Come On Out And Enjoy.....My Garden Calls Me

We spend lots of time outdoors throughout the seasons but last night I realized why I like the summer season so much more than any other. My favorite time of day is after dinner is prepared, eaten, cleaned up, and the other chores are done for the day. When I step outside in the evening the garden is not calling me to work....no weeding, no planting , no watering, no pruning, or harvesting.

 
At that time of day the garden is saying, "Come on out and sit. Enjoy the growing things. Smell the fragrances that drift on the cool night air. Drink deep and refresh yourself after a long busy day. Say a prayer of thanks and just look at the sky."

I answer the call.

We had a bit of rain earlier in the day and it watered the garden for me.

Last night as I sat on the lawn chair I saw a few goldfinches visit the feeder, I noticed the lilac is getting bigger, I smelled my fragrant roses, I kicked off my shoes and wiggled my toes in the grass, and I heard the rustling of the tree leaves behind me. I was alone for the first time all day and it was really nice to sit and think.

Jami isn't the only one experiencing colder, wetter weather.

Plans were made as the sun set in the west to trim a few bushes, fill the feeders, weed the path, and write this blog entry but not tonight....maybe in the morning.

Summer evening in the garden....looking forward to more of those in the weeks to come.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Rediscovering the Past: Rückblick: Reminiscence in 19th Century Photography, Daniel Blau, London.

Review by Lauren Sperring

In our contemporary society, photography is a medium of the masses. It is taken for granted, a tool perpetually present, tying us to the images we create, as digital media constantly offers us new ways of capturing ourselves, our family and our emotions. Beyond this consumption, photography is a long accepted part of the art world and whilst many of the highly heralded contemporary pieces of the past several years have been centred on the photographic image this widespread acceptance is a recent move. The birth of photography in the early 19th Century gave way to a barrage of scepticism, criticism and anxiety toward this new tool. Ranging from folk tales of stolen souls, to academic criticism of its merits, photography was condemned to the act of scientific cataloguing. Some photographers did just this, making documentation their sole purpose, a constant amongst a sea of daunting technological progression. This turned into an act of looking to history for many, a moment in which to use this new medium to rediscover the easily neglected past.

It is in the heart of Hoxton Square that this renaissance comes to life, appropriately so in the centre of the contemporary vintage revival, East London. Perhaps it is this air of nostalgia that drove Daniel Blau to put forward Rückblick: Reminiscence in 19th Century Photography as their second show since opening just over a month ago. This Hoxton based space is an offshoot of the well established Daniel Blau Gallery in Munich, and is driven by photography. A small, narrow space, the gallery seems ideal for the minimal arrangement of vintage photographs by a variety of photographers; the walls are lined with crumbling architecture, naked bodies, ancient sculpture, and darkened forests. Nothing is off limits, so long as it engages with the all encompassing theme, reminiscence.

This immense scope of material is never daunting, however, and the exhibition adopts the feel of an archive, a catalogue marking the vital points of human history. It could be difficult to understand what an archive of visual material will offer us in this technological age, yet it is apparent that it is the air of vulnerability that makes this collection so engaging. Pieces such as Maxime Du Camp’s Nr 56: Colosse monolithe d’Amenophit II (1850) and Mother and Son (1855) by Jean-Baptiste Frenet capture the fragility of humanity and all of our creation, as both buildings and bodies begin to deteriorate with age. Frenet’s image is particularly noteworthy, the son’s eyes worryingly vacant, his body barely corporeal, fading away before our eyes. It is this vulnerability that has been largely decimated in the modern world, as machines and computers continue to protect us from everyday burden, making this exhibition worthy of attention for just that peculiar feeling of nostalgia towards an aspect of humanity that is slowly falling out of our consciousness.

