Review Of The Year

As the new year approaches, it's time to both look back over recent months and look forward to more exciting art over the coming year. It's been an interesting year for the art world as well as for us. Here are a few of the things we particularly remember.

The Turner prize was won by Martin Boyce with a sculptural installation. 2011 was a special year for the competition as it was held away from the Tate Gallery at the Baltic in Gateshead. In coming years, the plan is to hold the competition at venues alternating between the Tate and other regional galleries.

The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery opened in the Spring. Although we haven't yet been to see the exhibitions, a visit is on our list for 2012. We enjoyed the Barbara Hepworth Museum at St Ives in Cornwall a couple of years ago and look forward to seeing more of her works along with other similar art.

The Zurbarán saga continues. First these historical paintings were to be sold off, then a deal was agreed to save them. Recently the deal looked like it had fallen through, then it was back on. Perhaps we haven't seen the end of the uncertainty yet but hopefully the plans for converting Auckland Castle into a new art gallery, with visiting exhibitions as well as the Zurbaráns will be finalised in the new year.

Vicky's highlight of the year was when we visited Bowes Museum to see an exhibition by Damien Hirst. His prints, depicting food packaged as medicine, ask whether we are as reliant on drugs as we are on food in these modern times.

Our trip to the village of Lempa in Cyprus was Vince's highlight of 2011. The jumbled collection at the College of Art reflected the bright and informal atmosphere of the island and it was a visual delight to become immersed within the work of the students.

But we both agreed that our joint favourite place this year has to be Cass Sculpture Foundation at Goodwood. Their stunning collection of outdoor sculpture really needs a whole day to view and appreciate the huge amount of artworks. Unfortunately we didn't allow enough time to see everything so we'll be heading back there again, hopefully in 2012.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

A Trip To Hove

The sun shone brightly, the sea air was fresh and breezy. The colourful beach huts almost glowed in the sunshine. A row of squawking seagulls sat on the rusty iron railings. A scruffy little dog ran past. "Good Afternoon!", cried a man with a long orange coat, a stripey scarf and a wide brimmed hat. As we walked along the promenade at Brighton it felt just like the scenes in our collection of Sam Toft's Mr Mustard pictures.

One of the first pictures we bought together was a limited edition print called "No Sheep On The Beach" by Sam. (By the way did we mention we collect sheep art?) We came across the picture in Gallerina in Darlington, Sam's official northern agent, and simply couldn't resist it. This began our mini collection of Mr Mustard pictures and ever since then we've wanted to go to one of Sam's open studio events. Finally, last weekend, we managed it.

As we entered Sam's Brown Dog Studio, there was a Christmassy atmosphere with seasonal music in the background, mince pies, mulled wine and popcorn! Sadly, we'd just had lunch so had to pass on the mince pies.

The place was packed with people. In fact, this was the busiest open studio either of us can remember visiting. Everyone seemed to be buying something: framed prints, signed artist's proofs, books, greeting cards and more. There were also some new pictures that we hadn't seen before. We snapped up a 2012 calendar and a couple from previous years. Unfortunately, this was all we could carry home on the train.

While we were there, Sam asked us if we would like to send a message of hope to Jabbar Savalan, a young man imprisoned in Azerbaijan after calling for protests against the Azerbaijan government. From 3rd to 17th December 2011, people from over seventy countries will take part in Amnesty International's annual Letter Writing Marathon, writing letters, signing petitions, sending SMS messages and taking action online to demand that Jabbar's rights are respected. Sam was preparing a letter to the Azerbaijan President and we were pleased to write a brief message of hope to Jabbar on a card. More from Amnesty International.

Sam is a keen to support various charities with her work and proceeds from some of the sales at the studio will also go to Sightsavers.

We enjoyed our visit to Sam's studio and were pleased to have met one of our favourite artists. We'll certainly go back again soon, to catch up with Sam and see how the Mustard story has moved on.

Check out more about Sam and the Mustards at Sam Toft's web site.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

The Fat Lady's Singing

It looks like Darlington Arts Centre will finally close next summer following Darlington Borough Council's latest proposal to withdraw all subsidies for the building.

In Autumn 2010, the Council initially proposed cutting all their funding for the centre and the building was due to close in Spring 2011. Fortunately, for the current financial year they were able to find enough cash to keep the centre open. This allowed talks with Darlington For Culture (DfC) to proceed with a view to them taking over the running of the centre in 2012.

Despite the past year being only a temporary reprieve, DfC claim they are "shocked" by the latest closure announcement and have vowed to continue the battle to save the building. But their plan relies largely on continued funding from the Council which, as we pointed out in our post in November 2010, seems quite unrealistic given the current financial climate. In addition, the building is in need of substantial investment to make it more practical and many people believe that some of the facilities are less than ideal for the arts activities taking place there.

Over the past few months, DfC have been running some additional events to demonstrate how they might operate the centre. They have had some success in bringing together ideas and helping to put them into practice. We enjoyed visiting their busy arts fairs, held in September and last weekend. The film club, quiz nights, tea dances, expanded writing classes and knitting group are other innovative activities that make more use of the building, even if they are not all directly related to art.

Sadly, this doesn't appear to have been enough to secure the survival of the centre. What is actually needed is replacement funding, raised by DfC or other organisations. DfC say they need more time to gain experience of running the centre and raise money. But direct fund-raising doesn't seem to be a priority yet.

In order for DfC to save the current Arts Centre, they will need to put up the cash, make the Council an offer it can't refuse and get stuck in. We're not sure how they can do this so they need a Plan B, an alternative way forward that ensures that the arts survive and thrive in the town.

