Even More from Day 1

The trail kicked off yesterday and Walthamstow became a place where art will find you even if you don't look for it.

My first venue on the map was the student art exhibition at Waltham Forest College. It was only open on the first Saturday, unfortunate because it is a really great display of work. It was diverse in culture and medium and for many pieces on display, a culmination of two years of experimenting to find a discipline. However, because the work is from all students within all Art & Design courses, there are artists who have narrowed in on a discipline alongside those still experimenting.

Everything was there from ceramics, sculpture, installation, painting, collage, 3D design, photography and graphic design. I think it will be hard to find an exhibition to match the diversity on display here and seeing real local artwork by some future artists was a great way to start the trail.

On my way into the market, I couldn't help but go over and have a go at the bell ringing set up by St. Mary's Church on the Arcade Site. Everyone secretly dreams about ringing a big bell and it was a fantastic little set up where adults and children were smiling and ringing and ringing again!

I popped into Ricco's to check out the RAW exhibition that is up. RAW stands for Really Amazing Women, a collective of 7 artists that capture and recreate their surroundings emphasising their own vision and impression of it. There is lots of work on display for you to see while you sip on your coffee amid surroundings painted impressionistic, rich and detailed with one or two that verge on the slightly surreal. There are paintings of vivid colours brightening the surroundings alongside traditional painting capturing the surroundings in spot on visage. My personal favourite was Felice Lee's 'The Lonesome Mule'.

Storming through the market at midday was the Original Army and their enormous pass the parcel. They huffed and puffed their way all the way up the high street with people just stopping and staring with a look of absolute puzzlement... but the kids got it. A huge game of Pass the Parcel! By the time they reached the market square they had gathered a little trail of families behind them ready to play!

I next visited Walthamstow Library to see their resident trail exhibitions. Located upstairs is the exhibition by Waltham Forest Amnesty International. Very interesting display of work and stories of people on death row, institutionalized or being held. Definately pop up for a little look, it is easy to miss because everything else is on the main floor.

There are several photography exhibitions on the main floor. Walthamstow & District Photographic society have a real mix of about 80 different contributors and I really enjoyed the Image 17 exhibition 'Taking Part', celebrating sport in Waltham Forest. Weirdly as I was walking through the photographs, I had to double take because my uncle was one of the subjects! Both photographic exhibitions bestow Walthamstow's real sense of community and comraderie.

There is another photography exhibition in the main hub of the library by Stephen Brockerton; wide panoramic photographs of desolate places in South America. They are really striking and very contemplative. Finally, Sarah Ezekiel's 'Life of Brain' exhibition was up which you can read about here.

I briefly visited Vestry House to see what 'Floraphilia' was...the gardens had constant performance art on display, it was very bizarre and it felt like I walked onto a set of an Alejandro Jodorowsky film...maybe not as explicit, but still as strange!

Finally I visited Inky Cuttlefish for their 5th Brithday Party. There was a great vibe for a excellent creative project that has just got more and more involving over the years. The studio also has some fantastic exhibitions and work up which I will dedicate more time to review when I visit again!

Have a good Day 2 packed full art goodness!