To be an Explorer...Gathered Thoughts

I had a rare day out last week in London with an old friend.  It started as a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the wonderful Opus Anglicanum exhibition (finishes on the 5 February) and on a whim and ended up in the London Docklands as the sun was going down.

Detail of the Butler-Bowden Cope

It was a bright, cold day and I remembered an old friend of mine (from Community Arts days in the Medway) had a show in the Docklands at Trinity Buoy Wharf  'Everything Comes from The Egg'. The 'Exbury Egg' Turner has lived on for over a year has been brought indoors in order to exhibit many of the pieces that it helped to create as part of his understanding of the environment and the river it is named after, the River Exbury in Hampshire

Above are pictures of the exhibition, the artist's working and living space inside the egg and collected plant materials in jars. ‘I call them all ghosts because it’s a way of remembering what was there,’ he says. ‘But it’s not perfect – like memories, they carry on changing.’Sharing things related to water I have been invited to take part in New Quilting and exhibition of work by international and Cumbrian makers which have been selected for the Arts Council England supported exhibition, New Quilting at Rheged Arts Centre from Friday 3 March to Sunday 23 April.  LV21 shown on board the lightship of the same name,  is one of three pieces I will be exhibiting in the show.

 It has been a cold start to the year. I visited family in Norfolk and used the opportunity to make some sketches and photos of the bleak landscape. I have also had my head down to plan for workshops and exhibitions coming up returning to Norfolk in early February a couple of workshops at Eaubrink studios and I have just booked my ticket for the French Alps with the Alpine Experience in August. All other workshops including a return to summer school at West Dean are detailed on this blog. Have a good 2017.