Irish Folk Furniture

Posted on February 1, 2013 by hamer the framer

This delightful film, described by its director as propaganda for Irish rural dressers, has just won the prize for Best Animated Short Film at the Sundance Film Festival. No home is complete without one.

Frames of reference

Winter Colour

Posted on January 31, 2013 by hamer the framer

Snow paintings, NY state

Some welcome winter colour from Christopher Corr in New York State where there’s both snow and sunshine. I’m guessing the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. It’s minus 14 but crucially the sun is shining. It makes all the difference. Chris says he’s enjoying the sunrises and the sunsets. So are we.

Frames of reference

Ice Age Art

Posted on January 31, 2013 by hamer the framer

double

A new exhibition at the British Museum brings together artefacts from museums across Europe, some as old as 42,000 years, and juxtaposes them with modern masters such as Henry Moore and Piet Mondrian. The Venus of Dolni Vestonice is displayed alongside Grand Nu by Henri Matisse. Read more …

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Epping Snow

Posted on January 29, 2013 by hamer the framer

epping snow 1

All this talk of winter trees and William Morris and I realise it’s time I went back to Epping Forest. It seems different every time I visit but today is something special, I’ve never seen it so thick with snow. It’s another world, silent and monochrome like an old movie. Read more …

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William Morris Gallery

Posted on January 26, 2013 by hamer the framer

001 william morris gallery

The William Morris Gallery is at Water House in Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow. William Morris was fourteen when his family moved here in 1848. They had downsized from Woodford Hall where William’s playground had been Epping Forest. At Water House he played in the grounds, particularly the moated island where he imagined there be dragons. Read more …

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Winter Trees

Posted on January 24, 2013 by hamer the framer

moon tree

First there was this Christmas card from a painting by Mick Moon, made with oil paint & string on board and called simply Tree. Then I heard the three Staveley-Taylor sisters (aka The Staves) singing Winter Trees:

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Read more …

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Winterlude

Posted on January 23, 2013 by hamer the framer

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Bewick’s Nature Print

Posted on January 21, 2013 by hamer the framer



The Hedge Warbler or Dunnock
Printed from the boxwood block engraved by Thomas Bewick for his
History of British Birds, 1797

Read more …

Frames of reference

Casals & Bach

Posted on January 20, 2013 by hamer the framer

August 1954, aged 77, Pablo Casals performs Bach’s G-Major Suite for solo cello at Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa near Prades in the French Pyrénées.

In an ancient abbey in the south of France I once heard invisible plainsong. I realised eventually that it came not from speakers, nor from monks hidden behind a screen, but from a fellow tourist who sang as he moved through the building, exploring its rich acoustics. It was surprising and beautiful. How amazing it would have been to discover Casals playing Bach.

Bach Unwrapped is a year long series of over 70 concerts throughout 2013 at Kings Place, London.

Frames of reference

Landfill Harmonic

Posted on January 19, 2013 by hamer the framer

When these children in Paraguay were given the opportunity to learn music there were more students than instruments. Cateura is Paraguay’s biggest landfill with a resourceful tradition of recycling. It seemed only appropriate to make musical instruments from waste materials. Scrap was transformed into violin, cello, double-bass, flute, saxophone, guitar and The Recycled Orchestra was born.

Frames of reference