Over the years our Japanese textiles artist - Rob Jones of Romor Designs has educated and inspired our collective about the beautiful and ancient craft of Boro Mending.  Michele at Wyckoff Smith Jewellery has been to check out the Japanese Aesthetics of Recycling exhibition at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS. She loved it and says it is well worth a visit.

The exhibition "highlights the beauty of Japanese recycling, showcasing objects made of cotton, hemp, bast fibres, washi (handmade paper) and pottery.  

Exhibiting over 100 objects from the Karun Thakar Collection - mostly dating from the Edo period (江戸時代, Edo jidai) or Tokugawa period (徳川時代, Tokugawa jidai) - the exhibition includes exquisite examples of ‘Boro’ and ‘sakiori’ textiles, washi and kin-tsugi or gin-tsugi pottery."

The exhibition runs until 23 September. 

Held every year since 1769, the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy displays works in a variety of mediums and genres by emerging and established artists. We were very excited when we found out that two former members of Muswell Hill Creatives - Lito Apostolakou and Jo Angell - had been selected to exhibit this year.

MHC founder and original Sussex girl, Rachael spent a windswept afternoon visiting the excellent Barbara Hepworth Art & Life exhibition at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne.

This exhibition, which has garnered rave reviews....... displays some of Hepworth’s most celebrated sculptures including the modern abstract carving that launched her career in the 1920s and 1930s, her iconic strung sculptures of the 1940s and 1950s, and large-scale bronze and carved sculptures from later in her career.

Open until 3 September.

Our street photographer Barry Bottomley recommends the fantastic Soutine/Kossoff exhibition at Hastings Contemporary - "major figures of 20th century painting: one a master of the School of Paris, the other a master of the School of London."

United Nations World Bee Day is on Saturday 20 May and aims to raise awareness of how we can all make a difference to support, restore and enhance the role of pollinators.

We depend on bees and other pollinators for our existence. They play a vital role in agriculture and global ecosystems by maintaining our food supply and contributing to biodiversity and other ecosystem services. In many areas, bees, pollinators, and many other insects are declining in abundance and diversity.*       (Source United Nations)

Eternally Yours: Care, Repair & Healing
Somerset House, London
until 25 September 2022

Rob of Romor Designs and Michele of Wyckoff Smith Jewellery both recommend a visit to the Eternally Yours exhibition at Somerset House. Rob is an expert in Japanese repair and teaches these techniques in person and online. Michele has enjoyed practicising visible mending techniques over the last couple of years.
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Free Exhibition. More information here

Althea McNish: Colour is Mine
The William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 4PP
Until 11 September 2022

Our weaver Cecilia of By Cecil spent a morning recently at the William Morris Gallery seeing Althea McNish's work. She says of it "the colour and print work are exquisite and I thoroughly recommend a visit".
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Free admission. More information here.

Small is Beautiful in London - A Miniature Art Exhibition
79-85 Old Brompton Road, London 
Extended until 4 September 2022 due to popular demand!

Amy at The Idle Bindery says the Small is Beautiful exhibition is "excellent". MHC supporters Lynsey and Bethan have been and loved it too. 
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“Small is beautiful, Miniature Art” is the most important European exhibition to compile the work of 34 local & international miniature artists and present 143 miniature artworks to the general public. After the undisputed success of the #MiniatureArt phenomenon on social networks, the exhibition offers exclusive access to the magical and sometimes unusual worlds of some of the greatest artists in the movement."

Book via the website.

WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD: The World of ASMR
Design Museum, London
Until 16 October 2022

Ros at Papershades recommends the fun exhibition at the Design Museum about the sounds which make you feel a bit weird or really happy! Ros says "Apparently Bob Ross, artist, has a voice which has that ASMR whisper and the sound of brush on canvas is a sound which invokes great pleasure - well, I agree!".

Design Museum: "Millions around the world are part of an online community who experience ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response): a physical sensation of euphoria or deep calm, sometimes a tingling in the body, triggered through sound, touch, and movement.
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This is the first exhibition of its kind to lift the world of ASMR out from your screen and into physical space. Step into an acoustically tuned environment and understand how people are using new and existing tools and materials to navigate our complex world."

