This year, Ross sculptural piece ‘Invasion’ was chosen to be exhibited as part of the Food Lovers Festival, in the beautiful North Yorkshire village of Malton. Known as Yorkshire’s food capital, the town is filled with art pieces during the food festival, which then moves to Dalby Forest at the heart of the North York…
In Search of Red
Our first V&A masterclass ‘In Search of Red’, happened last weekend and it was a great success. Two days instead of our usual 5-day week long comprehensive course, the weekend allowed dyers with experience to explore traditional and historic reds, some which are rarely used today. It was a wonderful mix of people, with some…
Preorder India: Textiles, Crafts, Culture and Life
We are preparing to launch our new book, ‘India: Textiles, Crafts, Culture and Life’. The hardback art book is based on Jonathan’s travels though India with Aahilya’s Textile Tours. Looking at Indian textile practices and crafts through workshops and demonstrations, it examines traditional skills such as Baranasi Silk Weaving, Sanganer Block Printing, Chikan Kari and…
Florence Trust Artists in Residence
This year, the Florence Trust has invited 14 international artists onto a combination of 6 & 12-month residencies at the Florence Trust‘s new base, the Grade 2 star former Church of Christchurch, NW1 4BG, situated next to Regent’s Park. We welcomed 6 of the new artists to the FT Cloudsley Square for an introductory workshop…
Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years Part 2
Picking up where we left off in Part 1, Room 7 is hung with preparatory drawings and photographic works illustrating performative, transient and proposed projects. In Northdale, North Yorkshire, ‘Pulling barbed wire’ happened in March 2021 followed by ‘Wall head’ in October 2021. Existing only as photos, they illustrate another strand of Goldsworthy’s work, using…
Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years Part 1
‘Andy Goldworthy: Fifty Years’ is both a retrospective, a site specific set of installations and a distillation of all that makes him such a fascinating artist. Growing up in Yorkshire and spending his time as a teenager working on farms, the young Andy developed a passion for working with the land: harrowing the fields, bailing…
Melvin’s Mini Adventure: From London to St Andrews (and back again)
I had a week planned up in Scotland, visiting my folks so it was the perfect opportunity for me ‘n’ Melvin to hit the road for an adventure. First stop was a visit to the Malton Sculpture Trail to see Ross’ sculpture in Dalby Forest in the North York Moors National Park. We drove up…
Contemporary Art and Political Reflections – ‘Breaking Through’
The Holborn Group is a collective of artists working in a range of media including drawing, printmaking, painting, photography, textiles and sculpture. Founded in 2014, after studying together, their exhibition this year takes place Downstairs at the Department Store, Brixton, a venue with space to explore more ambitious work which includes paintings, drawings, textile and sculptural pieces. Ross…
Melvin and I – From Ticket to Triumph!
UKMinis is the UK’s leading classic Mini & Mini club, having over 143,000 followers across social media networks. They have been running giveaways competitions since May of 2020 and, every-so-often, I have periodically been buying the odd ticket. There have been over 250 Mini winners so far, and lots more who took the cash. Before…
A Culinary Journey at The Shore
On Wednesday evening, Kevan and Willem sprung the most amazing surprise – an evening at The Shore, in Penzance. An incredible culinary experience. The Shore is run by Bruce Rennie, who grew up just down the road from my sister, so a fellow gentleman from the Kingdom of Fife. What makes the place unique in…
Føroyar – The Elemental Art of Sax Impey
“From every quarter the winds come and they sing of sea and land.Rasmus Effersoe, Úr øllum attum koma vindar, (1886-1891) ‘Begin with the medium… a stick of charcoal, that most ancient of material… perhaps the oldest, alongside ochre, the drawing mud of our forebears… There is shape, and form to be discovered, the forms which…
Adam Buick Cornish Series VI
Adam Buick uses the Korean Moon Jar form, significant in art history, as a canvas for his observations of the landscape and our unique relationship with it. The gathering and use of local materials is integral to his practice: by incorporating local clay and stone into his work, he creates an artistic narrative that conveys…
Modern Eccentrics 