Labelled thoughts on the clay figures at Barrington Court

Doesn’t this make a lovely textile installation!

Figures in clay

Yesterday I visited Barrington Court, Somerset to see the Antony Gormley ‘Field for the British isles. This is part of an interesting initiative by the National Trust to involve contemporary art within their properties. Is there something ‘in the air’ about figures at the moment? I keep seeing them everywhere so will now show you more.

‘Field for the British Isles’ is the fifth in the series that Antony Gormley has made around the world with hundreds of volunteers from diverse communities. These figures were made by people of all ages in St Helen’s and Merseyside for an exhibition at Tate Liverpool and has toured to numerous galleries and historic venues. I was so lucky to see it had been installed at Barrington Court which a fascinating old house and lovely garden not far from me. The Great Hall, Buttery and the Kitchen have been ‘invaded’ by masses (40,000) of tiny clay figures which silently return your gaze. Each figure is unique, the entire mass suggesting past and future generations and ‘reflecting humanity as a whole’.

No photos were allowed as you would expect but I did take the opportunity that the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen were giving everyone – to make clay figures of their own to contribute to their own ‘Field for Somerset’ at Barrington Court for Somerset Arts Event in September.  

It was great fun moulding the clay to make our own figures. We’re looking forward to seeing ours added to the ‘Field for Somerset’ which are being installed in the bushalls (Somerset word for cow stalls) at Barrington Court.

Dancing figures

Lovely moments while taking down a piece of work by Jae Maries at the end of the 62@50 exhibition by the 62Group at Holden gallery in Manchester.

Paddy Killer

Paddy’s last 50 years as part of the ‘62@50’ celebratory exhibition by the 62 Group. I remember all the adventures we got up to at college along with Ruth Issett. Happy days.

The 62 Group have published a wonderful book to celebrate their 50th anniversary – ‘Radical Thread’. You can click on a link from this page to see a preview which shows the the large and colourful pages and even see my own page! You can also download an order form if you’d like to own a copy.

Holden pieces that intrigued me

Now you see it and now you don’t. Penny Burnfield’s piece as it looked in the exhibition and the dust it left behind when the little seeds.stone shapes were packed away.

  

Ann Goddard – embedded concrete and Jean Draper – wrapped forms

  

Marylin Rathbone – The 100 metre dash – hope you can see the little coloured dashes in the braid? I love the label!

 

Under the magnifying glass by Jan Miller. These acrylic blocks were placed on bands of cloth arranged on a horizontal plinth.

Hard hats and rules about use of ladders!!! Alice Kettle’s piece finally makes it down safely.

 

Guess the artist?

Not as clever as I thought

Wanting to travel light to Manchester as I was going by train and staying overnight and I also needed to bring back a big box of my work with me, I decided not to take my camera but to take photos with my new phone. Good thinking I thought and took lots of pics to show you on my blog. I even managed a short video of a group of us taking down a super piece by Jae Maries which involved us all standing in a line to hold it as someone positioned it on a very long length of packaging on the floor.  I rushed to the computer on my return only to find that, after an hour of unsuccessful clicking, I couldn’t find a way of downloading anything! You might laugh, but I did some lateral thinking and sent everything to the computer by email instead, what a great idea and it only took another two hours! The video wouldn’t ‘send’ – too big I expect.

So here are two images and expect another posting soon when I’ve coerced someone ‘young’ to come and show me a new skill! I’ve made a note not to feel impatient when students tell me they can’t do something with their computer and have to ask a child!

Just two pics with more to come later. The first is the entrance to the gallery which is part of the Art School of Manchester university. Perhaps you can see the decorative ‘school of art’ letters. The building was opened in 1930.

Second pic shows my two pieces just before they were taken down so have their packaging placed alongside ready. Those who might have seen an image of the larger one might notice that it was hung facing the wrong way but as the digital print was good quality on both sides of the fabric it didn’t really matter and even I didn’t notice for a while.

Here is the piece by Jae Marie's with hundreds of stitched figures strung across a corner of the gallery. The length of the white strip to roll it in shows you how long it was. Working together as part of a group developed a new meaning. Video will follow.

Posterizing–I can do this!

I owe a thank you to Daniela for showing lovely posterized photos on her blog recently. I’ve never been able to get this effect to work no matter how high a number I selected. Now I’ve found that a really low number gets the results so I had a play with this image below.

I took this picture of the sky in Hyde Park recently while I was watching some Olympic event. Well – the day was very hot and the grass very cool and comfortable and we had just had lunch with a glass of wine……

Un jour á la Serpentine

Cheering on the marathon swimmers in Hyde Park and a photo inspired by a famous painter.

Then some fun with ‘paint shop’ effects. Guess the painter!

Concealing and Revealing

An intriguing glimpse of things newly revealed by the conservation team at Tyntesfield House, a National Trust property in North Somerset. It was a very inspiring day, spent with my group of masterclass students, seeing the fascinating way in which the life of this grand house is gradually being revealed. The group and I are working towards building a collection of textiles around the theme of ‘Conceal and Reveal’. This visit also gave us an excuse to meet up and enjoy each others company as well as doing some serious note, sketch and photo taking. A few images of items that intrigued me -

      

The first image is the discolouring of a wall surface due to water seepage as well as fading around a removed picture. The last image - can you guess what has been recycled to create this decorative garden feature -  masterclass students not eligible to answer!