Frame Up

Everything you ever wanted to know about framing pictures (almost). Read more on our web site about picture frames.

Vince,
Love Your Art

Support Your Local Artist

Buying art from local artists is an interesting and worthwhile way to build up a collection. Read more on our web site about supporting local artists.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art

The Pink Wall Project

Be prepared for a bit of a shock this week, we've hung some pictures on one of our walls - after painting it bright pink! You can visit our web site to read about our pink wall project.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Bargains Galore!

If you've not considered the benefits of buying second-hand art from charity shops we've written about the whys and wherefores this week. You can visit our web site to read the article on buying art from charity shops.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Tell Me More

The picture in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle is called Darkness Falls from the Wings of Night. It was painted in 1886 by Robert Jobling (1841 - 1923). Its size is around 4ft by 3ft and it's displayed in a heavy gold frame. That's about all we could have told you without digging around in a library or on the Internet. But as we were visiting the gallery on a day when a talk was being given about the picture, we learnt so much more than we otherwise would.

The speaker, Jean Scott, from the Friends of the Laing Art Gallery, gave us some fascinating background and historical context that helped us to understand more about the picture. The first thing we found out was that the title is from The Day Is Done, a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The scene is set on the beach at Cullercoats, a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast. The village can be seen in the distance with fishing boats lined up along the sand. The women of the village are carrying the catch from the shoreline to the village for preparation. The picture depicts daily life but with a romantic interpretation, avoiding the harsh reality of life in the mid 19th century.

We also heard about the artist, Jobling. He lived in Cullercoats for some time and was involved in the arts in Newcastle and the north east for much of his life. In fact he was one of the people who was involved in the establishment of an art gallery in the city. This initiative came to fruition as the Laing Art Gallery at the turn of the century.

The series of talks are held each Saturday morning and a different picture in the gallery is described each month. On the day we attended there were over twenty visitors listening to the talk, and we were told that people sometimes come from as far away Amsterdam (using the local overnight ferry) to visit the gallery and hear the talks.

Here is the list of forthcoming talks about paintings at the Laing Art Gallery.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Artistic Dilemma

We've not been to see any art over the past few weeks as we've been remodelling our kitchen. Before starting we removed all the art from the room and stored it safely away from the dust and mess. Unfortunately, we didn't really plan where these items would go in the new layout and now the kitchen's almost finished we have to resolve that problem. None of it can go back where it was as we've moved equipment around and added new cupboards.

We're faced with two decisions: whether to try and display everything we had originally or change some of the pieces, and choosing new places to put the items we decide to keep in the room.

We've already discussed this at length and haven't yet come up with an answer. When we do finally work out what we're going to do we'll let you know what we decided and how we ended up displaying the art.

Vick and Vince,
Love Your Art

Lovely Art - And Tempting Food Too!

The BBC continues to produce some fascinating programmes about art. We have written recently about Fake or Fortune and last Friday night we came across Sicily Unpacked. The show not only covered some of the interesting art in Sicily but also another of our favourite subjects, food!

Vicky has been to Sicily before and has visited some of the locations shown on the programme. One of the sights she didn't see was the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita in Sicily's capital, Palermo. Art historian and presenter, Andrew Graham-Dixon, was keen to show his co-presenter, Giorgio Locatelli, the interior of this building. Once inside they turned to marvel at the stunning, ornate decoration. What seemed like hundreds of incredibly fine religious figures and scenes covered the walls. These are the work of sculptor, Giacomo Serpotta, who used stucco with added marble dust to create an amazing finish to the sculptures.

Later, as the two presenters visited the Vucciria market looking for food to cook for dinner, they popped through a doorway to find a modern painting of the market by Renato Guttuso. The picture was densely packed with shoppers, market traders, stalls and food. Andrew pointed out some of the stories incorporated in the picture such as two traders apparently feuding over something. Guttuso also has other links with food; he illustrated the book Italian Food by Elizabeth David.

We're still planning our 2012 holidays and the temptation offered by the food as well as the interesting art may be too much for us to resist a visit together sometime soon.

The series runs for a further 2 episodes on BBC2 on Friday evenings. You can catch episode 1 on iPlayer over the next few days.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

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.