The Council and other organisations are already considering elements that could form a Plan B. The recently produced Vision for the Arts in Darlington suggests that a new "hub" for the arts could be built in the town centre.

There would be many benefits from a new centre: cash raised from selling the old building should go towards the new one, it will be in a more prominent and convenient location, the facilities will be more practical and up to date, there will be improved accessibility, better parking and it will give a greater return on the investment made.

Of course, at this early stage there are still a few issues to be ironed out: lack of specifics about what facilities would be included, more detailed costs, no funding yet in place, how the funds will be raised and an unclear timetable.

We are very keen to see the arts survive in the town, but the existing Arts Centre does not look like the best option, both practically and financially. What little money there is needs to be invested in a future for the arts that is more sustainable and better value for money than at present. The suggested new arts "hub" looks like a reasonable solution and a plan that we would be likely to support.

The end is in sight for the Arts Centre in Vane Terrace. If DfC continue to focus on what they already do well - co-ordinating events - and also engage with plans for a new venue and help to influence its development, the arts in Darlington may yet survive the difficult times ahead.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

ps. If you want to read our previous posts relating to Darlington Arts Centre, they are here:

Suffer Not In Silence, November 2010

Arts Centre Update, January 2011

Arts Centre Update 2, April 2011

Darlington Art Fair, September 2011

Art Or Craft?

The other evening we got chatting about the difference between art and craft. This is an age-old argument and doesn't seem to be getting any closer to being resolved.

Art is often given higher status than craft which perhaps is a bit unfair. Even the simplest craft work needs a level of skill that could be described as artistic. And works of art have to be created with manual skills that might more commonly be used to create craft type objects.

Pieces of art are more often one-off works, personal expressions of the artist's feelings and perhaps having some investment value; crafts are normally duplicated (sometimes with small variations), are lower cost and each object is what it is, without any higher meaning or purpose.

Crafts might often be produced at the maker's home, without the need for dedicated space whereas art is more likely to need a studio to separate the activity from everyday living.

After a long and interesting discussion we realised that it was getting late and had to come to some conclusion. We settled on describing everything as artistic.

This helps us to justify some of the objects we have in our art collections. A few of these items could be described as craft objects but using the general term "artistic", we are able to group together all the things we like, regardless of any alternative views.

Take Alistair (Why Alistair?) from our ceramic sheep collection (top picture) as an example. There are a number of these sheep in existence but being hand made, all are uniquely individual. Some people would regard these as craft objects. If we apply our artistic label, focussing on the artist's skill and the individuality of each one, we would definitely consider this a work of art.

Or what about this embroidered coaster (lower picture). It is likely to have been produced from a pre-supplied pattern, suggesting it would be categorised as crafts. But the high level of needlework skill along with the flexibility of the pattern and choice of colours suggest that an artistic ability is needed to create it.

Both of these items are collectible. Both have aesthetic value. Both are worthy of the term "artistic".

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Turner Prize At The Baltic

You may have read our previous post about the four contenders for the 2011 Turner Prize coming to the Baltic gallery in Gateshead (here).

I've been looking forward to visiting the exhibition and had the opportunity to go to Newcastle on Friday. Unfortunately, Vince couldn't make it so I headed off alone to see what was on offer.

The first of the exhibition spaces contained Martin Boyce's installation of three works. I found this interesting and atmospheric: metal leaves along the ceiling created a dappled effect with the light, a sculptural table and a streetscape of rubbish including a waste paper bin and fallen leaves.

Then I moved on to Hilary Lloyd's space which had a variety of visual images playing on television screens or projected on to the wall. The images were deliberately distorted partial images of objects such as a tower block, shadowy figures and other unidentifiable things. This was quite challenging to the viewer as the images were constantly moving and changing.

Next were Karla Black's giant size sculptures of paper and cellophane which dominated the exhibition space. Covered with paint, powder and perfumed bath bombs these objects smelt as well as making a visual impact. I was able to walk under and through some of the sculptures.

George Shaw's paintings of the urban landscape of Coventry were very realistic. The pictures, whilst showing the bleakness of an inner city estate, turned run down garages and boarded up shops into works of art. Witty titles such as "Landscape with dog s**t bin" made me laugh out loud at the irony of such a commonplace item being given pride of place in the landscape.

So which one do I think will win the Turner Prize? Although I liked Martin Boyce's pieces, my favourite works are by George Shaw. These are something that even people who hate modern art can relate to. The pictures are painted with such skill and detail they look almost photographic. It's hard to believe they were painted with Humbrol enamel paint and not the more traditional oils or watercolours.

Read more on the Baltic Gallery web site.

Vicky,

Love Your Art

Art In Lempa, Cyprus

If you happen to be in Western Cyprus and have an hour to spare, the village of Lempa is worth a visit. Last weekend we happened to be in Western Cyprus and had an hour to spare so we paid a visit. We found a village that had more art than most others we have been to.

As we drove into the village we were looking out for a building that's part of the Cyprus College Of Art. It wasn't long before we passed a wall constructed from a huge number of sculptures made from concrete, glass, metal and wood and probably a lot of other things too. It was fairly obvious that this was the building we were looking for.

A little further along the road we parked the car and found ourselves opposite the studio of artist Alessandra Desole. She was taking part in the Cyprus open studio event so we decided to look round. We were a little early but were welcomed by Alessandra who showed us displays of her paintings. These, mainly portraits, have a pleasant simplicity, painted in strong colours but with a softness of touch that makes them quite atmospheric and pleasant to look at. We also admired some of her small coloured stone figurative carvings. You can see some of Alessandra Desole's paintings on her web site. The Cyprus open studios continue during October 2011.

