A Gathering of Flowers

For the past few months I have been working on putting together an art exhibition in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society Wisley Garden herbarium (https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/conserving-garden-plants/rhs-herbarium/collections-in-the-rhs-herbarium).  The idea for this first came to me almost 2 years ago when purely by accident I stumbled across something called the Chelsea Floral Fringe (www.chelseafringe.com) which is an annual event of flower based art and activity that happens in the UK, Europe and now across the globe at the same time as the Chelsea Flower show.  Reading about the things people were doing gave me the idea that something could be done at Cranleigh Arts Centre at the same time as the annual village “In Bloom” event.  After several months of plotting and planning I finally installed (with the assistance of the delightful Marilyn) “Florilegium – a gathering of flowers” at Cranleigh Arts Centre in Surrey.

The ‘theme’ of the exhibition is the preservation of flowers and the centre piece is a 9-string set of images of specimens from the Herbarium at RHS Wisley who have generously loaned a beautiful set of scanned images.

RHS Herbarium images at Cranleigh Arts Centre

To complement these scientific specimen images I was particularly fortunate that the renowned botanical artist Gaynor Dickeson (https://gaynorsflora.com) agreed to loan some of her incredibly detailed botanical illustrations; while photographer Celia Henderson (http://www.celiahenderson.co.uk) has also contributed a set of her stunning, dreamlike macro flower portraits.  As if this was not enough, I couldn’t believe my good fortune when Guildford-based textile artist Gill Denyer  (http://greengillydee.co.uk) also agreed to exhibit a set of her life-like textile plant sculptures.

The incredibly detailed botanical illustrations of Gaynor Dickeson

Dreamlike flower portraits by Celia Henderson

Quirky, life-like textile flower sculptures by Gill Denyer

I now have 3 artists and the RHS images which by themselves would have made for an interesting exhibition, but I felt that I needed a little bit extra and couldn’t quite believe my luck when it turned out that a fellow volunteer at the Arts Centre was a horticulturist and had an herbarium of her own which she was happy to lend.  I selected a few specimens, framed them up and they complimented perfectly the RHS specimen images.  To finish off I added in a small static display of vintage gardening equipment and a ball gown which I have made a few years ago which is covered in dried pressed flowers.

Dress with dried pressed flower detailing and Weed Herbarium specimen

As a fan of what is known as ‘Yarn Bombing’ it seemed like a good idea to ask the ladies of the Arts Centre Knit n’Natter group to knit and crochet flowers which could decorate the entrance to the  Centre.  They and some of the other volunteers at the Arts Centre rose to the challenge by creating over 200 flowers, leaves and creatures which I then stitched on to a banner over the recent Easter weekend.

Floral display by members of the Knit n’Natter group at Cranleigh Arts Centre

The opening evening was a triumph!  I am so proud of this exhibition and grateful to everyone who has loaned work or objects.  Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this exhibition such a success.

Nibbles and tipples await guests at the Private View Opening

Cranleigh Arts Centre Manager, Ms K Backhouse stands beside the Herbarium specimen Galanthus (Snowdrop) Mrs Backhouse No. 12

Florilegium – a gathering of Flowers is at Cranleigh Arts Centre, 1 High Street, Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 8AS until 11 June 2016.  Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4.30pm, entry is free.   http://www.cranleighartscentre.org

 

 

The Cult of Cute

The other day I made a trip back to my old university to see Kawaii!!!? an unusual exhibition currently on display in the James Hockey Gallery.

 The main entrance to UCA, Farnham, Surrey

So what is Kawaii?  It is the Japanese word for Cute.  But this is a very special kind of cute; something small, shiny and bright.  It’s most obvious manifestation is in the well known and popular ‘Hello Kitty’.  It is also found in Manga (Japanese comics), Anime (Japanese animation) and the sub-culture of CosPlay (a type of theatrical role play where people dress as characters from Anime and Manga.  As with all of these things, Kawaii has a deeper and darker side….