The truly outstanding moments of this show are found in the details, the small consistencies that draw all the images together to escape notions of cataloguing, documentation, in favour of something creative. One instance of this is the perpetual appearance of the curve. Whether it is the curve of the female body as seen in Etude de nu Allonge (1870) or the curve of architecture, their presence renders the curve a symbol; the enduring symbol of nature, of coincidence, a moment of aesthetic chance that technology has no time for. Beyond the visually pleasing, the curve acts as the last bastion of man’s capabilities, playing on our perceptions in a moment of remembrance. There is no place for the manufactured in this exhibition, and each image wills the viewer to let time slow, to ignore the rush of human traffic outside on the square and to let vulnerability and natural beauty take hold.

On leaving the exhibition, it is easy to wonder if the display of the images was somewhat limiting, or if perhaps the use of nubile female bodies and portraits of wise old men is both expected and stereotypical, disappointing in the knowledge that part of the joy of vintage photographs is the ability to experiment with display and meaning in order to subvert their usual readings. However, this criticism does not impact on the charming quality that this exhibition holds. It does not quite feel like stepping back in time, but it does feel like an ache to rediscover the past.

Rückblick: Reminiscence in 19th Century Photography runs at Daniel Blau, Hoxton until 4 June. Further information can be found on their website danielblauphotography.com

Aesthetica Magazine
We hope you enjoying reading the Aesthetica Blog, if you want to explore more of the best in contemporary arts and culture you should read us in print too. In the spirit of celebration, Issue 41 includes a piece on Guggenheimn Bilbao where the Luminous Interval features internationally acclaimed artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith and Damien Hirst, ArtAngel's new commission at MIF, Bruce Nauman's retrospective at The Kunsthalle Mannheim and Cory Arcangel's Pro Tools at the Whitney in NYC. You can buy it today by calling +44(0)1904 479 168. Even better, subscribe to Aesthetica and save 20%. Go on, enjoy!

Image:
Anonymous
Etude de nu Allonge 1870
Courtesy the artist and Daniel Blau

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival - May Newsletter Edition

Our very first Newsletter Edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival is full of great nature study and encouragement from families around the country. I love the community feel of the Outdoor Hour Challenge and how this new format is going to help us spend more time actually outside observing our own backyards and neighborhoods looking for things that catch our interest.

I know that I gave four areas or topics for you as suggestions for nature study and you will find those listed below but I wanted to mention that if you end up focusing on something other than the suggested topics, please feel free to submit those entries as well. One thing I would like to ask of you in return is to include in your entries a link back to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter or the Handbook of Nature Study blog. I want as many people as possible to learn about our activities and jump in and participate. If you want to use the Outdoor Hour Challenge logo in your entries that is encouraged too but not required.

Don't forget that tomorrow I will be posting the new Outdoor Hour Challenge June Newsletter! You are going to love all the new features and special activities contained in the second issue of the newsletter. Make sure to subscribe to my blog so you will never miss an entry.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival
May Newsletter Edition


Wildflower Study

• Heather at Blog She Wrote has some wildflowers to share with carnival readers in her entry, Vernal Pools and Bogs.
• You are going to love this dandelion study! Ann at Harvest Moon by Hand gives us loads of great ideas in her entry to the carnival.
• Kelsey from Mud Puddles shares their Spring Hike with loads of big beautiful images of wildflowers.
• Susan from Learning All The Time has submitted their backyard nature study featuring wildflowers! Don't miss their very well done nature notebook pages from the May Newsletter.
• Phyllis and her family took a trip to the strawberry patch and they found some pineapple weed! Check out their entry, Unschool Monday: The Strawberry Patch and Nature Study.

Garden Flower Study

• Tricia from HodgePodge Homeschool gives us a glimpse at their Heavenly Hydrangeas.
• Amanda from Homegrown and Beeyoutiful shares their garden flower/rose study with carnival readers. 
• Zonnah writes about their May Lilac study on her blog Zonnah's Addictions.

