Plants for Chelsea

This week has been a great week for plants, and things are beginning to tick along nicely in preparation for Chelsea Flower Show.

My plants-man and I visited a local nursery this week that specialises in British native wild flowers, trees and shrubs. Based in Langar, Nottingham the staff were very helpful giving my plants-man and I some really useful advice on the best way to care for our plants so that they may naturally flower in May.

I had not given any thought to the vast specific needs and requirements that each plant may have that made up the planting list for Chlesea, even with being a keen gardener!

As each wild flower grows under certain conditions in the wild, it is essential that each species gets the care it needs in order to grow well and flower. Some require very poor soil, some need to have their roots restricted in a small pot and some need to spread out, others such as the hairy vetch needs a companion to prop it up.

I try to be as green and ethical with my business as possible, so it was important to me that the plants chosen for my stand would naturally perform in May and would not require heat to be forced. Having to heat a green house to get great plants seems a costly affair as well as not being very green! To aid the growth of the plants we opted for some bubble wrap instead which could be reused over and over again to propocate seedling and protect some of plants that usually have the full protection of a hedge bottom to give shelter from the elements.

I am really very thankful to the kind help from my plants-man as I don’t think I could have managed to give each plant the time and energy they require and still organise everything else.

The relationships between my own business and other small businesses has been an essential way for me to balance the vast amount of work that goes into creating a stand within an RHS show. A year ago I would have been tempted to try and do everything myself, but I have slowly learnt to release my hold on particular areas of my business and although it was hard to relinquish control I am now beginning to feel the benefit.

Royal Derby Hospital hosts Green Garden Exhibition

Royal Derby Hospital will be the first to exhibit the Green Garden Project Exhibition.

The exhibition will be a series of panels showcasing the role of arts and health, and the work of adults suffering with mental illness in the creation of a sculpture for the Chelsea Flower Show.

It will cover the sketches, images, thoughts and feelings of the journey they have made during the creative workshops, alongside images of the final work at Chelsea and at the residential care home that will be the proud owners after the show.

The exhibition will become part of air: arts to aid wellbeing and is Royal Derby Hospitals arts program. It supports the healing process with high quality art,which helps to create a therapeutic environment and a place in which patients, visitors and staff can engage positively with their surroundings.

Green Garden Project-Attenborough Visit

The project is going to Attenborough Nature Reserve for an Inspirational day out!

The project participants of the Green Garden Project will be spending the afternoon at Attenborough Nature Reserve to sketch plant life and nature to try and get some inspiration for the sculptures.

They will be shown the methods of taking a sketch to a workable idea for a sculpture which will be created over the next few weeks.

About Attenborough Nature Centre

Attenborough Nature Centre is an award winning Visitor and Education facility surrounded by the tranquil waters of the beautiful Attenborough Nature Reserve. Situated within easy reach of Nottingham and Derby the Centre provides a “lifeline to the natural world”.

With a visionary eco-design, set against the backdrop of the beautiful Attenborough Nature Reserve, the Centre provides a place for visitors to look, learn and refresh.

Green Garden Project-Workshops

Workshops sessions start tomorrow at Long Eaton Art Rooms.

Adults in the Erewash area who suffer with mental illness are eligible to take part in this exciting part of the Green Garden Project.

Participants will be creating sculpture and raised beds which will be shown at the Chelsea Flower Show, after the event the work will be donated to a local care home for the elderly.

The sessions include a walk around local beauty spots sketching, learning to take their sketches into a workable idea for a sculpture, this will be followed by six sessions of sculpture making.

Participants will also have the opportunity to help with an exhibition of the project and also designing marketing items for the exhibition.

If you know of any one who would be interested in this project please email Rachel on info@rachelcarter

Chelsea Garden Giveaway-Press Release

Derbyshire-based artist gives away sculpture to Erewash Care Home

Competition launched to find a home for community-inspired sculpture

Local sustainable artist Rachel Carter is well known for working closely with the Erewash community to develop her work, and now she wants the local community to own her latest creation. Rachel says:

“I am lucky enough to have been asked to exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show this year. In order to create the sculptural pieces I will be using, I have been running community workshops in the Erewash area to make sure that as many people as possible have been able to be involved. Today I am launching a competition to find a care home for the elderly that would like to keep the final piece for their residents to enjoy.

