Olympicold BC
Orbit
This is the view from John Lewis’s Olympic gift shop at Westfield Stratford. Here you can buy all kinds of sponsored trinkets and souvenirs for London 2012, but thankfully this view is so far logo free. Here are the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatic Centre, the Water Polo Arena and the Orbit, Anish Kapoor’s sculptural look-out tower. Continue reading “Orbit”
Meghalaya’s Living Bridges
Meghalaya's Living Bridges – Incredible India by dm_50ac6337ca078
In North-East India, in The Land Of Clouds, people have found an ingenious natural solution to the challenge of crossing a torrential flood river. Conventional bridges would be swept away, so they have devised a kind of slow organic joinery.
I sometimes describe Rowley Gallery picture-frames as slow frames, but 500 years to build a bridge makes them seem instant!
Vale Of Yew
We arrived at the village of Stoughton in a remote valley of the South Downs via a single track road from the north. It felt like we were coming to the back of beyond. We left the car by the Hare & Hounds and began the long slow climb along this farm track up to Stoughton Down. Continue reading “Vale Of Yew”
Circles In Toledo
For Cesaria Evora
She was not always in the best of health, all those cigarettes, all that rum. But it’s still a shock that she’s gone. Her voice made you feel close to her. Here’s a reminder of how beautiful she could be.
Amy In Dingle
A not to be missed film telling the story of an Amy Winehouse performance before an audience of 85 in a little church in Ireland in 2006, to be broadcast next Monday, July 23rd at 10pm on BBC4 – Arena.
Constantine’s Dream
The Basilica of San Francesco in Arrezo, Tuscany, a late medieval church dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. In the chancel, the Cappella Maggiore, is one of the masterpieces of the Italian Early Renaissance. The walls are covered with a sequence of frescoes by Piero della Francesca depicting episodes from The Legend of The True Cross. Behind the suspended crucifix, at the lower right of the window is The Vision of Constantine, an image which has haunted Patti Smith for years. Continue reading “Constantine’s Dream”
Metamorphosis
One day a man from over the hills came into the shop to buy a greetings card. He was a graceless man of few words though he did say the card was for his sick mother, but the words seemed to stumble over his tongue as he spoke. He was a large, lumbering, oaf of a man yet he was very quick to choose a card, and he paid for it with a crisp, new £50 note. Continue reading “Metamorphosis”
A Bundle Of Walnut
A nice bundle of clean, new leaves of walnut burr veneer fresh from the tree. Continue reading “A Bundle Of Walnut”