Flick followed the beach round to the far side where there were steps up to the village green and where the outdoor craft market was. She bought a little pot of ice-cold mango sorbet on the way in and then started wandering round the stalls. A lot of them had pirate-themed items they were selling ahead of the pirate festival this Saturday but there was certainly an eclectic mix of different crafts available. There were chocolates, candles, soaps and perfumes. There was jewellery, paintings, clay, fused glass, stained glass, pictures madefrom twigs and leaves, animals made from needlefelt, crocheted animals, knitted animals, even animals or monsters made from forks and spoons. She wanted an artist who offered something unique, not only unique to the studios but unique within their own field or medium. She didn’t want another painter, for example, unless it was completely different to what Rose offered.
She stopped at one stall that had tiny little sculptures made from the pages of books. They were so beautiful and intricate, little houses with their washing hanging on a line, a village pond with tiny paper ducks, a fairytale castle, a lighthouse, a forest scene, trees, flowers, various animals. They were stunning.
The woman carefully making a paper flower looked up at Flick and smiled.
‘Hello, these are beautiful,’ Flick said.
‘Thank you.’
‘I’m Felicity Hunter. Everyone calls me Flick.’
‘Hi Flick, I’m Alex.’
‘I’m from Waterfall House.’ But when Alex looked at her blankly, Flick gestured to the house on the hill which seemed to preside over the whole town. ‘The House with the Wonky Tree. We have several artists up there right now who make and sell their works of arts in their own studio space, but we also have quite a bit of unused space and we’re looking for new artists to fill them.’
‘Oh, you mean full time?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh. I have a daughter. I have to take her and pickher up from school, I’m not sure I’d have time to run my own studio.’
‘You can fit it in around school hours and you can always bring your daughter back to the studios after school. But at least you’d have somewhere more permanent to make and sell your stuff. Somewhere that’s just yours.’
Alex bit her lip. ‘How much is the rent?’
‘No rent, no bills, but we take twenty-five percent of all your profits.’
‘That’s quite a lot.’
‘I’ve done craft markets myself and I know how much you probably paid for this table today. Some days I barely sold enough to break even.’
‘Yeah, I’ve had days like that,’ Alex agreed.
‘This way the risk is all ours. On slow days when you don’t get a sale, at least you haven’t forked out for the cost of a table. And when you do get a sale, twenty-five percent will go towards the cost of our overheads. We’re really not looking to make a profit from you, we just want to have enough to keep the studios from falling into debt.’
Alex nodded. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’
‘Of course. Why don’t you come up to the studios today, once you’ve finished here, and we can show you around?’
‘OK, I will.’
‘We have some provisos. Although it’s great to have things like this on display in the showroom,’ Flick gestured to a fairytale castle under a large glass domethat was at least two-foot high and a foot wide. ‘We’d be looking for at least half your stock to be under thirty pounds. So smallish items that will appeal to the average person.’
‘That’s not a problem, most of these are between ten and twenty pounds,’ Alex pointed to the smaller ones in jars at the front of her table. ‘The castle is purely there to encourage commissions. Are there any other provisos?’
‘Yes, sort of. We want to offer art workshops as that was the reason why the studios were opened in the first place. Originally the workshops were available to people who have suffered brain injuries, either from strokes or some other kind of trauma like a car accident, and we want to honour that legacy by doing the same. Eventually, we’ll probably extend that to encompass workshops for everyone. Is that something you’d be willing to offer?’
‘Yes absolutely. I’d be happy to help if you think this kind of thing is suitable.’
‘Yes, I presume so. I’ll be speaking to some of the brain injury charities to get advice on starting this thing, but what I gather from when my grandad did it, it’s really no different to running any kind of art workshop. It’s just about giving those with brain injuries the opportunity to do it with like-minded people and to make it as accessible as possible.’
‘Sounds great. Even if I don’t go ahead with moving into the studios, I’d still be happy to help with the workshops. My sister had brain trauma when she was thrownoff her horse. On the surface she was absolutely fine, a few bruises and cuts, but it was simple things like buttoning up her shirt that she’d forgotten how to do or how to tie up her shoelaces. It took a while for her to learn how to do these things again.’
‘I’m so sorry your sister went through that. My best friend went through something similar after a car accident. What you’re talking about is called neuroplasticity, it’s when the brain can find a route around the damage to be able to relay those messages on how to tie your shoelaces again, and things like art and crafts can really help with that.’
‘Yes, absolutely, and I’d like to help with that.’
‘OK, well we’ll see you later this afternoon.’
