Mapuche cookery classes

I'm in Pucon, Chile - an adrenilin junkies dream of a town. 'Will the weather be good enough to climb the volcano at 5am tomorrow morning?' are the words on everyones lips. 'I've the afternoon off, I'm gonna cycle til my legs drop off,' I heard the other day.... Doubting my existence as one of the same species, I ask around for a traditional Mapuche cookery experience and word on the street is that Ana Epoulef (raykiyen@yahoo.com) is my gal. A kilometre short of the town of Curarrehue, Katy and I jump off the bus and make our way to 'Cocina Mapuche.' Between us, Ana, May, Katy and I rustle up some fine Mapuche fair - (2 inches in length) pinenut soup - freshly ground wheat bread with salsa - savoury doughnuts - potato, onion, forest floor wild mushrooms and dark, deeply flavoursome cabbage bake, along with tall, spikey stem salad and small and crimson flowered lemon and mint squash. I grate potato, ring the water out of it before dropping small balls of the leftover dough into boiling milk for 10 minutes. We add some mint and voila - dessert! Thank you Ana and May for welcoming us into your kitchen, for the wealth of knowledge you shared with us and the delicious and unforgettable meal we enjoyed with you and your family.

The bins of Valparaiso

A city of artistic
inspiration and
mural mayhem,
even the bins are
something of
beauty in
Valparaiso, Chile.

The taste sensation that is Ceviche!

Bringing back the citric taste sensations of Ceviche on the beach in Canoa, Ecuador, Patty´s melt in the mouth salmon and monkfish extravaganza rocks.

The Big Draw

Included in The Vale Arts Trail were Big Draw workshops, the national initiative to get people drawing (http://www.campaignfordrawing.org/). Commissioned by Jenny Davis (http://www.wychavon.gov.uk/), Sam Maybank and I floorpapered the Town Hall and invited people in to draw and build their experiences of Evesham in unusual and experimental ways such as drawing with 5 ft long pencils, drawing with their opposite hands, feet and mouths.

Pop in Portraits

As part of The Vale Art's Trail, the young people at Ourside Youth Centre in Evesham invited the public in for tea and cake and the chance to create a portrait of themselves using a mixture of media. We framed the portraits and displayed them in the 'Art Gallery' corner of the centre.

Working Big en el Baño

Letting me loose on her bathroom, the lovely Kim Tanner has commissioned me to ¨do whatever I like!!¨ Over several weeks and with Kim´s input, the murals have evolved into Neptune playing with an octopus, Cherubs in the waves and The Creature from the Black Lagoon awaiting the unsuspecting as they draw back the shower curtain. Putting the designs together with Kim, the opportunity for large sweeping brush strokes, Jamie Rae´s help and various edible gifts left for me around the house have made it a fabulous and enjoyably challenging experience. Thanks Kim.

The World´s Collide Image Mixer

A 95% recycled
creation, inspired
by a life changing
moment in a shop
in Exeter when I
first glimpsed the
mesmorising and
magical
enviroment inside
my favourite
kaleidoscope, this
interactive
sculpture allows
the viewer, by
turning the
transparent disks
at the opposite
end, to encounter
what happens
when the ´World´s
(photos of my two
local towns,
Evesham and
Pershore) collide.

Party in the Park, Evesham

Bev, Abby and I offered young people between the ages of 11 and 19 the opportunity to explore various spray paint and stencil techniques whilst creating a circular design to display on a 3 way screen that will live in The Ourside Youth Centre on Broadway Rd.

The Wishing Tree

From the sublime to the ridiculous to the truly and deeply tear jerking. Another stroke of creative genius in the beautiful setting of The Green Man Festival and yes that is a giant blow up elephant you can see in the background.

'Fizzy Bananas' and 'A Vacuum Cleaner that sucks up Clouds'

Calling all shed lovers, this beauty was in Einstein's Garden at The GreenMan Festival, Crickhowell.

A masking off marathon

As part of their summer programme, I worked alongside members of Ourside in creating a new noticeboard for the Youth Centre.

Banana dogs

After an intense period of sculpting in the kitchen this morning, I took the prototype bananadog to town or rather to Ourside Youth Centre where as part of A Thai 'Generation Game' Culture Club experience, the teams all tried a little fruit carving of their own.

Kaleidoscope workshops using recycled and found objects

Views of the magical and often groovy places created inside these barrels of wizardry

If smiles and wonder are anything to go by, this activity was a success.

300 kaleidoscopes made affordable by the recycling genius that is Worcester Resource Exchange.

Some signage kindly designed and donated by a freelance signage enthusiast from The Adventure Playground Crew.

Droitwich Youth House

Tricorns, cutlasses, eye patches, treasure chests, fairy wings, wands, paint, glue and glitter swept along by the magic and enthusiasm of 3 muskateer crackin volunteers - Rockin Richard, Boomin Blake, and Dangerous Dom, made for some very happy and creative wee ones in the art room at DYH

Vorn the Corn

Vorn's 'fresh' approach at Broadway's Farmers Market gave us all a good hearted chuckle. Corn on the Cob - 3 mins in the microwave - nature's fast food.

Alfie's tortoise

Hi there Alfie, you were right, the tortoise looks better on the car. It fitted better and Leonie who's taking the car to Budapest fell in love with him/her? Hope you like the photos. Thanks again x

Bridie, Alfie loves the car- he also loves the flames on the car!He never gives much away , but he went back to drawing in his book tonight and he actually drew something and viewed it positively , which was amazing, as he would normally be self critical.