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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Echeveria Etc

Echeveria

After repeated requests and months of waiting we finally received some new work from Susan Ashworth. Good things are worth waiting for. These are rare, slow-grown paintings. I like the way their beautifully painted surfaces contrast with the crude wooden boards they’re painted on. They seem like rescued fragments of old wall paintings. Continue reading “Echeveria Etc”

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A Rowley Red Apple

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A few years ago Lizzie planted an apple tree in the yard at The Rowley Gallery. She would never pick the apples too soon, but always waited patiently until they fell into her open palm. This year, since our tree-of-heaven has gone, the apple tree has come out of the shadows and been quicker to offer its fruits. They’re crisp and juicy with a flavour of melon and raw potato. But what they lack in taste they make up for in appearance and now Karen has captured all their beauty in this delicious watercolour.

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Venation

venation-1

Hanna Tuulikki’s beautiful gestural images from her Dawyck visit speak of the correspondence between humans and trees, long celebrated in folklore and myth.

I found these wonderfully eloquent photographs at Walking With Poets via Hanna Tuulikki’s Diary.
I hope she won’t mind if I share them here. Continue reading “Venation”

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Vote Fanny!

coadgbursary_Fanny_Shorter_Passion_Pair_Blue_cushions
Fanny Shorter has been shortlisted for a design bursary, courtesy of award-winning blog Confessions of a Design Geek. She is one of five contenders for this prestigious award but she needs your vote to win. Please cast your vote at coadg bursary :: the 2014 shortlist and vote wisely but please vote now! Time is running out. Voting closes at 23:59 Wednesday 27th November 2013. Spread the word!

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Hallelujah Carla!

To celebrate Carla Bley‘s appearance tonight at the Wigmore Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival here’s a recording from 30 years ago when the LJF was known as the Camden Jazz Festival. The Lord Is Listenin’ To Ya, Hallelujah! was written as a tongue-in-cheek gospel showcase for Gary Valente’s gloriously raucous trombone. This performance was at the Roundhouse and I was in the audience that night with a big smile on my face. I’d been a huge fan ever since I first heard Escalator Over The Hill as a teenager and wanted to run away from home to join Carla’s circus. Praise the Lord for Carla Bley!

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I AMsterdam

i amsterdam

We took a half-term weekend break to Amsterdam. It seemed like the city was being relaunched and rebranded/rembrandted. The Rijksmuseum reopened in April following an unprecedented 10 year renovation, the Stedelijk Museum reopened last year after a 9 year refurbishment, and 2013 marks 400 years since construction began on the city’s iconic canals. Continue reading “I AMsterdam”

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Ana

A lovely film by Myles O’Reilly of Reiseger/Fraanje/Sylla performing in the music department of Ludwig Beck in Munich. I’ve known Ernst Reijseger’s versatile cello improvising for many years, with Trio Clusone, Uri Caine, Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei and Werner Herzog. Sometimes he plucks, sometimes he bows and sometimes he picks it up and strums it like a guitar. But this trio is new to me; heartfelt collaborations and inventions, full of surprises. They’re playing tonight, November 16, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the same bill as the Arild Andersen Quintet. Continue reading “Ana”

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