All Things Considered

Mark Hearld in London

St. Jude's regular (and designer of our Doveflight textile) Mark Hearld is exhibiting in London from 5th-24th December at Potterton Books. Mark will be showing a range of prints and handmade collages. Contact Pottertons about the preview on Thursday 4th December.

Mark's busy on a new textile design for St. Jude's and will be taking part in our St. Jude's In The City exhibition at the Bankside Gallery (next to Tate Modern) in February 2009. If you'd like to receive details nearer the time, along with an invitation to our private view, please join our gallery mailing list.

Rob Ryan at St. Jude's

Please join Rob Ryan at St. Jude's from 11am this Saturday (November 22nd) to celebrate the opening of our latest exhibition.

His work is the result of the painstaking hand cutting of delicate papers. These intricate works are either sold in papercut form or developed as limited edition screen-prints.

In addition to his own projects, Rob has collaborated with and been commissioned to work alongside many prestigious names such as Paul Smith, Tatty Devine, Liberty and more recently Fortnum & Mason.

We’re pleased to be exhibiting a range of limited edition screen-prints alongside other handmade products.

Okido

The art and science magazine Okido, is the brainchild of illustrator Rachel Ortis and designer and scientist, Dr. Sophie Dauvois. This exciting, educational and beautifully illustrated magazine was launched last year and aimed at children aged between two and seven.

Printed on sturdy recycled paper using vegetable inks, the magazine encourages lots of drawing, cutting and entertainment and unlike most other kids magazines printed on flimsy, shiny paper, Okido entices parents to read and play along too.

I've purchased the magazine from Borders in Norwich and if you live in London, there are many other stockists. Click here to finds out where. Alternatively, you can subscribe to Okido on-line. A subscription will buy six issues and the magazine is published every three months.

Joshua Allen Harris

Using the subway air that escapes through pavement grilles,  New Yorker Joshua Allen Reynolds takes plastic shopping bags and dustbin liners and creates these animated inflatable creatures. So simple, but with a life of their own - New Yorkers understandably love them.

Katrin Moye

Today I've been unpacking a selection of beautiful ceramics made by Katrin Moye. In the gallery we now have three designs from Katrin's collection of vintage inspired, hand drawn pottery.

This week, Katrin is exhibiting at Somerset House, London's annual contemporary craft fair, Origin.

Origin runs for two weeks, each week 150 talented makers will exhibit jewellery, furniture, textiles, glass and ceramics as well as pieces made from metal and wood.

This weeks show, runs until 12th October. The following week will run from 14 - 19 October 2008.

Dovecot Studios - Edinburgh

On Saturday 27th September you’ll be able to visit the newly renovated Dovecot Tapestry Studio in its new home  - a former Victorian baths in Edinburgh’s Old Town.

In August I had a chance to see the current exhibition which displays a range of the tapestries created over the past 50 years through the collaboration of the Dovecot’s weavers with a range of  artists including Bawden, Moore, Paolozzi and Hockney. Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT www.dovecotstudios.com

Rob Ryan

I'm not entirely sure if this has been published yet, but Rob Ryan recently created this book jacket - one of a series - for Louis de Bernieres.

We're already looking forward to Rob's exhibition with us, opening on Saturday 22nd November. We'll be featuring a selection of Rob's prints, some of his ceramic tiles and hopefully a few other goodies.

And Rob has kindly agreed to design our 2008 charity Christmas card.

Last year we raised £1200 for Maggie's Centre and we're hoping to beat that, even if it's just by a few pounds.

We'll aim to have the cards ready in early November with all profits going to charity - not the rather mean contributions made by most High Street stores (this is an enlightening article). We haven't costed this year's card, but in 2007, for each £1.75 card, 75p went to Maggie's.

As soon as Rob has completed the design we'll post details here but if you'd like to receive an e-mail as soon as the cards are launched, please sign up for our e-mail newsletter.

Birds

Having put the up post about Chris Watson's work below, it seemed logical to post another image from our current exhibition of Emily Sutton's handmade birds and drawings. At the risk of  delivering a terrible pun, Emily's birds have been flying out of the gallery. If you'd like to know what is still available, please call on 01263 735 777 between 10am and 5pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Make your own Donna Wilson Monster

Sniffing my way through the latest aromatic copy of Icon Magazine (I think it's the printing ink that makes it smell so good), I noticed that the online version of Icon magazine, Iconeye has a downloadable guide to making a Donna Wilson knitted monster.

I know knitted monsters are not everyone's cup of tea, but in this era of etsy and home craft, making things yourself can be simple as seen in the 'how to make a monster' video on this page. Donna Wilson's work is fun, tactile and uncomplicated. Her guide to making her monsters is fairly uncomplicated too, and if like me you have a glut of shrunken jumpers, all you need to do is shrink them a bit more and turn them into gifts for a new born or a birthday present to scare a niece as I unintentionally did earlier this year.

Another Emily Sutton bird!

Couldn't resist posting another of Emily's wonderful creations!

We've just put all of the birds that will be exhibited online here - along with details of how you can reserve a bird if you're unable to join us for the opening on Saturday 23rd August.