Graffiti abstracts

Unlike in some cities, people don't tend to paint genuine 'street art' in Bradford or the surrounding neighbourhoods (or not that I've noticed anyway). There is, of course, the usual scrappy graffiti, mostly people's names, sprayed under bridges and along walls. Much of it looks ugly and it makes a place look rundown. I've found, however, that some small sections - abstracted from the whole - can make quite pleasing images, abstracts in the best sense of the word.

Mosaic art

This interesting mosaic, made of tiles or pottery pieces, along with the shutters and the greenery made me feel suddenly as if I was somewhere in the Mediterranean, instead of in the middle of Saltaire. I don't think this is a coronavirus-inspired 'cheer you up' artwork but it cheered me up anyway. Inspired by Frida Kahlo, perhaps?

A heart tree

More rainbow coloured artwork. This 'heart tree' has been painted on the window of Salt Pots Ceramic Studio. Normally you can book parties and workshops here to enjoy painting on plates and other ceramics, helped along by coffee and cake - all good convivial fun. Of course, the studio has had to close, along with the majority of our shops, salons and services, because of this virus. One wonders how many of them will be able to reopen when the lockdown is lifted. I imagine the future will be pretty uncertain for some. I think it likely too that non-essential creative and cultural outlets may be among the last to be allowed to reopen, since they could be considered non-essential. Essential though, for those who rely on them for income - and essential for those of us that feel life is hardly worth living without being able to play and explore.

Be kind

Here are a couple more of Saltaire's decorated windows. The one above has a spring theme and was apparently inspired by David Hockney's recent work, 'Do remember they can't cancel the Spring'. 

Then I spotted the one below: Be kind...

.... and spread a little sunshine... and hearts and rainbows.

Today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate Christ risen, bringing hope, love and new life out of death. Perhaps we need to hear that message especially at the present time.
Wishing everyone a very happy Easter, even though it may be the strangest you've ever spent.

Wartime spirit?

Another decorated window, from another near neighbour. This one references Vera Lynn's famous wartime song, meant to keep up the spirits of the nation at a difficult time. We do need a bit of that now, I guess. (Now you're singing it, aren't you?)

Stay at home!

As I mentioned the other day, Saltaire residents have adapted our 'Living Advent Calendar' tradition to this new situation. Encouraging artworks are appearing all over the village. Here are a few I saw on a short walk the other day. There are plenty of rainbows, a sign universally recognised as one of hope.

I loved this one, drawn in a childish hand: Everything will go OK!  We all need to believe and hang on to that, don't we?

And here's a rainbow in a heart - you can't get much more positive than that.

One of my neighbours vows 'No Surrrender' to this awful virus.

My best wishes to everyone, wherever you are. 

Thanks and prayers too for our health workers, emergency services, all our key workers in food distribution and everyone trying to make this awful situation a little better.

Stay at home (if you can), stay safe and well, stay positive!

Lockdown, Day 3

Yesterday was Day 3 of this strange new world of lockdown due to coronavirus. Our government decreed on Monday that people MUST stay at home. We are allowed to:
- go outside to exercise once per day, so long as we keep a 2 metre distance from others;
- make infrequent shopping trips for essential supplies;
- take care of medical needs and of those who are vulnerable;
- travel to and from work if essential, though most people have been encouraged to work from home where possible.

My own careful isolation has been going on for about a week longer, apart from a trip to the supermarket and a trip to the hairdresser last week. (Glad I did that! The hair salons have all had to close now.) I'm feeling fit, well and quite cheerful most of the time. The novelty is interesting so far. I recognise that I'm in a very fortunate position compared with perhaps the majority of people and I am grateful.

So yesterday I went out for my allowed walk. It doesn't say anything about not being allowed to take a camera, or how far or how long you can walk for! Saltaire was quiet and largely traffic free and it all felt quite weird. The few people about were all careful to keep their distance from each other. Most public places are closed, including children's playgrounds - sad to see them all lying unused. Roberts Park itself is open but there were few people there. There was a police helicopter hovering around, maybe keeping a check on how well the measures were being observed. We were all being good!

