Neighbourhood Art Walk & Soap Making Classes this fall

We are excited to be taking part in the Central Art Walk later this fall.  It seems so far away to think of festivals in the fall, but the planning and organizing starts months ahead.  Look for it October 20-21 if you live in the area and want to experience a unique walking tour of numerous local artists and crafters living right in our neighbourhood!  Here at Little City Farm we'll have handmade soaps, artisan wood-fired bread, and another friend offering her gorgeous pottery.  More details to come later in the fall on this blog and our website.

Soap Making Classes - Here are a few of the latest soap photos using calendula, lavender and rosemary from our garden.  I love using herbs I've grown myself, and try to incorporate at least some herbs or herbal oils we've made into each batch for colour, fragrance, texture, and of course medicinal healing value.  The soaps are made from scratch using the traditional cold-process method and all natural ingredients, pure essential oils and organic herbs.  Although I long to make more soap right now, there's just not the time for it during the busy summer months (let alone offering workshops).  However, we'll be offering several soap classes again starting in September and the dates and registration will be posted on our website in a few weeks time. 

Central Art Walk & Studio Tour, coming Oct 23-24!

For those of you who are local, don't forget to check out the Central Neighbourhood Art Walk & Studio Tour, taking place next weekend Oct 23-24.  There are about 30 artists participating, with a wide range of arts/crafts for sale - pottery, wood work, sewing, chocolates, baked goods, soaps, stained glass, jewelery, painting.

Come visit us at Little City Farm, for freshly baked organic bread, yummy pies, delectable vegan sweets - plus our handmade soaps and herbal products, and a few more surprises.  We are hoping to turn our place into a mini tea house/cafe for the weekend, serving up delicious treats for people who stop in...

The Creative Family - Amanda Blake Soule

I'm currently reading Amanda Blake Soule's book "The Creative Family", a beautiful resource book where Soule describes how she brings imagination and creativity into her family life and nurtures strong family connections. Well, I'm not so much reading as absorbing, conscientiously flipping through the artful photos, inspiring stories, and descriptive projects, picking up ideas and dreaming about all the possibilities for nurturing our own creative family life.

Soule goes through various stages in her book - gathering (how to not only gather great materials at low or no cost, but also how to prepare the creative mind); playing (encouraging imagination, supporting young artists in the family through events like regular "family drawing time", or carrying around "art on the go" bags full of art supplies); sharing handmade traditions (passing on traditional skills like sewing, knitting, felting and embroidering to kids); living creatively (exploring nature - for example, finding a special nature spot, building a fairy house, or keeping a garden journal); celebrating and connecting (handmade holidays, everyday rituals, creating with food, holding a hootenanny, organizing community art nights), etc! This book is chock full of super ideas, not only for keeping little ones busy, but encouraging the artist in all of us.

Here's a quote from the "everyday rituals" section of this book, that seemed to sum up in a simple way what much of our life should be about. Taken from the Tao Te Ching:

"In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep it to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present."

Amanda Blake Soule has her second book, The Handmade Home, coming out in August 2009. She also writes a regular blog, a place I go to often for ideas and inspiration, and to admire her artful photography. Go to: www.soulemama.com

Central ArtWalk Success!

Yesterday we participated in the first annual Central ArtWalk - a walking studio tour of artisans and crafters in our neighbourhood, ranging from pottery, handmade chocolates, music, painting, knitted goods, handbound journals, woodwork, and much more. It was inspiring to see the variety of talents that have been hidden throughout our neighbourhood - more than 30 artists participated - and we hope this will become an annual event that draws more people out each year. We estimated that about 70-80 visitors come by our house, and the five artists who were set up here thought the day was worthwhile. It's so important to have these kinds of events to build community cohesion. Our neighbourhood is one that seems to just be coming "into it's own" and needs exactly this kind of opportunity for people to meet each other and to help develop the unique character of our neighbourhood. Thanks to everyone who dropped by and helped make this day a success. Here are a few photos of the vendors set up at Little City Farm - wooden games made from reclaimed wood; reconstructed clothing made from wool sweaters; silkscreen patches & handmade cards; herbal soaps, teas and salves...

Call to neighbourhood artists!

Exciting news! There is a new walking studio & artist/crafter tour being organized for our neighbourhood. There are already two very successful studio tours in town, in the Frederick St & Mary-Allen neighbourhoods. This one hopes to capture that inbetween space, located centrally just on the cusp of Kitchener & Waterloo. It will encompass the streets bounded by Belmont to Weber, and Union to Victoria - a fairly large area, on both sides of King St.

The Central Art Walk...will be held Sat, Oct 25 from 10-4 pm, and hopes to attract interested painters, potters, jewelers, photographers, knitters, stained glass artists, woodworkers, etc who are interested in participating in this neighbourhood event. Artists would invite the public into their homes and studios to view and purchase art.

To sign up - if you want to be a vendor, or join in another open house in that area, contact: centralartwalk@rogers.com. Email name, address, and a short description of your art (or 1-2 photos). There will be a small fee to help with signs and promotion of this event.

The cut off date for entries is May 31!