Clay Winning

Mold Making and Slip Casting

Hand Building and Raku

Click the posters to see them enlarged .. right click to save the posters!

Email christine@organicarts.org.uk to find out more information

Sun 22nd April 11.00-3.00 Drop in Tile making Workshop for families at Spring at the Farm, farm open day. Entry to the farm is £4 for an adult, £3 for a child or £10 for a family (maximum two adults and three children).

Sat 5th May 10.00 -1.00 Taster Introductory to Clay with Lucy Rockliffe. Handbuilding. £20

Sat 12th May 10.00 -1.00 Taster Introductory to Clay with Lucy Rockliffe. Handbuilding. £20

Sat 19th May 1.00 – 4.00 Figurative Sculpture in Clay from life model led by experienced artist Sarah John. This is for beginners and the more experienced. £27 inc. materials. Firing service offered

organicARTS CLAY WEEKEND at WEST TOWN FARM

Special price for both days £45
Sat 9th June 10-12.30 Would you like to know about what clay really is and where it comes from? Hear about our rich clay heritage ‘The story of clay winning in Devon’ with Richenda Macgregor from the Potting Shed near Totnes – £15
Sat 9th June 1.30 -5.00 Master class in throwing. Richenda will guide you into all the tricks of throwing a beautiful pot! £25
Special price £35 for the day
Sunday 10th June 10.30 Demonstration in the Pottery by Douglas Fitch, Devon potter internationally known, who uses locally dug clay and slip decoration. A chance to ask him questions, view and buy his work. £15

Sat 14th July Introduction to mold making and slip casting with RA trained sculptor Adam Graddon. Adam has worked for the late Emmanuel Cooper making molds and slip casting, and will take you through all the processes of casting. £40 for the day.

Sat 21st July 1.00-4.00 Figurative Sculpture in Clay from life model led by experienced artist Sarah John. This is for beginners and the more experienced. £27 inc. materials. Firing service offered

Sat 4th August Introductory Raku and smoke firing for those who have attended Taster intro or those who have suitable bisc ware for Raku. £35

Sat 11th August 1.00-4.00 Figurative Sculpture in Clay from life model led by experienced artist Sarah John. This is for beginners and the more experienced. £27 inc. materials. Firing service offered

Wednesdays 10.30-12.30 and 1.30-3.30 Drop in Sessions are available from May till end of July.
Lucy Rockliffe will be in the Pottery at these times. Information on request. Book time in before session.

Thursdays in May and June 4-5.30 Lucy will be running an After School Club offered to Ide Primary pupils. Information on request
Booking in advance is essential as spaces are limited. If there are not enough bookings for a workshop, organicARTS will cancel a week before session.

For bookings contact christine@organicarts.org.uk tel 01392 811080

Will Halfacree from Scree TV filmed the things happening over two days at organicARTS. Thanks Will for capturing it so well.

I was not sure what to expect , we are always interested in looking at anything that gives an opportunity for our most disabled residents to have new experiences. I have to say that this was one of the best things to come along since I started working here, (12 yrs)!

What we experienced today was amazing, one young woman has huge communication issues and we rarely see her smile. The connection she had with the pony and the experience of being on the iBex was amazing for us to watch. You must find a way of developing this, we would certainly be customers.

Rosemary M

Bevern View

Our next event ....

Trees have been a subject that has resonated with us all and sparked off lots of ideas and images about their form and role. One person saw the branches as neural pathways and another as arms entwined.

We have been blessed with some bright sunny days filled with strong contrasts of light and shade. This has been ideal for really bringing out the sculptural qualities of the trees and learning how different qualities of light affect the photographic image.

Photo: Caroline

Photo: Rhys

Photo: Val

Photo: Val

Photo: Caroline

A few weeks on and bare branches are turning green.

Photo : Rhys Willow Tree

Photo: Val

Clare   3/4/’12

Chloe, Becca and Bex form Inventmore Theatre: an Exeter-based Theatre company developing work around the themes of sustainability and community living.
The day started with us meeting and trying to figure out how we were going to fit a Pantomime Cow costume on our bikes. Wearing it was out of the questions as we would get far too hot, not to mention the impracticality of not being able to see where we were going!  We left an hour to get West Town Farm from Exeter, which we soon found out was more than enough time! Christine met us and showed us around the farm which has so many beautiful (potential) performance spaces.  We started to see the show being played out among apple trees, around camp fires, spread out between imitate barn spaces and wide open hill sides. Seeing “pregnant belly” hill pop up on our walk-around was a great moment for us all, and started to conjure up stories of how it came to be… Our day at the farm has got our imaginations going to say the least, and we are excited to be going into rehearsals with the prospect of coming and sharing our work at the Barn Dance in July..!  Organic Arts are doing such important work, not only for local artists but also the wider community and we are thrilled to be working with them.

Welcome to the participatory photography blog. My name is Clare Henry and I started the photography project a few weeks ago. I will be working with some of the volunteers who are involved with the Ecominds community garden. They  are doing gardening work and other valuable activities around the farm. There is a wide age range among the volunteer group and differing life situations. Some of them are dealing with mental and physical health issues.   I’ve started  with 3 volunteers and I will be teaching and sharing camera and photographic skills and facilitating participants to make personal photo journals/albums around the general theme  ‘The Farm Through My Eyes’.  There may be an exhibition of work and I hope to involve more of the volunteers at a later point.

This is a participatory photography project where other final outcomes, apart from the personal journals will be fully negotiated with participants. It is the process which is important.The healing potential of the arts and their value in supporting mental and physical wellbeing has been recognised and photography has a valuable role. As well as developing photographic skills I see this project as therapeutic photography. Offering an invitation to play, explore, and  discuss - photography can also be a way of creating order and taking control. When taking pictures we need to think about what to photograph, why and how things or people and places relate to each other. It provides a contained framework for ideas. I trained with Photovoice last year and have a lengthy background in social/community work. Photovoice sees some of the strengths of therapeutic photography as encouraging storytelling, sharing, making sense of our world and our place in it or simply distracting us from worries.

During the first weeks we have been learning about focusing, framing, composition and experimenting with portraits as well as having lots of fun.

self portrait_ Caroline

assisted self portrait_Rhys

self portraits -Rhys

'I love the animals at the farm' _Caroline

Ice sculpture _ Val

Winter Pansies val

'It's water off a duck's back' photo Rhys

Winston the farm dog photo_ caroline

More soon…..Clare

We are running a series of farm walks for artists who are interested in creating and exhibiting at West Town Farm during Devon Open Studios.

The walks will be on Sundays 26^th Feb; 6^th May and 15^th July meeting in the farmyard at 10.30am for a 2 hour walk which is followed by a home-made local lunch (£5) for those who would like it and then a discussion about work and the exhibition. West Town Farm is in Ide on the south-west outskirts of Exeter, it is well signed from the village and the postcode is EX2 9TG

The theme for organicARTS’ exhibition this year is ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ which can be interpreted in any way the artists wish and is not limited to 2 dimensional or visual arts, but should relate to the farm in some way. We have limited indoor space and encourage creativity which can be exhibited or performed on a farm trail. We are happy for artists of any age and at any stage in their development, including beginners! We are also keen to work with artists who have a yearning to try something different and be experimental.

If you are interested in any or all of the walks (we encourage people to come to all three as they then get an idea of how a farm changes over time) please contact christine@organicarts.org.uk