Strolling back to the college we were overwhelmed by the vast number of examples of the art produced by the students. Being a Saturday there was nobody there but a sign invited us to look round the grounds.

Within the walls we found a cacophony of widely differing sculptures, some abstract, some figurative, some made from found objects. Vicky liked the large carved wooden head and we both thought the group of dogs playing around a pole were fun. Here are more pictures of the students' sculptures.

As we left the College, a party of tourists arrived to look at the art too, guided by George, a local character who runs trips in his colourful old-fashioned bus. Returning to the car, the chatter and laughter from the crowd of tourists confirmed how delightful and exciting the art in the college grounds was. You can visit the web site for the Cyprus College Of Art And Design.

Our holiday in Cyprus was full of pleasant surprises and the hour or so we spent in Lempa was one of the highlights.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

An Unusual Collection

We like to collect. We have a few mini collections of related works including paintings, ceramics and other interesting objects. These might not be considered collections in the mainstream sense of the word but we find them interesting and enjoyable.

We're interested in the art that other people collect too. So we were fascinated by the revelations in The Telegraph last week.

Around 300 paintings were found in an outbuilding in the garden of a Polish bricklayer. Apparently worth millions of pounds, the works included a picture that went missing during World War II. No explanation has been given for the collection but the bricklayer has been arrested for handling stolen art.

You can read more and watch the video in The Telegraph.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Vegetarian Sheep?

Art seems to turn up in the most unusual places as Vicky discovered at lunchtime the other day.

She had bought an Innocent Vegpot from the supermarket and when she took off the cardboard wrapper she noticed something printed inside it. We opened it up and saw a photograph of a floret of cauliflower with a few raisins attached to the side. As we looked closer we realised this actually formed a picture of a sheep in a field! (By the way, did we mention we collect sheep art?)

After investigating further, we found out that this was one of a series of humorous pictures using vegetables that make the product packaging more interesting. You can see some of the photos at the vegpot art gallery. (The pea pod canoe is our favourite.)

Inspired by the images we found on Innocent's web site, we decided to try our hand at doing something similar. A quick rummage round the kitchen turned up a few bits and pieces and we managed to create a sculpture that we call Veginia. She has a body of sweet potato, parsnip arms, carrot legs and an onion head with blueberry eyes.

OK, so the official vegpot pictures may not be mainstream art but they are a bit of fun and may even encourage kids to eat their vegetables. And, of course, we've added the cauliflower sheep picture to our collection.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Darlington Art Fair

Saving Darlington Arts Centre from final closure next year is going to be a huge challenge. As we have reported in previous posts, Darlington For Culture have been working to encourage more use of the centre and looking at organising classes and events. On Saturday, one of their first events, an art fair, took place so we popped over just before lunch.

With displays and stalls spread over several rooms at the centre, there was plenty to see. Apart from paintings there was an interesting mix of arts and crafts including photography, glasswork, ceramics, jewellery, textiles, candles and cards. And for the kids there was face painting.

We had only been there a few minutes when we came across our friend, Janet Orme, exhibiting her exquisite botanical watercolour originals, prints and cards. Janet has now expanded her offering to include delightful china cups and dishes with her pictures printed on them.

Darlington Media Group were hosting a photographic exhibition - Disparate Integrations - that Vicky particularly liked. The photos by Bob McAvoy, Geoff Dodds, Jim Lycett and Ian Martin were predominantly black and white local scenes and views. Vicky thought the monochrome style gave a timeless feeling to the images and helped to focus on the subjects of the pictures. We both stopped at a picture of hay strewn over some old metal cartwheels and agreed this was a very atmospheric picture, reminiscent of historical farming techniques and a simpler life. This exhibition continues until 15th October 2011.

We were very pleased to see lots of sheep paintings (did we mention that we collect sheep?). We were particularly interested in those by Anne Mason, Eiann Cosgrove and Caroline Riley. We hadn't been looking for anything in particular but all three artists had "portraits" of individual sheep. It was difficult for us to resist any of these but after much deliberation we bought a pair of prints from Caroline Riley. We are now trying to come up with names for them both.

Most of the exhibitors were local artists and craftspeople and the event was a great showcase for their work. We can't remember anything similar to this in Darlington recently and in view of its popularity we hope there will be further events like this, perhaps near Christmas. We look forward to visiting the next one.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

ps. Our next post will be in 2 weeks - Wednesday 21 September 2011

Local Support

We often hear people talking about buying locally produced goods, usually fruit and vegetables. Perhaps this idea should be extended to buying art locally too.

We don't mean the abstract prints in your nearest supermarket, mass-produced and imported from the Far East, but original art created by artists who live in your local area.

There are many opportunities to see and buy locally produced art. We're particularly keen on going to open studio events. Here you can visit one or more artists that you are interested in, see a variety of their work on display and talk to them about what they do and why they do it.

Many pro-active artists also hold their own exhibitions in towns around their locality. The artist is often in attendance so again, there is a chance to chat about their work.

Often an artist is represented by one of their local commercial galleries. The gallery owner or staff will have an in-depth knowledge of the artist and the works. They'll have a number of works on display by the artist and will be able to obtain others if you are interested.

Buying locally has the advantages of being more convenient to build up a collection of a particular artist's work, it is easier to keep in touch with the artists and is an extra talking point when discussing your collection with friends. It also helps to strengthen the community and retains money in the local economy.

