Lots on in the next couple of months:

Wirksworth Festival   The trail weekend is the 12th/13th of September.

Melbourne Festival    The trail weekend is the 19th/20th of September.

Sheffield Ceramics Festival   26th and 27th of September.

Bolsover Stories Festival   Events around Bolsover on the 16th and 17th of October.  An Evening of Shared Poems in Beans on Friday, 16th October from 6-8pm.

Harley Gallery Christmas Market  27th – 29th November.

Beans had a bit of a break while I attended my daughter’s wedding on the 2nd of May, 2015.  It was a fabulous day.  The bride and groom did good!

I was in charge of the wedding cake.  Luckily for me – a ‘naked’ (un-iced) wedding cake was requested.  Carrot – lemon drizzle – chocolate.  In theory, easy… but somehow, when it matters, nothing ever goes quite to plan.  All came together in the end though.  Even survived the speed bumps!

Another brilliant Wirksworth Festival.  Over 100 artists.  Carol and Phoebe Eason were there with their wonderful prints and  Heather Dewick had an array of beautiful handmade books.  The weather held out until late afternoon – on Sunday – and we managed to eat our fish and chips and listen to several bands at the Gig on the Roof before the cool evening and drizzle got to us.

Performers sprung up around the town – we particularly liked the singing ukulele and recorder pair – and the whole event had a lovely feel.  Carol had counted 900 visitors through Saturday and up to Sunday lunchtime… with the number still growing.

A concrete fisherman, a mobile made of a multitude of blacksmith tools, textile work, photographs using the reflective powers of windows….  so much to see, learn from and enjoy.  I treated myself to a few pieces by Kit Anderson.  She uses photographs to decorate ceramics with a matt finish.  Very impressive.

I missed Helen Hallows at Melbourne Festival (it was uni delivery day) – but I hear that Melbourne too was fantastic. September is a hard month to beat for all things arty.

Karen

New for the summer, we are offering children’s courses on Wednesday afternoons at BEANS.  The first course, Fabric Painting, will be held on Wednesday, 24th July from 3pm to 4.30pm.  For the complete list of sessions and/or to book, go to our courses page, call into the shop or give us a ring on 01246 828691.

Our last Sunday course in the current leaflet is Silver Bangles on the 21st of July. We have a few places left if you’re interested.  Our new Sunday courses will begin again in October, kicking off with our first ever Portrait Course.  We will be welcoming other new courses and new tutors to BEANS in the next leaflet.  It will be appearing shortly……  Click here to find out more.