Tickets from £7.20. Online booking essential.

Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe
Modern Art, Oxford
Until 21 August 2022

Michele Wyckoff Smith describes this exhibition as "inspiring, majestic, iconic and powerful. Ruth Asawa overcame adversity and racism in her life, but continued to be true to herself and her art, all whilst raising a family."  

"Citizen of the Universe takes a unique look at the visionary artist, educator and activist Ruth Asawa (b. 1926, Norwalk, CA – d. 2013, San Francisco, CA). The exhibition features her signature hanging sculptures in looped and tied wire, and celebrates her holistic integration of art, education and community engagement through displaying prints, drawings, letters and photographs."

Free entry. More here.

Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts
The Wallace Collection, London
Until 16 October 2022

Amy of The Idle Bindery enjoyed visiting this exhibition which "displays American 20th-century hand-drawn animation alongside French 18th-century art to reveal the surprising and enchanting connections between these two artistic movements."

Book here

Cornelia Parker 
Tate Britain, London
Until 16 October 2022

MHC supporter Karen recommends a trip to the Tate Britain see the Cornelia Parker exhibition. She says there's something for everyone.

Tate Britain: "Cornelia Parker is one of Britain's best loved and most acclaimed contemporary artists. Always driven by curiosity, she reconfigures domestic objects to question our relationship with the world. Using transformation, playfulness and storytelling, she engages with important issues of our time, be it violence, ecology or human rights."  Book here.

And there's more....

Isabelle of Isabee: "I have visited The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy this year. I thought the exhibition was very well curated, with over 1400 works of art. It invited the viewer to look up, left, right and all around. I spent over two hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. I always find artists I have photographed in my early career, and that is great fun!" 

Amy's looking forward to visiting the Gold Exhibition at the British Library which features 50 spectacular manuscripts from around the world. On until 12 October. Book here.

Thanks to Mollie of Art With Mollie for spotting that Queer Britain, a new museum, has just opened in Granary Square, King's Cross. We Are Queer Britain - marks the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Pride March. It is a riot of voices, objects and images from the worlds of activism, art, culture and social history covering over 100 years of queer life.  More here.

Michele has her eye on The Rana Begum: Dappled Light exhibition at The Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery. The exhibition "presents a solo exhibition of work by artist Rana Begum RA, with striking works which explore the perception of light, colour and form and blur the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, design and painting." Open until 11 September 2022. More here.

Ros Freeborn is a paper collage artist based in Muswell Hill who uses all kinds of paper to create her art. She found a way to turn her work into a product - paper lampshades which come as a flatpack in an A4 envelope with five panels of special paper printed with the design she’s created and held together with two wheel-shaped supports. She sells the paper lampshades via her website www.papershades.co.uk and they cost just £30 including postage and packing.
 
During lockdown Ros was at home in her studio and, like everyone else, longing to visit places, see people and explore the world. So she decided to go travelling through her creativity. The result is a range of Papershades Places, paper lampshades which celebrate a wide variety of places in the United Kingdom. 

​Beach of Dreams is an epic journey to discover the hidden gems of the East Coast of England. It runs from 26 June - 1 August from Lowestoft to Tilbury. It invites collaboration from communities and artists along the way in Suffolk, Essex, Southend, and Thurrock. Kinetika’s Artistic Director, Ali Pretty, and Guardian journalist Kevin Rushby are walking the entire route, joined by artists, writers, scientists, and local residents. 

Together, guided by strong environmental themes and the challenges of our current time, they will consider the question “How can we creatively reimagine our future?”

The event is run by Kinetica is an internationally renowned company specialising in creating large-scale silks.

An installation of all 500 pennants will mark the beginning of the walk on 27 June, at sunrise on the beach at Lowestoft, during the First Light Summer Solstice. The route follows the coast, taking in stunning scenery, wild landscapes and seaside towns. Further installations and events take place along the way including Harwich Festival on 10 July and the finale at Tilbury Fort on 1 August.