As you know if you regularly read this blog, Saltaire has had the tradition for many years of decorating windows in Advent, the month leading to Christmas. Now people are starting to decorate their windows to keep everyone's spirits up in this unusual and unsettling time, as we battle to keep our health service functioning and to save lives at risk from this deadly virus. They are posting one window each day on Facebook - see HERE.

Embroidery

The brightly coloured dogwood stems in the winter borders at RHS Harlow Carr Gardens always uplift my spirits. I feel starved of colour in the winter. I think the shrubs make lovely abstracts - as, indeed, I suppose is the intended effect.


The colours were echoed in an exhibition in the library there. These were panels made by the Richmond and Leyburn Embroiderers' Guild. They had taken four seasonal photographs of the gardens and chopped them each into 48 squares. Members of the Guild had then interpreted each small square using embroidery and fabric collage. The resulting squares were then collected into wall hangings. The one pictured depicts 'Autumn'. In close-up, the work was exquisite, with a huge range of stitches and fabrics. Viewed from further back, the resemblance to the photographs was amazing.

I can't embroider for toffee... school needlework lessons sadly killed all my enthusiasm for such crafts. I can recognise good work when I see it though.

A girl inspiring the world

Hebden Bridge and the Calder valley are so prone to flooding that the people who live and work there are perhaps closer than some to the reality of climate change. It was no surprise then that the children at the primary school my granddaughters attend voted for Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, as the woman who has most inspired them. To mark International Womens' Day, they worked with local artists 'Sand in Your Eye' to create a giant portrait of her on their school playing field. Painted in the kind of paint used for sports field markings, it will fade and wash away within a few days but it has created quite a stir, even being shown on the local TV news.

I think it's great that the school's pupils have such awareness and are inspired. My own granddaughters, even at five and eight, are able to have a sensible conversation about the issues. I was, therefore, sad and shocked to read the vitriolic comments that have been posted on social media in response to the news items. It seems many people still don't believe climate change is a reality, nor do they think primary school pupils are old enough to make their own minds up about todays' issues. The level of venom directed at Greta Thunberg herself is unbelievable. It is very sad that people seem increasingly to feel that it's OK to direct such fierce hate at those with whom they disagree.

My daughter took the photo above when she was walking their dog up the steep hillside, and she's kindly allowed me to share it here. I took the one below, from the roadside. You can't see the picture so well from that angle but it does show the scale of the work.

Incidentally, there's a fair chance I might one day in the future end my days in the buildings behind! It is a development of flats for older people and a residential care home. Being quite near my daughter's home, it would save her a lot of trouble if I moved there! I'm not nearly at that stage yet so I have no plans to move. It's just something we joke about... for the moment!

Still in a jokey frame of mind - I was amused to see a mannequin dressed in scuba diving equipment outside a shop in the town. I know they've had horrendous flooding several times in recent years but even so...  Actually, it is advertising a Dive School. I don't think they are seriously trying to get the locals to stock up on wetsuits.

Press photography exhibition

The exhibition I went to see at Cartwright Hall was Assignments 2019: British Press Photographers' Association. It didn't disappoint, having some wonderful examples of sport and documentary work taken all over the world on assignments by British press photographers. I particularly enjoyed a shot of the footballer Harry Kane, caught in a balletic pose during a match (third pic). The exhibition is on until mid-April, so there is still time for local folk to see it.

The area in which the exhibition was displayed also holds two sculptures. One is by Anish Kapoor: 'Turning the world inside out', a massive stainless steel piece, purchased in 1997, that reflects its surroundings in a beguiling manner. The other is a Francis Derwent Wood marble (1921), called 'Humanity overcoming War'. (Oh, that we could!) Derwent Wood also created the statue of Sir Titus Salt that stands in Saltaire's Roberts Park.

