Secret Postcard
Our Secret Postcard Event helps raise funds for Sprout
The exciting ‘secret’ part is that you don’t find out who created the artwork you’ve chosen until you buy it! Anyone and everyone of all ages and skills take part! You do not need to be an artist to see your work on our walls as part of this exhibition. Get creative and draw, paint, sew, collage, take photographs, make prints...
We had a children's postcard competition with lots of great entries - the two talented winners in 2024 are from Penworthan and Goldfinch Schools are below
We will sell every postcard for £5 each - mini art at a mini price, with members getting first choice at a special Preview event. This is such an important fundraiser for us - by taking part creating postcard art or buying a postcard every year you will be supporting our little art space, run entirely by volunteers. We are a community, not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers. Money raised helps us pay the rent, bills and maintain the building to keep it open for the local community and beyond.
AGM 2023
Thank you for your continued interest and support, as we continue to promote local artists and makers in the local community of Furzedown and the surrounding area of South West London. We held a very productive Annual General Meeting on October 10th. Email us if you'd like to get details of the meeting
Artist in Residence 2023
A Spell of Weaving Magic - Tuesday 8th August to Saturday 2nd September
Geraldine Kelly was this summer's Artist in Residence with A Spell of Weaving Magic'.
She started with constructing and working on different looms – - some which are thousands of years old like the backstrap, table loom, frame loom, tablet weaving, lap-looms and other hand-made weaving apparatus. There were also some fascinating talks and lots of popular workshops and drop-in sessions to try these traditional activities... including learning how to make string out of foraged materials, making baskets, dyes and tapestry weaving techniques.
And lots of people just come to Sprout gallery to enjoy watching the traditional craft work by experienced and expert practitioners in spinning and weaving. Due to popular demand Geraldine will be doing more workshops this autumn.
Read about and see photos of this great event HERE
Workshops, Groups and Talks
We would love to offer talks from local artists, writers and creative groups. Please get in touch if you are interested
In Conversation - artists from 492 Arts Collective
In October 2022 the artists from #492ArtsCollective were in Sprout talking about their experiences, cultural influences, heritage & art… there was music, refreshments and wonderful art to enjoy while meeting Ken McCalla, Sandra Archer, Alvin Kofi and Drew Sinclair
It was standing room only with so many people coming to join the conversation. A great addition to Wandsworth's Black History Month!
Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees Workshop
There were two free workshops during Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees exhibition. On Thursday 22 June‘Creating Poems Together’ writing about the power and meaning of Compassion, and on Saturday morning the Doves of Compassion family craft workshop, both with Chuck Whitehead
Wandsworth Art Fringe workshops
During the Affordable Art Show there was a Collage Card-making Workshop with Katie Parsons @KatieParsonsCreates and a Creative Mending Workshop - inspired by Japanese techniques with Lucille Acevedo-Jones. During Compassion there were poetry writing workshops and Doves of Compassion family craft workshops with Chuck Whitehead from Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees
Festival of the Dead costume workshop 2022 Lots of families came along to listen to spooky stories and enjoy making masks and putting together costumes for Tooting Common’s Festival of the Dead Parade - with a special pumpkin parade, music and dead good fun on Sunday 30 Oct 2022. The Woodfield Pavillion was the final destination on the glorious procession (supported by Aspire) For more information follow them on Instagram @festival_of_the_dead
Textiles Workshop - Make a landscape card in print & stitch with Sue Owen In October, this small and friendly practical workshop used print and stitch to create a landscape scene suitable for framing or for very special greeting cards. Led by local fabric artist Sue Owen @suestextiles over two sessions, it explored mark making and print techniques, then the prepared fabrics were used to build landscapes from photos or imagination with the option of incorporating some hand stitching. It was very successful and Sue hopes to do more workshops soon. For information Sue on
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Sewing Workshop with Nabila Wassem In November we had our first workshop on 'How to Repair your Clothes & Renew your Wardrobe' with Nabila who explains that cloth has value: let’s Recycle it! She demonstrated how to repair thigs and rethink and reuse anything beyond repair. We hope this will become a regular activity in Sprout, with more workshops in 2023
Photography Workshop with Derek Lomas Derek has run two photography workshops An introduction to natural light and flash light food photography that can be reproduced in a small room, with professional still-life photographer Derek Lomas whose clients include L'Oreal, Waitrose,The Sunday Times, Dior, Cosmopolitan and Braun... No experience or special equipment required (Derek provides lighting etc) just enthusiasm for the subject. We hope he will run similar workshops in Sprout soon.