Bird Study

• Kristin from Broom and Crown has some great images from their May bird study,  Desert Birds at the Botanical Garden.
• Kelsey from Mud Puddles and her children learned about the Luzuli bunting, a new bird that visits their feeder.
• Susan from Learning All The Time shares their new birdhouses in her entry Nature Study-Our Backyard.
• Jamie from See Jamie Blog has a robin's nest to observe! Don't miss her up-close photos of her resident bird.
• Tricia from HodgePodge Homeschool has a guest poster...her son! He shares their Beautiful Birds.
• Angie (Pebblekeeper) from Petra School shares their May Bird in the entry Warbler Tree.  
• Angie from Petra School also captured their neighborhood Osprey and Eagle fighting it out for a trout! You can read their May Bird List entry as well....very impressive.

Mammal Study

• Kelsey from Mud Puddles submitted their study of backyard mammals....check out their nature journals using the notebook page from the May Newsletter.

More General Nature Study

• Cara from Brooktopia shares their nature walk in their entry titled The Return of Good Weather=Nature Hikes.
• Amanda from A Thousand Words gives us a glimpse into their nature walk in their entry Going to the Green.
• Serena from Casting Pearls submitted an entry for their nature walk and their May nature study

• Nicole from One Hook Wonder submitted their Spring Tree Study (tulip tree) and an Ant Study
• Kattie from 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard writes about their Spring Tree Study for their crab apple tree. Her daughter made some wonderful notebook pages.

• Phyllis and her family had an Unexpected Nature Study at the beach....snake!
• Angie (Pebblekeeper) from Petra School submits their Tadpole Nature Journal entry for carnival readers. They used the Fill-In-The-Circles idea from the May Newsletter for their journals.
• Brandy from Half a Hundred Acre Wood gives beginners some wonderful ideas and resources for nature study. Don't miss seeing her butterfly example!

If you haven't downloaded the Outdoor Hour Challenge May Newsletter yet, you need to before Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Here is the link: May Newsletter.  (If you are using Mozilla Firefox, right click the link and "save link as" to grab the newsletter.)

Puppets

Dozens of puppets hang from the ceiling in an Indian restaurant in Soho. So bright and cheerful.

Cannes Film Festival 2011 Round-Up

Round-up by Eftihia Stefanidi

Closing on 22 May, Cannes 2011 was one to remember and though Cannes’ milieu may appear frivolous, tasteless and absurd from its exterior, the real treasures lie behind its theatrical doors, where, each year, the vocabulary of cinema awaits to be enriched by innovative filmmakers. Marking its 64th manifestation, this year’s festival was one of the greatest of recent times. After two weeks of truly inspiring films, one way to treat symptoms of Stendhal syndrome is by reflecting on the ones that were a true delight.

Lynne Ramsay’s family-centred drama We Need to Talk About Kevin set the bar high. A flawless Tilda Swinton plays a mother struggling to cope with her vicious son, Kevin, and the aftermath of his actions. Tackling the intriguing subject of evilness in children, the question is left to linger as to how much of Kevin’s condition is a result of parental negligence or simply pure chance. An unusual and intelligent story, its use of intricate flashbacks and exquisitely manipulated colour and framing keeps you on your toes, wondering where Kevin’s vice comes from.

Described by the director as a horror film without screams or frights, The Skin I Live In is a brilliant suspense thriller that cements Pedro Almodovar’s proficiency in turning soap operas into formidable ambient dramas. The Spanish director’s self-referential aesthetics, choreographed in perfect tune, are absolutely thrilling. Set in contemporary Madrid, a plastic surgeon has imprisoned a young woman, using her as guinea pig for his enigmatic experiments. At the same time, he seeks revenge against the man who raped his daughter. Almodovar’s surrogate muse, Elena Anaya, shimmers with indulgent passion, while Banderas perfectly balances his character’s obsession, eroticism and vengeance. As the genre dictates, there are moments of excruciating loiter, similar to the ones in the variously received Broken Embraces. This might disappoint the impatient viewer, but should they hang on, they will be rewarded with a gripping twist.

