What an event! This was my first time exhibiting on an arts trail and what a joyous experience it turned out to be. Attic Batik was venue number 5, snuggled up in the middle of the old former White Swan pub on Belper’s Market Place. Our space was shared by artist Karen Logan displaying some fine lino cut prints and by mixed media painter Neil Hunt showcasing his rather lovely local landscapes. Neighbouring businesses RedFox Beauty and Emerald Beauty also loaned space to young and super hardworking animal painter Natasha Lowe and creative landscape photographer Valerie Dalling showing her beautiful painterly looking photos.
This 2 day event was extremely well attended by folks from near and far and it was heartwarming to meet so many lovely people and share batik. It was an honour to show the craft to those who had never seen it done before and to see the intrigue and curious expressions on the faces of people young and old for whom this craft was unknown. For plenty of others who could smell the hot wax on their approach up the stairs it brought back nostalgic memories of having tried batik when they were either at school or at University. One lady said the smell was highly evocative and reminded her of when she used to work in a ski shop where she waxed skis – first prize for the most unexpected and original story! It was also a pleasure to meet fellow batik and textile artists and to compare techniques, tools and swap information.
Thank you to every body who came out to visit, peruse and to purchase work and big thanks to the team of organisers at https://www.belperarts.org for all their hard work. I can’t wait to do it all again next year now! 🙂
