‘Drawing is a way of calming my mind. It’s like meditation’

Elena Blanco is a Spanish-born artist living in Loughborough Junction. At Making Uncovered on 20 April, she will be popping up different points throughout the day drawing and engaging with the public.

What do you like about your art? Why did you get into it?

I have always enjoyed being creative and had lots of ideas. I studied architecture and that gave me drawing and design skills – but I didn’t like working as an architect. It was too serious and stressful, and not that creative as in “let yourself go” which is what I like about art (although I still love drawing urban landscapes and buildings).

Drawing is a way of calming my mind, connecting with the world and myself. It’s a bit like meditating. Illustration taps into my imagination, my inner child, and also satisfies my interest in design.

Why are you taking part in Making Uncovered?

I loved the idea from the beginning: of bringing makers together to display their skills and techniques. I think it will be such an enjoyable event, because making and creating make people so happy. And getting together to make is such a beautiful sharing act. I read an article about traditional Innuit communities, how they all get together in the evenings to make their art. And I have seen that myself in Spain, my grandmother and her mates getting together on chairs outside the front door, to do their sewing and knitting, sharing ideas, doing their gossip. It was beautiful to see and listen to!

What will you be doing at Making Uncovered people and why should they sign up?

I want to teach people about the joys of making, in my case illustrating and drawing. I want them to see how art is about enjoyment, acceptance, experimenting and practising – nothing else, no good or bad. I’ve got a beautiful quote from Rilke (that amazing poet and person) that inspires me a lot: “Works of art are of an infinite solitude and no means of approach is so useless as criticism. Only love can touch and hold them and be fair with them.” I’ll teach some very fun techniques that are great icebreakers for people scared of the blank page.

“Art is a powerful learning tool…” Pam Williams at Making Uncovered

Pam Williams is a Brixton artist who has worked in the UK and internationally, from Europe to the US to Hong Kong painting, drawing and teaching art. Pam will teach a drop-in drawing workshop at Making Uncovered on 20 April at 11am.

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Why are you taking part in Making Uncovered?

I’ve been a professional artist for over 30 years. I’ve loved art from an early age – it was the most enjoyable activity at school for me, always fun, always new and stimulating. So I love to share and teach art skills, whether to children or adults.

I’m taking part in Making Uncovered to support local artists and to help bring the awareness of the importance of drawing to the community. It is a powerful learning tool for us all as we grow in all walks of life.

24935_cardcode---hk4---from-the-peak — From the peak (Hong Kong)

What are your plans for the day?

During my workshop I will be demonstrating and talking about ‘what to look for when we sketch’ – what we need to understand to create a strong foundation for our art.

I’ll also be showing my new spring/summer collection of Brixton T-Shirts and Brixton sketches.

1-BRIX VLLAGE PC COL1(2) — Brixton Village

Makerhood makers at the Crafty Fox Easter Market this Sunday!

Are you going to the Crafty Fox Easter Markets this weekend? Several Makerhood members will be represented on Sunday at this lovely event held at Brixton’s Dogstar.

Screen printers Ray Stanbrook and Kerry Eggleton are well known in south London. Ray creates wonderful mementos of south London spots in his unique graphic style. Several venues around Brixton feature his work – for example, he designed the eye-catching menu for the Ritzy. So this is a chance to get your very own versions of his work.

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Kerry’s designs comment on the urban landscape and contemporary living. Unexpected and beautiful, they mesmerise the longer you look at them! We’re great fans of Kerry’s work that’s been a hit locally – it flew off the shelves at Diverse gift shop in Brixton when it was stocked there for Christmas.

Milliner Jennifer Levet will be selling handmade hats for men and women. Jennifer’s background is in theatrical millinery – she has a weakness for fabric patterns, quirky, geometric and classic fabrics such as houndstooth and tweed. Check out her beautiful work this Sunday.

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You’ll also be able to stock up on natural hair products from Hairy Jayne – all brewed, mixed and packaged by her own fair hand in her Brixton studio. Hairy Jayne’s hair products merge preparations from traditional apothecaries with more recent formulations. All ingredients are chosen for their hair-friendly qualities!

