Meet the Collective: Sussex Garden School

Crafting inspired by nature and gardens
The creative workshops offered at Sussex Garden School range from garden design to pressing flowers, fused glass art, natural dyeing and rag weaving, all in a supportive and encouraging environment where adults can explore their creativity and unlock a sense of wonder and playfulness often lost in adulthood.
In this chat, Creativity Found Collective member Juliet Sargeant highlights the significance of fostering an atmosphere of encouragement and relaxation in the school's workshops. By providing a safe space for adults to experiment, make mistakes, and learn without fear of judgement, individuals can step out of their comfort zones and embrace the unknown, leading to personal growth and creative fulfilment.
Juliet also discusses how she values being a member of the Creativity Found Collective both for personal encouragement and practical business support.  She understands that having a network of individuals with similar business experiences allows for the sharing of knowledge, advice, and resources. This exchange of information can be invaluable for small business owners looking to grow and thrive in their ventures. By being part of a community, individuals can learn from each other's successes and failures, gaining insights that can help them make informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls.

Sussex Garden School at creativityfound.co.uk
CreativityFound.co.uk

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Researched, edited and produced by Claire Waite Brown
Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa Creative Commons License Free Music Archive - Ketsa - Day Trips
Artworks: Emily Portnoi emilyportnoi.co.uk
Photo: Ella Pallet

Click here to book a 1-to-1 online chat with me to understand more about the Creativity Found Collective, the promotional and networking membership for creative small businesses.

