Updating the Arts and Crafts Board in the Tourist Information Centre

There are many very talented artists and craftspeople creating amazing work here on Scilly, ranging through paintings (oils, acrylics, watercolours, pencil sketches, inks), pottery, stained glass, jewellery (including precious metal, precious and semiprecious stones, beach finds and modern costume jewellery), knitted socks, willow baskets, canvas bags and clothes, lino cuts and luxury handmade toiletries using locally produced essential oils.

As part of our own contribution towards helping publicise all this fabulous work, we took on the task of designing and crafting a large advertising board with details of all twenty five different craftspeople, both with and without their own studio/galleries. It is on display at the Isles of Scilly Tourist Information Centre in the middle of Hugh Town so it can be seen by as many visitors as possible.

There were originally three Arts and Crafts Display Boards. One was in in the TIC, another in the waiting room on St Marys Quay and the third (the largest) was at Lands End Airport, St. Just, in the Skybus arrivals/departure lounge. We updated and revised all three in 2004 but, in 2007, when we came to do them again, only one remained. Unfortunately the one in the Quay Waiting Room and the one at Lands End Airport had both been removed.

In about 2004, Oriel Hicks designed the first Arts and Crafts brochure (the one in the centre of the picture below) with illustrations and a map by Sue Lewington, a well known artist then living on St. Martins. After Sue left the islands, Oriel produced another brochure in 2007 (the one on the left) and this year, 2011, saw her design an updated version (the one on the right).

'Made in Scilly' Brochures

For the 2011 board update, Steve Sherris joined the team and produced a modern white stained frame for the display. Oriel brought me a CD with all the images from the new brochure and I spent the last two days creating twenty five different panels for all the artists and craftspeople working on the islands. Steve designed and cut a very complex and fragile mount to house all the panels as well as a central map of the islands so the location of each Gallery could be shown. He used our big giclee printer, Bertha, to create and print the map which had to be L-shaped to fit the space in the centre of the board.

I’ve put a digital image of the board below but it wasn’t easy to get as much detail as I wanted. Still, it gives a good idea of the whole concept 🙂

'Made in Scilly' 2011

Steve finished the board and took it in to the TIC this morning where it now hangs in a prominent place. Visitors can use Oriel’s brochure together with the board to plan their route around the arts and crafts galleries that they want to see. Hopefully they will find it useful and interesting!

Don’t forget that it’s ‘ArtScilly’ from 7th – 14th May and all these artists and craftspeople will be welcoming visitors to their galleries to chat and many will be demonstrating their work. There will be workshops, Exhibitions, displays and other activities for visitors to enjoy. Check out the website for more information.

Oh, and tomorrow sees the start of ‘Walk Scilly’ so please keep your fingers tightly crossed for some nice weather 🙂 Last year some of the off island trips were cancelled due to gales and rough seas which was a great shame.

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