One of the unexpected delights of the last few months is how many of our Devizes customers have popped into the gallery to say hello, and sometimes to buy quite a lot! It has been really touching to see so much loyalty and affection from Wiltshire. And it hasn’t just been customers. About a week ago a couple marched in and (despite masks) it was a delight to recognise Anna Roebuck. Those are her recycled aluminium bangles above, and one of her panels at the bottom of this piece.
Anna trained in Fine Art Tapestry in Edinburgh, and began to be interested in reusing and recycling materials. She has set up a variety of projects over the years, but she is now based in Burton on Trent at The Making House. It’s her home and her workplace, where she runs workshops and has created a lively creative community. Anna is bubbly, full of life and invention, and so is her very varied work. We have her aluminium etched jewellery, her recycled plastic jewellery, and her aluminium and wood art panels. You can just see one of her panels in the photo with Anna laughing outside our window. The other photo shows them on the other side of the street in front of the Addyman Bookshop wall painting.
I love that doorway – I believe it was copied from a painting in America, but the artist in Hay substituted his own face for the original. True or not it is a great use of a blocked up doorway. The bibliophile is frozen in time, turning on the stairs as his books slip from his hand. So the moral is, enjoy and hold on to the good things in life, they can slip from your grasp so easily…
