Open Studios 2016

The first weekend in June saw the annual Open Studios event take place at Second Floor Studios. Second Floor Studios is an amazing complex of over 450 artists and creators down by the River Thames on the boarders of Charlton and Woolwich.

It’s the largest collection of artist’s studios in Europe. There are artists, print makers, jewellery designers, fine artists, woodcarvers, photographers, costume makers, and one really good-looking but grumpy guy who writes children’s books and graphic novels.

It’s a welcome chance to put copies of books directly in the hands of readers and to show visitors how a graphic novel is made.

Many thanks to all the people – old friends and new – who found their way to our studio over the weekend.

A few days before, the evening of Friday 3rd June saw the annual Anonymous event take place in Second Floor Studio’s impressive No Format Gallery within the Second Floor Studios complex.

Anonymous is so titled because artists create an A5 postcard without signing the front. The pieces of art remain anonymous until after they are sold. So punters might be buying a piece from a famous artist or you might not.

But either way, you’re hopefully buying a piece of artwork that you like for a very reasonable £20, with the money raised going to a selection of four charities – two local and two international.

As last year, there were a fantastic variety of things produced on the A5 cards. The artworks on sale ranged from pen and ink sketches, to water colours, oils, and pieces made from fabric and glass.

It was a great event and a big well done to Nichole Herbert Wood, the founder of ArtPlatform who organises Anonymous each year. This year’s incarnation raised money to be split between four chosen charities which were: WSUP – Woolwich frontline alcohol and drugs rehabilitation, Meridian Radio, War Child and Talitha.