Palm d’Or winner and also the most anticipated film of the festival, Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life, was a transcendental experience in its own unclassified category. The genesis of cosmos, the history of the universe, the era of dinosaurs, all provided the cosmological tapestry for a father-and-son story to unfold. Narrated largely by a spellbinding voice-over, Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn), a businessman lost in a modern city, recounts his childhood memories of growing up in the 50s, where the majority of the film takes place. A stream of consciousness on how to come to terms with the loss of a younger brother and the traumas from a militant father (Brad Pitt) gives way to the more existential questions of what, when, where and how we humans got here, but also where we are going. Despite the overly archetypal characters involved in under-developed storylines, Malick creates an intergalactic world of impeccable imagery that dissolves fluidly into the deep subconscious. Jack’s inner voice may ring bells with one’s owns inquisitions and can be intimately resonant, yet, due to the film’s opaqueness, whether it all makes sense is a subjective call.

What better way to compliment a treatise on the birth of the world than an overture about the end of it all? Lars Von Trier’s discharge note from depression is Melancholia, a stunning audiovisual experience of over-dramatised vignettes inspired by German Romanticism and dressed with Wagnerian grandeur. Trier stretches the anticipation of an upcoming abyss as planet Melancholia is meant to hit the Earth, dichotomising the story between the points of view of two fundamentally different sisters. The Danish provocateur’s slick visual style has matured; his themes apparently more mainstream, and his female leads are in excess of dominance. Accepting the minor flaws of Melancholia as a work that may not make any literal sense, is a prerequisite, it’s the visceral aesthetic quality that makes it haunting.

To summarise this year without word of some of the festival’s other wonders, would be an injustice. Drive by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn was the critics’ guilty pleasure. Affectively balanced with a feminine 80s soundtrack and a wonderfully contained performance by Ryan Gosling, Drive’s raw adrenaline, stylised violence and, of course, romance carried the audience away. Another healthy pause from the highbrowed existentialism that dominated the line-up was Ali Kaursimaki’s Le Havre. Seeing life’s hardships from a lighter prism, the director returns to social realism - casually downplayed by proverbial deadpan performances – offering a sharp and humorous critical commentary on immigration behind the film’s nonchalant demeanour. Familiar atmospheric set designs, with their astounding colours add an otherworldly touch that seems to exist only in Kuarismaki’s universe. Dardenne brother’s latest, The Kid with a Bike, verified an evolution of the duo’s signature style: rhythmically elegant camera work and a dramatic soundtrack were introduced, marking the first time the Belgian duo used imposed musical themes in a film. Lastly, Michael Hazavanicus’ The Artist, a silent film that recreates the Hollywood era of the 1920s, blossomed amongst the most uncomplicated and heart-warming of all. Two hours of cinematic bliss, like in the old times.

festival-cannes.com

Imitation Moulding Wallpapers of the 1840s

Illustration: Turner & Sons. Imitation moulding wallpaper design, 1849.

The first half of the nineteenth century saw a rise in the popularity of imitation wallpapers. These were wallpaper designs that were created specifically to portray the illusion that they were either types of materials or a form of decoration, which they clearly were not. Therefore, many of these wallpapers created an effect of a pretence to marble and other stonework, as well as a number of expensive imported woods. Our modern day equivalent would probably be laminate flooring, which gives the impression from a distance of solid wood floors, but clearly on closer inspection is just a photograph of a wood effect pasted onto pressed wood dust.

As to the nineteenth century decorative effects themselves, moulding styles usually based on a classical theme, were particularly fashionable. It seems unlikely that these imitation moulding wallpapers would have actually fooled anyone into believing that they were originals, but perhaps that was never their real intention. It seems likely that they were intended to give an ambience, rather than to be dishonest. In the hands of professional decorators these imitation wallpaper themes could prove very effective. However, some customers when deciding to take on their own decorative schemes, either through lack of funds or a misguided appreciation of their own decorative skills, did use them sometimes in staggering degrees of excess. They could be found in some homes framing the frames of paintings and the individual panels of doors. They were also used to border every conceivable wall and ceiling surface, even producing geometric patterns on ceilings, which gave the altogether disconcerting effect of outlining everything with a bold pen or brush.

