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