Design and make a beautiful mosaic at this exciting day school for adults, taking place at the Corinium Museum, Cirencester, on Tuesday 30th October.

Using the stunning Roman mosaics at the Museum as their inspiration, participants will make their own unique mosaic with the help of tutor, local artist Debbie Stirling. Over the course of the day they will learn how to cut and fix ceramic tiles in order to create a simple Roman style panel, of their own design, to take home.

The finished mosaic could form a garden feature, decorate the wall of a favourite room, or even be given as a Christmas present.

The day school will run from 10am – 4pm and tickets cost £35 per person, including materials and tea or coffee. Lunch is not included.Â

Booking is essential. For more details, to book a place, or to find out about other events taking place at the Museum, please call 01285 655611 or email: museums@cotswold.gov.ukÂ

For more information contact:
Helen Arbon on 01285 655611
Corinium Museum, Park Street, Cirencester. Glos. GL7 2BX

Tags: cirencester | museum | crafts

Sunday 19^th August – Sunday 7^th October

The Where I Fell in Love Gallery is holding its next exhibition titled “The French Connection” featuring paintings by Denis Blondel & Martial Molitor, ceramics by

Armel Hede, Mathieu Casseau, Marie-Pierre Meheust, Marc Uzan, Florence Bruyas, Eduordo Constantino, Sophie Pavot, Christian Toublanc, Christina Guwang, Herve Rousseau, Isabelle Pammachius, Francoise Dufayard.

Wood by Marc Ricourt and Glass by Olivier Mallemouche

The last Cup and Saucer exhibition ran from the 14th to the 31st July and proved incredibly popular with 265 entry from over 20 countries. All unsold pieces from this exhibition are being released to charity. All profits will go to Leukaemia Research.

The Where I Fell In Love Gallery is located in The Shambles, Market Place, Shipston-on-Stour.

http://www.whereifellinlovegallery.com

Tags: charity | places | crafts

Until 31st July - The Cup and Saucer Exhibition - Where I fell in Love Gallery Shipston on Stour

Bruno Dauvin has invited potters and ceramists from around the world to send him one cup and saucer to create the biggest ever exhibition in the world. The cup and saucer must be hand-made from clay - not mass produced- and the piece does not have to functional.

So far he has on display and for sale 262 cups and saucers of all shapes, colours and sizes and from around the world.

Visitors to the exhibition can register (as well as buy) their favourite cup and saucer and the one with the highest vote will be awarded the “Where I fell in Love Gallery Best Cup and Saucer 2007 Award” and a cheque for £500.

The range of designs, styles and colours is amazing. Go and see for yourself.

www.whereifellinlovegallery.com

Where I Fell In Love Gallery
The Shambles
Market Place
Shipston on Stour
Warwickshire
CV36 4AG

Opening Hours Monday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00

The premises on the Shambles was being run by Bruno as La Blainvillaise French restaurant when Fiona Hufton walked into Bruno’s life. She was working in an art gallery nearby and walked into the restaurant. He tried to impress her with his French culinary ary and his joie de vivre. It was here that they fell in love. They decided to close the restaurant and to create somewhere where their love of art, relaxed social atmosphere and passion for creativity would flourish.

The gallery opened it’s doors on Sunday 24th October 2004.

Tags: crafts | places

Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July will see the 19th Cotswold Show take place at Cirencester Park.

This year’s show will feature displays from groups such as the Royal Corps of Signals White Helmets Motorcycle Display Team and the Cheshire Dog Display Team. Other entertainment will include falconry, horse whispering and celebrity otters.

The food village will include produce from all over the UK with stalls, cookery demonstrations and a farmer’s market.

The event will also include a Rural Craft Village with hands on demonstrations of dry-stone walling, bee-keeping, hurdle making, broom making, rope making and saddle making. Children will be able to make their own beeswax candles or corn dolly to take home.

Cirencester Park is approximately one mile outside Cirencester town centre, past Cirencester College & Deer Park School, before the Agricultural College on the A419 Stroud Road.

Tickets at the gate cost £7 for adults and £2 for Children 3-14.

Update 13th July

Tim Relf’s rural life blog has an interesting article about an event at the Cotswold Show where visitors turned valuers to guess guessing the value of a country cottage, some farm machinery and an antique item.

