To give you a taste of the wide variety of gorgeous things that will be on offer tonight and over the weekend here are some photos from our December event.

p.s. the pictures were taken on the Friday evening and Sunday morning before we opened in case you are wondering where all the people are!

One more day to go until our May 2013 event and we can't wait to get into the Pugin Rooms, get set up and open the doors to visitors.  We have thirteen artist-makers taking part:
 
Carolyn Cameron - Fine Art
Fiona Read - Fine Art
Jacqueline Ford - Mixed media collage
Julia Haywood - Glass
Julie Rumsey - Print-maker
Kate Roche Liberman (Dulce Lusso Cakes) - Cakes
Lesley de Matos (Country Girl Corner) - Shabby chic fabric  creations
Lis England - Fine Art
Melanie Gow - iArtist
Nicola Bibby (BeeBeeCrafts) - Felt-making
Oenone Randall - Copper-wor and jewellery
Sarah Jane Lewis - Jewellery
Teresa Mills - Mosaic

Each artist-maker has a page under the 'About Us' tab - and most have a 'Meet and Greet' blog post from last year where you can learn some interesting and surprising things!

If you fancy making some noise and producing something lovely in copper as a result then this workshop with Oenone Randall is for you!  This workshop is suitable for children and adults.

When does this workshop run?  Two sessions will take place on Saturday 18 May: 11.00am to noon and in the afternoon from 2.00pm - 3.00pm.

What can I make in this workshop?    You can hammer words and patterns into a pre-cut copper shape to form a pretty hanging decoration - you can chose from a bird, butterfly, cup cake, house, or pear.  There are some photos at the end of this post to give you an idea and to spark your imagination!

Do I have to book?   No - just turn up.  If the table is busy when you arrive just wait until a place becomes free.  

How much does it cost:  £5 per shape.

How long will it take?  This depends on the level of decoration you want to add - putting a few words / motifs on a shape to decorate it takes 10 - 15 minutes max which gives yoou time to try one of the other three workshops that we are also running . . .

To learn more about Oenone Randall and see examples of her lovely copper work (and jewellery) take a look at her page on the 'About Us' tab and read her 'Meet and Greet' blog entry.

Teresa Mill's workshop is suitable for children and adults - come and have a play!

When does this workshop run? You can drop in and have a go at mosaic on Saturday 18 May from 10.00am to 5.30pm (we close at 6.00pm) and on Sunday 19 May from 2.00pm to 4.30pm (we close at 5.00pm). 

What you can do in this workshop? Cover a pre-cut wooden shape with 1cm mosaic tiles. You can chose from a heart, butterfly or elephant.  There will also be different options available in kit form to buy and take away if you catch the mosaic bug! 

Do I have to book?  No - just turn up. If the table is busy when you arrive just wait until a place becomes free.

Cost: £5 per shape

How long will it take? If you want to go for a random covering of mosaic tiles a shape can be completed in about half an hour - if you want to give a bit more thought to colour and placement of tiles then allow a bit more more time.  Why not try one of the other timed workshops that we have running too? 

To learn more about Teresa Mills and see some examples of her fabulous mosaic work do take a look at her page on the 'About Us' tab and read her 'Meet and Greet' blog entry.

Nicola Bibby's workshop is suitable for children and adults. 

When does the felt-making workshop run? Two sessions will take place on Saturday 18 May: 11.00am to noon and in the afternoon from 2.00pm - 3.00pm.

What you can do in this workshop? wet felting to make a 'soap pocket' - basically fusing fibres around a bar of soap that will act as a nice light exfoliator in the shower - when the soap runs out you are let with a little felt pocket that can be used for other things. These make a lovely scented gift too!

Do I have to book? No - just turn up. If the table is busy when you arrive just wait until a place becomes free.

Cost: £5 per 'soap pocket'

How long will it take? We suggest you allow 15 to 20 minutes to complete each 'pocket' - which gives you time to try one of the other three workshops that we are also running . . .

To find out more about Nicola Bibby and see some examples of her fabric and felt creations do take a look at her page on the 'About Us' tab and read her 'Meet and Greet' blog entry.

Julia Hayward's workshop is suitable for children and adults.

When does this workshop run?  Two sessions will take place on Saturday 18 May: 11.00am to noon and in the afternoon from 2.00pm - 3.00pm.

What can I make in this workshop?    You can either make a small hanging fused glass decoration (see photos at the end of this post for ideas) or a 10cm x 10cm fused glass coaster.  Please note that the glass work you produce in this workshop will need to be fused in Julia's kiln and so you will not be able to 'take your make' home with you at the end of the session.

Do I have to book?   No - just turn up.  If the table is busy when you arrive just wait until a place becomes free.  

How much does it cost?  £5 for each small hanging decoration and £10 for each coster. If you can not collect your fused works from Marlow there will be an additional charge to cover P&P.

How long will it take?  This depends on the level of decoration you want to add, but we recommend you give yourself 20 to 30 minutes for each piece - which gives you time to try one of the other three workshops that we are running . . .

How long will it take to get my glass decoration / coaster fused?  It will take 10 - 14 days to get completed work fused and posted out to you / ready to collect in Marlow.

To learn more about Julia Hayward and to see some more examples of her lovely glass work do take a look at her page on the 'About Us' tab and read her 'Meet and Greet' blog entry.

