When I visited the Leytonstone / Wanstead Quaker Meeting House in January to view the possibilities of the site, I noticed some of the imposing Victorian wall that encloses this little pocket of land+time had collapsed. The wall was put up around 1880, following the Enclosures Act of Epping Forest, which put a stop to the escalating land-grab and returned ownership to the Powers That Be.
Well, September, October & November skipped by in a haze of day job work, procastination and increasing greyness. Nice ideas from everyone came and went – the seasonal deadlines were quite tough – but Pippa Davismoon stepped up to the mark in December with a beautiful walk / meditation / celebration that I wish we would do every year. … Winter Solstice
After the lovely Play / Ground workshop in July, everyone who’d come decided it would be good to do something every 4-6 weeks. Silvia Kuprinska gave us a wonderful preview of Walthamstow Wetlands in September, and by August I was having a thing about the end of summer, golden fields, passing time and Ana Lupas’ ambitious, slow, reflective & beautiful collaborative work “the Solemn Process” which I’d seen that month.
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With Karen Logan, we invited people to revisit familiar local ground with us, accessing together a child-like sense of delight, belief and adventure in two complementary outdoor workshops designed to harness the power of the playful imagination.
Participants were urged to bring stout shoes, an open mind and a sense of humour.
I love the language and imagery of superstitious folklore, and the delicious slivers of fear invoked by a scratchy mark, a twisted root, a skulking crow.
I’ve been working every week on little samples and experiments for people to have fun with in the pottery painting workshops at All You Read is Love. I just got a little into my own thing on the Scraffito theme ready for the Halloween evening on 27th October … Dark and scratchy
I’m hosting pottery painting workshops at All You Read is Love cafe this autumn. Using safe non-toxic underglazes with teaching, guidance and testing you’ll be able to achieve “grown-up” results you can be proud of.
Just Fires and Furniture 746 High Road, E11 3AW
I took a couple of cups home from the show … 2 drawn cups
Siobhan Davies 