Bear welcomes the visitor to Kawaii

In Japan, Kawaii is a constant reference in the conversations of young girls who dress in bright coloured baby-doll like clothing reinterpreting the ideal of Lolita – genres include Sweet, Princess and Gothic and the streets of the Harajuku area in Tokyo are filled with girls and young women in these costumes.  This is taken to different levels with the introduction of other ‘fashion cults’ such as Decora Girls, Schoolgirl, Maids which lead on to more fetishised clothing as seen in Keisuke Kanda and the androgenous music inspired Visual Kei.  All of these fashion styles can be found in the pages of Manga such as Vampire Knight, Maid Sama, Naruto, Code Geass and Blackbird as well as in the Anime of the same – ordinary people living the fantasy extraordinary lives of their comic book heroes, females with their overlarge doe eyes and male characters with the ‘LadyBoy’ look, youthful yet chiselled.  In her catalogue essay, exhibition curator Lesley Millar says of Kawaii “As a construct Kawaii embodies contradiction: it is ‘official’ (cute and sanitised) and ‘underground’ (pornographic, iconoclastic and anti-bourgeois).  It is a means of sexualising the pre-pubescent/adolescent girl fuelling and fuelled by male erotic fantasy.”  One of the artists in the exhibition Minako Nishiyama has taken this to another level by recreating a Tere-Kura ( telephone dating clubs popular in 80’s Japan where men could phone in, book a room and receive a ‘sex call’ from an unknown young girl). A series of posters with the face of girl comic book character and a telephone number were placed all over Tokyo and men could ring in to a phone in a gallery where visitors were encouraged to answer it. Out of hours, a recorded message in the style of Rika-Chan (a popular Japanese Barbie type doll) would be played.  Cute the image may be, but its underlying message is very far from it.

Rika-Chan poster

Probably more recognisable is the Red Riding Hood costume by  Chie Kinoshita.   Although Western in style, it is made using traditional Japanese hand dyeing and kimono making techniques.  It tells the story of Red Riding Hood  in a different way where the wolf represents men, and being eaten has a sexual meaning.  The artist explains in an interview in the exhibition catalogue “did she (Red Riding Hood) deliberately set out wearing a garment she knew would attract attention to herself and pretend not to care?  It is a different kind of Kawaii-ness, a sweetness that belies a hidden poison.”

Red Riding Hood Costume

 Japanese clothing and fashion is famous for it’s folding and pleating which is an art form in itself.  Two incredible examples of this can be seen in the work of Chie Sakai who uses the folded fabrics as a metaphor for female sexuality.

Ring a Ring o’ Roses 

Shin Enomoto’s peculiar Nobigurami characters look cute in a sort of weird, deformed way.  The artist says their name comes from a combination of his nickname ‘Nobi’ and the Japanese word for stuffed toy “nuigurami”.  He says they are like his alter ego, living things, strange and weird.  They don’t like Anime and Manga and probably prefer dinosaurs to monsters.  They remind me of some of the odd sock puppet-style toys that are so popular with young children now.

Nobigurami

Kawaii is a phenomenon that has swept across the world with international conventions such as London Comic-Con which takes place twice yearly celebrating all that is Kawaii by the thousands of people of all ages who attend dressed as their favourite characters.  Kawaii is populist and consumerist, yet it also fulfills people’s inner desires.  At face value Kawaii appears at face value to be fun, shallow and probably something for children; scratch away at the surface and a deeper, darker meaning exists… the journalist Mikako Sawada says of Kawaii “kawaii in the 21st century is moving at a pace which cannot be kept up with by critics and authority, it is a culture which is ushering in long term values and will remain with us.”  The question is are these values ones which are desirable in our modern, equal world?

This piece by Gendai Bijutsu Nitouhei sums up the true meaning of Kawaii, cute but perhaps not quite so cuddly.

Please Hug Me

This fascinating exhibition is at UCA Farnham, Surrey until 12 December when it then moves to Rugby Museum and Art Gallery from February to April 2016.  Entry is free.