In today's 'meet and greet' we would like to introduce you to another new girl to our Collective - the talented fabric and felt artist Nicola Bibby.

Tell us a bit about you: I'm Nicola Bibby aka BeeBeeCrafts.  I used to be Head of Chemistry in a school in west London.  We moved to High Wycombe six years ago.  I have two boys, one in reception and one in year 2.  I have always made things and as the boys have got older I have gradually had more and more time to create and discover new techniques. 

Describe your style: I love playing with colour and texture

Tell us about your workspace: I used to make felt on the dining table but it got too fluffy! I have been encouraged to take over the spare bedroom to try to contain the fluff.  Now I have managed to get replace the bed with a big work table it’s a perfect studio.  My boys call it Mummy’s Felt Room.

What inspires you: The natural world, flowers, the changing seasons, butterfly wings, seeds and pods, bugs, rainbows, shells, birds

How and when did you get involved with Collective Art in Marlow: This is my first time with Collective Art in Marlow!  I met Oenone at Juniper Hill Art and Craft Show two years ago and recently she asked if I would be interested in joining and I jumped at the chance!

What is your favourite technique: I love all textiles but my favourite is making felt.  I experiment with lots of different mixed media techniques but I always seem to come back to felt.  It is so versatile, you can make it gossamer fine, like cobweb, or thick and durable enough to make slippers, or even mould it like clay into 3d shapes, and the colours available are so vibrant, and the textures you can create are so tactile….. (I could go on!!)
 
Apart from fabric art and felt making edia) do you have any other creative interests: I love gardening.  I am lucky enough to have a wonderful garden to lose myself in. 

Tell us about where else we can see your work: I have work on display at Emerald Gallery in Chalfont St Peter and I am a member of the Craft Coop in Maidenhead which has pop up shops in the town centre.  I am also showing at Art at St Dunstan’s this June for Bucks Open Studios.

Favourite film:  The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Anything with Robert Redford and Paul Newman!)

Pets:  I am trying to convince my husband that we ‘need’ a dog!

Favourite place to be:  Anywhere outside - My garden, the woods, by the seaside,

Person I'd most like to invite to dinner:  David Attenborough

Random fact about me:  I collect perfumes!  I love the huge variety of different and sometimes strange combinations of smells available and the bottles of some are little works of art.

With Trixie Flory's departure to pastures new and diary clashes for Katherine Thorn, Maria Tufft, Marilyn Pipe, Rhian Winslade and Sarah Ditchfield we have recruited two new chums to our Collective for our event in May.

In this post we would like to introduce to the first of our 'new girls' - the multi-talented Melanie Gow.

Describe yourself briefly:  First I’m mother to two boys who are growing up to be great men and may well turn out to be the best thing about me. Other than that I have lived my whole life as a creative, never far from a camera or a pen. But, I feel I have waited all these decades for the world to finally develop the perfect medium for me – I make original Artwork using digital apps as a creative photographer.

For me it’s like breathing, it’s how I respond to the world, whether I am inspired or I’m in pain, I spend my time as an artist trying to make a small part of it glow. 

Describe your style?  Forever trying to capture the moment or the metaphor that has meaning. I feel the image as I use a palette of Apps, usually taking several days to get the right mood, and then each one inspires a quote or I write a line of poetry.

Tell us about your workspace? On the road, on the run, on the phone, it’s the space I grab with myself that helps me connect with my thoughts and make sense of it all. It’s how I feel articulate.

How and when did you get involved with Collective Art in Marlow?  I met Julie Rumsey and Liz England through exhibiting at the Windsor Emporium; I’m surprised they’re able to still be artists as I bit their arms off for the chance to join this collective. It has been the most nurturing and welcoming experience.

What is your favourite technique? I really like using mixed media to create an image I then photograph and add into a layer on my images, or I like to add mixed media to the final prints – I like adding the real into the digital, but I also really like “colouring “an image for the emotion.

Apart from creative photography do you have any other creative interests?  I run a Community Interest Company that delivers cultural initiatives into the area to foster civic pride. It’s an enormous challenge, but I love coming up with an initiative that can touch the global community and have a real world event locally at the end of it.

Favourite film: That’s so hard, BC (Before Children) I was a film director and screenplay writer so I love films and watch around 5 a week still. But if I have to name one it’s “All That Jazz”, Directed by Bob Fosse.. a theatre director is dying and the whole film is a bizarre musical conversation with Death. I have always related.

 Pets: I had a cat for eighteen years, she was with me through college, there as I started on my career, moved in with me when I bought a house and saw both my sons born. I have not had a pet since.

 Favourite place to be: Wherever there is a chance to be in the present, sounds corny but those moments when you are not hurtling towards some deadline, appointment or end of a “to do” list are like the universe opening up endlessly. 

 Person I'd most like to invite to dinner: That’s too hard, a historical figure? My late father for one last conversation, or my eighty six year old self who would be wise of course? A great conversationalist, a conservationist, someone controversial or just Robert Downey Jnr as I am going to marry him, just as soon as he realises I exist? Option overload!

Random fact about me: Bragging rights, I had a book published and then took my sons on a road trip across America from LA to New York over 7 weeks, drove to the Grand Canyon in an RV had dinner there at sunset just for starters - absolutely life affirming.  Also, I don’t cook.