Anna FC Smith

Time Immemorial- meat pageant wagon. Another sculpture playing with the theatrical staging of meat vans and medieval moot halls with butcher’s shambles. Much happier with this glazing 💕 Glazed at @everydaywigan Pottery Night. #moothall #ceramics #folklore #butchers #clay

Episode 9: Bickershaw Country Park 🎬 We visited the amazing Bickershaw Project for a guided tour from Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s very own Matt Freeman. As part of Wigan and Leigh Flashes National Nature Reserve, the park is home to a variety of wonderful wildlife like kestrels, water voles, Wigan’s famous endangered willow tits and more 🐦 Take a look at how you can get creative in your local green space with our fantastic local artist Anna FC Smith. 🎥 Film by Roz Di Caprio & Mike Poynton #DowntoEarthWigan #Bickershaw #CreativeNatureFilms

Belated post - visiting @salford_museum for “Your Salford 100: Contemporary Narratives” in March. Fab to see how the artists responded to objects from the collection. All the works were gorgeous 👏 I was particularly taken by: @caitlin_akers stunning response to paintings and photographs of Salford boxers 🥊 @msjanelawson knit tapestries in response to a portrait of physicist James Joule 💥 @mandomanderin banner & zoetrope in response to a French drumming bear toy, Perrin loved the zoetrope and I got the badge! 🥁 @alenaruthtufting textiles responding to a wonderful and disturbing bear bating ceramic jug 🐻 📸Unfortunately we were so busy chatting with artists I barely had any photos so borrowed last 2 gallery shots from Salford Museum & Art Gallery Artists: @louisa_boyd @sharonjbrownartist @immaterial.collective : @clairelbatt @nerissact laclarkeart @alenaruthtufting @thelowri @claire_hignett @msjanelawson @loose_button Northern Contemporary Printmakers: @caitlin_akers @michael.hitchens @mandomanderin

Work, play and inspiration trip with @helencmather to see @delainelebas outstanding exhibition at @whitworthart Un-Fair-Ground is exuberant, playful and political. Le Bas turns museum hierarchies upside down and celebrates diverse makers in a gorgeous folkloric witchy world. We loved it! #artistlife #exhibition #delainelebas #manchesterart #arttrip @venturearts_

I adore leading Pottery Night at @everydaywigan with @cerys.wh 🏺💕 It’s so much fun working with people through different methods to develop their visions and it’s a great opportunity to hone my own skills too, constantly learning on the job 📚 People come with a myriad of fantastic ideas that we help them bring to life! Join me on Mondays and @emily_prints_and_pots on alternate Fridays 🌟 Pottery Night: 📅 Every Monday and alternate Fridays, 6:30pm - 8:30pm 📍 The community room, The Old Courts 🎟 Link in @everydaywigan bio #EverydayCreativity #MakingSpaceForCreativity #clayart #artistlife Please note that Pottery Night is an 18+ event but we do admit ages 12+ with an accompanying parent or guardian.

Ox head watercolours. 🐂 I’m deep diving into the ox / ox head symbol following the cult of Mithras through guilds to medieval fairs, ox roasts, wakes week and mock mayor ceremonies… all using the ox as some kind of representation of power. Why the cow head? Some of my research so far… In Westhoughton just down the road, the nickname Keaw Yed for the town and its people is linked to a fairly recent myth of a farmer who, rather than dismantle his gate to free his stuck cow, instead decapitated it. This was reenacted in pubs & clubs during wakes week through the last century. This cow head myth is shared with Tideswell ‘Sawyed’ & the tidza mummers reenacted the scene as part of their wakes week performances. 🐮 Further back in time in 1815 Westhoughton they held a victory ox roast (common for coronations & similar) after the napoleonic wars & the head of the beast was fought for in a mock battle (potentially similar to a shrove football game) 🐄🏉 A link to Abingdon Morris & The Mayor of Ock Street, I’ve found references to a lost 18th & 19th century mock mayor ceremony at Westhoughton when a ‘mayor’ was elected by colliers and led in a procession on a cart drinking malt liquor from every pub on the route- he was preceded by carts with ox skulls. These came from the saved bones of a traditional ox head pie produced in September. The skull bones of the previous years were cleaned and the ‘bone club’ would process with these mounted on broom handles decorated in ribbons and the reconstructed skulls paraded on carts. ☠️ 🐮 #folkcustom #folkore #wakesweek #westhoughton #keawyed

Me & @klairedoyle have spent the last 5 weeks running ROOM artist residency as @termschoolofart 💕 It’s been incredible 💥 The ROOM exhibition opened on Friday night 🎈as part of @wiganarts 30th - 31st 🌟11am-5pm - come down to see! 1st April - 4th It’s open 11-5pm by appointment DM to arrange a viewing 👀 📍 Entrance 7, The Old Courts, Crawford Street On show: Our incredible ROOM 2 residency artists: 🏺 Caitlin Hamblett @common.ground_studio 🎞️ Alyssa Teixeira-Harcourt @alyssadaffodilart 🗿 Heather Tully-Bolton @tullybolt 🖨️ Nicola Shaw @theartsmakery 🌈Alongside work from our brilliant associate artists 🌟Nicolette Lafonseca @nicolettelafonseca 🌟Heather Sale @heathersale.art & 🌟Andy Smith @paintsmithandy and ROOM alumni ⭐️Kirby Corless @kirbycorless ⭐️Angela Durkin @angedurkin ⭐️George Hale @georgehaleart ⭐️Lucy Sharkey @lucysharkeyart & ⭐️Kate Spragg @poe.trypaper 🫶 ROOM artist residency is a collab between @theoldcourts & @termartclasses #artexhibition #wiganart #wigan #gallery #artistresidency

Time Immemorial- meat pageant wagon. Glazed at @everydaywigan Pottery Night. Linking the theatrical staging of meat vans and medieval moot halls with butcher’s shambles. #moothall #ceramics #folklore #butchers #clay

Another sneaky sculpture I got into the Wigan Open Exhibition @wiganarts 💧 ‘Spiritum Continentes‘ thinking about bog bodies and life/souls being preserved in the bottom of water bodies made at @everydaywigan 🌊 #clayart #clay #ceramicart #ceramics #wiganart

One of the sculptures I snuck past the student curators for the Wigan Open Exhibition 🐮 ‘He Hears All and Sees All‘ is a bull head from a Mithraic temple altar. 🐂 @marco.frezza.art pretends to be me at the launch night. @wiganarts #clayart #ceramic #ceramicartist #sculpture #mithras

Me & @klairedoyle ( @termschoolofart ) have been working with a group of student curators at @wiganleighcollege to pull together the Wigan Open Exhibition as part of @wiganarts 🥹 It’s been a joy! So proud of the way the students selected the works and pulled out narratives in the hang of the exhibition - go see it yourself! It’s on till Tuesday! 📅 Open until Tuesday 24 March ⏰ 12pm – 6pm daily 📍 Pier 4, Wigan Pier, 184–182 Wallgate, Wigan, WN3 4EU @theoldcourts @wigancouncil @forgingthefuturewigan #WiganOpenExhibition #OpenExhibition #ArtInWiganBorough #WiganArt #ArtGallery

The 40th anniversary of the St Patrick’s parade in Ashton, organized by The Brian Boru Club , the oldest Irish club in the UK established in 1889. Led by St Patrick, with a St Patrick icon, the North West Irish Wolfhound Group, a leprechaun and the giant Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill). ☘️🤝🎉 🇮🇪 #stpatricksparade #folk #mothersday #brianboruclub #folkcustom