The making of an exhibition

Recently I have been very busy with the organisation of a new art exhibition of work by a group I belong to.  We call ourselves Ten (although there are actually only nine of us) and the name came from the year in which we graduated from the BA (Hons) Fine Art course where we met one another.

Way way back in the mists of time, September 2005 to be exact a group of “mature” students were ‘Freshers’ at the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham in Surrey about to embark on a BA (Hons) Fine Art degree, full of anticipation, hopes and dreams about what the next 5 years (this was the duration of the part-time course) would hold.  After many trials and tribulations, friendships were formed and we finally graduated in June of 2010 with a ceremony at Guildford Cathedral.  Inevitably some members of the course went their separate ways, but a small group stuck together and formed an exhibiting and support group to ensure that we kept working.  The group now meets once a month to plan exhibitions and more importantly to talk about our work and exchange ideas.

Rear view of Guildford Cathedral

2015 is the 5th anniversary of our graduation and we felt that it should not go unmarked, and with that in mind an approach was made to Guildford Cathedral as a potential venue in the summer of 2013.  The selection process is rigorous and only takes place once a year, so we had to wait until the following January (2014) before we found out if we had been successful.  Having written the application submission, I was particularly nervous – what if we were rejected!  Would it mean that I couldn’t write an interesting enough proposal?  I would have failed my peers.  Fortunately we were called forward to meet the selection panel and discuss our idea which was to create work based on our personal engagement with the Cathedral and it’s environment.  So it was that at the end of January 2014, I went with another group member, Sandra to meet Canon Bishop to discuss our potential exhibition.  Another month passed and an email arrived to say that we had been selected to open the 2015 exhibition programme at the Cathedral… Oh JOY!  Now the serious work began – creating Art!

Vast and amazing space inside Guildford Cathedral

Monday 12th January 2015 dawned and we met up bright and early to install the work.  The Cathedral uses a series of large wooden panels along each side of the Nave for display and these boards needed to be covered as their surface is a little holey (no pun intended!).  Generally exhibitors use white paper to do this, but we felt that jarred with the soft, creamy brown/white of the building walls, so we used brown paper instead.  This turned out to be a masterstroke, it looks great and really sets the work off well as the eye isn’t distracted by the shrill whiteness of the background, instead the brown blends with the fabric of the building so that the attention is drawn only to the work.

George and Nigel (Paulene’s husband) hang Georges work

It was a full-on day and not one that passed without several traumas and some intense exchanges of views! By 4.30pm it was all installed and we were ready for Evensong followed by our Preview Reception.

Day and Night time installation views

Not being of a particular religious persuasion I had never been to Evensong before and it was an interesting, and calming experience to hear a male voice choir singing praise to God.  We, the congregation stood, sat and kneeled in silence while all of this went on following the instructions on the order of service cards we were given.  After, we were able to welcome our guests with wine and ‘nibbles’ while they looked at the work.  A great turn out of some 60 people made the evening very special and a huge success, ably facilitated by the delightful Joe , the Events Manager and Ann-Margaret, a volunteer at the Cathedral.

Down through the nave towards the altar at night after Evensong

Ten are delighted to have been fortunate enough to be able to share our 5th anniversary year with everyone at such a fabulous venue and we are looking forward to another 5 years creating and making!

Ten have their own blog at www.twentytenartists.blogspot.co.uk and a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/10artists.

Ten are: Paulene Cattle, Gillian Collins, Diana Foden, Sandra Gratrix, Angela Hauser, Rowena Kelley, George Simpson, Celia Stanley and Emma Tabor.

