Market stalls review

Last week I hosted stalls at my first ever markets and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome and overall experience. I was quite sceptical as selling products definitely isn’t my favourite aspect of illustration and presenting both myself and my work to the general public was quite daunting to your typical introverted illustrator who does almost all communication from behind a screen, but I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised! I made far more sales than I expected, met amazing people and overall loved the experience. - Massive shoutout to the organisers and the guy who bought 4 packs of cards, you made my day!

I’m definitely keen to get involved in more but left it too late to cram any more into my already packed schedule for 2021, so I hope to take what I learnt from this experience and come back next year bigger and better, hopefully with lots of new products!

You can still purchase all products over on my store, https://www.maryflorahart.co.uk/shop ! For guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas, order by the 14th of December as I’m going on holiday (finally!!) on the 15th.

You’ve probably heard it a million times already but I’m going to say it again… The joy a sale brings to a small business instead of major corporations like amazon is incomparable, so if you can, shop small this Christmas 🎄

Festive market stalls

Super excited to announce that I’ll be selling at some festive markets the first week of December!! 🎅🏼
I haven’t done anything like this since university so I’m also quite nervous but so grateful to the organisers for a new challenge and experience. I imagine this will be the perfect boost needed for my shop which I’ve been working so hard towards for the last few months!

The first is at UWE, and I’m lucky enough to share a table with my favourite fellow Bristol creative The Flower Girl Studios! For the second, I’m braving it alone but in a super cool new(ish) venue, Strangebrew!
So if you’re around in Bristol on the 1st, 2nd or 4th of December please check it out! Plenty of amazing small local businesses to discover and I’m sure loads of perfect Christmas present options 🎁

For more details on both, see the event posters below:

Come Together with Knowle West Media Centre

In July 2021 I was commissioned by Knowle West Media Centre as a digital storyteller. Since then I’ve been working alongside 4 commissioned artists, 1 additional storyteller and many members of the local community to explore the question, ‘As we move out of lockdowns, how can we create the shared spaces and experiences we need in order to connect and come together?’

The programme was designed to support artists and communities to: develop new skills in ‘hybrid’ arts practices (mixing digital and physical) and co-create new inclusive spaces / experiences for connection and coming together. The programme aims were to explore:

– Inspiring examples of practices that mix digital and physical tools and methods
– The barriers and challenges we face in finding safe hybrid ways to come together
– What more inclusive hybrid tools, spaces and experiences could look like
– What we can make to come together differently and how we can share through hybrid means

Throughout July 2021, we attended workshops exploring how to create more inclusive and accessible ‘hybrid’ spaces that mix the digital and physical. These were incredibly diverse, fun and useful for myself and hopefully everyone else involved.

In response to these workshops and general themes of the project, each of the commissioned artists focused on their own topic to explore either through their own workshops, events or mail-out parcels. These contributions then made up parts of the 4 day weekender event, and I create an illustration to bring attention to each of these days and their general themes. This past week the online booking for the weekender has gone live so each of these illustrations have been shared on social media, and I’m very happy to share them here too, with much more soon to come!

Each day of the Weekender delves into a different question. 

Day 1: Inclusion in Action asks, “What happens to ‘hybrid’ when you start with access and inclusion?” Aims to explore creativity centring around accessibility and inclusion

Day 2: Making it Sensory asks, ‘How can we make digital experiences sensory, warm and engaging?’. We will spend the day imagining our own sensory utopias and connecting through smell, taste and conversation.

Day 3: Imagining for Real asks, ‘How can we use a mix of tools to include everyone in neighbourhood visioning?’. Spend the day playing, building and 'neighbourhood-imagining' from where ever you are.

Day 4: Claiming the Right to Rest asks, ‘How can we use ‘hybrid’ to access and enjoy the spaces of rest we need to find peace and wellbeing?’ This is your chance to relax at the end of the weekender; take a pause and claim your right to rest.

For more info and to book your tickets, visit the KWMC website!