Gift Wrapped

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Susie Freeman brought us a few more pieces of work, just in time for Christmas. This one is already gift wrapped. Is the yellow ribbon significant? Is it part of the artwork? Not really. Susie opened the frame to swap its contents then couldn’t close it securely, so she tied it together. I like it. Maybe we should adopt this method of framing. Continue reading “Gift Wrapped”

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Blending In

Blending In

James Read brought five new paintings for display in the gallery, and then sent us a few words…

Blending In. The chameleon is presented larger than life and partially visible through layers of torn paper. Inspiration came from a bill posting site near my home in Oxford. Each new poster stands out for a day or two before blending rather beautifully into the soup of fragmented images. Continue reading “Blending In”

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Our Heroes Are Back!

Onze Helden Zijn Terug! (Our Heroes Are Back!) is the title of this flashmob video made to celebrate the return of Rembrandt’s Night Watch to the Rijksmuseum in April 2013. It heralded the museum’s grand reopening after a ten year restoration project. Rembrandt’s masterpiece is now back in place in the Gallery of Honour but pretty much everything else has been rearranged. Continue reading “Our Heroes Are Back!”

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Awake Through Years

1 Howard Phipps Engravings

Howard Phipps‘s wood engravings are included in the exhibition Awake Through Years: Four South West Wood Engravers at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter from 7 December. Howard will be showing 25 works including working drawings plus book illustrations. The other artists are Harry Brockway, Hilary Paynter and Pam Pebworth. More information here – Awake Through Years.

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Palettes

Walton palette A

Andrew Walton kicked it off: Dear Chris, I thought you might like this palette. I came across it in my shed. I had half cleaned it some time ago and left it as it looked so nice. I have always liked the working stuff which artists use. Turner’s paint box etc. I might think of a blog posting on this, what do you think? Each of your Rowley artists could send in a photo of their paint boxes and palettes! Continue reading “Palettes”

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A Wooden Tree

Imagine this song by Ivor Cutler as the musical accompaniment for a group of New York’s finest morris-dancers choreographed by the greatest living creative artist in any art form. Put it together with thirteen more of his songs (including the ever popular Beautiful Cosmos), with dancers dressed as children (Ivor Cutler always seemed a child dressed as an adult) in madcap square dances, shape-shifting and pattern-weaving around the playground, and you’ve got one of the four spectacularly life-enhancing performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group last night at Sadlers Wells. All that was needed for a perfect St Andrew’s day was a curtain call with Mr Morris dressed in a kilt.

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