Yesterday was officially #SuffolkDay and we wanted to mark the occasion by working on a new section of our website to showcase the amazingly talented people that we have offering workshops with us - take a look here
Our county is incredible - we are so lucky to have so many creative artists and artisans, crafts people and makers and, at Stoke Bridge Workshops, we're always so grateful to those talented people that choose to offer their skills to you at our venue.
Our intention when setting up the workshops was always to offer you the best tutors, to allow you to learn from professional artists who would impart their skills and knowledge and allow you to take away something that you could build on and use in your own lives.... and we know we've been successful in that from the quality and content of all the courses we've run to date, and from your feedback.
So, in celebration of those tutors that offer their brilliance in our amazing county of #Suffolk, we thank you!
In other news, Ipswich has the glorious Elmer's Big Parade going on right now "From 15 June to 7 September, Ipswich plays host to an even bigger and better art trail than when the pigs went wild; this time featuring 55 individually designed elephants based on the much loved children’s character, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant.
Visitors can also meet our Learning Herd; 84 ‘young Elmers’, who are gathered in their herds in special locations all across town."
We're delighted that two of our artists have designed and painted three of the elephants:
Kieran Page, the artist behind the incredible mural at Stoke Bridge Workshops and whose illustration we use in lots of our promotional material, has designed 'Pygmy Elmer' - a nod to endangered species around the world.
In his own words: "For those of you who don’t know, I hide a woodlouse called woody in all my artwork... because this is special occasion I’ve hidden 8 around my Elmer 🌚🌚 can you find them all? #whereswoody - Thanks so much for all your kind comments and messages! I’m so blown away, over 120 hours in my spare time over 7 weeks it was mad. Thanks to everyone who came to help, especially @starseedstan for your dedication - Proudly sponsored by my hockey club @ieshockeyclub
Laura Beardsell-Moore, one of our amazing tutors has two elephants in the trail: The first 'Poppy', sponsored by Greater Anglia, "was inspired by the connections that we make with different places, with the environment around us and with Suffolk’s history and farming heritage. The landscapes shown are areas of outstanding natural beauty which intersect with our local railway."
Laura's second Elmer, sponsored by Killik & Co is 'Stella the Storyteller' who: stitches together her patchwork quilt of all the things she loves: her memories, experiences and dreams. Ordinary events can become extraordinary when they are stitched together and tell a story."
So, what a time to be alive in Suffolk. Today's #SuffolkPride parade, the Big Elmer trail and all the other opportunities we have to celebrate creativity, diversity and community - we're so glad we're here.
Don't forget, while you're here, to take a look at all of the workshops we've currently got on offer and, if you haven't already, subscribe to learn about new ones as they come on board.
As always, see you soon
Danielle and Ian