This is our work currently on show at Guildford Cathedral:

Paulene Cattle

Gillian Collins (aka Paisley Pedlar)

Diana Foden

Sandra Gratrix

Angela Hauser

Rowena Kelley

George Simpson

Celia Stanley

Emma Tabor

QUINQUENNIAL

an exhibition of contemporary art at Guildford Cathedral

13th January to 23rd January 2015 open daily 9.30am to 4.30pm

admission is free

Very “Downton” – make a 1920’s Headband

Yesterday my oldest daughter came back from university for Christmas a couple of days earlier than planned because she had been invited to a 1920’s themed Supper Night and Cabaret.  The first obstacle to overcome was – obviously, What To Wear.  Now Lotty LOVES dressing up and is a keen Cosplayer, but the 1920’s hasn’t been a period that has featured in her  ‘dressing up’ to date, but with a little help from her sister and me, we managed to find a dress, a long line knitted jacket, shoes and a very long string of pearl beads to give the 1920’s “look”.  As she already has straight bobbed hair – very “Lady Mary” all she needed was something to set it all off.  A quick trawl through Pinterest and Google images found the Headband.  With that in mind, she was off to the shops first thing this morning to buy suitable trimmings to make the accessory of choice.  On her return she tipped her bag of goodies out on to the table with those immortal words “Mum… can you help me?”  These 5 little words are enough to strike terror into the heart of any mother, as what they usually mean is “Mum, can you make this for me…Now!”  As I had nothing better to do (and also because I am a soft touch) out came the sewing machine, fabric glue and workbox; this is what I did.

1920’s Headband

You will need: assortment of feathers, plain ribbon and decorative lacy/beaded/embroidered ribbon, elasticated headband, textile glue, costume jewellery (for deconstruction), thread

1. Measure around your head with the ribbons, add a couple of extra centimetres and cut to size.

2. Pin the decorative ribbon to the plain ribbon and stitch together – I used my machine, but hand stitching will suffice.

3. Pin the ribbon to the elasticated headband – don’t forget to stretch the headband so as to allow for the non-stretchy ribbon to fit on the head.

 

4. Cut a piece of scrap fabric (I used a circle of felt).  Cover with fabric glue – Gutemans HT2 is the best, arrange the feathers and glue in place.  Leave to dry.  Once dry, trim the feather ends.

5. If using, now is the time to make use of the costume jewellery as decoration.  I used pieces from a bracelet and a small pendant necklace from Claire’s Accessories.  Cut a small piece of plain ribbon and glue over the ends of the feathers, glue in place and leave to dry.  Take the pieces of jewellery and arrange to suit, glue these in place and leave to dry.

 

 

 

6. Once the embellishment is dry, stitch on to the headband and – Ta-Dah!

 

Let there be light!

…and so the final day had arrived, the day when my lampshade would finally find its shape and form.  I arrived at Handprinted in Bognor Regis (www.handprinted.net) this morning in perfect time for a welcoming cup of tea with the other students made by Shirley – our tutor and Print Guru after which it was time to head upstairs to the mezzanine level print room.  Today was all about turning a flat piece of printed cloth into a 3 dimensional lampshade, so without much ado I was busy with the iron!  Normally I am not terribly keen on ironing but somehow if it is to do with something art related it doesn’t seem like such a chore!  Once flat the fabric was measured out ready for the addition of the plastic backing which stiffens the fabric and enables it to become a cylinder.

Ironed and measured

Backing on

Once the backing was firmly fixed and any bubbles/creases removed to make it absolutely flat it is time to trim the long edges.

Trimming the long edges

Now for the sticky bit; using double-sided tape the metal hoops which form the shape of the shade are covered around their perimeter.  This is sticky and tricky as once covered they can’t be placed on a flat surface as they will stick to it.  Shirley has an answer to this problem and gave us each a small stool placed on its side so the hoops can be hung from the legs – genius!

Genius sticky hoop holder!

The next stage is crucial rolling the sticky hoops along the edges of the plastic backed fabric to form the body of the lampshade.

Rolling, rolling, rolling!

Rolled and ready

Time for the final finishing bit, turn the top and bottom edges over the hoops and then setting them in place using an ingenious serrated edge tool which makes a disconcerting popping sound to fix the fabric in place around the hoops.

