About
DENNIE ROSE
textile art - mixed media - collage
The need to create has always been my passion.
Creative journeys will never end.
My creative explorations led me to cake decoration and became my chosen field, it was so beautiful and allowed me to do anything… observe and create flowers in the finest detail, paint, sculpture, manipulate ‘fabric’, experiment with fabulous textures, stencil, ‘stitch’ amongst other things. I found that all art and craft could be incorporated.
From the mid-nineties onwards for over twenty years, I had the privilege of teaching numerous lovely students, personally competing and demonstrating at clubs, and then later joining the judging teams for both the British Sugarcraft Guild and The Salon Culinaire, as well as my County show. I also made and designed cakes and floral art for the magazine Cakes and Sugarcraft International. A busy and joyful time.
During this time of sharing my skills in creative crafts it allowed me to explore many more different forms of art. I have brought together some of my favourite things for this ongoing collection of workshops and to share some of my ArtyCrafty explorations.
Picasso once said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
This statement is so true.
As children we’re free to let go because there are no rules, just like my little grandson’s exquisite finger painting. The rules come later as others and we ourselves set them upon us. I can remember as a 7/8 year old creating a blossom tree by tearing tiny pieces of pink tissue paper and adding them to my painted tree. I was lost in time fully engaged and never wanting the moment to end. My grandson Stan, aged about 3, spent over an hour creating the sweetest finger painting which appeared to look like beautiful soft autumnal leaves.
However, as we develop into adulthood, with the imposed rules and critiques of others and worst of all, the self-critic, the inner artist can become repressed. I have seen this many times with my work as an adult education tutor.
The certificate courses I taught also included a design core, this encapsulated the basics of colour, line, texture, form and shape. Often, recently retired ladies looking for a hobby would come to me to learn how to decorate cakes and make exquisite sugar or cold porcelain lifelike flower displays to adorn wedding and celebration cakes. As soon as anything relating to art was mentioned they froze!
Oh dear, I’ve heard it all, grown women and the occasional charming gentleman, straight back down that rabbit hole in the stream of time to the mocked child.
“I’m useless, hopeless, rubbish … I’ve not got an artistic bone in my body, I can’t paint, I can’t draw a straight line, my teacher at school said so!”
My question to them, as it still is to any of my students, is simply “do you want to?”. If they said yes, then I said “then you will”. Did the yes students achieve? Oh boy did they! Some (many) went on to take gold, silver, and bronze awards at international competitions. Their success was my success and I loved it!
This collection of workshops allows me to show and share my ArtyCrafty explorations.
So what is Art?
When one creates, time seems to stand still. It’s when the heart and mind unite, bringing forth an expression of emotions and thoughts… this is the essence of Art.
Please join me as we explore together the joy of crafting and creating.
Yes, we really are artists!