Of course, you needn't buy art locally just because it's local, you should buy art that you like, art that you can enjoy. But as we've explored the world of art, we've discovered lots of local artists making pictures and objects that we like, and we've bought some of them too. Why not explore a little closer to home, you may be surprised at what you find.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art

The Wow Factor!

Loving art as much as we do, we've a long list of places we'd like to visit all over the country (and the world). So when we decided to go to Chichester for our summer holiday we checked our list for the Sussex area and found Cass Sculpture Foundation, with its displays of large-scale, modern sculpture at the top of the list.

When we arrived we found that it wasn't only the artwork that was on a large scale, at 26 acres the grounds were big too. In some galleries and museums you're given a guide to help you find your way around. Here we were given a map, but perhaps a satnav system would have made things easier.

We largely ignored the map and just wandered where we fancied. After passing a fish on a bicycle, we were delighted to come across a bronze sheep (did we mention we collect sheep?). However, we were quite worried about the hungry-looking bronze wolf on the other side of the path and wanted to take the sheep home to keep it safe.

Wandering further, a palm tree made from old tyres caught our attention. Then we came to a large clearing with a huge, bright orange structure of steel loops named Alfa (top picture) and created by Gerry Judah.

Wow! We just stood in amazement at the scale of this work. With its monstrous curves swooping around each other it reminded us of animations of atoms with their electrons buzzing along circular paths. The orange tubes, glowing in the sunshine, created a strong contrast with the grass and trees in their summer greenery.

Everything seemed to be on a big scale. We were dwarfed by a bronze sycamore seed almost three metres (ten feet) tall and the free-standing steel and glass Stairway. We were tempted to have a rest on the Sitting On History seat in the shape of a book.

With over 70 individual sculptures, there was a huge variety of works to look at. From the wonderfully curvy designs made from carbon fibre and epoxy resin by Eilís O'Connell to the slightly creepy Host characters made by Peter Burke from reclaimed copper and steel. With so much choice, how could we pick our favourite?

Well, we found our favourite just as we were heading back to the car. Paparazzi is a series of cameras mounted on spindly birds' legs in bronze (lower picture). With their dull black finish these seemed to reflect the sneaky, anonymous character of the photographers that relentlessly badger the rich and famous.

Sadly we hadn't allowed enough time to see everything as we had to leave to meet up with a friend for dinner. With so many amazing sculptures there was simply too much to see in under two hours. Next time we're in the area, we'll be taking a picnic lunch and making a full day of it.

You can visit the website of Cass Sculpture Foundation for more information on the sculptures and artists.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Worthing Art Gallery

With so many major art attractions wherever you go, it is easy to overlook some of the smaller, less publicised exhibitions in local galleries. So I made a point while on holiday on the south coast last week to seek out one of these exhibitions.

The art gallery at Worthing in Sussex was holding several concurrent exhibitions but with limited time, I had to choose which one to visit. The "Trees In The Landscape" offering sounded interesting and when I entered the Norwood Gallery I found a delightful mix of mainly landscape paintings with trees as the main feature. These were by various artists who had lived in or had a connection with the area.

One of the pictures that caught my attention was Flowers in Hot Sun by Ivon Hitchens. Hitchens had moved to Petworth, north west of Worthing, from London during the Second World War and was a keen landscape artist. The style of this picture, influenced by Cezanne, was bold and somewhat abstract. Its strong, bright colours warmed me up, despite the drizzly summer weather outside.

In strong contrast, another painting I found quite attractive was a winter scene entitled "Mill Near Midhurst". The bleak view across the millpond to the old buildings was gloomy, with heavy grey clouds stretching into the distance. The black bark of the trees stood out starkly against the snowy ground. The artist, Bruce Barnden, was once head of Chichester School of Art an enthusiastic romantic interpreter of the Sussex landscape.

The paintings in the exhibition have been chosen from the gallery's collection by Christine Forbes, a local art tutor. It runs until 5th November 2011. Details of this exhibition and others are on the Worthing Museum and Art Gallery web site.

Vince,

Love Your Art.

Holiday Time

We've been busy planning our holidays which hasn't left much time for getting out and about looking at art. If you are still trying to find somewhere to go for your holidays, here are a few suggestions.

In Birmingham, a sculpture of Andy Warhol is on show.

Or if you fancy a trip to South Wales, a new art gallery has been opened in a phone box.

We are sure that the beer mat show in London will also attract a lot of visitors.

We hope you enjoy your holidays wherever you go.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Objects Of Desire

"Just look at those smooth, sleek lines", I said to Vicky, "and the reflections in the shiny red paintwork." I've always fancied a Ferrari and although we weren't looking at a real car I wasn't disappointed; this painting by Anthony Knight was a stunning representation of a classic Dino.

We saw the painting when we visited the Unlikeness event at Arthur Robinson House in Billingham last week. Anthony and several other artists, photographers and authors were presenting some of their latest work.

Anthony painted his first car at the age of four and in the past couple of years has begun to spend more time developing his artistic talent. He particularly likes to paint iconic American cars, sometimes in an advanced state of decay.

In addition to the cars he was exhibiting there were several paintings of training shoes. This may sound like a strange subject to paint but Anthony is in good company with Van Gogh's old leather boots and Warhol's fashionable high-heels. Anthony's choice of a large size canvas and bold colours for these still lifes created quite an impact. There were different brands and colours and each pair of shoes had been posed in a unique way (one worn-out pair had even been thrown into a dustbin).