Ingenious “popping” tool

… and TAA_DAHH!!

The finished lampshade (with Ruth and Shirley behind)

One of the best things about this session was seeing everyone elses lampshades coming to life and how different each was bearing in mind we all started off with the same plain white piece of fabric.

All the lampshades from the workshop

I think that we all managed to produce something unique and to a very high standard of finish, any one of these would not look out of place in that mecca of middle-class style –  John Lewis!

My new shade on its base

and All Lit Up

I am really pleased with my effort and enjoyed the past 3 weeks immensely, it was a great course led by a great tutor in the shape of Shirley and a great group of fellow students.

I am not Banksy

Making art is about experimenting – I hesitate to use the term ‘play’ which I think trivializes the process of making.  So in a mood of experimentation I finally got around to completing a small painting based on a pencil drawing I made a while ago from a photograph I took of a Street Artist at work during the Chichester Street Art Festival in 2013.

“Anonymous” Street Artist at the Chichester Street Art Festival 2013

pencil on paper

acrylic on board

So after making a drawing and then a painting, I felt that the image had a little more mileage and took the opportunity of being at the Handprinted print studio in Bognor Regis to make a screen print.

I wanted to get a similar look to the painting and laid down a mono printed layer of randomly placed spoonfuls of different coloured inks directly on the screen before pulling it all through on to the fabric.  The reason for using fabric and not paper is that I feel that I want to also incorporate some hand embroidery – don’t ask why, I have no idea!

first mono printed layer

Now it was time to add the text layer and for this I cut a paper stencil of the words “I am not Banksy” and then printed this through the screen – unfortunately I forgot to photograph that stage – Oops!

Once  the second layer was laid down I got to work on my photostencil.  I had made this up from my original pencil drawing first manipulating it in Photoshop to adjust the brightness and contrast, discarding the colour information and turning it to gray-scale before finally converting it to a Bitmap – this ensures that the areas of different density in the image show up, so lighter areas appear light and darker areas appear dark, bitmaps use tiny dots to make up the image in the same way that the traditional Benday dots worked in the early days of screen printing.  I then printed the new image on to a piece of OHP film ready for exposure on to a silk screen.

freshly exposed screen just washed after exposure

Once the screen was made the first print was ready to be pulled, I tested it on a piece of newsprint first and then it was time for the ‘main event’.

photo stencil screen ready for printing

first print on newsprint 

TAA DAH!!!! 

And there it is, a quick 3 layer screen print on fabric.  The final stage is the addition of the hand embroidery…

Now I have added some stitches I am less happy with the image so have decided not to continue adding anymore.  I think overall the screen print is my least favourite working of the image, my personal favourite is definitely the painting with the photo-stencil being a close runner-up.

Handprinting!

There is always debate about artists who do workshops – is it displacement activity, is it because they aren’t ‘proper’ artists?  I disagree with both these suggestions, there is always something to be learned and nobody can ever claim to know everything even if they are well-versed in a particular field or discipline.  I have been looking forward to this 3 half day course  to screen print and make a lampshade for some time now, and while I have done a fair bit of screen printing at various times over the past 10 years, I am not an expert and there is always something new to be learned.

The course is taking place at Handprinted in Bognor Regis, a new print studio and fabulous shop supplying everything you need for printmaking. (www.handprinted.net)  There were 7 of us this morning all keen to get going and Shirley, the owner of Handprinted greeted us with a warm welcome and coffee – there were even some very yummy Brownies left over from a social event the previous evening!

the studio at Handprinted

The new studio area is well equipped with adjustable trestle print tables, a dedicated textiles bed, photo exposure unit and washout bay all on the spacious mezzanine level of the Handprinted shop/warehouse.  Shirley is an excellent tutor and took time to explain what needed to be done and how clearly before letting us all loose to “do our thing”.  This first 3 hour session was about cutting and printing paper stencils to create the basis for a design on our lampshade.

cutting a paper stencil

paper stencils ready to go

ready to pull the first stencil print

printing!

