Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

I was lucky enough to be asked to be the guest curator at this years Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in manchester. To be honest I hadn't been to this event before but it is a regular feature in Manchester's cultural calendar and attended by over 6000 people. As you can imagine I was very excited about taking part.

My role was to curate The Great Northern Graduate showcase (GNG 2012) and I was keen to stamp my curatorial mark.

(A small rant - for me being a curator is not about 'picking things and putting them together', nor is it about being some kind of trend maker... a read in a blog once that someone had 'curated their window sill' ... madness. Being a curator is about standing between an artists work, or an object or idea, and an audience and providing avenues for that audience to investigate the work. It is much more than selecting it is about ideas and about thinking and being curious.)

I selected nine graduates all with work I fell in love with. I centred the thematics of the showcase around ethics, the ethics of making and of collecting, quoting the fabulous Vivienne Westwood 'Buy less, choose well...'

Back from our travels

We are back from our travels, it's been a bit of an extended summer. We spent several amazing weeks cruising around the UK visiting friends and taking a much needed break. This was our home. It seems we have become hippies with our newly painted orange van and bell tent.

I have to say I could live in it for a while.

After meeting up with old friends we travelled on to South Devon, Sam's family has a place by the coast which they very kindly allow us to use in the late summer. We spent what felt like a month there, enjoying the beach and introducing Isla to the wonders of swimming in the sea. Since getting home work has been frantic. I was guest curator for the 2012 GNCCF - I had so much fun!! Thank you all those who contributed to making it such an amazing event. Images to follow shortly.

Here are a few snaps from our break over the summer. Now its getting colder and the nights a little darker .. I love this time of year. xxx