On October 24th 2010, thirteen of us came together and put on our first art and craft fair. We developed quite organically thanks to Chorley's fantastic interconnectedness. Many of us are mums with young children who meet regularly at Chorley Pram Walk and playgroups across Chorley. Conversations about our interests outside motherhood revealed a lot of creative souls doing amazing things but not always having the means of getting their work out there. Using internet forums and word-of-mouth we got together interested and like-minded local artists & crafters we knew who were keen to show what they were working on right in the heart of where they live. A number of us were already selling online and at craft fairs locally and nationally and some of us had never done a craft fair before but we all recognised a gap for something contemporary in Chorley that was committed to handmade items only.
Our first event exceeded all our expectations and sparked a desire to do more as a group. Not long after we formed Chorley Contemporary Crafters.
Sunday October 24th
Wow, it all looks great! Wish I'd known about your group sooner. I'm currently a "sleeping" member of the Art and Craft Guild of Lancashire (I've taken a year out to re-group creatively as well as get my health back up to speed).
ReplyDeleteI make handmade lampwork glass beads and jewellery and would love to join in sometime - do you have room for one more? If you need to see examples of my work first, my Etsy shop is at http://janehamill.etsy.com/ and my Facebook fan page is http://www.facebook.com/janehamillbeadsandjewellery