Frames of Reference

Christmas Lights

Our neighbours next door at the Churchill are suddenly all lit up. They must think it’s Christmas. Gerry likes a spectacle. Most of the year the outside of the pub is a waterfall of hanging baskets. And he likes his illuminations. Maybe he’s one of the Illuminati. He certainly knows how to create a warm glow and run a popular pub. They were the first in London serving Thai food, their floral displays win prizes and they pull a good pint of Fuller’s. Behind this glamorous facade beats the heart of a proper old-school London boozer.

Christmas Shopping

Christmas is a coming, and it’s coming quicker than you think. Before you know it all the lights are coming on and all those trees are decorated and you remember all those presents you should have bought and all the cards you should have sent. Continue reading “Christmas Shopping”

Pop-Up London

This is one of our favourite books of cut out paper constructions. Folded away within its pages are many of London’s landmark buildings just waiting to pop-up wherever you choose to erect them. Here is Tower Bridge transported to the top of Primrose Hill. Other pages feature the Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral, all illustrated by Jenny Maizels and engineered by Richard Ferguson. But due to an unfortunate oversight they neglected a pop-up Rowley Gallery! Demand answers from Walker Books.

The Dunmore Pineapple

This is one of eight recently arrived pieces from Ed Kluz, made of painted paper, cut out and collaged scenes from Scotland. The Dunmore Pineapple is a summerhouse in the grounds of Dunmore Park, 30 miles north west of Edinburgh. It is available to let from The Landmark Trust, and this dramatic moonlit dream’s-eye view may well be the result of an overnight stay. Continue reading “The Dunmore Pineapple”

Garden Studio

I thought I would begin my first contribution to the Rowley’s new blog by showing some images inside my studio. It is a large wooden building (35′ x 15′) that I built 25 years ago in my garden in West London after a succession of shared studios. This is now biodegrading with me. I am hoping it lasts me out! Continue reading “Garden Studio”

Open Studio

Chris Keenan, potter and friend of The Rowley Gallery, is hosting an open studio along with fellow ceramicists at Vanguard Court, 36-38 Peckham Road, London, SE5 8QT. The private view is Thursday 1st December 5-8pm. Then Friday-Sunday, 2nd-4th December 11am-5pm.

Pictured here are a set of celadon and tenmoku beakers. See more of Chris’s work on his website.

Jenny Franklin

We have been blessed with Jenny Franklin’s magical watercolours since 2006, when Kai and I first started showing pictures at The Rowley Gallery. Shown here is Flotsam (Shells), Australia, one of a series of paintings of rock pools. Jenny’s watercolours are virtuoso technical performances. They are also revelations of the world around us, grown out of close observation, transformed and re-presented, they capture the essence of her subject. She quotes the artist poet Jean Arp, who spoke of “a secret primal meaning slumbering beneath the world of appearances”. Continue reading “Jenny Franklin”

Murmuration

It’s hard not to love this little film, by Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith, of a chance encounter on the River Shannon with one of Nature’s miracles.

Global Economy

This is a recent piece by Joseph Silcott. Redundant banknotes, no longer in circulation, dexterously hand-cut and metamorphosed into butterflies. Is this a sign of the times or does he just enjoy cutting expenditure?

Coast To Coast

Over the past few weeks we have been framing 28 landscape photographs, all mounted with hand-written inscriptions, for financial journalist Jeff Prestridge. They are a record of his coast to coast walk in June this year. They will be exhibited at 201 Bishopsgate, London on 29th November, from 6-9pm. All proceeds from the sale of photographs and the associated book will go to the Brathay Trust. Continue reading “Coast To Coast”