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