The two pieces illustrating this article were produced by the English company Turner & Sons in 1849. They are representations of standard Greek style stucco moulding that could have been found in any Georgian or early Victorian interior and are therefore part of the general Georgian theme rather than that of the later Victorian. By the latter half of the nineteenth century, many of these imitation wallpapers were frowned on as being deliberately illusional or at least misrepresentations of reality. However, this did not stop the concept of imitation decoration as the large and complex trade in paint effects became extremely fashionable. The effects of both stone and wood were endlessly copied in different types of paint effect, on walls, ceilings, doors, windows and furniture. That one of the most popular paint effect techniques was the illusional representation of marble, perhaps says much about the later Victorian era.

Illustration: Turner & Sons. Imitation moulding wallpaper design, 1849.

Styles were often different within wallpapers themselves, with paper designs that was to be seen at a closer level were usually much more complex than those that were to be seen from a greater distance such as ceiling or near ceiling height. These imitation wallpapers sometimes gave the design reform movement great difficulty as many were against any form of obvious dishonesty or illusional form. That these decorative designs did both left some critics in no doubt as to their dubious intentions and purpose. However, other critics saw these decorative wallpaper effects as merely giving an ambience without the intention of deceit, and were therefore perfectly acceptable for interior use. To go back to our own contemporary analogy of laminate flooring, does the laminate try to portray itself as a solid wood floor, or does it instead give an overall ambience that would be appreciative of a room with a solid wood floor, while still being obvious to everyone that it was a laminate.

One thing that is sure is the fact that imitation wallpaper and paint effects were around for a long time before the mid nineteenth century and are still very much with us in the twenty first.

Further reading links:
Fabrics and Wallpapers: Twentieth-Century Design
Wall Papers for Historic Buildings: A Guide to Selecting Reproduction Wallpapers
Wallpaper: A History of Style and Trends
Wallpaper, its history, design and use,
Fabrics and Wallpapers: Design Source Book
Wallpaper (Historic Houses Trust Collection)
Wallpaper and the Artist: From Durer to Warhol
French Scenic Wallpaper 1795-1865
Landscape Wallcoverings (Cooper Hewitt National Design)
Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings
Pattern Design: Period Design Source Book
The Papered Wall: The History, Patterns and Techniques of Wallpaper, Second Edition
Wallpaper in Interior Decoration
Wallpaper: The Ultimate Guide
London Wallpapers: Their Manufacture and Use 1690-1840 (Revised Edition)
Victorian Wallpaper Designs (Internatinal Design Library)
Twentieth-Century Pattern Design
Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I
Wallpaper, Its History, Design and Use; With Frontispiece in Colour and Numerous Illustrations From Photographs

Watching the Cricket

Sunday afternoon on Parliament Hill watching the cricket. An English past-time.

Point of Interest: Peter Marlow, Wapping Project\Bankside, London

Review by Kara Magid, a candidate for the MA in Art History at Richmond, The American International University in London.

Peter Marlow's Point of Interest photography exhibit is on view at The Wapping Project Bankside gallery from 24 May - 2 July. The Wapping Project Bankside is a gallery focusing on lens-based media founded by the Director of the Wapping Project, Jules Wright. Marlow joined the gallery in 2009 and the site provides Marlow's photographs with a generous amount of space in which they can truly flourish. The first photograph we encounter when entering the exhibit is of a shopping cart left astray in a public space. This large-format image allows for the viewer to ingest each detail and also to get a feel for the wide expansive space in which the shopping cart has been positioned. Because this photograph is not in black and white, it resembles a scene we might pass by while taking a random walk outdoors. Most of Marlow's colour photographs first seem like visual documents of mundane life but as one makes their way through the exhibit, it becomes clear that this is not Marlow’s intention. What he is attempting to do is to capture instances of abandonment in which various objects are the victims. No longer is the solitary shopping cart a commonplace object but a trace left behind by reckless human behaviour.

