Fishink at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2015 Pt 3

Happy end of week everyone and welcome to the third and final post about The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2015. I can’t believe it was only last week and what an exciting show it was !  We begin today with the wonderfully characterful work from Marina Bauguil.

Marina was raised in France, Africa and England, and now resides in Manchester. Working intuitively, she allows each piece to determine its own direction as it develops. Her recent work is best described by the Japanese word Kami, defined as: “The sacred element or spirit which can be contained in everything, expressed in an awe-inspiring way.” I felt it also had an Inuit feel about it, peaceful, serene and contemplative. I loved it.

Tanti Design were featuring a fab array of plant holders. The plant can be potted directly into the cavity provided as it is lined with bio resin making it waterproof. It also has an internal reservoir to hold excess water. Tanti is an archaic word that means ‘worthwhile’… I think they definitely are.

More ceramics with a funny, yet slightly sinister edge to them from Ita Drew.

I thought this flying/leaping reindeer was wonderful, watched over by some rather solemn looking horned Ravens. Ita says ‘I often combine my own experiences with the world of fantasy to explore narrative and metaphor through illustrations and three dimensional artwork.’

Refreshing to see this colourful array of hanging shapes from mixed media textile designer Navdeep Dhiman. Navdeep specialises in making products out of resin, perspex, recycled card and paper. I thought her hanging pieces (scaled down a little) would make a fab and rather ornate door or window hanging or 3-D mobile. Imagine the sunlight, shining through these colours and bouncing around the room ! Food for thought perhaps Navdeep ? lol

Rich and ornate printed textiles from Pioden Prints.  They are Angharad and Lizzie, a Pattern Designer and Embroiderer who met at Art School in Manchester and decided to form a company. It says so much about their love of travel and colour. It has a slightly retro familiarity to some of the brown and yellow cushions, and was great to see the same designs at different scales.

Another old favourite of mine is the woven willow weavings of Juliette Hamilton. I hadn’t encountered this Highland Cattle head before and thought him a rather fitting ‘centre stage’ for her stand. I also noticed her flying hares and beautiful floral display, featuring antlers.. how great is that !

Another fellow exhibitor for the Little Northern Craft Fairs around Manchester was Jeweller Heather Fox. Her latest range consists of hand-pierced personalised pieces incorporating favourite phrases and rhymes. Lovely to catch up with her again too.

Sadly we come to the end of my tour this week, with last.. but by no means least.. Mosaic Menagerie Mistress Amanda Anderson : ) Everytime I see Amanda’s work it raises a huge smile. It’s bold, colourful with a cheeky charm that is soo endearing. I would love some of her bigger work on my walls.. I just need more walls !

So I was standing chatting to Amanda and (as usual) admiring her work and waxing lyrical about how much I like it, when I thought to myself… Don’t be one of those people who constantly comes up to an artist and says how much you like their work… just buy something. So I did. Now I’m the very proud owner of the wee pink and bluey-green bird in the left corner below. And for everyone who understands what I mean by this, when I got it home … it was definitely my Mr Benn memento for the day : )

A fabulous and thoroughly enjoyable event. Many thanks to everyone who kindly gave of their time to chat to me and let me take images of their work, they made these posts possible. Congrats to Angela and Ann-Marie for your best show to date, do keep them coming ! And finally to all the customers, (mostly ladies), who come and regularly buy at the fairs and support the Arts so well, I thank you on behalf of everyone involved… for we couldn’t do it without you : )

I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts this week, do let me know your thoughts.