Chapter 2 #3
She finished her toast. ‘I spent a lot of time here as a child and, as much as I adored Lovegrove Bay, it was this place that meant the most to me. Watching people create their masterpieces brought me so much joy. It motivated me to make my own art: paintings, clay, jewellery making. I was never very good at it but I enjoyed the process. I don’t know if you know but my grandad started Waterfall House so he could teach therapeutic art workshops to help people with brain injuries. I found that so inspiring.’
Luke nodded. ‘My mum was one of his students. She’d had a stroke too and she came over from Ireland to spend four weeks here doing one of his art workshops. It helped her so much, she came back a changed woman, she was so much happier and more confident.’
‘Oh, I didn’t realise.’
‘Your grandad touched a lot of people.’
She smiled at that. ‘So is that why you’re here?’
‘Yes, sort of. She came here for five different workshops, over a year or so. On the second one, she met a man called George and fell completely head over heels in love. She came home and signed up for a third workshop a few months later, which George was on as well. It was so good to see her smiling again, she had never been truly happy since my dad died. By the end of the fourth workshop she’d decided to move to England to be with George.
She came home, sold the house and moved to Lovegrove Bay.
Shortly after that she married him. I’d moved to London shortly before with work so when she moved here I visited her and my new stepfather often and I just fell in love with Lovegrove Bay.
It’s such a lovely, quiet, friendly community and the views are pretty spectacular.
When she died, a few months after George, I still visited often.
This place captured my mum’s heart and imagination and almost all of her art was inspired by the town or the wonky tree.
I think being here allowed me to feel closer to her.
Eventually I made the move down here more permanent.
And when the opportunity came up for me to be an artist here I leapt at it.
I’ve been here four years now and moved in here six months ago. ’
‘I love that you’re now living in the same place that brought your mum so much joy and inspiration.’
‘Yeah, I do too. I will be sorry to leave it in many ways. But sorry, you were telling me about your dream job.’
‘Oh yes, well the art therapy is linked to that in a way. I never really understood the importance of art in physical recovery until I was older, although I could see how much the clients enjoyed it. A friend of mine, Tabitha, had serious brain trauma in a car accident and she says building things with Lego or making things with clay was basically her saviour during her recovery. She did a ton of research into it, I think that side of things helped her cope too. And I did too so I could find out the best way to help her. Art can help with manual dexterity and fine motor skills which are so important after an accident. But it also helps with neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s incredible ability to rewire itself where there is damage.
After an accident, some people lose the ability to dress themselves or walk or talk or feed themselves because the part of their brain that takes care of those jobs has been damaged.
Neuroplasticity means the brain can find another path around the damage to be able to do normal things like talk and walk or hold a mug of tea.
And being creative can help unlock that.
It’s also important for people’s mental health, to boost their confidence and help to express their emotions.
That’s why something as simple as adult colouring books were so popular a few years ago. We need that creative outlet.’
She picked up a crumb and popped it in her mouth.
‘When I was little I wanted others to have that joy I’d seen from the artists here too, that feel-good feeling of making something.
I used my pocket money to buy craft things like ribbons, buttons, quilling paper, paints, small canvases and sold them to my classmates at a small profit.
When I was older I did the same sort of thing at craft fairs.
I’d have a stand selling all the things you’d need to do different crafts, I’d sell kits for embroidery including the pattern and all the embroidery threads and buttons you’d need to complete it, mosaic kits, sock animal kits, plus lots of other crafty paraphernalia.
But although the stall and kits were very popular, mostly I would only just about break even after paying for my table at the craft fair, so I gave up.
But that’s the dream, that one day I’ll have my own shop selling craft paraphernalia to help spread that joy. ’
An idea started bubbling in Luke’s mind. ‘You could do that here.’
‘I don’t think I know the first thing about running a business, not sure why my nan trusted me with saving the place. I have no idea what I’m going to do. There obviously needs to be some big changes.’
He frowned. ‘What do you mean? Why does it need to change?’
She stared at him in surprise. ‘Because it’s not making any money. Nan said there hasn’t been a single sale since Christmas. For anyone.’
‘Oh crap, I didn’t realise.’
‘She hasn’t spoken to you about this?’
‘No.’
‘But you must have noticed that you haven’t sold anything?’
‘I sell a lot of my sculptures online and I get commissions, so honestly I hadn’t really paid any attention to the fact that none of those sales had come from here.’
‘What about the others? Have you spoken to them?’
‘Well yes, but not normally about finances or sales, or rather the lack of them. And some of them have their own Etsy stores or websites so I presume they’re making sales elsewhere too. Well I hope they are.’
‘Maybe this place just isn’t needed anymore. Maybe that’s the trouble, more and more people are buying things online and places like this just get forgotten.’
‘Well, maybe we need to remind people that we’re still here.’
‘Yeah, I’m just not sure how.’
He sighed. ‘You’re right about the online thing, you could probably go on Amazon and buy a Monet replica for a tenner.
No one cares about real craftsmanship anymore or the hard work that goes into producing a unique work of art.
Take that pirate, for example,’ Luke said, gesturing to a sculpture of a pirate’s face on the back wall made entirely of different chains and tools.
‘It took Derek two weeks to do that. He used to have a studio here but he moved to the town a few years ago. ’
‘It’s wonderful. I love the detail. But I think you’re wrong.
You invite people from the town up here and most of them would love the embroidered quilts or paintings – most people can totally appreciate the amount of work that goes into one of your sculptures – but the average family or couple couldn’t afford it no matter how much they love it.
A lot of people are having to make the choice between buying food or paying bills and buying a three-thousand-pound wooden sculpture or a thousand-pound painting just isn’t on their radar. ’
‘No, I get that. But artists are not suddenly going to start charging ten or twenty pounds for something that took them weeks or months to do.’
‘And I wouldn’t expect them to, but there has to be some middle ground. We have to encourage more people to come and buy or the place will close.’
He frowned. ‘Is that what Audrey said?’
‘I have six months to somehow turn this place around or she will sell it. There’s been hotel developers sniffing around for years so I presume she’d sell to one of those and wash her hands of it.’
‘I wish she’d told me. I have a bit of money squirrelled away, I could have helped her out if I’d known she was in trouble.’
Audrey knew about his finances, why hadn’t she told him? Although Audrey was one of the few people in his life who didn’t see him as a free meal ticket.
‘I don’t think throwing money at it is the answer. It’s not going to help long term,’ Flick said. ‘We have to find a way to make the studios self-sufficient or we’ll be back here again in a few months once the money runs out.’
‘No, you’re probably right.’
‘I need to have a meeting with everyone tomorrow, see if we can come up with a plan together.’
Luke shook his head. ‘I’m not sure how that will be received. Many of the artists are stuck in their ways.’
‘Then you’ll have to help me persuade them that change is the only answer, or they lose this place for good.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll help.’
He had to do something to save this place before he left, for his mum and for the legacy left behind by Flick’s grandad. But maybe he could help Flick realise her dreams too.