Photography in Cartwright Hall is not, I think, encouraged but I did manage these quick snaps on my phone. I hate it when they forbid photography, as I think seeing pictures encourages other people to visit. The lighting (as so often) created a lot of reflections on the glass of the pictures. I don't know why they don't use non-reflective glass. It's daft when you can't properly see the pictures you've come to view!

Blue sky day

There was an amazingly uplifting blue sky when I visited Bradford's main art gallery at Cartwright Hall recently. The view of the hall from the water gardens is rather attractive, I think. The Edwardian Baroque building opened in 1904 as a purpose-built gallery, a gift to the city from Samuel Lister, a wealthy local mill-owner. It sits centrally in Lister Park, a pleasant oasis in the city.

For many years it has lacked a tearoom, apart from the kiosk by the boating lake that is only open in summer. Now it has a smart new café in the basement, serving coffee, a good selection of cakes and light meals, though I think people haven't yet realised its existence as it was virtually empty when I visited.

The Madonna della Sedia

I think this is possibly my most favourite painting in the whole world - certainly my favourite Madonna painting. It is, of course, the famous and much-copied work by the Italian renaissance artist, Raphael: 'Madonna della Sedia', painted around 1513-14. I went to see it in 2004 when it was on loan to our National Gallery for the exhibition 'Raphael: from Urbino to Rome'. It's normally in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. It is circular, about 70 cm in diameter and painted on wood. It feels almost like I dreamed it now but I remember standing in front of this 500 year old painting, with tears streaming down my cheeks. There was just something about it that touched me very deeply.

One of my friends has studied Art History (as, incidentally, did my daughter). She recently hosted a couple of sessions where a group of us looked at some nativity paintings and discussed them. It was fascinating to explore the many different styles of painting and to notice the symbolism. Mary is often dressed in red and blue, as here. We didn't actually study this work but we did note how many 'Madonna' paintings have very improbable babies in them. Raphael's infant Christ is a hefty and healthy looking toddler, by the looks of it. I do love the protective embrace in which his mother holds him, and her expression. She looks tired to me. (That may be a projection from my remembrance of this stage in my own mothering experience!) But her gaze also holds something, I think, of the wonder and the deep, deep love of a mother. So touching.

Anyway, it seemed a good image to use today, Christmas Day, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. So much seems wrong in the world and Christmas has become a consumer-fest more than anything. It can, however, be a time of great joy, healing and renewal when we recognise God's love for us, shown in the birth of his Son into our world.

'The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. 

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 

Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'

Luke 2: 10-11

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I wish you a happy day full of many blessings.

As one of our Living Advent Calendar windows says: Be kind this Christmas. 

Bring me sunshine

Well, that was a bruising result in the General Election. I spent most of the 'morning after the night before' feeling numb and disbelieving. I think at the moment what hurts most is that lies and obfuscation seem to have won the day. I haven't the heart, nor is this the place, to go into detailed analysis. I do, however, fear for the future and for my grandchildren's future. I hope (pray) my fears are proved wrong. 

On a more positive note, my extended family went out for a Christmas meal on the evening of election day and we had a very happy time. Back at my daughter's house afterwards, I noticed these two pictures pinned up in the kitchen. Both were created by my granddaughters at school. Both brought rays of sunshine into my life.

Elodie's sunflowers were a response to Van Gogh's famous picture (left) and I really love her version. Inspired by but not a copy of; she has really interpreted it in her own way. It's interesting that from quite an early age she seems to have particularly enjoyed making paintings from her careful observations of actual objects or other images, rather than from her own imagination (though she also does that too, of course). In this painting, I particularly like the freedom she's allowed herself in some of the paint strokes. 

Madeleine's figure drawing is maturing, as it does. There's an interesting article about a child's development in art HERE and it suggest she is quite age-appropriate. (She's just five.) Her figures have 'a clearly differentiated head and trunk, with arms and legs in the appropriate locations'. There are details: hair, fingers, fur on the dog. She has also included a baseline, with the figures lined up along the bottom of the paper rather than free-floating in space.  Clearly, she feels the dog is an important part of the family now, though they have only had it for three months. She has drawn her daddy with his arm in plaster. He broke his wrist a few weeks ago!

