The Folk House…a little bit of magic tucked away down a little alleyway...

...up Park Street in Bristol. In case you haven't heard of Bristol Folk House, it's definitely worth a visit. It's a beautiful place in central Bristol, an adult education centre, it provides a variety of part-time day and evening classes and courses including: Arts & Crafts, Pottery, Writing, Languages, Music, Dance, Drama, Fitness, Personal Development and more.

The Folk House is a self-funding charity that aims to help the local community take part in ‘learning for pleasure’ courses in a friendly, relaxed environment.

They hold regular art exhibitions in the lush café bar, which also serves delicious organic, locally sourced food….Oh YEA…The month of July will see the cafe walls covered in my prints. Original monoprints will be displayed, many of them I produced in India and are of places in India. 

And here are a few snaps from the most recent course I delivered called Monoprinting with Stencils. Thanks to the lovely participants for letting me take photos of their work.

If you like what you see you can book a place by going onto the Folk House website and clicking on Printmaking. Then it's 'Monoprinting with Stencils'. I run a course and a day workshop on a Saturday. Complete beginners warmly welcomed. 

Woodland Inspired Monoprinting with stencils

Yesterday I met some lovely creative people. Amy, Fiona and Tom showed some serious skills in my woodland inspired mono printing workshop. I held it in the reception/gallery space at the front of Hamilton House. Alongside a lovely exhibition of Katharina Nyilas's work. Check out her blog here.
Here's some photos of the evening.

Also… I've got a few workshops coming up at MAKERS gallery/shop/studio, all round creative venue in the heart of bristol. It's a lovely little cosy venue to do a workshop in, no more than 5 people can book on and also you can look and be inspired by all the lovely things in the shop. Check out their website here for more details and how to book.

Fiona even said about one of her printed creations that she thought it was the best piece of art she'd ever made.

My printmaking workshop at the Arnolfini

On Saturday 25^th of January I led a printmaking workshop as part of the We Are Family day at The Arnolfini, in Bristol, relating to their current exhibition by Joëlle Tuerlinckx. It was a busy, fun four hours.

I had some great volunteers helping me manage the budding artists, around 30 of them at a time and about 100 people over the afternoon.

People of all ages got to try a selection of three different printmaking techniques.

On the first table was a collection of different materials, from foam to leaves to cardboard, which you could cut out and arrange on your plate to create a collagraph to print from.  

The second table was monoprinting with stencils, based on how I make my own work and the third table was drawing on the back of paper, on top of a layer of ink, to get an inky drawing on the reverse.

The three techniques could also be combined to create a multi-layered print.

Thanks for having me Arnolfini.

My next workshop for people from 16+ is at Hamilton House on Feb 11^th from 17.30-20.30. Please scroll down my blog here for more details.

Printmaking Workshop – Christmas cards

This Wednesday I led another workshop. It was great fun and since the festive season is fast approaching the focus was on making your very own hand-printed christmas cards.

There were some great ideas utilising traditional Christmas symbols with a modern twist, using bright colours.

Everyone who attended the workshop got to take away 5 greetings cards with them, which they had printed by hand, using stencils they had cut from their drawings.

This was all done in the beautiful surrounding of The Print Shop, in Quakers Friars, Bristol.

Two lovely students, travelled from Southampton to take part.

The next workshop I’m doing will be held on November 27^th. Come along and learn how to print your own Christmas cards at home this year. 
It's £25 for a three hour session, all materials provided, (as it's nearly christmas, feel free to bring along nibbles or wine) You can find more information on The Print Shop blog. Or you can book on by emailing printshopbristol@gmail.com

My Workshops - Monoprinting with stencils

If you fancy trying out a printing technique that you can easily do at home, without a press, but with some beautiful textural results, how about coming along to one of my workshops.

I’m currently holding them in The Print Shop, which is in Quakers Friars, in the centre of Bristol. The next one is Wednesday 30^th October and there will be two more in November. Just in time to print all your Christmas cards. The workshop lasts three hours and is a one off session for £25.

For this you get a demonstration and talk by me, the artist, all materials are provided and you will take away a set of five greetings cards. You can make a Christmas design to get you on your way for the fast approaching festive season.

You will be using a craft knife and oil-based inks. So its good to wear clothes you don’t mind getting some paint on…it won’t come out.

It would be great to see you there. If you’re interested send me an email -

sophie@sophie-rae.com

The Print Shop

On 24^th July an empty space in Quakers Friars was turned into a swish, elegant new shop and gallery, called The Print Shop. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be involved. As a pop-up shop it is only open until 24^th December, so you don’t have long to have a look.

To keep it exciting every month a new set of artists are chosen to sell their handmade prints in the shop. There are framed prints, mounted prints, printed sketchbooks and bags, notebooks, cushions, greetings cards and my very own printed t-shirts. Every item in the shop is hand-printed with love by a local Bristol artist, either a member of Drawn in Bristol or Spike Island. 

It’s been a great experience to meet other lovely people from Bristol who share a similar love of the process of printing. Printing in all different sorts of ways, from etching, to screen-printing, lithography, monoprinting, lino cut etc…

I have also been doing workshops in the pop-up shop in the evenings. The workshop, Monoprinting with stencils teaches you the techniques that I use to create my work.

The next workshop is on Wednesday 30^th October and you can book a place by emailing printshopbristol@gmail.com

Its £25 for a three hour one off session. You will see a demonstration and then get to print your own set of greetings cards to take home with you, or send to your friends and family.

It's also definitely worth checking out The Print Shop blog.

Its got some fab interviews with the artists exhibiting in each volume.

And here's a photo of the white bespoke frame that I've had my houseboat framed in. I'm really chuffed with the quality.

The Living Arts and Crafts Fair

I was given the opportunity to have a stall at The Living Arts and Crafts Fair, May 9th-12th, in Hertfordshire. 

Group shot of all of us that shared the marquee:

My Stall

                                      

I was in Marquee I, 'The Emerging Designer Makers’ Marquee. I had a fantastic time because I got to meet some great people, customers and fellow stallholders and the editors of Craft & Design Magazine, of which I’m featured in. It’s a beautiful magazine and has lots of great coverage of art events going on across the UK.

Chatting to the lovely Angie (editor)  and Paul (designer) of Craft and Design Magazine

I learnt about future art events I can get involved in and tips from other veteran stallholders. I love what I do and I’m passionate about the process I use to create my work. This is the first art fair I have done and it has given me even more enthusiasm to get my work seen and make a living from it after receiving so much positive feedback.

Throughout the four days in Hertfordshire I did demonstrations showing the public how I created all my images. This inspired people to get creative and make artwork of their own.

 Here are some of the greetings cards being made in preparation for the art fair. 

  

 

Now I’m looking at selling my work at more art fairs.