Tags: festivals | cirencester | food | crafts

The Gallery at The Guild, Chipping Campden

Campden, is well known as the home of C. R. Ashbee’s world renowned Guild of Handicraft which occupied the Guild workshops from 1902 to 1908. Indeed, the Guild is still represented at the property through Hart’s goldsmiths and silversmiths. Attracted by the history of the building and Campden’s excellent reputation throughout the arts and crafts movement, a new cooperative of more than a dozen artists and artisans moved into the Guild workshops in 2005, bringing a variety of contemporary and traditional craftspeople together.

There are parallels between the new cooperative and Ashbee’s original guild. Some of the cooperative’s members have given up urban life and fast moving careers to focus on quality of life by moving to the countryside with their families and devoting their time to work which they truly enjoy. As in Ashbee’s day, all of the cooperative’s members face competition from mass produced items but in an age where consumers are faced with more choice than ever before, there seems to be a distinct trend towards bespoke, hand crafted items. Whether it be one original piece of art for that large space over the fireplace, a single cabinet or a hand made kitchen to last a lifetime, consumers are becoming more discerning, perhaps recognising that there is always a price-quality trade off.

The Gallery @ the Guild is a cooperative of twenty two artists, calligraphers, ceramicists, designers, furniture makers, photographers, sculptors and textile artists. The cooperative aims to promote its members’ work and to provide the public with an opportunity to meet its members, each of whom takes a turn at stewarding the cooperative’s various exhibitions. Each exhibition includes a variety of disciplines so that there is something for everyone. The gallery also sells small gifts, hand made cards and limited edition prints to suit every budget.

Also in the same building are Hart’s goldsmiths and silversmiths, Caroline Richardson jewellery and Goody Lou’s shoes, bespoke shoe dying and embellishment workshop.

Tuesday, 29th may to Sunday 24th June
“Finesse”
Liz Allchin, Kate Barry, Emma Clegg, Mary Day, Jeremy Green

Thursday, 28th June to Sunday, 29th July
“Creme de la Creme”

The Gallery @ the Guild, the Guild craft workshops, Sheep Street, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6DS. www.thegalleryattheguild.co.uk

Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday 10am till 5pm. Closed on Mondays except bank holidays.

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. included with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: chipping campden | crafts

Opening of Court Barn Museum

Saturday 28th July The Museum opens it’s doors for the first timeÂ

Housed in a 17th century historic barn, but using the very latest display methods, Court Barn Museum celebrates and records the story of the Arts and Crafts movement and its legacy in Chipping Campden. A story of how a small North Cotswold town became a centre for designers and craftpeople of national and international reputation.

Some of these people who chose to live and work in the North Cotswolds are:-

C R Ashbee - who moved his craft workshops, the Guild of Handicraft, from the East End of London to Chipping Campden in 1902.

Gordon Russell - who made furniture in Broadway and became a Director of the Design Council.

Michael Cardew - who started Winchcombe Pottery in 1926.

Robert Welch - a silversmith and industrial designer who worked in Chipping Campden all his life.

The museum will have a permanent exhibition of silver, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, industrial design, bookbinding, printing and stained glass plus exhibits lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

The Museum has been created by a group of local enthusiasts and the Guild of Handicraft Trust working with skilled professionals. It cost £1.3 million, of which two thirds came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the rest from grant-giving trusts and individuals in the UK and the United States.

The Museum will be open 10.30am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Saturday and 11.30am to 5.30pm on Sundays. The Museum will be closed on Mondays.

Admission will be £3.75 with children under 16 free.Â

Little Gidding B&B is only 2 miles away from Court Barn Museum so come and stay with us and experience this new, stylish and ground breaking exhibition as well as visiting all the craftspeople who are still designing and creating in the North Cotswolds.

Tags: chipping campden | crafts

The Guild craft workshops and exhibition room, Sheep Street, Chipping Campden.
www.thegalleryattheguild.co.uk

Open 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Monday except bank holidays.

Contemporary and traditional arts and crafts from twenty-two prominent local artists and craftspeople as well as a showcase for new talent.

Exhibition of ceramics, fine art and furniture…

Tuesday, 1st May to Sunday 27th May - an exhibition of ceramics, fine art and furniture by David W. Birch, Jeremy Green, Waldo Nunwick, Alice Shepherd.

Tags: crafts | chipping campden