Saturday 30 August 2014

Flavour - Gallery 202 - Delicious!


Flavour, Saturday 6th / 7th September, an exhibition by Gallery 202 Co-Curated by: Graham Keddie MRBS, Bethany Murray and Billy Hawes. Exhibition organiser, Sharon Read was a selected open application exhibition for artists exploring Flavour and included invited artists: Beatriz Blanch, Irada Cano, Mercè Ribera Turró, Susan Williams MRBS, Sophie Cullinan, Carole Miles and Judith Nicholson. Works by Graham Keddie MRBS, Bethany Murray, Billy Hawes, Christina ten Bosch, Gareth Williams, Sarah Allen Rose, Alexier Sorenson, Ruth Boddington, Michael Bacon, The Hive, Warren Shaw. 

Photo: Co-Curated by: Graham Keddie MRBS, Bethany Murray and Billy Hawes. Exhibition organiser, Sharon Read.

A selected open application exhibition for artists exploring Flavour and includes invited artists: 

Beatriz Blanch, Irada Cano, Mercè Ribera Turró, Susan Williams MRBS, Sophie Cullinan, Carol Miles and Judith Nicholson.

Opening times: Saturday 6th September, 11.00am-6.00pm.
Sunday 7th September, 11.00am-6.00pm.

Flavour explored what 'flavour' means whilst considering :-

1.
the distinctive taste of a food or drink.
taste, savour, tang, relish, palate

2.
an indication of the essential character of something.
impression, indication, suggestion, hint, taste, nuance

3.
a distinctive quality or atmosphere.
character, quality, feel, feeling, ambience, atmosphere, aura, air, mood, aspect, tone, tenor, complexion, style, stamp, property


There was a lovely atmosphere and a steady stream of visitors and food and wine to share during the Private View on the Sunday afternoon. There were many intriguing pieces to see, taste, experience, interact with and hear and it was a delight to take part.



A Flavour of the exhibition can be found here

I showed a freestanding piece


The Past Preserved - A Flavour of Childhood Flickr Set

I was invited to make a re-interpreted installation in the garden building






Morsels of Memory - High Teas and Holidays Installation Flickr Set

The works stem from my previous Micro Residency at Artspace in July

You can participate in Gallery 202 Fallow a FREE open call for submissions for an online exhibition of digital works, ranging from photography, film, audio, text etc. 
DEADLINE: 1st October 2014
Please send your submission by email to gallery202@hotmail.co.uk


Wednesday 27 August 2014

One of My Panels is Missing




Sad to report one of the panels I made for the Brampton Valley Way has been stolen. If you find it in a ditch or see it gracing someone's garden I'd love to know. Oh and just in case it was the gold tiles that attracted your magpie eye and light fingers, the gold tiles are not real gold, just foiled glass. For the full story click here

If anyone has any information about the theft of this public artwork please contact Park Ranger Dan Hurst  0160 - 488 9478 or report any suspicious activity near the panel to Northamptonshire Police Force

The project was made possible with funding raised by Back To Books a not for profit community organisation and 



Tuesday 26 August 2014

Sunday 10 August 2014

Cusheon lake



Later we went to Cusheon Lake

 

where I absorbed the sun, watched dragonflies,


watched friends swim.


I am still unsure whether I will brave the water,


looks tempting though!


Play reading at The Point Gallery



We were made very welcome at The Point Gallery


an artist run non-commercial gallery,


 where people were gathered for a play reading.


artist Margaret Day introducing


writer Sandi Jonson

A Walk Through Time and Place - Ruckle Park



Kathy Page is a wonderful guide and our gorgeous Sunday afternoon exploration began with a walk in Ruckle Park where we ate wild blackberries, met a deer on the path and I thought of those spirited early settlers, wondering what brought them to the island, trying to picture what their lives had been like. What is immediately apparent is that it's possible to live a very different kind of life here, the outside is more readily accessible due to the warm climate, the veranda becomes an extra room, there is such a sense of space. The colour, the breadth of the sky, the temperate are all perfect for this kind of slow walk.

