“Number seven resonates with the vibrations and energies of the collective consciousness”
Joanne Walmsley
About
SEVEN is a Creative Sketchbook Collective, based in Leigh on sea. Formed in January 2017 by local artists who met on a Creative Journal course at Metal in Southend, we have as a group, continued to develop our art practice using creative sketchbooks and altered books.
We think of our sketchbooks as the ideal space for artistic experimentation; a place where doodling is encouraged, where anything can be an art material, and mistakes can provide inspiration. Making our altered books is a way of repurposing a second hand/found book to give it a new narrative and meaning. The books we create are very tactile and full of texture; and we love to share our explorations.
Individually, we are all successful artists/designers/makers with a variety of backgrounds and skills. We love the synergy of bouncing ideas off each other and it continually surprises us to see how each person interprets the same brief in their own unique way.
“We’re more than the sum-total of our individual parts”.
Collectively we inspire and motivate each other to take greater risks than we would individually, which we believe results in a stronger body of work.
Using processes and working within themed parameters means we relinquish control, which helps to silence our inner-critic. We believe in ‘happy accidents’ and in unconscious intentions, which can often be self-revelatory.
As a collective we are committed to finding our authentic voice, encouraging each other and sharing our work. To date we have exhibited our work at various local events including the Village Green and Leigh Art Trail. We believe that by inviting others to touch the books, we are making the work more accessible; this in turn provides a more engaging and memorable experience that we hope will extend the conversation to a wider audience.
Our manifesto
Our work
At the last count SEVEN had developed over 40 creative sketchbooks and altered books; that’s in excess of 4000 pages of work!
Below is a selection of our recent developments…
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Follow us on Instagram if you’d like to see more.
Blog
Brooklyn Sketchbook project
The Brooklyn sketchbook library began in 2006 and is a not-for-profit organisation, based in the US. Their aim is to ‘encourage creative storytelling within a global community’ and currently has over 50,000 sketchbooks from artists from around the globe. We’ve pondered over the idea of submitting a sketchbook to the Brooklyn Sketchbook library for a …
The Water Replies – completed journal
Today I finally handed in my journal for the Water Replies project, to Metal Southend. This has turned into a project that has been so defined by the events of this year. As detailed in a previous blog post Journaling fun – back to our roots, SEVEN were eager to participate in this project when …
Among the Trees – Where we like to be!
Well what a year 2020 is turning out to be! After the Spring lockdown and then being forced to move our fortnightly meetings to evening picnics in Chalkwell Park, we decided to get adventurous! A trip to a gallery in London!!! I led the way here by taking a reconnaissance visit to Whitechapel Art Gallery …
Contact
We’re based in Leigh-on-sea in Essex. Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more – we’re a friendly bunch…
email: hello@sevenartists.co.uk
Thanks!
“The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”
Aristotle