Dark Energy

I saw this mysterious dark sphere arrive in the Kröller Müller Sculpture Gardens in the summer of 2018 surrounded by the curators and the Gerard Lammers' driver who has just unloaded it with his hands on his hips waiting to leave. I captioned it Touching the Void on my Flickr page but the Kröller Müller webpage has listed its new acquisitions and its actual name is 'Battery for Five Fingers' and if I had been closer would have seen the five round holes which "invite you to insert your fingers in order to charge yourself up" and the hatted man is indeed charging himself up.  The granite ball has been given to the Kroller Muller by the artist Jan van Munster and I wonder if the man 'charging' could be van Munster himself.

The long hot summer of 2018 as can be seen has taken its toll on the grass

 The lorry has left and the logistics of handling this large 9 ton granite sphere, or as the artist says 'amassed energy', has been passed on.  When one thinks of the deep time from which granite has emerged then indeed this is a planet sized "big ball of amassed energy".  Maybe I will be able to return to this wonderful art gallery and garden some time in the future and charge myself.

• Battery for Five Fingers has been installed in the Kröller Müller Sculpture Garden this year and can be seen on their page 'Four New Acquisitions in the Sculpture Garden'

• Jan Van Munster Wikipedia page

• Jan Van Munster webpage

The Good Ship Xmas

Christmas Card (1901) by Harry Napper for the Silver Studio (seen in the Europeana Collections portal)

I echo the words of the Christmas Card and wish Good Fortune and Best Wishes as you set sail on the good ship Xmas

About the Card

Harry Napper (1860-1930) was a British water colourist  and designer in multiple mediums who was one of the leading designers working for the fabric, wallpaper, carpet and metalwork design company Silver Studio (an important part of the development of the Art Nouveau movement).  The card is part of the thousands of objects which form the core of  Middlesex University's  Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MODA) collection covering the Silver Studio's design output from 1880-1960.  This collection can be browsed online here

Union Jack on Holiday

Union Jacks being flown at the entrance to Port Haverigg Holiday Park to welcome the residents.  There was a discussion at the time Scotland was voting whether to become independent of the United Kingdom what our national flag might look like without the St Andrews Cross on it and a number of possible designs produced.  As it never happened no need to buy fresh flags, yet.

Lets take a walk down the road

and something unexpected may be seen outside one of the holiday homes which overlook the Hodbarrow Lagoon.  A miniature lighthouse, complete with little door, cottage and boathouse made with beach pebbles. Our artist has also included a windmill. Perhaps the miller and the lighthouse keeper go to the

 little church across the path on Sundays.  It doesn't show up too well on the photograph but the snaking sign says, or should I say hisses, "Pleeesse Water'. A plea to the unheedful gardener?

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at U here 

Hodbarrow

Millom School's "Its your Tern Project" has certainly added a welcome splash of colour to the RSPB Hodbarrow hide whose solid dark concrete has a tendancy to look more like a nuclear bunker than a place to  watch birds.

Panels designed and painted by pupils at Millom School and installed in 2013, the colours are still vibrant.

Heron and Natterjack toad contemplating, detail from the middle panel.

Fourth Plinth

The fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square was supposed to hold an equestrian statue but lack of funding meant that it lay empty of 150 years.   In 1999 the marvellous idea of  using it for contemporary art was started and different pieces have appeared on it over the years.  On the 25 July 2013 the latest occupant was unveiled -  Hahn/Cock by the German artist Katharina Fritsch. This vivid ultramarine bird would brighten up any day and stands out against the surrounding buildings of grey Portland Stone.  I like the whimsy of the installation being in a city square and nowhere near a farmyard.   I also think that Fritsch is having a little joke in that the cockerel is a French national symbol, and here it is popping up in Trafalgar Square whose name and statue of Lord Nelson commemorates the British naval battle against the French in the Napoleonic Wars. 

The forth plinth is always a lure for the photographer and it is a must to check the camera shot.

"All right, Mr DeMille I'm ready for my close up"

Here is a different occupant of the Fourth Plinth (left of the fountain) who has gone with the naval theme of the square.