2-colour stencil print

So now I have a length of cotton fabric with a 2 colour design printed on it.  Next week we are adding a photo stencil design – exciting!  (Just need to get my next design sorted out).  The final week will see the actual making up of the finished lampshade.  watch this space for my progress.

3 in one day whirlwind exhibition visiting

It’s been a while since I visited a London gallery exhibition and suddenly today I saw not just one but 3!  I met with an old friend, Sharon who is always great company and makes visiting exhibitions such a pleasure, over and above the simple act of ‘just visiting’.  Unfortunately the day didn’t get off to the best start with my train being delayed and a journey which should take just over an hour ended up taking 2 hours and 15 minutes!  (I feel a delay claim to Southern Trains coming on!) Finally we met up outside The Ritz and made our way to the Thomas Dane Gallery in Duke Street to see a short film loop by the award-winning director and Turner prize-winning artist – Steve McQueen.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I am sure what I saw wasn’t it.  The film loop was actually shot by cinematographer Robbie Muller in Grenada in 2002 and has a slightly disembodied and rather harrowing voice-over commentary about the death of ‘Ashes’.  It was quite an intense emotional experience connecting the smiling, handsome young man in the film with the discussion about the death by murder of ‘Ashes’.

Time to move on, and off to Flowers in Cork Street and the most fantastic and stunning paintings of ladies by the American artist Aleah Chapin.  Twice life size, these incredible photo-realistic paintings depict ladies in their natural glory, bearing all proudly and with no attempt to alter or disguise their fabulous bodies.  Titled ‘Maiden, Mother, Child and Crone’ the works explore the female body at different ages, raising questions about how life affects us as we age and how life contributes to the aging process.  They also confront the expectations of society about how we age and what happens when those expectations are not met.  I would highly recommend this one to anyone who is in the area before 8th November.

‘It was the sound of their feet’ Aleah Chapin

oil on linen 80 x120 inches at Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London

 After a short break in sunny Green Park with coffee and a wrap from Pret, it was on to the Jubilee Line and off to Bermondsey to the White Cube and the latest offering from Tracey Emin.  Now, I have blogged about Ms Emin previously when I saw her work at the Turner Contemporary in Margate a couple of years ago.  Sadly this ‘new’ offering has done nothing to change my opinion of her and her work. In fact, this ‘new’ exhibition appeared to be an almost exact replica of the one at Turner Contemporary.  A series of scribbled line drawings depicting the artist, usually semi-recumbent or lying down  completely, naked with small annotated titles to give the viewer a clue that this picture is actually different to the one next to it.  A side room held half a dozen large-scale embroideries of some of the images in the main space, while a second room contained some ‘sculpture’ – blobs of clay (or maybe even bronze) bringing the drawings into 3D. The best bit about the exhibition was a notice outside the room showing a film loop of a lecture by Emin discussing the exhibition where she apparently suddenly comes upon the realisation that her work is not about the female as ‘Other’ but is actually about herself!  Surely she must have been the only person in the entire world who did not realise this.  For me, the exhibition is dull, repetitive and boringly narcissistic  – pretty much standard fare from this artist I think.  I am glad I didn’t pay money to see it.

Now I am looking forward to tomorrow when I am off to see the work by another Brit – the National Treasure who is Grayson Perry at the National Portrait Gallery, followed by an attempt to see the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ by Tom Piper.  This has had a real mixed bag of reviews so worth a visit, more on this tomorrow!

The Wow Factor!

Yesterday I had a lovely day out with my good friend Sonia (http://androulaskitchen.wordpress.com/)  on a visit to Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury.  I have actually visited this house before but it was over ten years ago and the real reason for the visit yesterday wasn’t on then either.  I really wanted to see the “Imagine – Lace at Waddesdon” which is an exhibition of contemporary lace making inspired by Waddesdon Manor.

