New beginnings
Here I am being welcomed to 21 Commercial Road by Suzanne Dominy of Art Workshop and my landlord. Suzanne runs an art organisation that supports the sharing and learning of a range of art and craft skills. I indeed took part in the group back in 2017 with Anne and we learnt about acrylic painting and Lino printing – the latter I indeed to be returning to soon,
So I now have the keys to the ground floor that opens as ‘AndyKnillArt Studio’ on Wednesday 1 September at 10.00 am.
I see it as my next step, I have co-tenanted a shop premises, it has taught me so much in 22 months, not least because of the disruption of the pandemic. Now I am striking out to just present my interpretation of why art is important and how it can help all of us. My shop will be my shop to exhibit and showcase my artwork in its many forms. It will also be my main studio to produce work at. Finally and to me, most importantly it will be a hub for three initiatives:
1) Art for fun as a free activity – I do not teach art, I share ideas willingly, I can demonstrate things I have learnt, the sharing is the key thing for me as I believe art can help us all as a way of switching off from the pressures of our daily lives
2) promoting the area of ‘The heart of Swanage’ and getting more visitors to appreciate how special the smallest businesses within the town are and how being on a main shopping street is not the only way to trade
3) promoting the dogfriendly.social group and sticker scheme to show where dog owners and their pets are welcome without having to ask
So what is coming up in the month of September:
1st to 10th
Establishing an identity within the shop and my new base.
I will open on Mon, Tue, Wed and Sat from 10 to 5 as I have been on my four day weeks at The Courtyard Studio.
11th to 26th
Purbeck Art Weeks 2021
The local arts festival that celebrates our diversity of local artists returns, later than usual. A chance to visit artists where they work – my studio used to be an outbuilding in my drive. Now it is also a shop selling my work year round. For PAW apart from Sunday 12 and 26th when I have duty commitments at the main exhibition at Rollington Barn where I will have a board with 6 of my recent original art pieces, the shop will open every day from 10 to 5. That’s 14 / 16 days – like previous years in 2017 to 2019 it will be tiring but I hope an opportunity for people to come and see my work in a different medium to most Purbeck artists.
20th to 26th
Planet Purbeck festival
Yes this overlaps with PAW and from Monday 20th to Saturday 25th I shall be offering Art for fun. Let’s be honest I offer the same activity year round but it links in well to the theme of what does environment mean to us and art is a good medium to share that.
27th to 30th
Normal working hours and a review of how the first month has gone.
Somewhere in there at some point I will also be organising when to have a formal opening of the studio / shop.
Please visit or follow the progress of this latest stage for my art business / career / exploration. Feedback is welcomed.
Thanks for following and this month taking the number of views to new record levels of over 1000 views.
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