This idea of abandonment is pushed further by the flooding surrounding the cart and under which it is submerged. Marlow’s photographs display how something that once served a particular purpose can easily be left behind. He is particularly good at presenting this theme by placing objects in contexts that do not relate to them whatsoever. In this way, Marlow's photographs also completely deny our expectations. Whilst we expect to see a shopping cart in front of a grocery store - the fact that it is submerged under water allows it to be reconsidered by the viewer. The shopping cart has no purpose in the context of this photograph. By calling attention to context, Marlow brings up an important point - that context is extremely relevant in viewing contemporary photography.

The theme of abandonment reoccurs in different forms throughout the space of The Wapping Project. In a large format, colour photograph entitled Empty office in Clerkenwell/England (2002), Marlow captures the interior of an abandoned office space. In this image, light comes in from outside on a sunny day and presents itself on the floor, emulating the shape of the window through which it enters the room. This white-washed lighting provides the photograph with a sense of serenity, emphasizing the potential vulnerability that might be experienced by a thing if it is to be abandoned. What is left behind in the interior of this image are telephones no longer supported by desks and so they find their place on the floor. Because all of the telephone receivers are hung up, it appears as if their purpose has been discontinued. Ironically, the design of the telephones is reminiscent of older models and this only seems to drive the point home that these objects have been abandoned and will also soon be replaced. Once overused and talked into by humans - in this photograph, they have become entirely forgotten. Here again - Marlow makes us aware that something once serving an important purpose can become something that no longer has one at all. By presenting us with an office space, he also challenges our expectations. Who would have thought, that in the context of an office space where communication is pertinent, the means of this communication could become obsolete?

By capturing a variety of different locations and spaces, Marlow reminds us that no place is safe - instances of abandonment can occur anywhere and they are not just experienced by people. People, in fact are nowhere to be found in Marlow's photographs. Besides for Marlow himself, the only references to human life are represented by the traces they have left behind. These traces range from human footprints, dug up holes in the dirt, or the careful assemblage of Lego people and their accessories. In Marlow's photographs, humans have projected themselves onto objects and modified locations and then in the next breath, they have left these things behind. This is as if to say an object or location is only significant when it is being altered by human life. By visiting The Wapping Project Bankside gallery, one can view these powerful statements communicated by Marlow through his photographs.

Importantly, the exhibit is not limited to colour photography but also includes ten smaller black and white images. Finished in gelatin silver - they are dazzling prints mounted on museum board. Not only can Marlow present his viewers with significant themes - he can also employ this theme whilst also experimenting with different media and techniques. In a black and white print from 1996, the subject is a disused coal mine which later became the location of an Earth Centre. The context of this image is Doncaster, England and the replacement of the coal mine by the Earth Centre is emphasized by the detail Marlow has chosen to capture in this photograph. He does not simply take a shot of the Earth Centre as it stands today but shows the way in which concrete now covers and discontinues a route that once lead to the now obsolete coal mine. Because coal mining was once largely practiced in Doncaster and is no longer important today - Marlow again shows how something can lose its significance once it is befallen by change. In at first appearing ordinary and subtle, Marlow's images actually capture the essence of changes that have taken place in particular contexts. By presenting us with locations that were once occupied but today are abandoned, Marlow makes us consider the stability we might assume something to have. Perhaps everything at some point will become victim to abandonment. This exhibit is a good reminder of what photographs can do, capture the fleeting nature of appearances.

