Potting On and Planting Out at The Green Patch

We've also been busy potting on and planting out at The Green Patch

Bessie's babes have been laying eggs

and rewarding themselves with a little fresh greenery!

Horsing Around at Grange Place

A lovely up-cycling / recycling project at Grange Place,these plywood hobby horse heads came from the local scrap recycling store. They provided a great support for pattern making and paint. They were going to become planter markers at The Green Patch but everyone was so proud of their work they wanted to put them in their own gardens! You can see more here

The View From Here - Mosaics at The Green Patch - Latest Update

Lovely afternoon session

working on a larger abstract landscape panel

with a little tile sorting on the side!

Here is our larger panel ready to grout.

The Green Patch Open Day

The Green Patch Open day was a wonderful opportunity to meet friends, View From Here participants, volunteers and members of the community. We decided that we would also link with another project and another growing space by making clay birds for the British Ceramics Biennial  Spode Rose Garden in Stoke-on-Trent. We felt this was a great way of increasing skills, creativity and boosting self-confidence for the group to have work in another public community growing space as well as on The Green Patch. It was also important to our resident artist Carole who has family in Stoke and is crazy about ceramics!

Grange Place participant and our right 

hand woman Michelle Brightwell

had her wonderful crochet / applique bunting 

on display above the plant sale trailer 

Using a simple paper template

and stamps, buttons etc designs were created

on the birds. This activity seemed even move fitting

as there was a wonderful display of owls

See more owls and images from the day here

There were reptiles and insects

Delicious cakes and teas

See more clay birds here

and just look at the fabulous bunting we made!

It was a wonderful day!

Bunting For The Green Patch Part 2

Phiona Richards lead a lovely outdoor session at The Green Patch to create more bunting, here are some of the fabulous designs made by the children.

You can see the full set here 

3000 EMPTY CHAIRS

Some days our view seems glorious and others a bit bleak, some days it feels important to look beyond our immediate surroundings and into the wider world. Carole Miles inspired by a call out from artist and writer Jackie Morris DRAWING A CHAIR and poet Nicola Davies THE DAY WAR CAME AND 3000 EMPTY CHAIRS to draw an empty chair in response to the plight of 3000 homeless, orphaned children fleeing from the terrors of war.

Artist Carole Miles brought in a collection 

of vintage dolls house chairs

and plenty of drawing materials.

Carole read Nichola's poem The Day War Came

and asked the group to image

all the kinds of different chairs

they would like to offer

children who had lost their homes, families

schools, friends and were stranded

in another part of the world

waiting for a new home

a new school

somewhere to be safe

and a quiet place to sit.

as you can see our group responded 

with sensitivity and inventiveness.

You can see all of our chairs here 

You can see chairs from other contributors here