Waddesdon Manor

The journey took almost 2 hours and we arrived at lunchtime.  On arrival the first ‘difficulty’ occurred.  I am a member of the National Trust who run Waddesdon but my friend isn’t so in order to gain entry to visit the house she had to buy a separate Gardens Ticket.  Apparently house tickets can only be purchased at the house – which is not what it says on their website, and so two separate transactions need to be made.  Still, we arrived at the house via the free shuttle bus and duly went to obtain our timed house and gardens tickets – or for Sonia, just a House ticket.  The ticket booth had 2 open windows and there was no-one else waiting so we both went to a window each.  I was very curtly instructed that because we were together we had to use the same window – I looked round to inspect the length of the queue behind me – and oh, surprise surprise, there was no-one else anywhere near, let alone waiting to buy a ticket.  I was a bit taken aback, but complied with the order – and it was an order.  Personally I think the ticket office woman was too busy chatting and couldn’t be bothered to issue my ticket, and certainly couldn’t be bothered to be civil or explain why when we were the only people at the ticket office we had to do the ticketing together.  A disappointing start to the day then.

As there was an hour before we were able to go in to the house we decided to get some lunch and chose The Stables Cafe.  Seat secured and meals chosen we were surprised and pleased that they arrived very quickly.  Hmm, there is always a reason for such fast service and one which became apparent all to soon.  My quiche and salad was OK, the quiche was warm on top but cold on the bottom and the salad was drowning in dressing, but my friends baked potato was undercooked.  She spoke to the waitress when she arrived with our drinks but her comments fell on deaf ears as the girl simply shrugged and walked off!  Amazing! Determined to make the best of it my lovely friend ate what she could and managed to attract the attention of the Duty Manager who poked the remains with a fork and said that we should have spoken to the waitress.  My friend advised that this had been done but that the waitress wasn’t interested and walked off, at which point the DM reluctantly said she would deduct the baked potato from our bill.  Result!  (My friend had to explain this to the cashier though, so maybe not really a result after all.)

Horse statue in the Stables Yard

Time to catch the shuttle bus back up to the house.  The main house is an interesting display of ostentation and frankly very bad taste (in my opinion).  Everywhere you look you see gilded mouldings, edgings, ornate frippery and urns, hundreds of porcelain urns, in pairs, 4’s, 3’s and singles.  Every room is also stuffed to overflowing with furniture, there is almost not enough room to walk round there are so many chairs and occasional tables, again all covered in gilding and frippery.  This is a house that wants you to know its owners were fabulously wealthy!

Incredible elephant automata/clock

The exhibition I came to see however was the exact antithesis to the opulence and showiness of the house.  The makers are all from the contemporary lace making group – Lace 21 which is formed from members of The Lace Guild, The Lace Society and the Ring of Tatters.  The brief was to be inspired by Waddesdon and to make a new ‘lace’ work.  The results were as diverse as architecture, automata, porcelain and panelling and each piece is shown close to the item which inspired it, each challenging the traditional concept of lace.

Waddesdon Roses – The Ring of Tatters, inspired by painted roses on Sevres porcelain dishes

Dining Room table set with white porcelain and bowls of tatted roses

The Rothschild family who built and owned Waddesdon Manor  were great collectors of art and crafts-made objects and today the house is the home of an internationally important collection of Sevres porcelain.

A small part of the porcelain in the Sevres Room

This type of porcelain isn’t really my cup of tea (excuse the pun), but in a cabinet lies a small dish which I would be proud to own.  It is beautiful, delicate and very modern looking and yet it is about 250 years old.  Made by the Russian Imperial State Porcelain Factory in the 1750’s, it is quite THE most lovely thing to behold.

Fabulous plate from Russia made in the 1750’s

If I had to choose a favourite lace piece then I think it would have to be Carol Quarini’s “Whisperings” a net curtain with bobbin lace trim and embroidered words representing the captured words of overheard conversations.

Whisperings by Carol Quarini

The lace unravels to reveal sentences which spill out secrets such as “have you heard what she did?”; “what are you hiding, tell me”; “he says she’s not herself” and the somewhat darker “it’s our little secret”.

