It's that time again, for me to gush a little about my little town and the amazing event that is:
Art on the Street. A couple of weeks ago our High Street was once again the place to be, a beautiful array of artists from near and far, filling our town with artwork, music and community spirit.
With over 120 artists displaying their work at this outdoor market, the weather was totally on their side as the sun came out and shone all day for this years event. It is a spectacle to behold as the highstreet is filled with gazebos housing everything from acrylic paintings to watercolour to photography and the list goes on.
A full day of music organised by our friend Carly of Maidenhead Live and a second stage this year featuring the best talent from one of the event sponsors Claire's Court school.
Another brilliant feature of this years event was the amazing work of mural artist PHILTH who spent the whole day creating a beautiful female inspired work on a blank space at the end of the High Street. The piece sponsored by Maidenhead's branch of Bovilles art shop and Liquitex paints is a beautiful addition to the town. It is placed on a wall that can be seen from one of the main roads, I drive past it everyday to get to our shop.
The most lovely thing about this artist working on his piece during the event was that people were coming up and chatting to him all day long, kids and adults were having their picture taken with him. He even had a visit from a local resident and artist some of you may know, Mr Timmy Mallet.
One of the things I love most about taking photos at this event is that I get to chat to some of the amazing artists that take part. I got to have a chat with Georgina Adby, who I first met at last years event, I am always drawn to her pitch because of her vintage suitcases that she uses to display her pretty prints. I loved her new gemstone outline print, another addition to the wishlist.
A couple of our friends had their work on show, the lovely Gemma Collins had her floral acrylic paintings up for sale (I know that she sold her foxgloves painting to another of our friends Maria formally of Happy cakes) and the gorgeous Laura Spires had some of her stunning HDR photography from her recent trip to France on show. I had a great chat with Laura and fellow shutter-bug Rob Of Rob Percy Photography. We were discussing the idea of putting together a collective of young local photographers, all with different skills sets and styles.
This year more than any other I felt that the mix of artists was so diverse, there was every kind of technique and style represented. It was a feast for anyone's eyes, art lover or not.
I also had a lovely chat with Nicola of Betsy Blu, she had some of her beautiful butterfly paintings available to buy. they looked so pretty in the sunshine.
An empty shop unit was put to good use, housing ceramics and even more works of art. The piece above was the work of Janette Crouch. It caught my eye because I recognised the pattern, she had used a lace trim (that we sell at Sew Crafty) to make impressions into the clay, then painted, glazed and gilded the bowl. I loved the touches of gold and the raw quality of it.
I really liked this sewn art piece by Ramandeep Bhamra who is a part of the Long Close Art Space a group of young artists based in Slough. I also discovered a new ceramic art crush in the work of Jane Schneider of Petits Carreaux. Her comic book and tattoo themed pieces are firmly on my wish list.
These ceramic busts are the work of Suzanne Nedham I really liked this beautifully hand-painted bust form.
The Students from Claire's Court (aswell as entertaining the shoppers on the High Street) also had a home in the Nicholson's Shopping Centre where they had their art work on display alongside running art workshops thoughtout the day, making use of another, usually empty shop unit.
The team behind the Fuhaar Indian culture event that also take's place in the town, showed off their rangoli skills in the shopping centre with this beautiful piece of sand art.
It is always so amazing for me to see my town looking so busy and full of happy people. It is sometimes very sad to walk down the high street with all the empty shops and not many shoppers, but days like these remind me of how brilliantly vibrant our town can be.
The five women who organise this independent non-profit event really do deserve medals for the work they do for our community with this event, Marie, Harri, Steph J, Steph G and Carly are, as they say themselves 'on an unstoppable mission to fill our town with art!'
And a jolly good job they do of it too!
I will leave you with a full view of how PHILTH's mural looked before I headed home. He carried on until it was complete and it is stunning. If you want to see what ended up being painted in that glowing ball, you will have to pop down and see it for yourselves <3
If you are local, or ever find yourself in the area go check out the Enjoy Maidenhead website, full of all the info you need about the town and details of all the events that take place here and if you want to find out more about Art on the Street and their next events, check out their website, or like them on Facebook, or follow them on twitter.
Very proud to be a Maidonian.
Sammy xxx