Meet the makers: Jennifer Levet

Milliner Jennifer Levet discusses dressing Disney characters and making hats for opera and film

1. Have you always been interested in hats?
Not at first! I started out in costume and that led to millinery. I grew up going to sewing clubs and tagging along with my mum to quilting shops. I have always loved pattern and the difference between different qualities of fabric. I studied costume design at Wimbledon College of Art, which included a module with a theatrical milliner. I loved it and I carried on doing other millinery courses after graduation with people like Jane Smith to learn more. It’s addictive, learning all the different skills involved, like blocking felt and strip straw.

2. So did you go straight into millinery after leaving college?
No – I wanted to practise and study all the skills involved properly, and part of my heart was in costume, so I did lots of courses and lots of dressing all over London, for places like the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre and English National Opera. I also spent 14 months working on a Disney cruise ship, looking after the wardrobe for the cast for the on-board theatre and of course one or two Disney characters! The cruises started in Florida and went round the Bahamas and Caribbean. That was a very different world! But these experiences have helped me to do other work better, such as where I’ve been working over the past year, making hats for Welsh National Opera. I understand that how the hats and costumes are worn and needed during the show affects how they are made and how durable and comfortable they are. You also understand more about the individual.

3. What sort of people buy your hats?
I sell through Makerhood and Etsy, but most of my hats are commissions. The work varies – from bridal and casual wear to period millinery. I do quite a bit of freelance theatrical work still: I recently made one for a famous waxworks museum (the display hasn’t opened yet!) and for a workshop at the London Transport Museum. I also help a few other milliners, including Jane Smith. I have helped her make hats for a coronation, Tudor berets for Shakespeare’s Globe and1850s felt toppers for a Charles Dickens movie.
I really love designing casual wear hats that the everyday person can afford, though – I would love to bring affordable, stylish hats back to the everyday person worrying about the pennies in their pocket.

4. What is it about hat making that appeals to you?
I think it’s a fascinating set of skills – working with different materials such as straw, felt and fabric. It’s also an enjoyable intellectual exercise – especially flat patterning [working out how a flat pattern will form a three-dimensional shape when sewn together]. But I still have to remember the rules about how it looks on the head when it’s finished! I can get lost in the jigsaw, designing a flat pattern or how the pieces work together, but at the end of the day it has to be a hat that is stylish and comfortable that someone wants to wear.

5. What are your favourite materials to work with?
I do a lot of felt hats. It’s a very rewarding material to work with. I’ll start with a felt hood that is already made into a cone shape and then steam it for a long time until it suddenly becomes more pliable so I can pull it into shape over a hat block in a crown or brim shape. I either use a wooden block or I carve my own polystyrene blocks, which is a lovely skill in itself – though it’s very messy, as those bits of white polystyrene get everywhere! I also love working with tweeds and interesting patterned fabric. It’s a good excuse to go to quilt shows with my mum and look at interesting fabrics that could be quite versatile, but ultimately produce a lovely finish. I use lots of vintage shades and deep colours but I do have a yellow houndstooth button hat for sale at the moment.

6. Why did you join Makerhood?
I heard about Makerhood through Handpicked Brixton on Facebook, and thought it was right up my street. I like to support local traders who have spent time training in skills and love the idea of connecting them to the community around them. The product photography workshop that you ran was really useful.

7. Finally, what’s your favourite bit of Brixton?
Brixton is the first place I’ve lived where there are three haberdasheries within walking distance of my home! There’s Simply Fabrics on Atlantic Road, Atlantic Silk Fabrics on Electric Avenue, and Morleys. I didn’t find out about the haberdashery section in Morleys for ages – it is very handy. I wouldn’t be surprised if you found me at the Ritzy later in the week either, and I’ve also been in Duck Egg Café twice this week..

You can buy Jennifer’s classic hats with a twist at http://brixton.makerhood.com/jennifer-levet-hats. Jennifer also has a stall at Crafty Fox on 24 March.