Inspirations for lace projects, or indeed other decorative art works can be seen everywhere and my eye was caught by this internal circular window…

like an internal moon, etched glass window

Even the house itself had been recreated as a lace piece.

Skyline by Nicole Valesia-Lair depicting the roof line of Waddesdon in a continuous piece of bobbin lace

Alongside of Lace is showing a smaller exhibition of digital artworks and mini installations by Jan Dunning called Rascal Shadows.  This exhibition explores the fact that no custodian of Waddesdon produced a natural heir and that children had rarely set foot in the house, the exception being when it was used to accommodate 100 children under the age of 5 from Croydon.

An overlooked space with forgotten playthings by Jan Dunning part of Rascal Shadows

The best part of the Rascal Shadows exhibition was in the second floor turret where a walk in camera obscura has been placed.  Fabulous!

Two views of the house and grounds in the camera obscura

So despite a couple of ‘hiccups’ over entry and food the day turned out to be very enjoyable. I’m not sure I would have visited if the Lace exhibition hadn’t been on, but it was and as a member of the National Trust it was worth it – as a non-member the entry fee is, I think a little on the high side.  Also not so sure if I could recommend the food either.

 

All action art!

Sometimes the sudden impromptu exhibition visits throws up something amazing and the Great Electronic Art Show currently at The Lightbox in Woking is no exception.  Truthfully, I hadn’t the slightest idea that this was on until an e-bulletin dropped in to my inbox, and even then I didn’t take much notice of it.  It was only when I spotted a reference to ‘fully interactive’ that I actually took time to have a look properly.  I visit loads of art shows through the course of a year and two things that are generally actively discouraged are touching exhibits and photography.  Well this exhibition invites you to do BOTH!

Another great thing about this show is that it is FREE!  So now we have three great reasons to visit. On entry to the exhibition the first exhibit is a set of venting hose like those used for extractor fans and tumble dryers  filled with coloured lights which when a button is pressed  gradually suck themselves up the wall – awesome!

musical self sucking hoses

The room is packed with all kinds of weird and wacky interactive things, but for me one of the most interesting things was the display of small items created by 3D printers.  I was flabbergasted!  I have read much about 3D printing but had not until now actually seen any.  Now I am a complete fan of this amazing, ground breaking technology which is going to revolutionise  the way we manufacture and visualise things.  The items on display are a group of  gewgaws, but it is easy to see how this technology will change the way we make things forever.  I am in awe!

3D printed adjustable spanner (life size)

Other fun and interactive things include a table tennis table with a light up table, a playable bottle organ built from old bits of wood and empty wine bottles, a remote-controlled car with coloured pens attached to draw with, the ‘old school’ Etch-a-Sketch and a great giant plasma screen that captures your shadow and projects it on to the screen in different colours.  This si not an exhaustive listing, the best way to see it is to actually SEE IT!  It’s a good hour well spent – if you take part in all the activities and great fun.  Great for kiddies and adults alike more exhibitions should be like this!  Art should be fun and accessible for all.

Interactive table tennis table

The ‘technology’ of my youth – Etch-a-Sketch with dinosaur drawing!

Bottle Organ

Multiple Me’s on the plasma screen

The Lightbox is also a vibrant and lively cultural space and hosts many community activities and events.  The results of the work of one of these community groups can be seen hanging at the end of the landing on the first floor.called ‘Stitching Your Memories’ members of the Moorcroft  Day Centre, put together a fabric piece which they made through knitting, crochet, felt,  pompoms,  bobbles,  French knitting or finger knitting. Working with fabric artist Kathryn Hitchings, they have incorporated elements of their own memories into the final work, which will be displayed at The Lightbox.

Stitching your Memories at The Lightbox

I loved this artwork and reading some of the memories was quite poignant.  this is community arts at its best, interesting, engaging, fun but with a serious message; to use that over-used cliché comment… “thought-provoking”.