We particularly liked the blue Nike trainers swinging in the breeze as they dangled from a telephone line (see picture). The shoes clearly stood out against the background despite the similar blue and white colours. The larger than life scale of the painting meant we were able to admire the intricate design detail of the shoes that had been painstakingly reproduced by the artist, details often overlooked even by owners of the real product.

Anthony is working to develop his techniques and aims to produce paintings that are photo-realistic. From what we saw, he is well on his way to that already.

You can see more of Anthony Knight's paintings on his web site.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Lucian Freud

We were saddened to hear of the death of Lucian Freud last week. Although he was not one of our favourite artists, we did see some of his pictures earlier this year at the John McCracken exhibition at Hartlepool Art Gallery.

Freud is a very popular British artist and is probably best known for his portraits which have been exhibited and sold all around the world. He has painted a wide range of people from family and friends to fellow artists and celebrities like Kate Moss and even the Queen.

His portraits are characterful, often nude and highly focused on the individuality of the sitter. He liked to get to know the people he painted, finding out about their unique personality and characteristics. This, along with his slow and deliberate painting technique, meant each picture could take weeks, months or even years to paint.

In 2008, Freud's portrait "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" sold for over £17 million, becoming the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. This picture took around four years to paint with Sue Tilley, the subject of the picture, posing for a few days each week during the process.

Having learned a bit more about this remarkable artist, we have become much more interested in Freud's work and we are pleased to see that the National Portrait Gallery are to hold an exhibition of his portraits early in 2012. We will certainly be amongst the visitors to that show.

The exhibition runs from 9 February to 27 May 2012.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

John Jones Linoprints

One of the highlights of our day visiting Scarborough recently was calling in to John Jones' studio a few miles to the north of the town. We wanted to visit John as Vicky likes linocut prints.

John uses the reduction block method to create his prints. This involves building up a picture with layers of different coloured ink, working from lighter to darker shades. For each layer areas of the lino surface are carved or etched to form the printing area needed for the layer. When the final layer is complete, the block can't be used to make any more prints as the patterns for all the previous layers have been reduced to the final one. The end result is not only visually attractive but is also a high quality piece of art.

We were given a demonstration of the actual printing process using a linocut of a goose that John had previously used to make Christmas cards. He used a roller to apply ink to the lino then positioned the block in the press, a hand-operated Albion platen press from around 1830. In a matter of seconds, he had a perfect print of a goose!

John normally uses photographs or drawings to guide his work, either copying them closely or simply using them to inspire his own interpretation of the subject. Although he doesn't favour any particular themes in his work, we did notice that there are quite a few windows - stylish Georgian fanlights, Gothic style windows framing the scenes beyond them and, our favourite, images representing the seasons viewed through the window of a railway carriage.

As we were about to leave, John gave us the goose print he had made - a lovely reminder of our visit.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art

Art In The Park

As far back as I can remember, Brinkburn Dene in Darlington has been a place for leisure and relaxation. It's where I learned to ride a bike. It's where I saw Punch and Judy for the first time, gathered conkers each Autumn and enjoyed endless hours of hide and seek in the bushes (when the Park Keeper wasn't around). But over the years, the six denes became a bit neglected; seats were vandalised, flower beds were abandoned and gates fell apart.

However, in recent years, the council have given more attention to this useful local amenity. And this year an award from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund has meant some further developments including a bit of art.

Last week I witnessed the installation of a steel arch at the Pierremont Road entrance to the "Sheddy" dene. This is the first of the new, artistically decorated entrances that will soon be installed in all six denes.

The artistic effects are fairly subtle and have been created to reflect a different theme in each of the denes. This one (lower picture) has a theme of water and wood - representing the numerous trees and the beck that flows through the dene.

The designs for the arches have been created by artist Coralie Turpin. As part of the re-development project, she held workshops with community groups of all ages to identify and explore themes for each dene. She then took all the ideas and artwork from the workshops and consolidated them into simple themes for the six denes. Ideas ranged from the wood and water mentioned above to butterflies, flowers and footballs.

The £878,500 project also includes new bridges across the beck, lighting along some of the paths, new seating and signs. I'm looking forward to seeing the other archways and enjoying some new experiences to complement my childhood memories - there are still plenty of bushes for hide and seek!

The arches are being manufactured by Sheffield-based Mayflower Engineering,

a specialist in sculptural metalwork.

You can read more about the denes project or visit the website of Coralie Turpin.

Vince,

Love Your Art.

Digging Deeply

What an interesting and popular series Fake or Fortune has turned out to be. The BBC show (BBC1, Sunday evenings, 7pm) has told some fascinating stories about the art world. We have learned a lot about how the art world works and have been entertained at the same time.

The first programme informed us about research into a painting that was claimed to be by Monet. Presenter Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould visited Paris to investigate the picture's history. The found what seemed to be conclusive evidence that the picture was genuine, linking its previous owner with a dealer's label on the back of the picture. However, the people responsible for authenticating genuine Monets flatly refused to accept the evidence. The picture's owner and the presenters were all hugely disappointed at the news.

In the second programme, a painting by American artist, Winslow Homer, found near a tip in Ireland was due to be auctioned in New York. The investigators established the history of the painting but shortly before the auction the original owners got in touch to claim it back. The painting was withdrawn from the sale and a long-running legal battle continues to decide who really owns the picture and what is to be done with it.

Last Sunday, the investigation set out to find whether a picture thought to be by Van Baburen, a pupil of Jan Vermeer, was genuine or a forgery. The picture had been donated to the Courtauld Institute in the 1960s and their team had mixed views as to the artist. Some experts were pretty sure that it had been painted by Van Meegeren, a prolific forger during the first half of the 20th Century. After much to-ing and fro-ing between London and Amsterdam, the scientific evidence proved that it was a forgery. However, this may have increased its value as there are many keen collectors of Van Meegeren's work, despite its dubious status.

