The Coffee Chronicles

You know how you can see pictures in clouds? Well, I started to see pictures in the dregs of coffee at the bottom of my morning cup. Pete bought me a good camera so that I could take photos, and now I’ve got hundreds. This is a few, made into a story - find your adventure in your morning brew. This is a quirky book, which will appeal to storytellers and coffee drinkers of all ages

'It's over there,' said the Archer.

They looked.

'Do you want me to come with you?' asked the Man.

'Yes, please,' said Tom.

The Art of FOLLOWING MY NOSE

When Alex decided to go to college, at the tender age of 40, she was sent a brief to complete over the summer holidays – a brief designed to get new students thinking, and also, probably, to let tutors assess the calibre of the new intake. I never found out what they thought……

So this book is an examination, in graphic style, of following a thought- ‘following my nose’ – and ending up somewhere totally unexpected.

The Adventures of Captain Mugwide

This is a cartoon (is it? Or is it a graphic novel?) which Alex drew when she first met Rosie Probert, the half size Thames barge which Pete built in the garden (…..). As it says on the back cover ‘the story of Captain Mugwide is a simple tale of friendship and finding out, drawn by someone with no training but a passion for not letting that get in the way of having a go.’

School Projects – Working with an Artist

We have, for over 25 years, worked in more schools than we can remember! In some it was just a one day workshop, in others we were ‘artist in residence’, sometimes for over 2 years. Plus we have both been governors of schools, and both, in our time, have been chair of govs. Alex also has vast experience of the administration side of school projects – setting them up, fire fighting and evaluating. So this book is an attempt to share our experiences and knowledge, with staff and with artists, showing the processes of having an artist in school, whether for a one day taster, or to get a major sculpture in the grounds. The book is divided into two sections – ‘Creative Learning Projects’ and ‘Sculpture Projects’, and, as you would expect, there are some overlaps.

So if you are planning a project in a school, be you a member of staff or an artist, you will find this an interesting, slightly provocative, but hopefully useful, read.

Row, Row, Row your boat – a Trip around the World 

I suspect we all know the little ditty about gently rowing our boat down a stream, and possibly meeting a crocodile? Alex has taken the basic format, and applied it to rivers and seas around the world.

The resulting poems are funny and intriguing in equal measure – but also they are intended to be a springboard or catalyst for literacy in Primary and Secondary Schools. Not only can we geographically learn about a river, we have to discover something unique about it and write a short poem to share and entertain.

Who knows where you’ll end up

When you row your boat with me,

We’ll go all around the world

And be back in time for tea….

Hopefully …..

Let’s see!

Stillness Infant School – Our Values Tree

This is a book we made really for the school. We were given the commission to make the tree sculpture in January 2020 – well, we all know what happened next – national lockdown! But the school wanted to go ahead, so the challenge was to do the project, involving everybody as much as possible, without actually ever meeting anyone! The book is to explain to the school community what happened, and how, and by whom, since we couldn’t impart the info ourselves in person. So it’s very specific to the school, but, actually, it gives a real insight into the methods and processes we use, and might be interesting for someone wanting a sculpture in their setting – wherever that is.

Jewellery & Silversmithing

Every teacher, every book, has a different point of view, a different method of doing something, different design ideas, and different ways of approaching a project.

Something that is often missing from other books is the science and reasons behind what is happening when we do things, why we have to do things in a certain way to get best results, the maths and the physics and chemistry. 

This book is an attempt to explain, in simple terms, some of the fundamentals of metalwork, which will lead to a greater understanding of processes and techniques, and thus success. If, like me, you are someone who likes to know ‘why?’, hopefully you will find answers in these pages – ‘why’ does this happen? ‘Why’ shouldn’t I do that?

So we start from the beginning – the Periodic Table, atoms and Molecules, and why they matter to us, and then move through to looking at basic processes – such as hammering and sawing. We end up looking at techniques – some are in some detail, and some are just touched on, because they are beyond the scope of the book.

The book is for beginners, but hopefully more experienced practitioners will learn something too!

And the overall message is - have a go! If it works, then you have learnt something. If it doesn’t work, then you have still learnt something, for we can only push the boundaries of our knowledge by failures, experimentation and risk taking.