Guest Artist Scheme - GAS
We are always seeking to support new up-and-coming artists who are creating high quality and distinctive work. To do this we have created Cherrydidi's Guest Artist Scheme (GAS) - it's a way of turning up the heat at Cherrydidi - keeping the place fresh and alive with superb new talent. Through GAS we seek to provide the 'Cherrydidi customer' with a wider choice of ethically produced products whilst supporting new artists who are starting out on their journey of running a small creative business.
Our aim is to offer 2-5 artists the opportunity to join the Cherrydidi network three times a year. GAS 1 - February to June, GAS 2 - July to September, GAS 3 - October to December.
'Visual Counterpoint' – 35mm film photographs with abstract acrylic painting. This collection is the visual expression of counterpoint, on the simplest level juxtaposing 35mm film photographs with abstract acrylic paintings and also, with themselves.
'Art You Wear' – handmade jewellery by Justine Nettleton who is a Nottingham based Fine Artist. She paints landscapes and site specific artwork. She incorporates her love of nature into her botanical designs while animals and birds are a source of inspiration for her brooches.
'Sacred Nature' – a self taught needle felt artist - I'm Hannah, and I find joy in using natural fibres to create beautiful things. I started as a knitter, then learnt to spin and weave, then I came across needle-felting. Although I love all these crafts, I especially enjoy needle felting. I specialise in needle felting wildlife/nature images on to Harris Tweed using British wool.
'Graham McKenzie-Smith' – Graphite pencil, ink & digital painting techniques - Graham's preferred medium is the Cumbrian made Derwent Graphite pencil, though he has also recently been working with pen and charcoal, as well as exploring digital painting techniques. His preference is for monotone pictures where the shades and textures work together with high detail so that the viewer spends time with his drawings rather than moving quickly on from a punchy image. Although his style can appear traditional, he often incorporates his own unique stamp, be it an unusual viewpoint or feature.
'Marmalade Rose' – a self taught artist, Fiona Gill, based in Hawes, North Yorkshire, works from her kitchen creating chaos and wet felted artworks, brooches and handbags. My work is usually whimsical and wishful, cheerful and happy. I flit about like a butterfly tasting a little of this and a little of that and then mixing it all together creating a garden of texture and colour.
July to December 2016 Guest Artists
'Loving Slate' - Honister slate sculptures - we use slate from the world famous Honister Slate Mine in Keswick for our Lakeland collection. Slate has been mined at Honister for centuries and is renowned for its beautiful green hue. Owner Terry was born and brought up in Liverpool, he fell in love with the wonderful landscape of the Lake District as a teenager and has been a regular visitor ever since. Terry has developed a unique layering technique, an innovative and original approach which he combines with traditional methods of working with slate. Using this new technique he has designed and produced a range of beautiful birds and animals, each individually and lovingly handcrafted.
'Witch Mountain' - Cyanotype printing - Kim Tillyer is an artist, designer and maker, originally from North Yorkshire, now living in Cumbria. Much of Kim’s work combines cyanotype printing with traditional stitch techniques and hand drawn motifs such as bears, plants, birds and ‘shelters in a landscape’ including tents, simple houses and romantic and mysterious towers.
'Natalie Burns' - Sketching & Photography - Natalie grew up in a family that loved the outdoors. Forests, lakes, mountains and the west coast of Cumbria are her inspiration. She likes experimenting with different materials and combines sketching with Derwent line Painters and photography to achieve bright, modern designs for cards and prints. Natalie also works in acrylics using sea sponges creating one off paintings of forests.
'Crafts by Ra' - Natural wool rugs - Rachel Nelson is a Cumbrian farmers' daughter who has a passion for sheep and their wool. She loves to turn the fleece of sheep into something useful and valuable. She transforms the fleeces into natural handwoven wool rugs, mainly using Herdwick from local farms in the Eden valley and Keswick but she also uses a mix of Shetland, Jacob, Zwartbles to create different patterns, textures and colours within the rugs. Once the fleeces are prepared and carded Rachel weaves the rugs with a pegloom.
February to June Guest Artists
'Sarah Robley' - Lino-printing - I was born and raised on a farm in the Eden Valley, where I now work as a printmaker with my lovely Labrador, Quiver. After studying History of Art at the University of Cambridge, and completing an MA in Medieval Studies at York University, I decided I wanted to create beautiful things, not just look at them! I love the individuality that medieval artists gave their animal subjects; medieval ‘marginalia’ and decorative art inspires much of my work. I also take inspiration from the wildlife of the Lake District and from Folk Art. Working in a minimalist, illustrative style, I love the bold simplicity of line to which linocutting lends itself so beautifully. I enjoy the expressive qualities of rough-cut backgrounds and the sense of movement they evoke.
'Marmalade Rose' – a self taught artist, Fiona Gill, based in Hawes, North Yorkshire, works from her kitchen creating chaos and wet felted artworks, brooches and handbags. My work is usually whimsical and wishful, cheerful and happy. I flit about like a butterfly tasting a little of this and a little of that and then mixing it all together creating a garden of texture and colour.
'Glenshee Pottery' - Hand thrown pottery - Glenshee Pottery is a family business run by mother and daughter, Diana and Jennifer. Together we make hand thrown pottery using red and white earthenware clay and as it is all hand thrown shapes and sizes are ever changing.
