Wots all this then?

"Pinwheels...pinwheels...pinwheels" I read off the flyer handed to me by a member of staff from the Brewhouse, whilst I was at work in the bookshop today. Can you ever have too many or too much of pinwheels I wondered? The lady handing out the flyers asked, "Would you be able to put any of these in the shop by the tills?" "I should think so." I replied, "I'm running it!"

I acted pretty surprised, because I actually still am! The whole pinwheeling shenanigans was something I concocted months ago back in October as a response to the 'academic-ness' I was feeling upon starting my Masters degree in Fine Art. I've been to the beach as much as anyone and have always liked pinwheels, I've drawn them in still lives back at school and think they're pretty neat things. They'd probably be up there somewhere with umbrellas in the top ten of inspiring things to draw. So, I did what I always do when daunted at the prospect of having to study and rationalise my work, I digressed and made something for fun! I ended up with 133 pinwheels made from every page from a copy of 'Wind in the willows' which I then planted under a willow tree near to where I live much to the confusion of Frodo the dog who had not expected to see 133 pinwheels in the way of his usual route to the willow tree. Hmmm... So, you can imagine, I was delighted when the 'England, my England' festival came to The Brewhouse. Well, specifically because they have built a beach inside the gallery as a part of the programme of events. Perfect! You may have gathered my train of thought here, but basically I thought pinwheels/beach = good combination! Well, at the very least I now have a use for them. Eventually, this brings us back around to me being handed the flyer about these pinwheels at the bookshop. Cool. You see to make the whole process more interactive and exciting, I'm/we're inviting people to come to pinwheel making workshops next Thursday 21st at the Brewhouse where you can make your own pinwheels, plant them on the beach or take them away. I'll be there from 1.00-5.00 planting my ready-made ones and making some more. You can bring photos or any flyers/things you'd like to recycle and we'll turn them into pinwheels. It'd be great to have a whole field of them if possible. I think I was originally excited at the whole Ai Wei Wei installation of seeds at the Tate Modern, in the way it took something very simple (the hand-made sunflower seeds) and took it to a massive scale in which it became something incredible. In a smaller, Natalie, kind of way I thought maybe pinwheels could have a similar affect! Why not?

So please join me on Thursday 21st April from 1.00-5.00pm at The Brewhouse and again on the 26th and 27th (6.00-8.00pm) and make some pinwheels or just hang out on the beach.

There are loads of arty things happening over this festival too which runs from: Thursday 21 April - Sunday 1 May Coinciding with the Queen's birthday, St George's Day, the Royal wedding and May Day bank holiday, England, my England explores the ideas of Englishness, identity and tradition in the 21st Century.

For more details click on the blog link below:

http://englandmyengland.wordpress.com/

I'll keep you posted about some of the other arty events as they happen so stay tunned.....