Ludlow artist named as finalist in national events competition

Sarah Amatt, from Ludlow, runs workshops teaching the ancient art of Japanese paper marbling known as Suminagashi which she describes as a 'magical and somewhat spiritual process'.

Sarah organises her workshops on the global ticketing and event platform Eventbrite. She has been named one of 12 finalists in the company's Most Curious & Colourful Events competition, beating off strong entries from hundreds of organisers throughout the UK.

Sarah’s workshop was commended for its ability to bring a wide variety of people together – from poets to tattoo artists – to be creative in a calming and relaxing way while making a vibrant and colourful work of art that is completely unique to them.

Sarah originally trained as a book binder and made Turkish marbled paper, which is used on old books with a process that produces many similar sheets of decorated paper.

Her workshops give attendees an understanding of the materials, tools and process of Suminagashi and allows them plenty of practice on both small and large troughs.

Sarah said: “Suminagashi or Japanese marbling is ink (sumi) floating (nagashi) on water. It goes some way to describe the practice but doesn’t cover the magical, somewhat spiritual aspect of its fashioning.

“For attendees, the process of putting down ink is very calming and relaxing and I encourage them to see that there are no mistakes in their creations and that the wonderful designs that emerge are brilliant just as they are.

"I get a wide variety of people attending my events, including a poet who wanted to write on his pieces of suminagashi, and a printmaker who wanted to learn a different technique.

"Some people might frame their work while others will use it for book binding or origami. It’s a special craft that I teach part time and I look forward to opening up the art to more people in the near future.”

Eventbrite’s Most Curious and Colourful Events competition was created to celebrate the wide diversity of events that can be found on Eventbrite, and especially those that could be described as unusual, unique, alternative – and maybe a little bit ‘out there’.

Helen Lunn from Manchester travels to attend the Suminagashi workshop.

Helen said: “There are very few workshops on Suminagashi so I felt lucky to have found Sarah on Instagram and get to attend her class.

"I’ve been experimenting with the art for some time myself and while I’ve been enjoying it, it can be really challenging.

"The workshop helped me to learn, troubleshoot my work and progress. It was really informative and I discovered a lot about the history of the art before quickly starting to create. There was a relaxed atmosphere in a beautiful setting where I got to meet likeminded people. It must also be said that there was also homemade food on the day, so it was fantastic all round!”

Eventbrite hosted more than a million events in the UK last year, so selecting only 12 finalists was no mean feat.

Other events that made the top 12 include workshops in children’s circus skills, underwater photo shoots, puppet making, moss art, spoon carving and scarecrow making.

Sebastian Boppert, from Eventbrite, said: “Among the wide variety of experiences on Eventbrite, the Suminagashi Workshop stood out for many reasons on top of being delightfully different.

"We love the results of this ancient form of art and that Sarah gets attendees from all backgrounds wanting to learn Suminagashi for a whole host of reasons – this is what events are all about.

"The workshop definitely deserves to be a finalist in the Most Curious & Colourful Events competition, and it’s a huge accolade to Sarah to stand out from the vast number of events of all shapes and sizes we host on our platform all over the UK.”

The winning event, to be announced in November, will receive a £2,500 cash prize and £2,500 of Eventbrite fee credits to help it grow and bring even more people together.