Arts and crafts
Phig Billy here. I don’t know how many of you had the chance to visit the Arts and Crafts Fair in the Cathedral Close in Exeter on Friday or Saturday, but I thought you might like a round-up of some of the more eye-catching stalls and their holders.
Kate Bailey’s Dandelion
Like I said in my previous post, I was immensely impressed with the number of entertainers and the variety of goods on show. Professor Rob Burnett’s Punch and Judy show was a a good laugh (did you know? “professor” is the official title always taken by Punch and Judy performers), there was children’s face-painting, people on stilts, Morris Dancers, African dancers and bagpipe players. In terms of the stalls which I particularly enjoyed, as a photographer and graphic artist I’m afraid my selection is rather weighted towards the two-dimensional image side of things, but… what are you going to do?
Paul Jenner was a charming young photographer from North Devon with an impressive goatee. Furthermore, his photos were absolutely gorgeous: a selection of stunning images with beautiful colours, high quality digital prints on canvas ready to hang on your walls. I’m telling you, if I had enough money… or any walls for that matter… I would’ve snapped one up in a flash. He prints, stretches and hand finishes all his canvases himself and, under his print shop Blue Pine Design, offers this service at very reasonable rates to other digital photographers and artists.
John Howell’s Tawny Owl
John Howells‘ stall was another eye-catcher. He specialises in wildlife photography and his images of birds of prey were particularly impressive. He is also apparently a member of the Wolfshead Bowmen!
Whilst I’m on the subject of photographers, my favourite single photo that I saw at the fair belonged to Kate Bailey, a Crediton-based photographer who, by her own admission, wore hippie teacher shoes. Check out this dandelion (top), isn’t it gorgeous? She had a massive print done on canvas and it looked fantastic. Also, something I thought was a very good idea: she had her photos printed onto coasters and table mats for sale.
Right, I know what you’re thinking: “Enough of this photography lark. What else was there?” Well, the last thing I expected to find at the Exeter Fair was traditional Chinese brush paintings, but Kaili Fu had a simply breath-taking range of images on display. I was especially taken with her landscapes. Kaili moved to Exeter in 1988 and has become a keen ambassador for her country’s art. Every year, Kaili organises two trips to China, and she runs workshops and courses to teach the techniques of Chinese brush painting. She doesn’t have a website, but if this interests you and you’d like to get in touch, her email address is kaili_fu@hotmail.com.
Completely different stylistically, but similarly arresting, Anne Radu is, according to her website, one of the country’s leading contemporary artists. She was recently awarded the accolade of Torbay Artist of the Year by Torbay Artsbase, and she’s also a good friend of the Captain’s, so she gets extra points for that. As you can see, her funky mannequins are instant winners…
To close with something completely different, feast your eyes on these exquisite mirror frames designed by Lee at Impwood. Way to use a lot of sandpaper. But aren’t they magnificent? The Impwood website doesn’t seem to be up yet, but apparently it shall be soon. In the meantime you can contact Lee on lee@impwood.com.
Right, I hope you found that at least vaguely informative. Until the next time, People’s Republicans… steer clear of bat country.
————————————————————————————
Has this information been useful?
June 16th, 2008
