ColzoArt - Artist and Illustrator Hi friend!
Welcome to the second notes from the studio, I’m so glad you’re here! It’s been a busy ol month!
In this blog post, I’m taking you through some of the prep in the lead up to me going to Hutchmoot (don’t worry, I’ll explain what that is further down!) I’ll also be sharing some highlights and reflections from the weekend .
So, what is Hutchmoot? To quote the HMUK website
“It’s a gathering. A retreat. A conference. A shebang. An entmoot, without the ents. It’s a creative and relational feast, a merry reunion of theology and art, and it’s a weekend you’ll never forget.” There is a real broad church of people who gather and is connected to the Rabbit Rooms in Nashville, Tennessee .
This was my third moot, and second time selling at it. This year, I booked a half table which was more than ample to display my goodies. In fact, it forced me to simplify my stall and pricing structure which is never a bad thing! (Unfortunately, I was having that much fun and forgot to take a photo of the set up!
In the weeks leading up to the weekend, I was making up zine bundles, button badges and stickers – oh so many stickers! The marketplace this year was different to the previous one I took part in and was wonderful. Everything from all the different stalls went through a central payment system which meant that we could go off to play and not miss out on potential sales. This however meant that in advance I needed to label EVERYTHING with not only prices but also my business name to make it easier on the lovely folk who were taking payment. Now, I previously had cut out a load of pricing labels, however, in the process of moving house earlier this year, they have gone walk about so in the 4 days leading up to going away, I was somewhat frantically printing and cutting more labels. (Not ideal really).
Everything I took with me fit into two boxes as I was wanting to keep things nice and simple. Coming home, everything fit into one box which was a really lovely surprise!
Highlights and reflections
For me, the my main theme from conversations, seminars, and the in between times, was story and the importance of storytelling. Taking the story that God has placed within us from before time began, and how that story can (and does) inform our art, and how that story can be used to help other people. It’s a truth I feel I’ve known for a long time but the reminder throughout the weekend was really encouraging.
The first session that I went to was on “Tattoos: Stewardship, Storytelling, Redemption” by Daniel Whyte. I found it really fascinating as someone who has a couple of tattoos myself as I know the stories behind my ink and love to hear the stories of other peoples ink. Daniel took us through historical and theological contexts of tattooing, encouraging us to think about the stories ink tells whether it’s how they are perceived the way intended or not.
Building on the idea of story, Nate Morgan Locke’s session “Invisible String: The Story of Finding Our Way” looked at how the story of our life is like an invisible string that has been thread from the beginning of time, he pointed us to Psalm 139, and then also asked us to think about other places that thread or string is referenced in scriptures which was a pretty cool exercise. (My immediate thought was Ecclesiastes 4:12 “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”)
This Hutchmoot, I was much better at pacing and knowing my own limits so for the rest of Friday, I spent it in the sun, in my sketchbook and drinking tea with various people – that’s one of the beautiful things about Hutchmoot, hearing about different peoples projects and what they are working on, or generally just catching up with friends.
Saturday morning, I went to “The Sinner and the Secret Chord: The Apologetics of Art” with Andrew Peterson leading the session. He shared some of his journey to faith and the impact Christian music had on his journey. My key takeaways from this session include “knowing Jesus, properly knowing him will flow out of the art”, “God doesn’t need us to make perfect art to be used by God”, and then to be wary of people who are heroes of their own story.
Other sessions of note included:
- “The New Pevensies: Peopling the Imagination of Children’s Fantasy” lead by Ruth Moore, Matt Searles and Andrew Peterson. This was looking at some of the modern
- “How to Survive and Thrive in the Arts” a panel discussion lead by Ally Gordon, Samantha Crawford, Gareth Davies-Jones, and Sophie Killingley.
One last honourable mention is a talk that I so badly wanted to attend but the room was completely full “A New Look at the Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien” by John Hendrix. (I have been informed that this session was recorded so I shall look forward to listening to that when it comes available!)
All in all, Hutchmoot was yet again a fantastic experience, the mix of sessions was really well thought through, and I very much appreciated the space that could be made to rest in the in between times!
Shop Highlights
Now, for a slight gear change This is the part of the notes from the studio that I get to highlight something that I think needs a bit of love. So, allow me to introduce or perhaps reintroduce the frog keychain… Made from recycled acrylic in the UK featuring my digital painting of a chunky frog. I love that it’s lightweight, stylish, and would make a lovely gift for that frog lover in your life or indeed as a gift for yourself…(?)
Sketchbook Pages (and other projects)
This month I’ve a bit less from sketchbook that I took to Hutchmoot to share (a lot of the time I was scribbling notes from talks!).
I have however made a new zine which is potentially my most personal zine so far. It is about Baby Colzo finding solace in music while looking at the different ways I listened to music through the ages. It even has a QR code that will take you to a playlist of some of Baby Colzo’s favourite bands.
Back in June I think it was, the Bodleian Libraries put out a call on their instagram asking for zine submissions to form part of their wellness collection, I sent them two and they have said that they will be getting added which is so exciting!
You can find my zines below:
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Life Is Better With A Soundtrack – A Mini Zine
£2.50 Add to basket -
Mr Frog Mini Zine – Inspired by Colossians 3:23
Price range: £2.50 through £4.50 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Media I’m enjoying
For my birthday, my lovely friend Sewfy from https://www.instagram.com/stitchwortandnightknot/ gave me a book about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien called “The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien (A Graphic Novel)” written and illustrated by John Hendrix so I’m loving that. As some of you know, I have been reading The Lord Of the Rings for the first time and unfortunately, The Return of the King has been metaphorically put back in the freezer. (IYKYK!) In the meantime I’ve been somewhat borderline obsessed with the new My Chemical Romance tour that’s happening in North America and the story that they are playing out, seeing the subtle differences between the different shows… The Black Parade is a high concept rock opera that the band are touring and it’s simply wonderful! (It might have been part of the inspiration for finishing the soundtrack zine as it had been sitting on my desk waiting for the right moment to be finished!)
As a lil thank you for reading, here’s 10% off your next order of £5 or more with the code soundtrack10 (not including shipping or Colzo X Keziah collab items)
Blessings,