Find out more about where you can visit the Beach of Dreams here

We're very excited to have three new creatives join our collective.

Sunbul Akhtar - Night Press

Sunbul runs Night Press from her home studio in Muswell Hill. Working in publishing in the day, Sunbul began printing as a creative after-work outlet before starting an online shop in 2019. Working exclusively with lino cut prints in a series of themes, Sunbul’s portfolio includes illustrated graphic novel posters, whimsical cityscapes, and prints on her Pakistani heritage.

Lino cut art involves carving a design onto a sheet of linoleum or wood, creating a negative space where the surface is carved. Using ink, an impression is made of the block. It is the earliest form of printing and allows the printmaker to reproduce artwork by hand.

​At Night Press, Sunbul produces all of her prints by hand, using traditional techniques such as hand burnishing her prints with a wooden tool.

Read more here

Hilary Masetti - Hilary Sketches

After a career in HR and then a break to bring up her boys, Hilary is excited to be able to follow her passion and focus on her artwork. She has always been a keen artist after selling her first watercolour piece of her schoolbag at the age of 15! More recently she has been drawn to urban sketching through her love of detail and the beauty of local architecture in Muswell Hill and the surrounding areas.

'The process starts for me when I explore and take photos of local buildings. I am spoilt for choice around here! I love recording the amazing detail in buildings we pass by every day but can easily overlook'.

Read more here

Isabelle Blondiau - Isabee

Isabelle Blondiau of Isabee makes beautiful handmade applique t-shirts featuring original designs for babies and children.

Isabelle studied photography in Belgium and came to London to learn English. She worked as a professional photographer for many years before switching her career to becoming a designer maker over 15 years ago.

Isabelle's range is all about colours, simplicity, fun and quality.  The organic and ethically made cottons are gentle and soft to the skin - perfect for little ones.

Read more here

To celebrate International Women's Day, members of Muswell Hill Creatives have come together to celebrate the brilliant women past and present who inspire their lives/their work. 

Laura Knight by Ros Freeborn, Papershades

Laura Knight was a very talented artist and one of the first female artists to study life painting amongst men at art school - a radical thing to do in 1913 when she created Self Portrait with Model. She shows herself painting a nude model, with the model in the background and the work on a canvas - a very clever set up involving mirrors. And it's an intriguing work to see close up with such variety of style and paint application.

​She moved to Cornwall with her husband and was a leading light of the Newlyn School. She depicted women at work in her paintings - especially during WW2 and she was commissioned to record the Nuremburg Trial in 1946, depicting the Nazi criminals in the dock. She never stopped working, right up until her death.

Patricia van den Akker, The Design Trust by
​Rob Jones, Romor Designs 

Patricia is a force of nature! She has a strong belief in what she does, supporting artists and makers in setting up and running their businesses. Her advice and support has been a critical factor in the success of my business and she specifically saved my bacon last year when she ran her 'How to teach online' classes in 2020 when lockdown had effectively closed my business.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by JC, Queenie Organics

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortzez worked her way up from a poor background with grassroots issues. Daughter of an immigrant in a mainly white male environment, she isn't afraid to speak truth to power.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye by Sue Copeland

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people - both familiar and mysterious. The colour she uses in her work is wonderful. 

Frida Kahlo by Jeremy Ornstin, Ceramic Justice

We visited her house in Mexico City. What struck me was her passion. Her indomitable spirit; channelling her suffering through her art and outlook, giving expression to raw experience. She confronted life full on. But I saw that, by rendering it in full colour, she embraced it too.

​What do I take from that? I suppose that in artistic terms, once you find a medium in which you feel you can express creativity, no matter how raw or untutored your skill's level, grab the opportunity. Don't compromise and don't get distracted by comparing yourself with others in your field, and keep focused on your passion.

Ruth Asawa by Michele Wyckoff Smith

Educated at Black Mountain College by Joseph Albers and Buckminster Fuller, Ruth Asawa developed a style of woven metal biomorphic forms that were both fragile and etherial, as well as commanding and monumental. Despite being born in America to Japanese parents, Asawa was none the less interned in a camp during World War II. Strangely, she has credited this difficult experience with the making of her as an artist.

