Just back from the opening of a new gallery in Norwich, an addition to the Perfect Pad's design led store.
The opening show features the work of our friends Beth Morrison and Trevor Woods. Trevor has a number of paintings on show at the Perfect Pad, though his stunning 'The City Panoramic' can be seen at Doric Arts in Holt. For further examples of Trevor's work, visit www.twoodsimages.co.uk
On Saturday 27th September you’ll be able to visit the newly renovated Dovecot Tapestry Studio in its new home - a former Victorian baths in Edinburgh’s Old Town.
In August I had a chance to see the current exhibition which displays a range of the tapestries created over the past 50 years through the collaboration of the Dovecot’s weavers with a range of artists including Bawden, Moore, Paolozzi and Hockney. Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT www.dovecotstudios.com
'Mr Bawden's House' is another of the series of Christopher Brown's 14 'East Coasting' prints that will form part of his exhibition at St. Jude's. This opens on September 20th at 10am. Do join us if you can.
Brian Webb, of award winning design consultancy Webb & Webb, discusses Chris' prints...
“If
Chris Brown’s postcard size pictures of East Anglian landmarks were
picture postcards they would be the ones you would send to your closest
friends.
The lino cuts that illustrate East Coasting, following on from 'Cuts from Memory', are full of incident and detail - look out for Edward Bawden, portfolio under his arm, walking out of the picture of 'Brick House'.
Bawden, Chris Brown’s tutor at the Royal College of Art wrote, “you are a line chap just as I am and as you know there is nothing that gives greater vivacity to a drawing than quality of line”. Bawden could have added colour which Chris now uses with delicious delicacy. ”
The 14 linocuts are hand-printed on Konoko handmade Japanese paper, each limited to an edition of 25 copies.
A limited number of each print are available for purchase online before our East Coasting exhibition opens at the gallery on 20th September 2008.
'Southwold, Closing Time' is just one of the series of 14 linocuts prints by Christopher Brown that make up 'East Coasting', the next exhibition at St. Jude's.
Christopher Brown was born in London in 1953. He attended the Royal College of Art where he was introduced to, and eventually assisted, Edward Bawden, the master of the linocut. It was Bawden who encouraged him to explore this medium.
Since then, Christopher has exhibited at the Michael Parkin Gallery, The Royal Academy, the Fry Gallery, The Fine Art Society, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Do join us on Saturday 20th September 2008 to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.
We spend a good part of the year not too far from Nairn, on the Moray coast in North East Scotland.
Sod's law, we're going to be back south when the first Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams is taking place between August 15-23rd 2008.
From this weekend's Scotland on Sunday...
"Cannes it may not be, but Tilda Swinton is hoping to place her quiet Scottish hometown on the world stage.
The award-winning actress is behind a film festival which will be launched in the Moray community of Nairn this summer.
The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams event is the brainchild of the Chronicles Of Narnia actress along with Mark Cousins, a former director of the Edinburgh Film Festival, and the Oscar-winning writer/director Joel Coen."
I spent another couple of inspirational days in Tufnell Park last week at Harrington & Squires - the small private press run by graphic designers Vicky Fullick and Chrissie Charlton.
Named after Bob Harrington and Horace Squires - two tutors at Hornsey College of Art in the 1960s - the workshop measures just 288 picas (1.2m wide), and it’s amazing the use that’s been made of the aptly named Corridor.
Splitting their time between commissioned work, regular workshops and their own publishing projects, the work hanging from every vertical surface is inspirational.
I’d visited before and had spent the last few months putting together a basic printing set up, built around an 8” x 5” Adana. Having dabbled with this over the last couple of months there were some ‘holes’ in my knowledge which needed filling. On this visit I managed to produce a new fabric care card for our mail order purchases, and spent a blissful couple of hours printing away - almost in some sort of letterpress induced trance - overlooking a busy Fortress Road.
If you want to find out more about Harrington & Squires it’s worth tracking down a copy of April 2008’s World of Interiors magazines.
Our friend Emma Mason is busy helping to raise funds for the Eastbourne's new Towner Art Gallery which is due to open this year.
Having studied and taught at Eastbourne School of Art, Eric Ravilious' work is a key element of the Collection. The Towner holds the broadest collection of paintings, illustrations and commercial designs in the world by this important, modern British artist of the early 20th century.
The New Towner Trust has launched the special limited edition sale of the rarely seen Lombardy Poplars, a watercolour by Eric Ravilious. The Ravilious Family and the Private Owner have given special permission for this painting to be reproduced to help raise funds for the New Towner Trust. The giclee print is available unfamed for £295 including delivery in the UK and framed for £395 including delivery within the UK.
For further details on purchasing this print, please e-mail Emma Mason.
London’s Barbican Centre is a unique urban space and whilst it would be easy to dismiss it as a collection of fairly brutal concrete buildings there are plenty of green spaces to be found.
Established gardens & playgrounds for the residents and their offspring. Two lakes with reed and fountains. But its hidden oasis is the conservatory.
It might not have the amazing expanses of glass or the elaborate ironwork balconies of the glasshouse at Kew but on Sunday afternoon you can wander amongst the dense exotic planting, watch the koi carp in their little pond and seek out the terrapins in their lofty home.
The design is in keeping with the rest of Barbican - unadorned metal frameworks support climbing plants, pathways and raised beds are made of purple-grey engineering brick creating a certain 70s feel to the place - especially with the silhouette of a giant glossy Swiss cheese plant seen against the high glass windows.
Back home in snowy Norfolk I’m in the studio looking at my sketches - a contrast to the bleak snowy landscape here.
The Devon Guild of Craftsmen looks like an interesting place to visit. The South West educational arts charity, based at the edge of Dartmoor, acquired the Riverside Mill in 1986 and in 2004 the refurbished Mill was completed. The renovated Mill includes a exhibition space, cafe and shop.
Anna Trussler from the Devon Guild of Craftsmen sent an email last week informing me of an exhibition titled 'Reclaiming Beauty' which using Anna's words, is about 're making and mutating found objects.
The show will include artists and craftsmen who work with materials such as textiles, fashion accessories, furniture and metal. For those of you who enjoy the beauty of Lucy Casson and Julie Arkell work, they will be able to enjoy their take on reclaiming beauty. The exhibition runs from 3rd May to 15th June.
Friday night saw the opening of a new exhibition in Ledbury. Hosted by our friends at Tinsmiths, it was a bit of a first for us - combining the printed work of Angie and Mark Hearld with the fabrics they've designed.
Phoebe and everyone at Tinsmiths had done a fantastic job of hanging the work in what is an almost domestic setting - all housed in a thoroughly modern showroom designed and built by Alex Clive.
We've always had an instinctive sense of exactly what St. Jude's is all about and why we set it up in the first place - but it was great to walk in another space and seeing how our work has been interpreted. Inspirational.
The exhibition runs until 12th April 2008 and you can view the work online. In addition, any personal callers to Tinsmiths can enjoy a 10% discount on our St. Jude's printed fabrics when purchased by the metre.
