'Art', (and a bit of sewing)



I did an art degree a few years ago, but I'm always more comfortable calling myself a craftsperson. Part of me would like to have the confidence to say that some of what I do is art, or should that be 'Art'. People tell me I'm 'creative', which always feels slightly closer to the 'Art' thing.
For several years I've been involved with West Town Farm near Exeter. It's a working farm that produces beef and pork. On the farm are the offices of Organic Arts which promotes the arts and rural issues. I help out on open days, teach book workshops, show school children round the farm and help with playdays and playgroup visits in other locations, some paid, some unpaid.
Organic Arts takes part in the Devon Open Studios event each year, and artists are invited to exhibit at the farm. Last year I bottled out and just made some nice farm related books and displayed them, staying safely in the 'craft' zone. This year the theme is growth, and I'm doing something more wacky, that I'm going to have to call 'Art' even though it will only fit into what people think of as art if they've been to art college because it's not conventional painting or sculpture. So, having made all my excuses I'll show you some pictures of the 'Art' in progress.
It's based around the ideas of patchwork, as a symbol of the patchwork of our lives, patchworks of fields, gardens, lah de dah and all that lovely artspeak stuff...

................a patchwork garden and some patchwork flowers

my choice of site at the farm

digging

and sowing

bags of soil and compost

the start of my patchwork garden

the start of my patchwork flowers