Sat 09 May |
|
| Tucked away in the back room of a church, trinkets and treats expressing everything from crafting to ease the mind, showing off style to shift stock to the persistent and unprejudiced documenting of urban life passed an afternoon of my Saturday this week.
Having spotted a poster advertising ‘Headingley Arts and Crafts fair 10am-4pm, 9th May, Headingley Methodist Church’ earlier in the week, I couldn’t resist a visit.
You’ll appreciate this is all in the name of you, the lovely mill members and most certainly not in the name of surviving on a creatives’ wage, as I couldn’t resist a purchase or two OK three. So, the organiser a lovely lady in, the most radiant and complimenting green outfit I could have imagined one so consumed with a passion for knitting would wear, had planned the event for those she knows and respects in the arts community. Note one: get yourself to events like this then she and the likes of, will know you and you’re in. A handful of the people with stalls were members of an arts group called artsmix, however, for an honest report I have to say their opinion on how the groups runners have promoted them since paying up their £40 membership fee was less than favorable. None-the-less through which I presume they had met more arty people and refer you to note one. (OK time for a blatant plug we are free to join, we have events and we have spaces to exhibit and give you stalls most notably at moorfest this year amongst other things.) Others had heard about it through the organiser and by being part of community groups like mill. A little eavesdropping and I found one lady comment that certain things sell better than others at such fairs namely that with jewellery there is a lot of competition, whilst it did put the recipient off and she shortly after packed up her stall and left, I would advise it does not do the same for you. Money can be made by putting yourself out there and you have to take it on the chin a bit that as much it seems risky to fork out to hire a stall at which you may sit for hours with no visits, if you didn’t try it then nothing is sure to happen. This way you never know what career changing encounters could transpire. The problem with many of these things is that they are not advertised well. The arts and crafts on offer have a broad appeal and yet are often illusive to find out about. The jewellery and accessories are handmade, excellent value and fashionable. The photography and paintings on offer range from traditional through to funky and for a tenner you could get your portrait done there and then. Yet not one poster for the event could be found in any of the local student or trendy music scene haunts and no attempt to promote through the universities had been made. I got lucky seeing a poster the day before the event it seems. Further to this they can, in many cases be held in places where frequent visitors aren’t that interested in making a purchase. A comment on other artsmix markets in particular was that they are shifting focus to the high end. An laudable but questionably pointless endeavor in my opinion as that is why we have city galleries. What the people who produce these crafts are about is affordable, unique creative outcomes and it’s through their persistence and with help from community collectives providing a balance and range of opportunities, like mill, that they can achieve this and quite possibly more. |