Can You Help Us During the Grow Your Tenner Funding Drive This October?

During the past 7 years we have developed interesting, engaging, meaningful projects that involve the community in contemporary art practice whilst striving to support Wellbeing. We have conducted walks and interventions in Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Finedon, Rushden and Derbyshire and have made work in woods, on allotments, by streams, in an empty shop, on station platforms and on a community allotment. 

Through a recommendation from Northamptonshire Community Foundation we have an online charitable giving page on the Local Giving website and have heard that the fabulous Grow Your Tenner scheme is about to start a new funding round. Under the banner of Beanfield Artists we are able to benefit from the Grow Your Tenners scheme.

So with this opportunity in mind we hope to rally all our supporters, plus our past, present and future participants by asking them if they can help us during Grow Your Tenner. Each donation of up to but not more than £10 will be matched from the Grow Your Tenner fund.

A donation of £10 can be worth up to £22.50:

£10 donation

+£2.50 Gift Aid

+£10 Match funding

Total = £22.50

The £500,000 will be split into two pots of £250,000. £250,000 will match £10 donations as above while the second £250,000 will be used to match new Direct Debits. The first six monthly payments of up to £10 will be matched.

We have plans for exciting, innovative future projects and a small donation could help us make these plans a reality. You can find our Local Giving page here. 

Green Patch Celebration

Goodbye Green Patch

Our Green Patch project has now come to an end, all the artworks are installed and the celebratory evening was wonderful. We were delighted to see and hear all the happy faces and great comments about our Residency at the Green Patch, one of the nicest being "I love all the things you have added to the site and you have both become such a part of the Green Patch family". 

Many thanks to the members of the community who took part, all the wonderful volunteers who helped us, to The Green Patch and Groundworks team, especially Lucy, Allison, Nigel, Nikki, Caroline for providing the barbecue and Halloween decorations, Northamptonshire Community Foundation and the Community Development Foundation.

To see all the artworks created during the project please follow the link to our Flickr Sets which includes the Summer House Weather Installation, Rare Flowers sculpture, the pond sculpture, our large printed images around the office and stores, a bird mobile made from plastic bottles and work made with the community including signs and bunting! Lots of colour to keep the Green Patch bright and cheery into the winter months.

The work is staying permanently at the site, so do visit when you are in the area.

Thank you Green Patch, we had a lovely time! We won't forget you.

A view from the Weather Installation

The community gathering for the celebration by the polytunnels

A ray of light (inside the weather installation)

A shower of rain (inside the weather installation)

A fabulous end to a fabulous Residency!

Back at the Green Patch

After a short break from our Green Patch project 

we were glad to be back during the past week.

We were happy to find the sunflowers

 ice plant

peonies, evening primrose, wild strawberries

 verbascum and begonias are all doing well in their up-cycled planters.

The signs got their first coat of varnish

We spent time making a bird mobile

to install in one of the trees.

We also had time to work on our Weather Installation

Our second day was rainy but we couldn't stop smiling as we find the Green Patch, working in the fresh air , watching the seasons change, totally inspiring.

Green Patch Bunting Gallery

You can now see all the individual bunting pieces made during our Green Patch sessions here

Green Patch Gallery on Flickr

Sophie Cullinan and her lovely children Kitty and Jonty joined us for the Saturday Bird Workshop at the Green Patch and you can read her Blog post about the experience here # 12 [25 August 2012] 

We have scanned all the images made by participants during the week and you can view them here

A New Monday

It was a beautiful afternoon at the Green Patch, the overcast morning sky was replaced by soft clouds and gentle shades of blue. Our early arrivers happily set about watering the young trees in the new orchard and as more arrived the raised beds were also given some attention. The ducks and chickens were visited and Emily, the Green Patch cat was given plenty of fuss.

This also gave participants an opportunity to explore the Green Patch growing spaces and choose plants or elements they would like to draw during the course of the afternoon.

As the afternoon was mild and breezy we decided to forego the gazebo

There was a great sense of peace and relaxation

We worked with fabric dyes and wax crayons to create bold resist paintings

all age groups from 3 upwards enjoyed the activity

and there was plenty of time and space to make more than one image.

Esther's pencil sketch of the landscape as viewed from the Summer House

Day 5 - sun, signs and a ceiling

The end of our first week at the Green Patch, and it has been busy!

We had more visitors today, despite it being scorching hot! But our trusty gazebo gave us shelter. A very pleasant day making more bunting and printing signs.

Bunting: a scarecrow, a ladybird and a cat

We also did some more work towards our installation to go in the summer house. The idea keeps on developing, this time we masked out shapes on a panel to be mounted on the ceiling.

Work resumes again on Monday!