Weaving innovations

These may look like artistic pieces and in many ways they are, but they are displayed in the 'Weaving the Future' exhibition as serious demonstrations of advanced new techniques. 'Knit: Design: Research' is an experimental design studio based in the School of Design at Leeds University. These pieces, by Dr Elizabeth Gaston and Dr Jane Scott, explore how knitted materials can change colour and adapt in shape and form according to environmental conditions.  Read more about their work HERE.

This piece above is called 'Canopy' and explores 3D knitting: 2D freehand loop construction can be formed into 3D structures by the use of tension. This isn't 'new' in itself. It is inspired by nature and the inherent properties of knitting, but they are exploring how this can be used sustainably in interiors, architecture and fashion.

The chair, below, is made by 'Solidwool', from coarse wool that was once considered worthless. Combined with a bio-resin, it can be shaped into chairs, tables and other items, creating attractive and functional products with a relatively low impact on our planet.

This is the surface of the seat, close up - it was really stylish.

Weaving the Future

There is currently a truly remarkable exhibition, 'Weaving the Future', in the roof space of Salts Mill, commissioned for Saltaire Festival. With absolutely stunning photos by Tim Smith (printed on woven textiles), it shows how our local textile industry - the driver for the first Industrial Revolution but having declined in the late 20th century - has now adapted. Local mills produce very high quality and distinctive fabrics, from wool, cotton and other fibres, for specialist markets around the world. Together with researchers at some of our leading universities, they are spearheading a new revolution, adapting traditional technologies to create innovative materials: weaving silk to make heart valves and knee cartilage; new fabrics for use in aerospace and construction; electro-spinning to produce dense membranes of extremely thin fibres which can be used, for example in wound dressing or to filter toxins from drinking water. It was fascinating to see some of these innovations.

The exhibition also makes the link between the binary systems that drove the old textile looms (illustrated by the pattern cards of punched holes that you can see on the left of my photo below) and the digital computer technology that now underlies almost every facet of modern life and industry. Many of the businesses that now occupy much of the floor space in Salts Mill are involved in innovative digital technology, like Radio Design who design, manufacture and export wireless communications systems used, for example, in mobile phone masts. Serendipitous...

Images in my two photos above were taken in local mills and show the processes of spinning and dying yarn. In the background of the top photo is a picture taken in a factory that makes cycle frames from woven carbon.

Below are some of the specialist fabrics produced locally: felt damper pads for pianos, green baize for snooker tables and biodegradeable wool coffins.

The photography on display is superb, as is the video installation that shows dancers performing movements inspired by textile workers, overlaid with footage of textile processes. It has a sound track of music made in response to the sounds and rhythms of mill machinery. It is so beautiful, graceful and evocative that it brought tears to my eyes.

All this feast for the senses is in one of my favourite spaces: the roof space at Salts Mill, originally the longest weaving shed in the world. The exhibition is on until 20 Oct, weekends only.

Bird life

                                                   
Saltaire Festival 2019 An almost hidden gateway off the busy Saltaire Road...  a curving, secluded path ... and a tiny, charming, hidden garden complete with a wildlife pond. Saltaire is full of surprises and the Festival's Open Gardens enable visitors to discover some of them.

This year's Festival did not have the usual sculpture trail as part of the Open Gardens, but some residents had organised their own art exhibits. Hiding in the magical little patch above, there were a series of bird sculptures and ceramics by Jo Whitehead, Kate Rawnsley and Sarah Muller. They were celebrating the birds that live alongside us and enrich our lives, whilst also marking the tragic decline in song bird numbers.

I particularly liked the small bowl, below, cradling two little eggs; the combination of shades of terracotta and blue grey was beautiful.