more details below:

South London Women Artists (SLWA) are pleased to present snap!

snap! South London women Artists at Bankside

Bankside Gallery, Hopton Street, London SE1.

Curated by Althea Greenan, Dr Lara Perry and Sarah Sparkes.

This second major exhibition of members’ work will also display archived Women Artists’ Diaries lent by The Women’s Art Library collection at Goldsmiths University of London, includes the 1999 edition featuring SLWA member Jackie Brown.

Our exhibition catalogue is a SLWA diary for the academic year 2012/13 (£10)

and this will join the collection in The Women’s Art Library after the show.

Other events:

Thursday 3 May 1:45- 3pm: Giant Bankside snap! School Event

Saturday 5 May 3pm: Gallery talk by Dr Susan Wood

Sunday 6 May 3pm: Performative event by SLWA members

Free Admission. Wheelchair accessible venue.

Further information visit our website www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk

Sue's rings

“Really helpful instructors who are quick to assist”

“Very well equipped”

“Lovely place.. great lunch”

“I have enjoyed learning several new metalwork techniques that have given me lots of ideas for future projects – many thanks!”

I have learned various techniques, all of which were new to me”

“I learned lots of techniques.. this has whetted my apetite”

“Very informative… for a beginner I learned a lot!”

“The tutors were very good and made sure we all produced finished pieces to a high standard’

‘I have learned so much about different techniques and am delighted with my results”

“I had a lot of fun making my pieces…..I learned that putting movement into jewellery can be very interesting’

On teaching and support… 100% give us 10/10

On the quality of our facilities… 90% give us 10/10

On information… 100% give us 10/10

On fun value… 90% give us 10/10

On evaluation of their results… 90% give us 10/10

Nick really pushed the techniques to produce all these rings!

This weekend we had a lovely group of highly motivated individuals, mostly with no previous experience in making, who all went smiling home with rattling pockets and jingling fingers – proud makers of some really fine pieces of jewellery!

The focus was on texturing techniques, and we also introduced some basic forging processes. Several students wanted to add copper to their silver rings for their final design, and so after initial experimentation, by popular demand, we also introduced sweat soldering.

Click here to see a special gallery of their work

Thanks to Angelina, Vina, Sue, Nadine, Joyce, Nick, Michel, Stacey and Wakako for making this a fun weekend. You all came with great ideas, and your achievements in such a short time are astounding!

rings were a doddle for Angelina!

Thanks too to Becky for her expert assistance

If you like what you see and would like to try your hand at designing and making jewellery we have a range of excellent classes and short courses organised for the coming months… check out our prospectus here

Trowel and fork earrings by Maggie Laing

Maggie Laing has just extended her range of gardening tools with  pair of trowel and fork earrings

But it’s all a big, mysterious secret ….

We wait with bated breath for the great revelation

So many makers I know deserve their support

Southwark Adult Learning Services are assisting us to run these jewellery courses for local residents, and the aim is to reach as wide an audience as possible.
Family workshops aim to get adults and children working creatively together, and are free to Southwark residents. They are great fun!

We also run weekend (2 day) workshops and weekday courses (3 days) for adults, focusing on a range of jewellery making techniques, and again thanks to the SALS support our courses for residents cost as little as £40 for 2 days, including lunch and materials – (pewter, copper and silver)

If you know of anyone who might like to join us for these, or for our free family workshops please pass the word on! The full Southwark Programme list,  with descriptions, is here

(If you have a PC I believe you can save the page as a pdf)

Our next weekend course, to make a silver ring, runs on 28/29 January; we still have some spaces, so if you owe anyone a new years treat…

rings workshop 28/29 Jan 2012

2011 began with an American flavour -  Kyle Hopkins joined the Flux collective and in no time at all has proven to be a dynamic and inspirational addition to the studio – he took the fashion world by storm this year…keep an eye on him in 2012, he’s destined for great things!

Meanwhile  Bernice Kelly (aka Macha Jewellery) flew these shores for another kind of life in New York.

the lovely Bernice Kelly

She’s making a huge impact with her jewellery worldwide, so if you were lucky enough to buy her work when she was here at Flux, treasure it dearly.. it’s a future classic!

Just before her parting we had also said our sad farewells to Alix Verhaeghe, also heading for the Big Apple.

Charles Watherston left for new horizons, and we were delighted to welcome back to the fold the lovely Suzie Byatt, who needed a bench while planning her next epic journey around the Globe.