If we were to make one criticism it would be that the programmes are filled out a bit to fit the one hour slot. This is not uncommon with documentaries these days as producers seem to want to fill their allocated broadcast times with only as much as they can get away with. Vince fondly remembers the early Horizon programmes that were packed with facts and information, an entirely different style to today's stretched out documentaries.

The final program in the series is next Sunday but you may be able to catch up on earlier episodes on the BBC iPlayer.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Is It A Bird?

At one of the open studios we visited in Scarborough last week, we came across some unusual pictures of birds. They were painted in mainly blue and green hues with the bird placed centrally with the surrounding area being a gentle blend of similar colours around the subject. But looking more closely our curiosity was aroused when we realised that the pictures had been painted on pieces of textured surface wallpaper.

Susan Slann, the artist who produces these intriguing pieces of art, takes sections of textured wallpaper and finds images hidden in the swirling, floral patterns in the paper. She then paints the image that emerges and colours the surrounding area. These works and other, more abstract ones, are part of Susan's exploration of how the mind works, especially how memories are uncovered.

Susan told us that she allows the images in the wallpaper to reveal themselves to her, she doesn't try to force a picture on the paper. At the studio we saw several pictures in this style with pigeons, blue tits, a swift, a hare and a brain.

The brain is, in fact, one of Susan's favourite pictures. It isn't depicted as anatomical text books would show it but more in the way that a person might feel about their brain. The result is a bold, striking picture in strong red hues that certainly stops you in your tracks.

We'll look out for Susan's works again, they represent a fascinating concept - how to understand memory - and we won't forget them in a hurry.

Why not visit Susan Slann's web site?

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Time For A Break

Saturday found us driving across the normally beautiful North Yorkshire Moors through mist and pouring rain to visit some of the Open Studios in Scarborough. By the time we arrived we were ready for a cup of tea and fortunately found one at our first port of call: Woodend Art and Craft Gallery.

"Designed To A Tea" was a small exhibition of works inspired by tea drinking. We liked the delicate, if impractical, wire cups by Helaina Sharpley. Vicky also loved the teabag necklace and sugar cube earrings by Angela Knipe.

In the adjoining room was an exhibition featuring a huge variety of teacups, made or decorated by members of the community. Artist Jane Poulton had been commissioned to work with local groups to create these decorative and often amusing cups. Some had been made from cardboard or paper, some were decorated with paint or with pictures stuck on them. One was even covered in used postage stamps! This was a delightful show with so many different styles, shapes and colours to see.

After a refreshing cuppa, we had a look round some of the other studios that were open in the Woodend building. In Sally Jubb's studio we especially liked the colourful pastel land/seascapes. Lindsey Tyson's textile art along with her delicate, flowing wraps appealed more to Vicky than Vince! And Vince instantly recognised Sally Gatie's paintings of people lying on pretty, decorative bedding, having seen her work last year at the Great North Art Show.

We also found time to call in to a couple of other studios in the area and hope to report on these in our next posts. Sadly we didn't see much of Scarborough itself, only catching a glimpse of the sea through the arches of the Spa Bridge. Perhaps next year we'll have to make it a full weekend.

Although the Open Studios event is over for this year, you can keep a look out for information about next year's event at the NYOS web site.

You can read more about Woodend Creative Workspace.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Vorticism Mania

In the past week or two, I've been reading a lot about the Vorticists. With articles in the newspapers and on the Internet, it's difficult to avoid at the moment. Fortunately, having an interest in abstract art, I have found them all interesting. When I mentioned this to Vicky, she said she had heard the term but didn't really know what Vorticism was. So we spent an evening last week, reading up and talking about it.

Founded in the run up to the First World War by Percy Wyndham Lewis, Vorticism is a style of abstract art influenced by Futurism and Cubism. Works are inspired by the geometry of the industrial machinery of the time and include sculpture and writing as well as painting.

It is a British development in art but had both supporters and detractors. Apart from Wyndham Lewis, other painters and sculptors within the movement were Jacob Epstein, David Bomberg, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Dorothy Shakespear.

The War made things difficult for the artists to continue their work although exhibitions were held in London (1915) and New York (1917). Sadly, after the war, Wyndham Lewis was unable to revive the movement as attention moved to new developments in Europe and America.

Vicky enjoyed finding out more about Vorticism and although it's not her favourite type of art, she was fascinated by the stories we read.

Of course, the reason for all the interest in Vorticism now is the opening of the Vorticist exhibition at Tate Britain today. On display will be works by the leading Vorticist artists and sculptors of the time.

The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World runs until 4th September 2011.

Picture:
Wyndham Lewis
Workshop circa. 1914-5
© Wyndham Lewis and the estate of Mrs G A Wyndham Lewis. Photo: By kind permission of the Wyndham Lewis Memorial Trust

Vince,

Love Your Art.

Happy Birthday!

What do Paul Gauguin, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Damien Hirst all have in common? Well, of course, they are all well known artists. But they were also all born on this day, 7th June.

Despite sharing this birthday, the three artists have entirely different styles in their art.

Gauguin was born in Paris in 1848 but spent his early childhood in Peru. He was always interested in art but after returning to France and serving in the navy, he became a stockbroker. It wasn't until 1885 that he began to paint full time.

