Slow down, breathe and break glass

Also known as mindfulness whilst being creative

I think it’s well acknowledged that being creative is good for us, takes the mind off the ‘to do’ list and a respite from the little lemon that life throws at us. It is a chance to engage outside our normal day to day tasks, in a vibrant, tactile way using our hands, transforming glass into art pieces.

I have been running workshops and teaching stained glass, copper foiling and now fused glass, for many years. What I have found is the journey of learning to make stained glass is not always about the obvious, but an array of different reasons for people.

One women who comes to the Wednesday morning course, has said ‘it’s her therapy’, and to be fair, we have a good laugh, and non-judgemental positive encouragement, recognizing ‘our wins’ is important. Meeting new people, fostering community in a creative slightly structured setting, learning a new skill, personal growth and confidence, whilst playing with beautiful glass, is hard to beat for the feel good factor.

With this in mind I have two new workshops which hopefully cater to peoples available time.

Both are fun, creative and can give a bit of a buzz.

Explore the workshops and courses, and feel free to contact me with any questions. Stained glass and copper foiling require various hand tools and involve standing at a bench to cut glass and lead. Creating fused glass can be accomplished while seated, provided that minimal cutting is involved.

Exhibition – Museum of Journeys in a Chest of Drawers.

A Museum of Journeys in a Chest of Drawers – Looking Beyond the Stereotypes.

Some of you may have heard me talk about the community art work I do and in particular the above project I have been working on with artist Rachel Ramchurn. Excitingly the exhibition opens next week Saturday!

Preview 12pm -3.30pm Saturday 29th February. Hosted by Arc centre and inside the Hatworks Museum Wellington Mill, Wellington Rd South, Stockport SK3 0EU

A participative and interactive art project, including stories and artworks from participants at Arc Stockport and Global Sistaz United Nottingham.

“Look inside the chest of drawers and discover stories from two seemingly different groups of people. Will you recognise yourself in the stories told?”

This exhibition hopes to share the stories of what unites us as humans during a time of political, social and cultural divide.

Share your story at the end with our poem-making machine. Do any of the words resonate with you?

It will be lovely to see some of you there. The exhibition preview is running alongside Arc’s Saturday Family art club 11.30am -4pm.

Below is a sneak preview and some of the art works in progress.

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Continues to show Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 10am – 4pm until 17th April 2020.

Commemorative Window – Rolls Crescent Primary School

Primary School participative stained glass project

May – July 2016

I was commissioned to design a window to celebrate the live of a beloved teaching assistant who had been at the school for a long time and was particularly close to the year 6 pupils.

I came into school and worked with the children in year six to help them think about how they wanted to celebrate and remember their teacher visually within a stained glass window. I also gave them some understanding of how a stained glass window is constructed and brought in examples. We then over two session came up with design ideas, which I worked up into two designs, and the children chose one. Whilst I made the window I sent regular picture updates to show the process to the class.

Below is the finished window and some of the process, which is in a quiet open plan area and overlooks the schools main hall.

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