We were also pleased to embrace Ilona Guest and Helena Bravo as members to Flux -  it is always a heartwarming experience when our students find their form and take a leap towards professionalism to join the collective here at Flux Studios.

We had a wonderful visit from Adi Cloete during the summer months

beautiful ring by Adi Cloete

We are always looking to make lasting co-operative links with other jewellers around the world, and during her stay in London we made strong foundations for interchange and future residency programmes between Flux in London, and her studio in Cape Town. Adi needed a bench to prepare new work for a group show in Cape Town, due to open on her return, and we were all excited to compare approaches to making.

Adi’s attention to detail in her work is delightful, with beautiful engraved patterns flowing around each piece – much of it to remain secret to the wearer as it presses against the flesh.

We may have lost Macha and Alix to New York, but by return- – perhaps in thanks for it’s new daughters – New York sent us very a special delivery when Macon McGinnis came to Flux for an extended visitor-membership. Although a fleeting stay this time around (Macon went on to Laos from London, to teach conversational English to Budhist Monks)  we hope he will return to us when the tide brings him back to these shores.

Lisa Taylor left for Barbados to try out another kind of lifestyle. we admit to a certain envy at the thought of such heady heat and colour and pace.

In the last months Barbara Yarde and Dickie Wilkinson join us to make up the full house and already we are pleased t feel their influence; Barbara is planning a course in Keum-Boo for the coming terms, and Dickie has found us a worthy sponsor (that would be Winkworth, thanks very much!) for our now famously good bi-annual Open Studio events.

The New Year brings joy and sadness both; we lose Helena to Florida, and also the lovely Imogen Belfield moves from Flux to the brand new  Goldsmiths’ Centre.

Imogen has been a much valued, much loved Flux member since we opened in September 2008, and it has been delightful to watch her evolution from graduate to fashion jeweller to the stars. Along the way her need for space and assistance to keep up with the heady demands of super-status have outgrown the capacity of Flux, and her journey continues as she now strikes out with her very own studio.

Imogen Belfield at Flux Studios

A Flux outing to Spitalfields at JewelEast for  London Jewellery Week in June led to an interesting connection with Boticca, an high-quality online jewellery and accessories store, with several of us jewellers receiving requests to join…. Becky Dockree is already up there, with Yuki Sasakura, Vicky Forrester and Imogen Belfield to follow (as soon as time is found for more  photography!) – Thanks to  Kiyan,  Chiara and the Boticca team for your vision and your patience

Alex Yule, Claire Hart, Bev Holden, Maggie Laing and Natascha Kotsopoulou all made strides ahead with their work this year too, busily adding to collections and exploring new markets for their work. There is a tangible sense of progression here for everyone involved at the Studio

Between  shoots and interviews of our jewellers for  fashion stores, sites and blogs,  and photo shoots for books (Vicky Forrester’s forthcoming book on jewellery, and Anastasia Young’s new book on stone setting) we have been bubbling along at high speed, often in a state of euphoria!

Meanwhile, our jewellery school programme rolled on with great success; Alex Yule, Becky Dockree, Suzie Byatt and  Yuki Sasakura all worked hard to deliver the extraordinary learning experience that we are renowned for.

Due to pressures of time I had to forgo my usual classes in order to write that aforementioned book, and so I put the advanced students in the very expert hands of Henrietta Fernandez. (I hpe they will have me back, when I have caught up with myself!)

Southwark Adult Learning Services (SALS) continue to support us as an outreach centre for their adult and family learning programmes, in recognition of the high quality of our provision. (if you want to test the Flux experience, look at our prospectus here)

There is much for me to be thankful for, everything to be pleased about…

And here, 3 years after its inception,  is a shining example of Flux Studios at its best, achieving all its objectives:

Flux students are inspired to learn more and explore the possibilities of becoming professionals, and become members…

Graduates become members to develop collections and business skills to promote and sell their work….

Members are supported to explore their market through open studios and exhibitions…

Members are given opportunities to develop teaching skills…

Members are challenged to speak about their work through interactions with students…

Students are surrounded by a massive creative community…

Members support each other by sharing workshop skills, business skills and connections…

Members become successful and fly away to set up their own studio…

But always, I hope, they remain Fluxy at heart!

Imogen Belfield and Kyle Hopkins at Flux Studios

If you fancy a stretch of your creative faculties in January please visit here to sign up.

They make for a FABULOUS gift too!!!!

Ewa's articulated ring

Join our expert team to learn how to make beautiful and original jewellery pieces.