Contemporary Craft Festival in 2016 & 2017 had been so awesome that I just had to return again this year.
Ready, Steady Go!
Queues were starting to build as I arrived with the sun shining and my festival ticket was in my hand. The queues were already starting to form and I was anticipating the chatting and shopping ahead of me.
At 10am, we were all allowed in. My perfect day at Bovey Tracey was about to begin. I had a note of the stalls I wanted to visit, devised a list of potential purchases, filled my purse with pennies and I was ready to go.
The beauty of this festival is that all 200 plus stands are all mixed up. Textiles could be next to ceramics, jewellery, wood or glass. Textiles and mixed media are my main reason for visiting and I always something surprising and inspiring in the work on the other stalls. Their colour palettes and textures somehow draw me in and I can hear the cogs in my brain moving, thinking and wondering how I could incorporate their shape and form into new pieces of wet felt or embroidery.
I’d met many of the artists previously at this show and some of the Selvedge Fairs, so it was lovely to catch up with them and see their new work.
I popped outside for a quick cup of tea and found Richard Parker from the Great Pottery Throwdown, starting a clay challenge with some budding students.
The Artists
Feeling refreshed I went back into the marque, chatting and buying, chating and photographing and then a little more buying. Here are just a few of the wonderfully, talented artists I met.
You can also catch up on the day’s events on YouTube.
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| Emily Notman |
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| Melanie Torrance |
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| Sara Sheriff from Wildwood |
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| Kate Toms |
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| Esther Smith |
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| Suzanne Breakwell |
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| Von Allen from Heartfelt Dogs |
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| Lynsey Walters |
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| Elizabeth Loveday |
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| Liz Cooksey |
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| Ruth Packham |
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| Jane Clift |
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| Alix Swan from Little Bits of Printy Things |
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| Lucy from The Cat in the Shoe |
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| Ann Bruford |
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| Anya Keeley from The Curiosity Cupboard |
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| Kirsty Elson |
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| Dionne Swift |
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| Sue Bibby |
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| Amanda Anderson |
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| Jennifer Collier |
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| Louise Lovell |
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| Hayley from Raggedy |
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| Claire Read from Little Burrow Designs |
Purchase of the Day
Each year I like to plan one large purchase. This year it was from Heleina Sharpley. I’ve been a fan of her work for many years and even attended a workshop with her in 2016. (I’ll add photos of my purchases to a future post.)
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| Helaina Sharpley |
Anyone for Tea?
I thought the day couldn’t get any better. How wrong was I. The cherry on top the very delicious cake, was an invitation for a cream tea at my dear friend’s home, just a two minute walk down the road from the festival. A perfect combination of tea, cake and conversation. Lots of new and old Instagram friends sat sharing stories about their day. We showed our favourite purchases and exchanged Instagram details. The perfect end to the perfect day.
I am already excited about next year. Contemporary Craft Festival 2019 is already in my diary.
If you’re planning to visit in 2019, let me know below, it would be lovely to meet you.
The Devon Guild of Crafts is always worth a visit too. It’s open all year round and sells lots of work made by artist’s at the Festival.
Absolutely fabulous blog post. I’ve forwarded it to my sister so she can look at all the links you’ve included.
Thanks for taking the time to do it.
Lynn xx
Hi Lynn,
Thank you : ) I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it.
It was such a brilliant show.
I’m already booking up for next year ; )
Katie xx