A short excerpt from a lovely film by husband and wife duo, Irena & Vojtěch Havlovi (The Havels) playing improvised piano and cello music inspired by a visit to Pushkar in India.
Pushkar
Category: Places
Down To Argegno
We were staying for two weeks in a chalet overlooking Lake Como, with spectacular views across the lake to Monte San Primo. This is the top of our street, Via Cacciatori Delle Alpi, but here called Via San Sisinio. As we walked I took photos at regular intervals all the way down the hill. Continue reading “Down To Argegno”
Away With The Birds
Hanna Tuulikki’s ‘Air falbh leis na h-eòin’ is a body of work exploring the mimesis of birds in Gaelic song. On the 29th and 30th of August it becomes a sited performance on the Isle of Canna.
Hanna’s vocal composition, ‘Guth an Eòin | Voice of the Bird’ is the heart of the project. Written for a female vocal ensemble, it reinterprets archival material, fragmenting and re-weaving extracts of Gaelic songs into an extended soundscape. The music emerges from, and responds to, island landscapes and lives. It explores the delicate equilibrium of Hebridean life, the co-existence of tradition and innovation, and suggests the ever-present inter-relationship between bird, human, and ecology.
“The piece is made from weaving together fragments of traditional songs and poems that imitate or emulate birdsong” Tuulikki explains. “Each of the five movements represents a different habitat and bird community – wader, sea-bird, wildfowl, corvid, and cuckoo. In August we will perform the concert in the historic harbour of the beautiful Isle of Canna, where the music reverberates with the bird-calls and the ebb of the tide. The setting is so important to the piece. The Small Isles are a magical place and, to me, the performance begins as soon as people climb on-board the ferry-boat to make the crossing: the richness of the experience is people sharing a journey.”
Recent Etchings
I learned how to do etching from Bartolomeu dos Santos when I was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in the late 1970’s. After I had graduated, no longer having easy access to a print room and a shortage of funds meant I had to improvise equipment in order to carry on printmaking. I developed my own way of applying aquatint and a converted mangle gave me rough working proofs for a couple of years. The search for part time teaching work took me to the Northeast of England, where I immediately became a member of Charlotte Press in Newcastle. There I had open access to a well-equipped print room and could further develop my technique and produce editions. Continue reading “Recent Etchings”
Paul Nash & Swanage
For one of my 65th birthday presents recently I received a superb little book, now something of a collectors piece, called Seaside Surrealism: Paul Nash in Swanage by Pennie Denton. Continue reading “Paul Nash & Swanage”
B For Barcelona
This large letter B is on a rooftop in the Born district of Barcelona. Is it B for Barcelona or is it perhaps B for Born in Barcelona (that old Springsteen classic)? Or maybe it doesn’t stand for either, especially since it’s lying on its back. Maybe it’s B for Brossa, the Catalan poet, playwright and artist Joan Brossa. He liked to play around with letters and it seems to be on the roof of his theatre. We found it when we came looking for Lottie who lives nearby. We met her under the B for Beer. Continue reading “B For Barcelona”
Jenny Franklin At Kensington Place
At the beginning of April we installed ten paintings by Jenny Franklin at Kensington Place restaurant, the latest incarnation of their Art Wall series of exhibitions. There are two oil paintings on linen and eight framed watercolours on paper. Continue reading “Jenny Franklin At Kensington Place”
Architexture
It was my birthday on 9th January and I managed to drag my husband on a trip abroad. I could choose any destination as long as airports weren’t involved. It was lucky, as when we got to passport control at Kings Cross International (20 mins. drive away from home), it was politely pointed out to him that his passport was 4 months beyond it’s sell-by date, and they still let us through! Continue reading “Architexture”
Walton’s Treat
Tucked away around the back of Oxford’s Walton Street is the delightful Art Jericho gallery where a visual treat awaits the curious trek-cyclist, art-lover, flâneur, passer-by or Port Meadow pilgrim. An exhibition by Andrew Walton celebrating the Thames riverside from Jericho to Wolvercote. Continue reading “Walton’s Treat”
Mystery River
The very next morning, right after I finished patching together Out Along Lee, my post about walking the River Lea and the Lee Valley, I found this lovely and fascinating film by Michael Smith thanks to Caught By The River. It felt like synchronicity but this is much better. It was commissioned by The Floating Cinema and UP Projects; it’s a wander along the Lea, all along, down along, out along Lee.