ArtyBird April Bulletin

Did you know – the craft industry is worth £800 million in the UK?

ArtyBirdCarnforth are working hard to develop progressive education for the textile crafts. We realise that our courses not only train the Craft Professional but also develop strong bonds of friendship between students. We enjoy making something unique that will be treasured. This is a result of the credit crunch, as the throw away society ends and the sustainable society begins. This has been highlighted in the media recently.

To recognise the needs of the professional crafts person we are excited to work with the new City & Guilds Creative Techniques Awards. From September 2010 we will be introducing this new range as we phase out the old awards. Do not worry if you are already studying with us – we will continue the old awards for you, but with new numbers, so you can advance as far as you would wish.

The advantages of the new awards are that they are geared towards progression in equal length of courses; so that a year will be spent studying at each level. There will still be the opportunity for students who wish to go broad, adding 30 hour modules to the main certificate. For those that wish to go beyond these levels you can extend the final year into 2. We will also be offering business certificates in the craft industry alongside for those that wish to take them. The new courses are graded.

ArtyBirdCarnforth will be starting with a Level 1 course that we are calling a Foundation Certificate, where the skills and knowledge of craft and design will be embedded. Students can follow the felt, embroidery or fashion pathway.

We will go on to introduce the level 2 where the student will explore their craft further, developing their skills. The level 3 course will look to use these skills, developing a folder of individual work.

Enough of the future – we are celebrating our past. Actually a current student who completed her level 3 certificate in felt last summer. Each year we are able to nominate a student to be put forward to City & Guilds for consideration for a Medal for Excellence. Sue Bourne has been awarded a Highly Commended in the Textiles Category. This is a huge honour for student and school so hurrah!! See some examples of her award winning work in the gallery below.

And back to the future!! We are working with Susan Hibbert, one of our level 2 students, who works for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. They have just moved into a purpose built eco-friendly building and asked her about a felt hanging for their entrance. In their ignorance they wanted this to be 8m x 2m – so we decided to make it in pieces. They also wanted an iconic image of rural Yorkshire and David Hockney has kindly agreed to us using one of his famous paintings. The hanging will now be 6m x 3m – still huge but respecting the proportion of his painting, so watch this space to see how it develops. We will be making it in our June and July meetings.

Kate and Rosie.

Judges Comments for Sue Bourne.

Criteria Comments
"Very good standard of work throughout. Imaginative and highly individual assessment pieces. Well resolved designs for inspirational sources. Thorough exploration of materials and techniques. Obvious enthusiasm for the creation of original design in feltmaking – shows commitment to the requirements of the course and to the subject of feltmaking generally. Consistently imaginative and creative work."

Nominee Feedback
"Congratulations on a vibrant and exciting body of work. Judges loved your imaginative interpretation of visual design sources to produce highly original work. Unfortunately due to the rules of Medals for Excellence and the high level of candidates this year I am only able to award a Highly Commended. Well done."

Nominator Feedback
"A highly individual body of work. The creative potential of feltmaking has been thoroughly investigated with high standards of design. Thank you for taking the time to nominate this candidate, she was certainly worthy of nomination."