The Big Picture- update

The Workshop-
Photo by Daglish Photography

We are pleased to say that the 2 workshop days in Herrington Country Park as part of Sunderland in 2012 went remarkably well! We had over 600 participants who all created fantastic artworks like Faith's above. Myself (Jo Howell), Criss Chaney, Liz Shaw and our assistant Zoe Garner were ran off our feet on the Saturday with people desperate to take part. It was wonderful! Plenty of energy, good spirits and creativity.

We were so busy that we had to get my good friend Michael Daglish from Daglish photography to undertake the job of photographer and internet updater, which I must say he did an excellent job of. The photographs are amazing and work really well to capture the spirit of the weekend.

Thank-you to all of the members of the public who took part, your efforts were phenomenal!

Checking we have all the tiles ready for the workshop
By Jo Howell

So how big is The Big Picture?
By Jo Howell

We will be working hard over the next couple of months to pull your artworks together to make the Big Picture, and we will also be creating a photographic version of the final piece that will tour venues around Sunderland accompanied by some of Daglish's amazing photographs from the workshop. So keep your eyes open for that!

In the meantime you can keep an eye on our progress through Youtube, Twitter and Facebook. Please let us know what you think of the project, or if you were involved what you thought of the workshop on the day. Feedback is always welcome, this is your project and we want it to be something that you can all be very proud of.

Tiles being lacquered
By Jo Howell

The Big Picture Project is funded by Arts Council England, Gentoo Group and Sunderland City Council.

Preparing The Big Picture 2012

Criss Chaney in the workshop
By Jo Howell 27/05/2012

Even on a Sunday The Big Picture project never sleeps! I went down to the National Glass Centre earlier today to continue documenting the progress of the project. Criss Chaney had already been hard at work for a full hour, hand finishing the glass tiles, before I got there.

Criss Chaney hand finishing glass tiles for The Big Picture
By Jo Howell 27/05/2012

She is using a linishing machine to grind down the edges of the 4 inch by 4 inch glass tiles that she skilfully cut down in the Creative Cohesion studio at the beginning of the week. In the meantime, myself and Liz Shaw, have been working hard sorting out the wooden and ceramic tiles. You can see photos of us working on The Big Picture page tab at the top of the blog, or click here.

Finished glass tiles
By Jo Howell 27/05/2012

Criss Chaney smiles through the pain
By Jo Howell 27/05/2012

Things have been going exceedingly well in the preparations for the workshops at the Sunderland Festival in Herrington Country Park on the 16th and 17th of June! We will be raring to go and very excited to get you all involved. For for information follow us on facebook or twitter, or you can email us at: the_big_pic@yahoo.com

Thank you for your continued support!
Jo Howell