Residency at Burton Agnes Hall
Following the success of my residency in Northumbria, I was really excited about my 8 days as artist in Residence in Burton Agnes Hall. I arrived early on Monday 13th June to set up the summer house with my framed felted pieces and a table of felted bowls, vessels, workshop info and crochet bits and pieces. Then I got myself unpacked into the wee flat above the café in the courtyard, my new home for the next 8 days.
My fellow artist in the summer house was a lovely woman called Jan Taylor who paints the most incredibly beautiful and perfectly realistic plants and wildlife in watercolour. I didn’t take a picture of her half of the summer house, which is a shame. But have a look at here work here: www.jantaylorart.co.uk
From 11am to 5pm each day Jan and I would set up shop in the summer house, with examples of our work on display and the fantastic home and gardens surrounding us as we worked away at new pieces in between visitors popping in to see us on their way to the walled gardens. We had quite a few folk popping by through the week, lots of lovely comments, lots of explanations of felt making, lots of folk signed up to my mailing list and workshops and even a handful of wee sale. On days when there were bus tours coming in it was positively bustling at times. But it felt like a bit of a win win, because on days when there were fewer visitors there was the opportunity to get your head down and concentrate on creating. (in between posing for photos that make it look like your creating).
And in outside the hours of 11am-5pm, I was living in the wee flat above the café. I gather that some folk have been a bit negative about the flat in the past, and yes, it’s pretty basic. But there was a wee kitchen including cooker and grill (handy for my daily bacon sarnie), retro avocado coloured bath with shower over it, double bedroom and even a good strong wifi connection. So what if the curtains are a bit foisty and the whole place needs a lick of paint, you get the whole of the gardens and woods surrounding the house all to yourself every morning and every evening. It was absolutely magic! I started the day with a cup of coffee and a walk through the gardens, or a run around the woods. I finished the day with with more strolls around the gardens and on a couple of occasions a dip in the families private indoor pool… again, all to myself, bliss!
All in all, another fantastic experience. I’ve received fab feedback about my work, got lots of interesting contacts to follow up on, made some lovely sales, created some new pieces of work that I’m really happy with (some of which sold before I even left actually) and had a thoroughly enjoyable time all around. I’d definitely recommend Burton Agnes Hall as a place to visit and for fellow artists, it’s a fab place to do a residency too!
