The Fairlop Oak

At the Barbican, back in November last year, coming through the foyer from the car park to the café, and then again later hurrying to the concert hall to catch a performance by Pharaoh Sanders, I twice caught sight of what seemed to be a temporary structure propping up the ceiling. There was little time to investigate, but curiously it appeared to continue up through the floor above. I didn’t give it much thought. I was intent on a tribute concert for Alice and John Coltrane and an evening of Cosmic Jazz. Continue reading “The Fairlop Oak”

Frames of reference

Announcer

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Thirty paintings by David Mabb at the William Morris Gallery – The Arts & Crafts Movement meets Russian Constructivism. Mabb has superimposed pages from the Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris with images by El Lissitzky from For The Voice, a book of revolutionary poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, to create a double celebration of utopian art. Continue reading “Announcer”

Frames of reference

All Blues

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Seen on the way to the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, thanks to God’s Own Junkyard, a parade of shops on Blackhorse Lane feels the William Morris effect, the spirit of regeneration brought to the area by the museum’s own renovation, with maybe a few ripples of Olympic legacy. Continue reading “All Blues”

Frames of reference

William Morris Gallery

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The William Morris Gallery is at Water House in Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow. William Morris was fourteen when his family moved here in 1848. They had downsized from Woodford Hall where William’s playground had been Epping Forest. At Water House he played in the grounds, particularly the moated island where he imagined there be dragons. Continue reading “William Morris Gallery”

Frames of reference