A little more information......
Quick on the heels of our last newsletter and as bookings start to fill up, we wanted to reassure participants who are nervous about committing to anything outside their recently enforced comfort zone, that should any of our workshops have to be cancelled as a result of travel restrictions, deposits and/or balances already paid to Les Soeurs Anglaises will be refunded in full or, if preferred, held against a future workshop (see below for what we still have available).
Stefanija Pejchinovska is an embroidery artist and designer from Skopje, Macedonia. She goes by her artist name Damaja and is currently based in Berlin. Although she studied architecture at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, she had always known her passion was for embroidery. Throughout her short architecture career, she opened an Etsy shop to sell her designs, and quickly started growing as a brand. Soon after, she professionally established her brand, quit her architecture job and hasn’t looked back since.
At the heart of her work, she is focused on creating unique designs on ethically-made clothing either for decoration or as a way of covering repairs or textile blemishes. She has collaborated with a number of sustainable brands and local artists (See more of her designs…..)
2. Since the 12th Century, Japanese artisans have been employing a construction technique that uses just one simple material: wood. Rather than utilize glue, nails, and other fasteners, the traditional art of Japanese wood joinery notches slabs of timber so that the grooves lock together and form a sturdy structure. Yamanashi-based carpenter Dylan Iwakuni demonstrates this process in the endlessly satisfying video, which depicts multiple styles of the angular joints and how they’re slotted together with the tap of a mallet. As Iwakuni notes at the end, new joineries often are used in traditional architecture to replace a damaged portion, maintaining the integrity of the original edifice.
Those of you interested in trying your hand at this centuries-old artform, Iwakuni recommends reading The Complete Japanese Joinery and Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit and Use. He also offers a collection of tutorials and videos on his Instagram and YouTube.
3. Have you taken part in a 100 Day creative project yet? Well here is an opportunity to re-load and ref-charge your creative batteries in a fun way: Roben Marie of MakerTechU has set up her 6th project year with a free Project Workbook and Tracker designed to help plan, document, track and reflect on a personal theme. This idea is to give you the tools needed to get sorted, keep focused and steady, and to track progress by reflecting each week on how you're doing. By the end of the 100 days you will hopefully have developed a strong creative habit and a small body of useful work and skills.
4. When we’re feeling some inner resistance to a task, we tend to put it off — check email, social media, have a cup of coffee, meet a friend, our favorite distractions or busywork. We all do it. We often turn it into something bad: I’m hopeless at self- discipline, I’m not in the mood to be able to focus, I’m not talented enough, etc. etc. But it’s just a part of being human — we all have fear, uncertainty, doubt, resistance built into our survival instincts. The trick is not to judge the resistance, but to work with it. (read more……)
5. Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope - - from an interview by David Brancaccio
“Oh, she says, well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I’ll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is - we’re here on Earth to fart around.
And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it’s like we’re not supposed to dance at all anymore.“
Let’s all get up and move around a bit right now… or at least dance.
6. Need a break? If a long walk or a cup of tea doesn’t work for you this time around, then who doesn’t like to dance?
6. Sculptor Francisco Leiro grew up in the northern region of Spain, an area steeped in centuries of religious traditions and history. He now lives and works in New York and continues to spend part of the year in his native country in Pontevedra. Well known and respected for his sculptures carved in wood and stone, Leiro has received numerous public commissions. His works are also in museum collections in Spain, Portugal, Japan, the Netherlands, and in the United States; and have been exhibited in solo and group shows at venues throughout the Iberian Peninsula, in France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia, countries in South America, and a number of times at Marlborough Gallery in New York City.
8. A friend, who also happens to be a professional tri-lingual translator, has recommended the website: DeepL as a preferable alternative to Google Translate. Their free, innovative and award-winning breakthroughs capture even the slightest language nuances, and the site continues to set industry standards, offering exceptional translation quality, powered by groundbreaking AI technology. DeepL outperforms competition by a factor of 3:1 so definitely worth keeping as “favourite” on your search engine.
8. You don’t have to be a Dylan fan to enjoy Aoife O’Donovan’s cover of “Not yet Dark”.
10. Fine Cell Work is a UK charity which makes beautiful handmade products by British prisoner, available to purchase on-line.. Teaching prisoners high-quality needlework boosts their self-worth, instils self-discipline, fosters hope and encourages them to lead independent, crime-free lives. Fine Cell Work also provides post-prison support upon release as well as providing work experience, formal training and employment to ex-prisoners, with the aim of instilling self-worth and self-confidence and back into work.
We have a few places remaining on the following workshops this summer
12TH TO 16TH MAY 2022 / 4 WORKSHOP DAYS : 5 NIGHTS
Laughter Lab III with InstantWit
Absolutely no previous experience of acting, performing or comedy improvisation is necessary for this life-enhancing workshop (nor any desire to perform in the future), just a willingness to participate and enjoy yourself.
23RD - 29TH MAY 2022 5 Day workshop / 6 Nights
Stitching a Sense of Space with Ekta Kaul
Ekta’s workshop will centre on developing your ideas by guiding you through the techniques and skills necessary to stitch your own unique and personal “maps”.
8TH TO 14TH JUNE 2022 5 Day Workshop / 6 Nights
Still Life Beyond the Window with Jacqui Mair
Jacqui’s workshop with Les Soeurs will combine paint, print, calligraphy and textile collage, ingredients that are guaranteed to ignite your imagination and develop your artistic techniques. Both beginners and more advanced artist/crafters will enjoy this immensely creative event.
6TH - 12TH JULY 2022 5 Day Workshop / 6 Nights
Moving Memories with Anne Kelly
Be inspired by Anne’s seemingly endless creative energy as she encourages you to manipulate ideas, memory and travel imagery using a collection of found or acquired materials to produce beautiful stitched “collages”. Small worlds in themselves, but also pathways to developing larger, more narrative pieces.
19th to 22nd AUGUST 2022
BLUES&BOOGIE WEEKEND 2022 with Tom Seals
A full weekend of the fantastic live piano -