed.

So, finally, I am ready to break the silence and re-connect with all my wonderful online friends again. But, do you know what? The truth is, I’ve gone and done it again! Yes, folks, I’ve embarked on another huge new quilling project that I can’t actually blog about yet because it’s destined for entry into this year’s Quilling Guild competitions, and must therefore remain under wraps. D’oh!! Being the glutton for punishment that I am, it’s a complicated piece which is going to include well in excess of 1,500 tight pegs – some plain, some multi-coloured and ALL of them finger-rolled without holes in the middle! I must be mad!

I AM going to try and develop a few more new quilling ideas alongside this project, however, so hopefully I will be able to produce enough new interesting posts to justify my followers’ continuing interest in me.

Meanwhile, I can tell you that I’m also getting busy again preparing features for ‘Quillers Today’, The Quilling Guild‘s exclusive members’ magazine. I’m SO excited about the forthcoming Spring edition! One of the best things about being a magazine editor is that you never know quite what the next email or postal delivery is going to bring – and I’ve received some amazing material from members in recent weeks, including some breathtaking examples of antique quilling that, as far as I know, have never been seen in public before! The filigree work created by 16th and 17th Century Carmelite nuns is already well documented in quilling history, but did you know that the tradition of quilling in Carmelite monasteries continues to this day? Well, neither did I until I learned of it recently from some newly-recruited members of The Quilling Guild … and what I’ve discovered is going to make a fabulous feature in the magazine! If you don’t want to miss it, simply join us as a Member of The Quilling Guild. The next magazine is due to be published in early Spring.

Another source of excitement is the fact that I’ve just been asked to stage a workshop for a very enthusiastic young quiller’s 9th birthday party next month – that should be a lovely, if chaotic, experience! I’ll let you know how I get on.

Well, there you go – I’ve broken my silence at last. And I really will try not to leave it so long next time!

Happy new year everyone!
Philippa

A new beginning

It’s FINISHED!!!! The huge quilling project that I’ve been working on for the past 7 months is finally complete! I will not be able to post anything publicly about it for quite a while yet, but at least now I’ll be able to start working on some new ideas and get back to regular blogging once again. Having used up the photo storage allowance on my original Quilliance blog, I’m very excited to be starting afresh here, and can’t wait to resume sharing ideas with all my online friends. It may be a cliche, but today really does feel like the first day of the rest of my life!!