Tiring of expressionist painting, he developed his own style influenced by Cloisonnism as well as African and Asian art. His works show bold images and colours. Many of his later paintings are of people in the Polynesian Islands, where he died in 1903. Read more about Paul Gauguin.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was born in Glasgow in 1868. He may be best known for his architectural work but he was also an accomplished artist. He produced many drawings and watercolours and had a particular interest in landscape and floral and themes (see picture).

He was one of "The Four", a group including his wife, Margaret Macdonald, her sister, Frances and his friend and work colleague, James Herbert McNair, who together influenced the Glasgow Style of Art Nouveau graphic and decorative design. A couple of years ago we enjoyed a visit to the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow to see furniture and interior designs that he had produced. Read more about Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Damien Hurst was born in Bristol in 1965. He may not be everybody's favourite artist but he certainly makes an impact on the art world. His controversial works include dead animals in tanks of formaldehyde. More conventional work includes print making. We visited an exhibition by Damien Hirst at Bowes Museum earlier this year. You can also read more about Damien Hirst on Wikipedia (his official site is under construction at the time of writing).

Interestingly, two other artists that we hadn't heard of were also born on 7th June.

Malcolm Morley, born in London, was the first Turner Prize winner. He is known for his photo-realistic paintings. Read more about Malcolm Morley.

And Red Grooms, whose works include sculpture, pop-art, printmaking and multimedia, was born in Nashville. Read more about Red Grooms.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

The Humble Pencil

Last Friday we decided to have a day out in the Lake District and, after lunch in Kendal and a lovely drive past Lake Windermere, we ended up in Keswick. We were looking for the Pencil Museum. We had seen announcements that the museum was celebrating its 30th anniversary and were intrigued such a museum even existed, let alone that it had been around for thirty years.

The museum, run by the Cumberland Pencil Company, is easy to find, being just a few minutes walk from the town centre. From the outside it looks like a simple, plain, large shed. But on the inside it contains a fascinating mix of art and history.

Although we use pencils all the time, we had never really considered how they were made. In fact the "lead" in pencils is made from graphite. This was first discovered around 1500 near Keswick and was used by shepherds to mark their sheep. By the mid 16th century graphite from the Cumberland region was being used by many Renaissance artists in their work. Originally, rough pieces were wrapped in sheepskin but the Italians improved on this by encasing strips of graphite in wood to.

The pencil has changed little since then. Nowadays the graphite is mixed with clay and pigment to make pencils with a wide range of colours and hardness to suit all types of artist and other users.

We enjoyed our visit to the museum. There is an imaginative range of educational and entertaining displays including a mock-up of a graphite mine and a video room showing how pencils are now made and a clip from the Snowman animated film which was drawn by Raymond Briggs using Cumberland pencils. Other displays show manufacturing equipment and sets of pencils from the past. We even recognised tins of coloured pencils that we had received as Christmas gifts when we were children.

With a cafe area including displays by local artists on the walls, a kids' activity area and a shop with art books, souvenirs and, of course, a huge range of pencils to try and buy, the museum has something to interest almost everyone.

If you're not heading up to the lakes in the near future, you can visit the Pencil Museum web site for more on the history of pencils.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

We're Still Here

Phew! We survived. Along with many of the other sinners in the world we were getting a bit worried about the warnings from Harold Camping, a preacher from California who predicted that the end of the world would be last Saturday. Fortunately he was wrong and we live to write another blog post.

Mr Camping is not alone in trying to predict the Rapture, artists have been trying to do this for centuries; not the date but how it might look. We've thought we'd check out some of the paintings that depict Judgment Day - a Christian and Muslim belief that good people will be taken to Heaven or Paradise when God makes his final judgment.

Probably the biggest is Michelangelo's The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. This shows Christ in the centre with various saints around him. The people who have been saved are floating happily in the sky, with the condemned being forced into the mouth of Hell by a gruesome boatman at the bottom. In fact the boatman, Charon, is a mythical character from Roman and Greek history; Michelagelo was allowed to merge biblical and mythological stories together in the fresco.

The Last Judgment by Michelangelo

Another recognisable painting is by Hans Memling. This is an oil on wood triptych. In the centre panel Saint Michael is in the foreground weighing up the souls of the resurrected. On the left panel, the good are being welcomed into heaven whilst on the right, the evil are cast into Hell.

Last Judgment by Memling.

A more recent representation by Kandinsky takes a highly abstract approach, leaving everything to the observers imagination. Unusually, it is painted in reverse on glass with a frame for protection.

Last Judgment by Kandinsky (Half way down page.)

There doesn't seem to be as many paintings depicting the Islamic Judgment Day but here are a couple.

Day of Judgment by Mohammed Modabber

Day of Judgment by unknown artist

Finally, our favourite from those we've seen is this one by Fra Angelico. It is quite colourful, has a nice balance between good and evil and is less gruesome than most of the others (apart from the people cooking in the cauldron).

Last Judgment by Fra Angelico

Sorry if we missed your favourite. There have been dozens of works produced over the centuries and hopefully we'll have time to look at some more before the world ends on 21st October 2011 (according to Mr Camping's revised calculations).

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Holiday Choices

Lighter nights and warmer weather mean that it's time for us to start searching for a holiday. We are looking for a week away, somewhere in Britain, with some art that both of us would find interesting.

This year, after a bit of digging through some old brochures and the Internet, we have narrowed the options down to Sussex or the Cotswolds. We are heading to Sussex to visit a friend for a weekend in the summer anyway. Should we extend that short visit to see more of the area or broaden our horizons with a tour around the Cotswolds instead?