This is "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle" by Yinka Shonibare which lived on the plinth from May 2010-2012.  A perfect replica of HMS Victory, apart from the sails of Indonesian batik.   This material was originally mass produced by Dutch traders and sold in West Africa and today it is associated with African dress.  As a black British artist Shonibare is mixing the traditional ship in a bottle with batik sails to comment and meditate on colonialism, industrialisation and emigration.  It certainly struck a chord with the British public because when it was rumoured that on its removal from the plinth it was going to be sold to Korea money was raised to keep it in England and today it is installed outside the National Maritime Museum.  This is a happy coincidence because I'm staying nearby there next month when I hope to get a better photograph.  I struggled with both the sun and the hight to get much of the intricate details in this one.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at F here

    

Mussel In

This juvenile maritime gull could not have posed in a better place for a photograph.  Is it trying to hitch a ride or just waiting for something tasty.

Perhaps some mussels though it would be disappointed in these for they are made of Kerry limestone.  Created by the stone sculptor Graeme Micheson in 2007 they stand on the Conwy quayside and called by their Latin name Mytilus Edulis but the real thing, the Blue Mussel, has many more hues. To the right of the sculpture is Conwy Mussels who hand rake (in wooden boats) the shellfish where they naturally grow on the seabed, and where the Conwy river meets the ocean.  This sustainable fishing make them larger in size than rope grown mussels.  The mussel season runs from 1st September until the end of April when they are sent to the fish markets  in something faster than this

Ye Olde Mail Coach, Conwy

 They are rarely disturbed in summer when they breed so maybe that is when they mail out publicity

Castle Street, Conwy

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey though the alphabet, this week sojourning at M

High Rises

Portsmouth

The sun starting to set on a high-rise building in Portsmouth.   This occupants of this building must have seen some stunning sunsets across the city.  We, however, were side on in our hotel so could just appreciating the light as it illuminated the building.

Hands steady, click.  Yes we often find ourselves photographing the same thing but in this case I have been quicker so now photograph the other happy snapper

Liverpool

Heading north and nearer home, another city skyline from old to modern where nearby in the Tate there was a high-rise

stack of plates.   This is "No Title (Stacked Plates)" by the American Sculptor Robert Therrien who likes to super-size household items and trigger memories of childhood. These huge plates tower over you  and when walking around the shiny curves make it seem as though it is smoothly moving.  Quite discombobulating but mesmerising.

An entry to ABC Wednesday - a hop from letter to letter through the alphabet

     

Ewe Looking At Me

Wandering by the Rusland Pool beck this ewe was keeping an eye on me, as I was her

with her embellishment which is a practical identification but also gives her a blue punk style I found enchanting.

Returning back along the trail  she was still there but now taking her ease in the sun and still posing. Despite there being about 3 million sheep in the county I never tire of taking pictures of them, they don't fly or flutter away, hide in the undergrowth or have any camouflage. Of course it depends on the breed but these ones are placid, their thick wool making them look round and plump like this . 

The artist  is Reece Ingram who says he is "fascinated how closely the sheep resemble the landscape they live on. Each sheep looks like a gathering of hills". He too is fond of sheep and has made many representations in stone and sandstone.  This is one is made of oak, the national tree of England, like the sheep it has endurance in all weathers.  It is one of six called "Sethera" in Ridding Wood.  I could only spot four so the other two must be hidden somewhere waiting to be found. Or should I say I could only spot methera and the other tyan are hidden for the artist has used the old shepherds counting system and sethera means six. Long gone out of use its final death-knell I imagine with the 1870 education act providing schooling for all.  Each valley had its own counting system although they had their similarities.  The method may have be been brought here by the Celts or Norsemen in the ancient past.  Today only one (or should I say yan) is used in dialect; yan =1, such as  "can I have yan of them"

Ready to count?   1 yan, 2 tyan, 3 tethera, 4 methera, 5 pimp, 6 sethera, 7 lethera, 8 hovera, 9 dovra, 10 dick, 11 yan a dick, 12 tyan a dick, 13 tethera a dick, 14 methera a dick, 15 bumfit 16 yan a bumfit, 17 tyan a bumfit, 18 tether a bumfit, 19 methera a bumfit and 20 figgot.  In some parts of the county 15 is mimph but the child in me prefers to say bumfit.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet. 

