The Portrait Shuffle

Did you see the Portrait Shuffle at Festival of Quilts? Annabel and I were delighted at the response. If all this has passed you by, let me fill you in on the details...

To raise funds for Save The Children, Annabel and I created The Portrait Shuffle. Anyone could take part, all you had to do was purchase a pack from us that included an A5 canvas. Next, you had to make a portrait on that canvas using any technique and media, before sending it back to us. All of the returned canvasses were exhibited on the Through Our Hands Gallery space at Festival of Quilts. Now the exhibition is over, we are doing 'the Shuffle' and each canvas will be sent to a different participant of the project. There were some amazing canvasses including ones made by Through Our Hands Affiliate artists including Bethan Ash, Mirjam Pet Jacobs, Sue Stone and Eszter Bornemisza. Just imagine getting one of those in the post - what a treat!

Each and every one was different and we honestly felt like it was Christmas unpacking them all as they arrived at TOH HQ. We were delighted that over 180 people took part and we raised well over £2000 for Save The Children. 

Participants were from all over the world including school children from Queensland, Australia.

Hanging so many individual works of art was no mean feat, but luckily we had an ace hanging team taking care of them all. Thank you to Jamie and Graham for the time and energy you contributed to the project too.

Please excuse the clutter in these photos, set up day at Festival of Quilts is always rather busy and a little chaotic! Once all of the debris was cleared, the Shuffles looked like an array of precious jewels on the wall, each and every one of them something special. 

Of course, for me there was one that was just a little better than all the rest - Amelie was delighted to be our youngest contributor and SO excited to come to the exhibition to see her canvas on the wall. 

If you took part, then thank you. I hope you were able to come along and see your canvas at the exhibition, but if you weren't please relish in the fact that they were hugely well received and enjoyed by the visitors.

Bye for now,

Laura

x