​I remember a photo spread of a fountain commission she completed in San Francisco in the 1970s. My mother was so impressed by the piece, we eventually made a point of visiting it in person. The large  work resonated with my mother, and brought Asawa's creations to my attention.

Great Aunt Nell by Jenny Freebury,
​Crouch End Candles

My Great Great Great Grandfather was a door keeper at Eton School in the early 20th Century and died suddenly leaving his wife to bring up a family of 4 girls. She started to take in the washing and mending and established a wash-house serving the Eton School boys and surrounding gentry. My Great Great Aunt Nell was one of her daughters and took on the business after her beau died in the Boer War.

​She never married, but expanded the business into one of the biggest Wash houses in the area. She was a strong woman in a world where most businesses were run by men. Every Friday my Great Aunt Nell would pay her staff, drop the takings at the bank and then make her way to the Grapes Hotel in Slough, walk through the 'men only' door to the tap room, with its sawdust covered floor and order herself a large whisky. She would drink it with her head held high - "respected as one of the men". Her reputation was tough but fair, and she always had bags of penny sweets in her pockets for the local children.

Judy Murray by Steph Rubbo Saddlery & Leather Work

I think this quote of hers in The Scotsman of 28 Nov 2020 sums it up “I never saw obstacles as barriers that stopped you, I saw them as things that you had to find a way over or under or round because I’ve never let anyone stop me. I’m one of those people that if you tell me I can’t do something, I will go out of my way to prove you wrong and that’s been the story of my life.”

She is well known for her involvement in tennis, not just training Andy and Jamie, but she has done so much more for the grass roots of the game, through to the LTA. She also does a lot to highlight the back stories of what women in sport have to do to be successful. She also picked Oti and Bill to win Strictly.

Catherine Hough by Samantha Sweet

Catherine was one of my tutors on my BA Hons degree in 3 Dimensional Design. She was the first person to emphasise that glass could be a sculptural material. I was very grateful when she took me on as an apprentice in her London studio where I worked there for 8 years learning production glass blowing, cold working and the business of running a glass studio.

​For all the time I have known Catherine she has been incredibly dedicated to working with glass to the highest standards technically while pushing the boundaries with her own, distinctive style.

Anni Albers by Cecilia Child, By Cecil

Anni Albers is a name that looms large in the weaving world. And while I love her woven pieces, it is her sketchbook work that I find particularly interesting. She was so playful with her design work and continuously found new ways to make marks and incorporate new materials into her work.

​Weaving and textiles have traditionally been viewed as women's work and therefore not as worthy of attention. To see the craft elevated to an art form at the Tate retrospective in 2018 felt like the beginning of a long-denied recognition.

Philippa Perry by Rachael Booth-Clibborn, Founder, Muswell Hill Creatives
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I come from an artistic background on my father's side. My great Aunt was artist and writer Nina Hamnett who was known as the Queen of Bloomsbury. My grandfather was an artist, my uncle is an arts publisher and my cousin an art dealer and publisher representing artists including Grayson Perry and Damian Hirst.

A love of art is definitely in my genes but I've stayed on the sidelines as more of a cheerleader. After dabbling a bit after I left school, I only really picked up a paintbrush again last year after being inspired to do so by Philippa Perry on the C4 Art Club show she shares with her husband Grayson. Her positive approach to life and great empathy have inspired me to feel braver about just giving painting another go and even sharing what I've created over the last year. I've been reminded just how good it is for the soul and it has helped put all the worries of the pandemic to one side for periods of time. I'm a bit haphazard when it comes to art & craft and when Philippa said the other night on the show "Oh dear, I've just sewn my skin into my embroidery" I realised we are definitely kindred spirits! 

Love in the time of a pandemic.... Love in a cold climate..... we value our friendships and relationships so much right now even when we can't celebrate Valentine's or Galentine's in the ways we might normally.  But, we can still show our love by buying a gift.  Whether for a loved one or just for a bit of self-love, we've put together some gift ideas with local delivery/pick up options to make life easier especially during this cold snap!