Think outside the Box - Upcycling Workshop In February Pippa and Uki ran FREE upcycling workshop during their 'Contemplation' exhibition in Sprout. Introducing people to fantastic ways to transform unwanted things into something to cherish. Pippa and Uki run Art of Cut & Paste, a Community Interest Company bringing art opportunities to a wider audience using largely reclaimed materials. They have a multilingual team including BSL (British Sign Language) trained artists and volunteer to ensure the often isolated Deaf and Hispanic communities can fully participate in activities. Follow @artofcutandpaste or visit https://artofcutandpaste.wordpress.com
Follow the Furzedown Fleece - summer of 2022
This was an amazing event over three weeks in summer, led by Geraldine Kelly - this year's Artist in Residence in Sprout - who hosted a very different type of residency with her friends from the Vauxhall City Farm Spinners and the London Guild of Spinners and Weavers taking a raw fleece and turning it into wool on a spinning wheel, with fun activities, workshops and exhibitions featuring textiles, tapestries and weaving skills. This artist’s residency was all about wool - processing a whole sheep’s fleece. The journey of transforming a raw fleece from a named sheep through to usable yarn involves many different steps, many decisions and lots of skills, much specialised equipment, and a whole other vocabulary.
Lots of people stopped to have a go at these fascinating activities with drop-in sessions including carding and drop spinning, workshops to learn and practice spinning with a wheel, tapestry weaving techniques, demonstrations of spinning, plying, carding and blending. Or just enjoying to watc the traditional craft work by experienced and expert practitioners in spinning and weaving.
You can view the photos and read their blog HERE
Would you like to apply for Sprout 'Artist in Residence' opportunity next year?
The residency programme at Sprout Community Arts is open to artists and creative groups of all ages and backgrounds with a minimum of 3 years’ experience. It is an opportunity for artists to explore new ideas, change direction, reflect on their practice, and receive feedback and support. to benefit from a large studio space in a vibrant residential area where they can explore and strengthen their working practice.
Please contact us by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. using Artist in Residence in the header
Looking back at 2020…A very different year but still a creative and eventful one in Sprout. We didn't manage our 10 year birthday celebrations which were planned for May but hopefully we can celebrate in 2021. Considering we were closed for more than half the year, we crammed as much as possible in when we could!We began the year with our Artists in residence in January followed by our winter Art Loan event, launched Jane’s Furzedown Book Swap initiative, created window displays to brighten up Moyser Road whilst we were closed and even showcased the Graveney Year 10 art students’ talent again in the summer. We finally managed to host our annual Secret Postcard community fundraiser after rescheduling several times, and managed to host some of the scheduled artist exhibitions when we could open in the Autumn, albeit briefly. We ended the year with our Christmas market, which unfortunately came to a halt sooner than planner when Tier 4 rules came into force, but we had good run and still had the chance to support our local artists, designers and makers again.Thank you all for your continued support and wish you a happy and healthy New Year.The Sprout Arts Team x
Sprout Art Loan Events
Our first Art Loan was back in 2018 and is a unique opportunity (possibly the only one in UK) to support artists and encourage local people of all ages and backgrounds to engage in creative activities and appreciate original art.
The idea of starting Sprout Art Loans initiative is simple, people who are members of Sprout will be able to borrow an original work of art for four months and pay nothing, the artwork would then be available to someone else or could be bought.
The hope is that people who have never had original artwork in their homes will realise how wonderful it is and go on to become art enthusiasts and encourage their friends and neighbours too. Lending sessions take place three times a year at various local venues and will allow Sprout members to borrow one artwork every four months, free of charge with the option of buying if they can't bear to return it.
It has been a very successful scheme and has been shortlisted in Time & Leisure's Most Innovative Art/Community Project. We have recently added a new gallery for available work outside the event times and would love to hear from individuals or businesses who are interested.
Visit www.sproutartloans.com
Furzedown Book Swap @ Sprout Arts
Starting 5th March 2020, Sprout Arts will be hosting a book swap for Furzedown. Pop in whenever Sprout is open and see what’s on the bookshelf – thanks to some initial donations, there will be a mix of fiction and non-fiction, children’s and adults’ books. Take your pick from literary fiction, thrillers, spy fiction, biographies, romance, picture books, wildlife books…