Point of Interest continues until 2 July.
thewappingprojectbankside.com

Aesthetica Magazine
We hope you enjoying reading the Aesthetica Blog, if you want to explore more of the best in contemporary arts and culture you should read us in print too. In the spirit of celebration, href="http://aestheticamagazine.blogspot.com/2011/04/aesthetica-aprilmay-issue-40-out-today.html">Issue 40 includes features on James Turrell, Wim Wenders, sculptors Alice Anderson and Kate MccGwire plus an extended feature on the Making is Thinking show at Witte De With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. You can buy it today by calling +44(0)1904 479 168. Even better, subscribe to Aesthetica and save 20%. Go on, enjoy!

Image:
Peter Marlow
The Experimental Station, Dungeness / England 2006
C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive, mounted on aluminium, signed.
Edition 1/7, 73x73cm

Peter Marlow
Road near Koya, Wakayama Prefecture / Japan 1998.
C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive, mounted on aluminium, signed.
Edition 1/7, 73x73cm

Circle of Heads

"Makes our lot seem positively tame doesn't it".

Ok now your turn. Best quote published tomorrow.

Sculptor/artist Ai Wei Wei has been detained by the Chinese authorities. His work of twelve zodiac heads is currently on display at Somerset House.

Dandelions Can Grow Two Feet Tall!

I think we have all read in the Handbook of Nature Study that the dandelion can grow to be two feet or more in height. I had never seen a dandelion that tall but I took her word for it (page 532 in the HNS in the dandelion section).

Today, I saw a dandelion that was more than two feet tall! The photo above show the plant we found alongside our walking trail. I am holding the stem up with the blossom on top.....Kona wanted to be in the photo too. Yes, it was cold enough for a flannel shirt and it did sprinkle on us as we walked. I had on my new Keens though....Keen Newport Sandal (gargoyle and sap green).




Here are the blossoms up close.



I took a photo of the leaves at the base so you can see that it is indeed a dandelion.



The purple vetch is really taking over the sides of the trail...my favorite color so beautiful and happy.



It makes me happy anyway. The bees were loving it too.

So there you have it....two foot high dandelions!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Beach Huts

An urban beach and a seaside garden have popped up along Southbank. A funfair and traditional beach huts. each of these huts has an installation inside, ranging from a seashell grotto to a penny machine that lets you whack a banker.
It's going to be a grand summer.

Happy Memorial Day!

Some things come into your mailbox and make you smile. For me it's this collage announcing Duncan Hannah's forthcoming show at Half Gallery. The juxtaposition of this sexy summery profile with the stodgy Country Life - and their Christmas Number, no less - make for a funny and surreal jolt!

Duncan Hannah, who is best known as a talented realist painter, is one of those artists who I see making their way around the galleries, checking out what's on. I always think this is a good sign - someone not so locked in their garret (or studio) that they can't engage with the world.

Anyway, the show opens June 1 and I certainly plan to check it out. In the meantime, to those in The States - have a happy Memorial Day Weekend!

The Future Opportunities of Hand Production

Lacemaking in Lefkara, Cyprus from Etsy on Vimeo.

Today's article was to be on a different aspect of lace design. However, I was approached by Etsy regarding the above video and was intrigued by the subject matter. The video deals with the seemingly age-old problem of machine versus hand production. The video itself deals with the situation in Cyprus where traditional lace embroidery is inevitably being led towards extinction by the importation of cheap machine produced lace, mainly from China. Cyprus is by no means the only area of conflict between machine and hand production and China is not the only culprit in flooding the market with cheap products. However, this video does highlight the acute confrontation between machine and hand production, which is mainly one of a personal and cultural mind set.

The problem itself is over two centuries old and entails most, if not all of the traditional crafts. However, textiles seems to have suffered perhaps disproportionately, with most of the industry at one point being exclusively hand produced, including both woven and printed textiles, along with embroidery, carpet and lace production. 

The industrialisation of the textile industry started in Britain in the eighteenth century and has been enveloping every aspect of the industry ever since. Lace was one of the last crafts to be industrialised because of its human complexity, and even now mass produced lace work is obviously inferior to that of the hand crafted variety. Traditional lace workers across Europe produced work for domestic, and particularly fashion industries for generations. Each piece of lace was hoarded and protected so that samples often travelled down the generations through families. 

