This past weekend was the open event at English Bridge Studios right in the heart of Shrewsbury. I was only supposed to pop in for about 15 minutes. I'd actually paused playing Mario Kart with Seb to head over and meet up with Ruth, a lovely lady I recently met at a Lucy Caddel workshop.

The event marked the studios' 40th anniversary celebrating creativity, community, and making. I didn’t actually know what an open studios event entailed before going. But it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to see the artists' spaces, explore an impressive range of work, and even get involved with some free workshops (if I had enough time 😢).

As soon as I arrived, time slipped away pretty quickly. There was so much more variety and energy than I'd expected, with artists displaying a wide range of styles and mediums. Everyone there was genuinely welcoming, chatting openly about their processes and creative journeys. It was lovely to see such varied creative talent and enthusiasm from people whose work I hadn’t really come across before.

This was never intended to be a long blog post because it was just a spontaneous Sunday visit without any intention of writing it up. I was supposed to go down on Saturday, but it's been such a busy couple of weeks. Despite it being a flying visit, I ended up staying for two hours, which did get me into a little bit of trouble back home as Sundays are mine and Seb's date day. Despite that, I left feeling happy that I'd made the effort to go.

I really hope Shrewsbury has more open studio events like this one. They're a brilliant way to see behind the scenes and understand how different people express themselves creatively.

If you're an artist in any of the images and want a proper copy, feel free to email me or send a DM on Instagram and I’ll happily send it over.

p.s. Meg you hated your photo so sadly you didn't make the cut 😂

p.p.s I have updated the Lucy Caddel link above as I misspelled her name 🙃

Sorry Lucy, and if you fancy checking out Lucy's website where she sells art and offers creative workshops, then feel free to support another lovely creative: lucycaddel.com