Transcript

0:39

We started with garden design, and then I thought, there's so much more to enjoy. So there is hands-on gardening. On the crafting side, we've got our established tutors, like Wendy, who does pressed flowers. Jazz is an amazing glass artist. We have Jenny, who does natural dyeing. So you go out into the garden and pick plants, plants that you wouldn't imagine have these sort of vibrant, wonderful colors. you unlock the colours and then dye something to take home and then Teresa does weaving. You do make yourself vulnerable but I mean the rewards are Wonderful and there to be had if you just step into the unknown, I think. You know, when you're running a small business, it is great to have other people who are doing the same, like-minded people, people who've had similar experiences or similar worries who can encourage you, advise you. I think that's really, really Hi, Claire here. Creating this show inspired me to take the Creativity Found mission further. As well as sharing inspirational stories of people who have embraced their creativity in adulthood, I wanted to actually help people do this for themselves and to support artists and crafters who share their creative knowledge with adults through their classes, kits and supplies. Creativityfound.co.uk and the Creativity Found Collective were born. You can visit creativityfound.co.uk to find ways to learn printmaking, try embroidery, get touchy-feely with clay, make your own kilt, start weaving, learn to paint and so much more. And the wonderful teachers and makers featured on the website are members of the Creativity Found Collective. We also have business support enterprises as members who help others grow their businesses. which means they get to do more of the arting and crafting and less of the businessing. In this episode of the Creativity Found podcast, adapted from a live video posted on the Creativity Found YouTube channel and in the Creativity Found Facebook group, I chat with one of our members about what they do and how they can help you. And if you would like to join our merry band, simply visit creativityfound.co.uk join us and I'll see you soon. I still OK, so we're all there. We are live in Facebook and YouTube now, so that's brilliant. Lovely to see you, Juliet. We were having a lovely chat and I was thinking, we've spoken, but I haven't seen you. since I had you on the I know, I know. Time flies, doesn't it? It's amazing. It's Lovely to see you. And you. Just a brief little introduction for anybody who hasn't seen any of these videos before. Each week-ish. I'm going live on Facebook and YouTube, as we are now, with a Creativity Found collective member so that we can chat about what it is they do and communicate with everybody out there all about how this member can either help you to find a new creative outlet or to re-find an old creative outlet, or in some cases, how the collective member can help you as a small business owner to grow and thrive in your small business. So today I'm joined by Juliet Sargent and tell me Juliet how you help adults It's such a lovely thing to do actually because I enjoy being creative myself and it's lovely to give other people First of all, the headspace. You know, we're so busy. It's just lovely to take a day out of your usual routine. And at the Sussex Garden School, we just give you a lovely garden environment, a place to come and be with like-minded people and either try a new skill or practice your old skills. And so the first thing is that headspace and then a nice environment. Sharing. You mentioned sharing, Claire. It's just great, isn't it? It's so inspiring to be with other people who are equally enthused. And also to be with tutors who have that kind of knowledge to share with you, I think is just great. So that's what we do at the Sussex Garden School. We run workshops for all sorts of creative things inspired by Tell me some of the workshops that you've got coming up because I know you have gardening ones and the other ones as well. So what Yeah, so I'm a garden designer. So we started with garden design and then I thought there's so much more to enjoy in a garden. So there is hands-on gardening. On the crafting side, we're very excited because we've got our established tutors like Wendy who does pressed flowers. Jazz is an amazing glass artist. So she does fused glass, all sorts of amazing things with coloured glass. And then we've got a couple of new tutors. We have Jenny who does natural dyeing. So you go out into the garden and pick plants. Plants that you wouldn't imagine have these sort of vibrant, wonderful colors. You unlock the colors and then dye something to take home. And then Teresa does weaving. I don't know if you're the same, Claire, but I've got various sort of garments like children's dresses and things. I just have because I don't want to lose them. But they're just sort of hanging about in the cupboard or the bottom of a drawer. And what Teresa does is teaches you to weave something with these fabrics so that you can keep it as a memento, which It does sound brilliant. I am like that, and the fabrics as well. You have an item, but the fabric is lovely, but the item is not usable anymore for whatever reason, but there are elements, parts of that fabric that are usable. Oh, that is such fun. That sounds really, really interesting. You mentioned about sharing and how much you enjoy that. Why do you think, from your point of view, it's important for adults to be able Yeah, I think many of us have sort of happy memories of childhood and that sense of sort of wonder and experimentation as a child, because everything is new and you're just going from one thing to another. It's all such a big surprise. But I think sometimes as adults, we can get a bit humdrum. And the thing about creativity and the importance, I think, for an adult is that it sort of unlocks your inner child because it's still there. You are still that child and it gives you the opportunity to play. Adults need to play. Being creative is about expressing yourself in some way, whether it's pottery or sewing, you're expressing something of yourself and by sharing it, you're sharing yourself. And I think that's why it's a gift to you, but it's also a gift to the person that you're sharing your creativity with. So, it's a Oh, that's really a lovely way of putting it. Brilliant. So, do you find as adults experiencing new activities and we talk a lot on the show about people not wanting to try something unless they're going to be good at it. I mean, what kind of experiences have you seen and your tutors seen of the people that come to your workshops and are they bold and confident? Does Yeah, I think that's really true. I do find that, particularly in my garden design workshops, Because I think as adults, there's two things. First of all, a lot of people as they get older, they experience success. Success in life, perhaps in job or family or whatever. And so, taking on a new skill, is making yourself vulnerable. You're really going back to a situation a bit like being at school, really, where you don't know and you don't know that you're going to be good at this. So, I mean, something that we're really keen on at the Sussex Garden School is creating an environment of encouragement and relaxation. And I do think that's important. It's somewhere to have fun and not feel that somebody's going to be breathing down your neck and saying, you know, that's not right. That's not good enough. That's not what it's about. So I think, yes, you're right. You do make yourself vulnerable if you take on a new skill. But, I mean, the rewards are Wonderful and there to Yeah, well it sounds like a very encouraging way to do that and I think that's something generally we just need to promote that there are places that you can do that and you can safely and happily go and take part in activity. So that's brilliant. What about the wider community? I mean, do you feel an importance for Sussex Garden School to be involved in a wider creative Yeah, I think it's really lovely to be in a creative collective. Oh, gosh, for so many reasons. But I think sort of personally, from that, talking about encouragement, you know, when you're running a small business, starting a new venture, It is great to have other people who are doing the same, like-minded people, people who've had similar experiences or similar worries, who can encourage you, advise you. I think that's really, really great. And then from just a purely practical business perspective, it's great to have people who have similar business experiences and things to share. It's Yeah, we had an online meetup yesterday and I had gone there with a particular topic of conversation, which we did cover, but it kind of morphed around a bit, but it became something that was useful and actually led us towards something that we can cover in more detail in the future because it's something that's needed. It's good to also get together and have a chat, isn't it? It is, it is because I mean running a small business, it can get lonely because you have quite a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. So just again, just have a bit of headspace, a cup of tea, a chat online, Yeah, yeah, brilliant. So what about future plans? Do you have plans going Yeah, so we're growing all the time, which is lovely. And that's one of the things I think about running a small business yourself, because you have the agility and the flexibility. So when I meet somebody creative, and I think they're lovely, I sort of say, you fancy doing some teaching? So, yeah, we're growing all the time and taking on new tutors. And in the summer, we'll be moving to a new studio, which is lovely, because quite a few of our courses are different places, depending on the subject. So, for example, We do a pressed flower course at a flower farm so that people can go out and look at the flowers growing and press them. But we'll also very soon have our own studio so that we can run courses from a home base as well in And well, it's lovely because it means that you can get a bit messy. And of course, we can store a lot of our things, paints, dyes, colours, whatever, at the studio, which we realise. So we'll have the best of both worlds. We'll go out for some places and Well, it sounds absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much, Julia. In the comments or whatever it's called, the description for the video, I've put the link to Sussex Garden School page at creativityfound.co.uk. And if you go there, you can find links straight to Sussex Garden School website and to Juliet's social media so you can find everything there. Like I mentioned earlier, Juliet's episode of the Creativity Fan Podcast because Juliet actually trained medically before becoming a garden designer. A while ago, but yes. So that's a brilliant story. So do have a listen to that. And this stream I've done on Riverside, which is a platform that I record the podcast on. I have also put a link in the description to Riverside and to Buzzsprout, who host my podcast. If you do use the links and pay for a subscription on anything in my links, then I will get a few pennies towards the Creativity Found podcast. So that would be even lovelier. But in the meantime, thank you so much, Julia. It's been lovely to catch up and to hear about how the classes are expanding. And I love the way you said about, I meet a nice creative person and then I ask her to come and see how I work. Thank Thanks so much for listening to Creativity Found. I hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some value from it. 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