Part of the appeal of lacework was the fact that it was so labour intensive and therefore expensive. It was also valued as a piece of human creativity, an individual piece of work that had been produced by human hands and therefore connected both human lace worker and customer. Part of the problem with machine production is the fact that, by its definition, it deals in quantity rather than quality. The casualness of bulk production severs the human link with the mass produced piece as it is now a relationship of machine and human rather than human to human, with the result that the casualness becomes part of both the market and the way that individuals treat the products produced by machine. They seem valueless and because of their relative cheapness and availability they are easily and readily replaced. 

Unfortunately, this casual indifference has become part of the tragedy of a consumer culture that has nowhere left to dump its discarded casual buys. One thing that hand craft can teach us is about finite availability, rather than infinite availability. Rather than buying fifteen mock woollen tops over a year, which would then only last that year, we could buy one or two that had been hand knitted and would last perhaps a decade. Instead of buying cheap chipboard furniture every three years, we can buy good hand produced furniture that although expensive would only need to be bought once in a generation. A good hand produced rug should last an entire lifetime and then still be useful to another generation.

The argument is always that hand production costs too much for the average wage earner to buy. While this is true, it is also part of a mind set. While good hand crafted products are expensive, they should last much longer than those spewed out by the mass produced market. Therefore, saving for choice pieces of furniture and accessories, rather than filling a home with cheap but voluminous items, makes sense particularly as far as the environment is concerned. Because we are told that it is our duty to consume in a market economy, does not mean that we have no choices to make. Many in the world survive on an a much smaller range of creature comforts.

This is not to say that the hand craft industry can change the world and save the environment. Many of our every day products cannot be produced by hand and are such an integral part of our life that we are loathe to give them up. However, there is no reason why the hand craft market cannot be much larger than it is. A proportion of the consumer market could well be sourced from the traditional crafts, and although it may well mean that the fashion led market of in built obsolescence would have to be reduced in scale and size, it may well help us to take control of our seemingly runaway dumping of machine made goods.  

There are still many professional craft makers across the globe, and an increasing army of amateurs. If the unfocused enthusiasm of the maker and the market led indifference of the consumer can be guided towards each other, then a brisk trade in products made for longevity rather than fleeting fashion could be fostered. Instead of buying cheap machine produced lace to throw away, we can buy a piece of hand produced lace that can be passed down to another generation.

This has turned into more of a personal article than perhaps intended, and by its nature will be bound to be disagreed with, which is as it should be. I like to think however, that perhaps some may see as I do, that the Etsy video does not necessarily spell the end of hand production, but rather shows an opportunity to at least fundamentally rethink some of the aspects of our market economy, the fashion dominated world and the consumer market that cynically uses it. That hand craft can be seen as part of the solution to some of the more pressing environmental problems of a throwaway culture, lends support to the fact that traditional crafts, of whatever form, still have a purpose and a vital function to play in the twenty first century and beyond.

I would like to thank Etsy for approaching me with this video and giving me the opportunity, or excuse, to write this article.

Wellcome Library Insights: June - July

Our popular Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. These free sessions are thematic in style, last around an hour and offer a chance to learn about our collections.

Details of June and July's Insights have just been released. They are:

Fascinating Faces - 16th June, 3pm-4pm
(Learn about the provocative idea that our faces can be 'read' - is it an art or a science?)

Women, Health and Healing - 23rd June, 3pm-4pm
(Explore the changing attitudes of women in medicine and attitudes to female healers through the centuries)

Henry Wellcome: His Life and Work - 28th July, 6pm-7pm
(Find out more about our founder as an individual, a businessman and as a collector).

For more details on how to attend the sessions, please follow the links above to the appropriate pages on the Wellcome Collection website.

Image: Seven portraits of women, compared for their beauty and prudence. Drawing, c. 1789 (Wellcome Library no. 28698i)