Uncover making! 20 April at Brixton East Gallery

Today we announce Making Uncovered. We’ve been working on the event for a few months and could hardly contain the excitement. It’s great to be able to invite you all to it!

Making Uncovered was conceived by a group of Brixton makers as a way to share their art and craft with the broader public. When we buy handmade – which we all increasingly do and which is wonderful – we rarely appreciate the talent, the love, the time and the skill that goes into the process of creating objects by hand. We thought it was time to take the next step – from promoting makers’ work to showcasing their practices, ways of working, and their passion.

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The event on Saturday 20 April brings together 17 different art and craft disciplines. In art, we’ll have painting and drawing, screen printing and letter-pressing, and aboriginal art techniques that have travelled to Brixton all the way from Australia. In textiles, we are showing felting, African accessory-making, affirmative applique, knitting, crochet, and how to make cushions, bow ties and handbags.

Perhaps more unusual to the city dweller are the two traditional woodworking crafts on show: willow-weaving and green woodworking. For the body, we’ll look at how to make shower scrubs and soaps. For the soul, we’ll build a community map, and look at how we make meaning in our lives using images.

Demonstrations will take place from 11am till 6pm, and many stalls will have drop-in sessions where you can ask questions, and have a go at trying something yourself. They are free to attend, and everyone is welcome. We will also have several longer workshops which need to be pre-booked and offer a more in-depth opportunity for learning crafts like wood-working, aboriginal art and soap making – and more.

At 6pm, the wise heads at the Thought Menu will join us for an hour of reflection and talks in a warm atmosphere, over some food. We’re delighted to host their first south London outing. The topic this time is, inevitably, “making”.

In the evening, we’ll have a wonderful programme of music, comedy, improv and dance – started off by south London’s 24 strong pop-up choir! It’s a chance to meet new people, relax after a long day over a few drinks, and enjoy fantastic performances in Brixton’s most beautiful gallery.

Making Uncovered goes on from 11am to 11pm, entry is free, and you can drop in any time, for as long as you like. The venue is 5 minutes walk from Brixton Tube.

To book your free ticket, go to our Eventbrite page. For all details about the event, go to www.makinguncovered.com.

A big thank you also goes to our supporters – Diverse gifts shop, WBC and Brixton Market– who have helped make this event a reality.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Images by Maggie Winnal from Sewin Studio and Rachel Stanners from Prickle Press. The event flyer is by Elena Blanco from DreamyMe.

Making Uncovered: explore, learn and celebrate craft

Join us for a unique showcase of arts and crafts on 20 April at Brixton East Gallery.

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As makers we spend a great deal of time alone, toiling away behind closed doors and largely hidden from view. Most of the time it’s not much of a problem; we’re happy doing what we love doing, producing things that hopefully people will admire or, even better, buy. But what a shame that the public, many of whom are inspired by the creativity and skill required to make a beautiful art or craftwork, rarely get the opportunity to witness that process in action.

Motivated by this idea, Makerhood has decided it’s time the hidden world of artists and craftspeople has its moment in the limelight. On 20 April we will be hosting Making Uncovered, a one-day event at the gorgeous Brixton East gallery that will give you the opportunity to experience first hand the techniques skilled makers use to produce their work.

We’re not quite sure what will happen when we bring a group of talented local makers together under one roof. Probably quite a bit of noise, maybe a bit of a mess – but also, undoubtedly, a unique and exciting showcase of the making processes that we rarely get to see.

Over a dozen different crafts will be on show. We’ll have willow weaving, traditional woodturning, African jewellery, embroidery, felting, soap making, painting, printing and much more. The event will be free, and there will be some paid-for workshops you’ll be able to book in advance.

And after a day of creative inspiration we’ll have a party to celebrate, talk, share ideas and spend time together over a drink. Expect wonderful bands, comedians, DJs and a pop-up choir.

The dedicated team of volunteers who are working hard to put on this exciting event are busy finalising the programme and will be back with more information soon. Meanwhile follow @makinguncovered and look out for further blog posts to find out more details as they’re confirmed.

