Tuesday 7 June 2011

June 2011 Meeting: Paddy Balsdon Workshop

This was such a fun workshop to do and was quite different from our usual art get-togethers. It must be the first workshop where everyone left with a completed project!

Paddy arrived with all the necessary bookbinding materials to make a portfolio big enough to hold quarter-sized sheets of artwork, including an array of eye-catching fabric colours. After first fortifying ourselves with essential refreshments we set to under Paddy’s expert tuition to cut, paste, stretch and burnish. There was much muttering under the breath as we tried to cope with two hands when we really needed four, not to talk about glue that mysteriously found its way to the wrong side of where it was supposed to be. How on earth did it end up on my elbow instead of the back of my fabric? And when the muttering stopped there was absolute silence and concentration – another first for a BAASA workshop – while breaths were held and the project turned over to reveal a work of master craftsmanship (well from our perspectives anyway). Never mind that some of us cut our corners too short or suddenly decided we should have a label in a strategic place to conceal a mishap (there’s always a fix for ‘mistakes’).

All that brainpower used up lots of energy, but not to worry, there was plenty to eat. Thanks to all who attended and brought food, including warming soup, and thank you Paddy for a most rewarding workshop. You enabled us to take home something that is immediately useful.

- Report and photo by Angie Hill

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