59 Kings Road, St Leonards on Sea, TN37 6DY
hello@crafting-connections.co.uk @crafting_connections_hastings /craftingconnectionshastings
crafting-connections.co.uk
Crafting Connections Open Studio
Theresa Hodge: Shop curator, crafter and disabled activist Penny Pepper: Author, poet, speaker, disabled activist Theresa Hodge is delighted to open up Crafting Connections, a shop space in the vibrant hub of Kings Road, St Leonards-on-Sea. She is a veteran crafter and disability activist. Theresa is selling haberdashery, art and craft supplies and her own handmade gifts. These include unique knitted products and homewares, such as mugs, coasters, and bespoke fabric-covered notebooks.
Theresa is working towards offering hot-desking and workshops in this fullyaccessible space, collaborating with local creatives. Over the weekend, she will demonstrate practices such as latch hook, using a Cricut digital cutting machine, alongside a wideranging exploration of other crafts. As a visually impaired crafter, she will discuss using texture to create tactile pieces, examining different fabrics and other materials that allow for interaction with her own unique sensory reality.
Sharing a small corner of Crafting Connections is local disabled author and poet, Penny Pepper, who will launch her Living Archive space. This reveals Penny’s participation in the indie music scene, and offers a unique narrative of the disability arts and rights movements through 40 years, through journals, photographs and memorabilia. Featured artefacts include her Spiral Sky LP, and documented encounters with artists including Ian Dury, Tim Gane/ Stereolab, Robert Wyatt and Morrissey.
On the day, Penny plans impromptu readings, conversations about her colourful life and insights into her writing process. Books available to buy – signed on request – include Penny’s muchloved memoir First in the World Somewhere, poetry collection Come Home Alive and her 21st anniversary edition of the dark and spicy, Desires Reborn. Penny will also read from Poet Town, a new anthology celebrating 200 years of poetry in Hastings, as a proud key contributor. Coastal Currents offers the chance for Theresa and Penny to share the new Crafting Connections space, to raise the profile of disability arts and crafts, and provide access and inclusion to all in the local community.
Opening Hours: 6 & 7 September, 12noon-4pm
06/09/2025 – 07/09/2025