We’re really excited about this event – it’s our most ambitious to date. We’re looking forward to seeing you for a day of creativity, inspiration and fun.

Craft showcases and workshops will run 11am- 6pm, and the evening event is 6pm – 10:30pm. Brixton East Gallery is at 100 Barrington Road, SW9 7JF – 5 minutes’ walk from Brixton tube.

Pictured above is Ben Willis, a green woodworker and author of this post, who will be showing his techniques at the event. The image below is from a Makerhood workshop.

The idea of receiving top quality work is usually enough to convince students to use our service, but we endeavor to provide them with maximum satisfaction, and for this, we offer several benefits and guarantees.

Pop-up market in Brixton Village – sales opportunity for Makerhood makers

After the success of last year’s Makerhood pop-up market, Adrian Flower, the owner of Studio 73, is organising it again this year. It’s a nice chance for makers to sell their work in the busy Brixton Village in the run-up to Christmas.

The opportunity is open to Makerhood members who have an online stall on brixton.makerhood.com, and the focus is on supporting local creative work.

Visual art and design, paper goods, accessories as well as small garments are all very welcome. Food and clothing (except smaller ones like scarves) are excluded as they are not covered by the Studio 73 retail licence.

Dates: any Saturdays and Sundays in October, November, December
Trading times: 10am -5pm (set up at 9.30am)
Cost: £20 for half a table a day, or £30 for a weekend

Please contact Adrian Flower directly (email info@adrianflower.co.uk, mobile 07811 329 939) to book or if you have any questions.

We hope the market is a great success this year too!

Makerhood at Urban Art

Next weekend is Urban Art, Brixton’s popular annual open-air art fair, held on leafy Josephine Avenue. For the second year, Makerhood will have a pitch, featuring four very different Makerhood artists. Mike Fell is a Brixton-based painter and print maker who also makes unusual pieces out of old cassette tapes and found boards.http://brixton.makerhood.com/mike-fell

Ray Stanbrook is known for his locally inspired screen prints, featuring recognisable landmarks around Herne Hill and Brixton. You may have seen his menu in the Ritzy Café! http://brixton.makerhood.com/ray-stanbrook
Sweet View sells limited edition prints of different London boroughs, including of course Lambeth, based on sketches of everyday life. http://brixton.makerhood.com/sweet-view
We’ll also have some plaster plaques by Sharon Kaye. We don’t have any photos of these at the moment – will tweet and post when we get some!

New members

A big welcome to some of the latest members to set up stalls on Makerhood!

rags&tatters upcycles ancient fabrics into pretty brooches, labels and needle cases.
http://brixton.makerhood.com/ragstatters

Colourfully Curious Accessories sells what it says on the tin – interesting and unusual earrings and brooches inspired by everything from Alice in Wonderland to smoothie makers.
http://brixton.makerhood.com/colourfully-curious-accessories

Samina is a member of the Blackheath Embroiderer’s Guild and offers kits to make your own hair flowers.
http://brixton.makerhood.com/samina

Gingko and Butterfly‘s handmade jewellery uses silver, gold, copper and enamels and shows strong Japanese/Arts and Crafts influences.
http://brixton.makerhood.com/ginko-and-butterfly

Lambeth Champions

Last month, at a ceremony at Lambeth Town Hall, Karen, Kristina and Kim of Makerhood received a Lambeth Champions award for their contribution to the local community.

The ceremony was hosted by leader of the council Steve Read, and Mayor of Lambeth Clive Bennett. Altogether, 18 groups and individuals from across Lambeth received awards.

Karen, Kristina and Kim were nominated by Makerhood member Maya Kar of Bright Side Dark Side, who said: “Kristina and Karen have been the driving force behind Makerhood (an online marketplace and community for Brixton, Camberwell, Clapham, Herne Hill and Stockwell). With Kim, they have worked hard to make this project a fantastic source of support for local makers, and those who want to buy from or network with us. They have organised social events and workshops and have provided a lot of local people with the information, support, and enthusiasm to get a long-nurtured project off the ground.”

Thanks Maya!