“If you know of a care home for the elderly in the Erewash Borough that has an outdoor space suitable for housing the sculpture, then please get them to log on to www.rachelcarter.co.uk and download a competition form. It’s a very simple form to complete, but the closing date for the competition is 29 March so please don’t miss out.”

RHS Seminar

Visited the RHS head quarters for a seminar for stands, and met some lovely people, got some great advice and some possible new contacts.

It all too easy sometimes to think that you don’t have time in your busy schedule for seminars, but you never know when you might meet the person in the know or get a useful bit of knowledge about something.

After a train trip down to London, reading my new book and then a cramped travel via tube, then a brisk walk to find the correct building, I arrived slightly behind schedule, a bit flustered and very thirsty. Not being sure what to expect, I signed in, got my self a coffee and looked at the vast seating already filling up. Not knowing anyone in the room can sometimes feel a little overwhelming and can almost make you feel completly out of your depth. But I plunged in feet first, found a seat, said hi to the people sitting near me hoping to strike up a conversation, and got a smile in return.

The seminar began, and it did offer some very useful bits of advice which I scribbled into my note book. Every aspect of the show was covered, and I started to become a little more relaxed and comforted that I was on the right track with my plans.

During coffee break, I did manage to have a chat with a gentleman sitting near me and quickly realised that I wasn’t the only one feeling unsure and apprehensive.

But I think the best bit came at the end, as the seminar reached 5pm and was coming to a close, the organisers said if any one wanted to stay on afterwards they would be available for questions. At this nearly everyone ran out of the room, muttering things about traffic and rush hour. I stayed behind as I had another 2 hours before my train ride home, and it was the best half hour of the day.

One of the RHS members of staff kindly took me around to introduce me to the people I needed to talk to, and what I got in return was very friendly advice, lots of contacts and offers of help.

I came away feeling elated and full of optimism that I was doing the right thing exhibiting with the RHS, I feel that this could be a big stepping stone onto the next stage of my career and that people were genuinely interested in my work.

It just goes to show that no matter how busy you think you are, it pays to take the time to reflect and gather new information, if I hadn’t took the day to travel down to the seminar and may have missed a vital piece of information that could make a real difference to my stand and most importantly missed the opportunity to make new contacts.

Van Hire

Van booked for Chelsea!

After lots of emailing I have a great deal from a  local transport company who will be transporting my work down to Chelsea for the flower show. I was quite surprised at how reasonable the prices are, I don’t think I could have hired a van and a driver for any cheaper.

This is such a weight of my mind as it is one aspect of the show that I don’t need to worry about, I feel quite happy to place it in the hands of someone else and not have to worry about driving, maps and directions and traffic jams. I am planing to load the van and then take a nice train journey down to London, a chance to relax before build up.

Photography & networking

Met a photographer who will be taking some studio shots of me welding and weaving!

Recently during a creative coffee networking event a man sat next to me, over coffee we chatted and did the usual networking thing, hi, what do you do? what’s your name? etc. We chatted for some time about various aspects of our creative businesses and we seemed to get on well, so I asked if he would be interested in taking some shots of me welding and weaving.

It turned out that he had experience taking photos of dangerous work places and had uptodate knowledge of health and safety, but most importantly he responded very well to my brief and put forward some very interesting ideas.

This is one of the things that I love about networking, at first I did not enjoy it, I felt nervous about approaching strangers and asking them about their work. But now it feels easier, having been doing it for about 3 years. It pays off too! it is always too tempting to say ‘I’m far too busy to drop everything and got to a networking event’, but it does work.  What is the odds of needing a photographer that has an industrial background that is happy to take images of you using dangerous tools and machines, and then one sits next to you for a coffee and a chat!