Both areas have a lot going for them. There are numerous museums and galleries, stately homes with their own traditional collections and various displays of outdoor sculptures and installations. Plus plenty of other appealing attractions, exciting events and stunning scenery to give us a bit of a break from the art.

In Sussex, we like the sound of popping along to Worthing Art Gallery to see some of the work of Carol Wagstaff, a versatile artist who is exhibiting works inspired by the museum's collections. Cass Sculpture is another possibility. It's a charitable foundation that commissions, displays and sells sculpture by 21st Century established and emerging artists. And for a late night out, we could watch the coloured lighting of the "Sticks Of Rock" along the prom at Hastings and St Leonards.

If we choose the Cotswolds, we could visit the Minotaur and the Hare, a large bronze sculpture, made by Sophie Ryder, in the middle of Cheltenham. Nature In Art, near Gloucester, has a diverse collection of works depicting animals, landscapes and other natural themes. And the Fox Talbot Photography museum at Lacock, near Bath, sounds fascinating too.

The jury is still out at the moment. We'll let you know our decision later and report on what we find wherever we go.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Howay, It's The Turner Prize!

Great news for the north east of England. The Turner Prize is coming to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead later this year. It's a welcome change to have this major art event held outside London and there are plans for the event to be held at other regional venues every second year in the future. The Baltic, a converted flour mill, provides an ideal venue with it's spacious display areas and a solid reputation that it's built up over the years.

But the change of venue hasn't changed the controversy over the choice of artists which always seems to surround the event. This year the artists short-listed for the prize range from a sculptor of concrete trees to an artist who covers sheets in make-up. Here's a brief guide to the four nominees and an outline of their work.

Karla Black has an innovative approach to sculpture; producing installations out of unusual ephemeral materials such as cellophane, Vaseline, lip gloss and flour.

Martin Boyce, a sculptor, is known for his atmospheric installations influenced by modernism an urban landscape of sculptural trees, litter bins and park benches.

Hilary Lloyd uses sounds and images from the urban environment to create installations using those films, and the projection equipment itself, in the gallery to challenge the viewer with the still and moving images.

George Shaw uses Humbrol enamel paint to depict the area around his childhood home in Coventry in a photo-realistic way. His work represents conventional landscape painting but focuses on images of the mundane and the everyday.

We've never been to a Turner Prize exhibition before as we haven't managed to be in London at the time. With this year's event just up the road on Tyneside, we'll definitely be paying a visit and we'll let you know who we think should win.

The exhibition of the works of the Turner Prize nominees runs from 21 October 2011 to 8 January 2012. You can read more about the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art or Tate Modern.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art

Pottery In The Gardens

The weather has been lovely recently and with family visiting over Easter, we had a perfect excuse for a day out in Durham. There's plenty to see and do in this charming, historical city but the most enjoyable part of the day was when we visited Crook Hall.

We first discovered Crook Hall and its gardens a couple of years ago. We were enthralled by its quirky charm, the medieval rooms in the house, and outside the themed gardens and the pond with its water lilies.

But this time there was more. We found the gardens taken over by strange objects dangling from trees or lurking in the undergrowth. There were ceramic torsos hung against the stone of the walled garden, and animals and strange shapes next to colourful plants. These were all part of the "Out of the Earth II" exhibition of ceramic works by artists from NENPA, the North East regional group of the Northern Potters Association.

The hundred or so items on display were for sale and they ranged from pieces of thrownware to sculpture. We were tempted by many of the unique objects and enjoyed discussing where we could put some of them. But as we're still tidying up our back yard following extensive renovation work to the house, we weren't able to buy anything on the day we visited. Hopefully, the good weather will hold out, allowing us to finish the yard and return to Crook Hall to buy a couple of the works before the exhibition ends on 22nd May 2011.

Here are more pictures of the exhibits.

Find out more about Crook Hall or NENPA.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art

Hidden Treasures

You may have read recently about the Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle being sold off by their owner, the Church Commissioners. Concern over losing these historical pictures caused an outcry and led to campaigns across the region to prevent the sale. Fortunately, in March, a generous donation of £15 million was received from a City investment manager, Jonathan Ruffer, and the paintings are no longer under threat.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of County Durham, the pictures do not get the exposure of more famous works exhibited in London and other large cities. So what are the paintings like? And are they really worth £15 million? I decided to pay a visit to Auckland Castle over Easter to see them for myself.

The series of paintings is commonly referred to as the Zurburáns although the official name of the group is "Jacob and his Twelve Sons". The picture of Benjamin is actually a copy made by Arthur Pond of the Zurburán original which hangs in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire.

On entering the Long Dining Room you are immediately confronted with the huge, larger-than-life, 8ft high portraits. There are thirteen portraits in all, one each of Jacob and his 12 sons. Zurbarán based his portraits on the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament and uses the descriptions of the sons to create recognisable figures. Some are obvious: Judah is depicted as a king wearing a crown and robes, and holding a sceptre; Asher is shown as a farmer carrying loaves of bread.

The portraits are dramatic, the ones showing Jacob, Judah, Zebulun, Dan, Gad, Joseph and Bejamin are full of rich reds, greens and gold in their clothing. Issachar is dressed more humbly in a plain green smock working on the land. Simeon is clad in animal skins and his uncivilised vengefulness is hinted at by the sword and the stick he is carrying.

These are an unusual group of religious paintings and it is fitting that they hang in Auckland Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Durham. I'm not sure I would pay £15 million for them but now they have been saved, I hope that many more people will be able to come and see the Zurburáns in the future. These have been hidden treasures for too long and deserve a wider audience. 

Vicky,
Love Your Art.