Balm for the Soul

As can be seen from my lack of posts I ran away further North where the sun shone all the time and the gras felt very much greener. Transplanted lots of trees dug up even more thistles and smiled.

For Auntie Janice

Camelia House YSP

Always an inspiration and greatly missed. xx

Jaume Plensa - Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I visited the exhibition on the first day, a glorious sunny Spring morning which definitely created a clean sparkling way to view the pieces, it will be very interesting to keep visiting though to September to see the effect of the Yorkshire weather on how the shapes are viewed. I was mesmerised from the first view of the men around the trees that I saw on a visit last month, but then when entering the Underground gallery a whole new experience began.

The long line of letters sparkling in the sunshine, singing when touched was haunting, sadly no internal photography you will have to experience it, here is a sneaky picture from outside.

The rooms inside are haunting and I was very glad to be the first visitor of the day as wondering through the alabaster head room on my own was quite spiritual and calming, sharing with others would not have held the same resonance, for me at least. Plensa's work is often created for large public outside spaces so is meant for sharing and interacting with.

"Anonymity has grown as the centre of the ritual of our cities, and with them it has developed an aesthetics of protection and camouflage where hiding has become synonymous with comfort. But what do we hide from? What do we protect ourselves against? To hide, to protect, to decorate, to commemorate. They all have the same meaning and ultimately seek to elude our personal memory, substituting it for a collective and comfortable memory where we can take rest from our contradiction. This relinquishment of intimacy (personal freedom) in favour of anonymity (uniform) has also left a deep mark on art in public space" Tenerife 1994

Manchester Exhibitions

Went to MMU for tutorials so maximised my time with a trip to Manchester Art gallery and the Anish Kapoor exhibition, which I found very breathtaking. The pictures from the web site do not do the work justice. the space is used in a stunning manner.

I also visited my favourite space the craft gallery which always unearths something new.

Limoges

 

 

Hat Blocks

Due to dropping my son off at Stanstead airport I took a minor detour in my 420 mile journey to visit Luton and Boon & Lane Blockmakers extraordinaire. www.blockmaker.com

Sadly I can't show pictures of the delights of the heavily dusty and wood shaven workspace but can share the new block. If you are ever in Luton, its a definite place to visit for all milliners, Steve and Alan are always welcoming just phone them beforehand.

Also went to Luton Museum to see what had changed and as its reminiscent of Bankfield Museum it feels right (very logical!)

Philip Treacy

Philip Treacy Video

Inspiration from the Master.

Collographic printing

The last session of my printing course at The Art House, Wakefield which was really enjoyable and I learned so much. Laura Slater the tutor was inspiring and generous with her sharing of ideas and techniques. Here are a few examples.