Rowley Gallery Blog
I was looking at Greg Becker’s Pinterest page, The Wild Allotment, a lovely collection of green-fingered imagery and a great escape from our endless winter. It got me thinking about visits to other, slightly more manicured gardens, but most importantly gardens filled with sunshine. Indulge me while I recall warmer days. This is Le Prieuré d’Orsan where we stayed for one memorable night in 2006. Continue reading “Five French Gardens”
Sam Lee takes his coracle down to the river via Ridley Road and Smithfield accompanied by Gerry Diver, fiddle; Jonny Bridgwood, bass; Michael Wright & Saul Eisenberg, jews harp; Ed Hicks, banjo. For an account of their visit to Khartoum, read English Folk Songs in Sudan by Tim Cumming.
Jonny Hannah introduced me to C W Stoneking a while ago. I should have posted this video earlier, it’s a nice piece of vaudeville hokum, a pantomime Heart of Darkness. I love it and I love the comment it received on YouTube – I’m drawing a wobbly line here but…George Formby, Hank Williams, Mance Lipscomb, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, C W Stoneking – and the reply from C W Stoneking himself – That is a wobbly line, what are you doing with the other hand?
Dominic wanted to tell Jelly Green a short story by Saki about the man who painted cows. He couldn’t remember what it was called so, rather than walk to the public library, he searched for it on Google. Somehow “man” + “painted” + “cows” led him to the discovery of the Hamer tribe in Ethiopia. I’m ashamed to say I’d not heard of them before. I had no idea. Could these be my ancestors? Is this why I’m fond of cows? Not so sure about the whipping. Maybe it’s time to visit Ethiopia. Continue reading “Hamer Man & The Stalled Ox”
In February 1990, I took a plane from the beautiful and vibrant crazy beach city of Rio de Janeiro via Sao Paulo to the futuristic capital city Brasilia. Located in the savannah, centrally placed in the country, the shape of the new city is designed to look like an aeroplane. It was laid out by Lucio Costa, the father of modern Brazilian architecture who in turn chose Oscar Niemeyer to realise the poetry and optimism of the new Brazil. Continue reading “For Oscar Niemeyer”
Lottie said, ‘I don’t know why you’re wasting your time photographing autumn leaves, the story of Toledo is in its walls’. So, never one to ignore an idea for a blog post, and because there are few trees in Toledo, I began collecting images of the casco murallas. Continue reading “The Walls Of Toledo”
Whilst writing the previous post about Cornwall I remembered this set of Richard Long photos, the first thing I ever framed for myself. See the beautifully joined corners, marvel at those hand-cut windows, but note that I neglected to put any fixings on the back to hang it, so for 25 years or more it’s just been standing around. The photographs and text were printed by Coracle Press as a concertina booklet, and although I often visited their tongue & groove lined gallery in Camberwell, I think I bought it at Arnolfini in Bristol. It was titled A Day’s Walk Past The Standing Stones Of Penwith Peninsula. Kai took one look at it and immediately decided that was to be my challenge, to walk those nine stones in one day! I’m not so sure. Continue reading “Penwith Peninsula”
Dear Chris….I saw some great places yesterday along the Hudson River: Rhinebeck, Tivoli, Germantown, Hudson the ex-whaling town. I took a look at Bard College and the Frank Gehry Performing Arts Space. Very impressive and shiny on a sunny day. Today off to Lenox, Massachusetts for a big book sale. Wishing you a great day, Chris. Continue reading “Fisher Center”
I keep seeing this image on billboards around town. It’s a photograph of one of Andy Goldsworthy’s Cairn sculptures and it’s being used by The Maccabees to promote their new album. It reminds me of a visit five years ago to Digne-les-Bains where I found a whole series of his sculptures. Continue reading “Refuges D’Art”
This is The Oarsman’s and Angler’s Map of the River Thames from its Source to London Bridge. It comes rolled in a tube and at one inch to one mile it is 2.5 metres long. It was engraved by E G Ravenstein and first published in 1893. This edition has an introduction by Richard Way, specialist bookseller from Henley on Thames:
…. The Thames flows roughly north west to south east but Ravenstein cleverly elongated this dimension by ironing out the river’s NE SW meanderings. The river is thus contained within an artificial boundary 5 miles wide. The map however retains a true scale along its length. If Ravenstein had represented a geographical reality at this scale the map would be shorter but 4 times wider. Ravenstein presumably selected London Bridge as the end point of the map because it was the last bridge on the river. Tower Bridge opened the year after the map was published.
It would be a difficult piece to frame and an awkward piece to hang. I thought it might be best presented here. Continue reading “Messing About On The River (3)”