 
Henry Ruckle arrived  at Beaver Point on the south end of Salt Spring Island in 1872.  He pre-empted land and immediately hired Japanese labourers to help clear it.  Henry Ruckle was well known for his ability to grow marvellous produce which he sold on Vancouver Island.  By 1877, Ruckle had bought a total of about 340 acres.


This same year, Henry Ruckle married Ella Anna Christiansen, a widow with an infant son.  They went on to have three more children together.  Henry helped build the first Beaver Point wharf, Beaver Point School, Burgoyne Church and St. Mary’s Church.


When Henry died in 1913, his farm was almost 1200 acres, the largest on Salt Spring.  Today, their farm is a beautiful provincial park."


The farmhouse retains a great sense of the people who lived and worked here. There are wonderful photographs of the family through the generations on the Salt Spring Archives - I have added links to particular pictures from the archive where appropriate on my Flickr set for the day.


We peered through windows of the old farm house, 


I longed to get inside to explore the internal spaces 


but there were windows all round for me to press my nose against. 



The paint has been allowed to flake and peel on the internal walls giving it an authentic patina, in many historic domestic spaces in the the UK much has had to be recreated, sometimes showing the way one building has changed through time. Although accurate, the newness of recreated wallpapers and paint make it harder to imagine just what life might have been like.




taking a woodland path we made our way to Grandmas Beach


An intimate space - seclusion and a the long view.


Cedar and crab claw - each echoing the others shape.


Through woods by water


We arrive at the park camping ground and imagine what it might be light to watch sunset and sunrise from here. We take photographs of each other sitting in the roots of an ancient, uprooted tree, silvered by the elements, a throne, an armchair, the sharing of a family tradition.We meet a couple here for their anniversary, they lend us their binoculars so we can spy boats following a pod of killer whales, I catch a glimpse of a tail. 

Beach umbrella and Arbutus tree




We walk on, then stop again to take in another view. A young woman sits sketching on roks close to the water, we watch the sleek head of a sealion roll and disappear in the wake of the ferries and sailing boats.


A solitary heron in a deep green cove.


We discuss trees,  Kathy tells me about Garry Oak the only native oak trees in western Canada (west of Manitoba) which have both cultural and ecological significance. Work is being done to preserve the Garry oak ecosystem and the flora and fauna it supports. "In the future, Garry oak and associated ecosystems may play an increasingly important role in Canada with the progression of global climate change. Species in these ecosystems are adapted to a warm climate with an extended summer drought." Garry Oaks recovery Team.




Saturday 9 August 2014

Departures and Arrivals


Gatwick, Vancouver, Salt Spring 

After a busy July working in Libraries, gardens and community spaces the time has come to make my way to Salt Spring Island to spend time with dear friend and author Kathy Page. After much anxiety over what and how much to pack I have finally landed on Salt Spring Island, a place I've often imagined visiting. It's many years since I've flown anywhere, anxiety about my carbon footprint clipped my wings. I think of other flights, moving from the UK to Perth as a child, visiting Egypt as a student, Italy with an industrial designer, Hong Kong as a playground planner for Wickstead's. My last adventure abroad with Kathy was to Prague, by coach, a very many years ago!

To quote Kathy 

"I don’t travel frequently, but when I do, it has a powerful and lasting effect on me. I look carefully and think about what I find."



Goodbye English patchwork fields


At the halfway point we fly over ancient ice


Landing in Vancouver there is time to explore the artworks in the terminal


I am intrigued by the Bill Reid Sculpture 

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii: The Jade Canoe

"So there is certainly no lack of activity in our little boat, but is there any purpose? Is the tall figure who may or may not be the Spirit of Haida Gwaii leading us, for we are all in the same boat, to a sheltered beach beyond the rim of the world as he seems to be, or is he lost in a dream of his own dreamings? The boat goes on, forever anchored in the same place.
Bill Reid©, artist "

Kathy thought that the final stage of my arrival should be by seaplane


the pilot is warm, friendly and informative


I try not to notice the button on the control panel


The flight takes about 20 minutes


 and is a wonderful introduction


to this exciting new landscape.






Seaplane photos by Kathy Page

I have arrived!