 

Aldeburgh Art Ancient and Modern

Amazingly another alphabet gone and we are at number 12 of the rounds of ABC Wednesday, so new year, new badge and new alphabet words. With no more ado let me take you to the south east of England to the coastal town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk and head for the beach, which may have snow on it at the moment, but what better time to dream of sunny summer days when you can wander along the beach picking up shells, but this one is not for picking but for admiring

"Scallop" by Maggi Hambling is dedicated to the composer Benjamin Britten who lived in Aldeburgh and used to walk along the beach in the afternoon.  The words written on the edge say "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" and are from his opera 'Peter Grimes' which was based on part of a poem by George Crabbe a native of Aldeburgh.  This year a beach performance of Peter Grimes will take place at Aldeburgh as part of the music festival.  East Anglia is the driest part of Britain so hopefully they get a day like the one in my photographs.

Mermaid on the Scallop

Maggi Hambling's idea was for the Scallop to be both visual and tactile. It proved controversial with some local people who said it spoilt the shingle beach.  I went to see for myself and loved it on the crest of the beach, it would seem that

visitors do too for every time I passed it was either being photographed or as in the previous photo sat on. Hambling thinks of it as a conversation with the sea

"An important part of my concept is that at the centre of the sculpture, where the sound of the waves and the winds are focused, a visitor may sit and contemplate the mysterious power of the sea,"

Maggi Hambling, before The Scallop, was probably most famous for being a portrait painter full of bold strokes and lots of paint.  She also became well known for appearing in the 1980s as captain of the TV quiz show "Gallery" where the panellists of the two teams used to identify and discuss works of art. Described as a "cerebral quiz show" I couldn't see it being made for today's television even discounting the fact that Hambling was rarely seen without a cigarette in her hand.

That is the modern (2003) part of Aldeburgh in my title but walk away from The Scallop and towards Aldeburgh to find the ancient

 Moot Hall built in 1520.  Moot Halls are local meeting places and this once this held local council meetings but today although the Town Clerk has an office here the rest is a museum, which as the sign says is "open".  The building was restored in 1854 hence its good condition.

 Going around the side and there is the sundial from the times before the railways when each part of England had a different time.  The coming of the railways meant that there had to be a standardised time for all the country otherwise the timetables would not make any sense.

Go around the back and a couple of cyclists have arrived, the relatively flat and rolling county of Suffolk being ideal for being active on a bike.

A Woodland Walk Through Winding Wingnuts

Take a walk in the the woods and there may be more than moss and leaves growing on trees especially in Grizedale Forest, well known for its sculptures and art works scattered across its acreage sometimes on paths sometimes tucked away off the trails. One of the lower paths accessible for both walkers and wheelchairs has suddenly sprouted some brass wing-nuts.

   I wondered what they were when we turned the corner onto this path

And as they appeared to go through the trees, what was the purpose of the bowl on the other side.

I wondered if they turned, yes, they clunked I turned it round with no resistance.  I moved on if I had stuck with it until experiencing resistance then this would have happened:

What a super surprise I would have got if this sound had floated out into the summer air.  I discovered , thanks to the internet, that this is "The Clockwork Forest" by the art collective greyworld, only installed in October 2011. Its idea is that of the untold fairytale, and the secret stories and distant sounds of the forest.

So amongst the wind rustling through the leaves one could sit here and get someone to wind this up and let the tinkling sound drift on the air.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a walk through the alphabet from A to Z

Harmonic Fields

I posted the pictures from the Harmonic Fields event (an artistic installation of aeolian wind powered instruments, a soundscape) yesterday, but there were not only wind catchers but lots of lovely signs.

I appeared to be the only person taking photos of them, now I am sure if the participants of the Lesley's Signs, Signs meme had have been there it would have been a different story.

The signs were everywhere,  most with the different winds of the world like

the "Pampero, westerly wind in the Rio de la Plata", then underneath the musical term 'presto'.  And some more esoteric words

like Labyrinth, well actually Labyrinthe, the French spelling for the the art company are French. This sign stands on part of a limestone pavement, a geological feature of the location of Birkrigg Common.

An entry to Signs, Signs