From Kate to Catherine.

So the nation was gripped as on friday the wedding of William and Kate began coverage on the BBC started at about 8, as the commoners arrived with the celebrities, then foreign royals and members of parliament past and present and finally the royal family and the Middletons. It really does bemuse me how the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh still manage to keep up with there engagements at there grand ages, its truly remarkable and inspiring.

We tuned in too, my close family and gran, we ate scones and trifle and drank tea- How very british.

The dress was brilliant, she was beautiful, the Abbey looked amazing and there were some ornate hats and some weird ones too.

It made you proud to be British.

Thank you William and Catherine for the lovely day off on Friday!

MAC 17/08/11

Doug Jones Alieni Iuris (From somebody elses Authority) exhibition.

Entering through the double doors at the front of the exhibition, we were greeted by a group of 15-20 figures majestically standing in the centre of the room. Not heading anywhere or looking at anything, they reminded me some what of the Klu Klux Klan, the robes made from a miss match of fabric explore different themes such as camouflage print and some embroidered with messages. The air is stiff with tension and the erie silence adds to the atmosphere in the space, you are constantly on edge waiting for one of the models to move and the faceless nature of the figures adds to your curiosity, though not too much as fear very much prevents you from touching them. Into the dark room which was too odd for me, the figures crowded round a tiny bed, though the atmosphere continues and intensives in the dark surroundings with the lighting set up high, casting authoritative statues.

The let down for me was the other side of the exhibition loosing all atmosphere, a plethora of different elements, a table laid out with lots of commemorative plates on aprons, some interesting and controversial cross stitches, ten pin bowling pins with patters on, a set of mops and a video, was the space to small or too much squeezed in? was it the curator or the artist?

The exhibition is on 26th March till 22nd May.

Recommended for the robes and the MAC is well worth a visit on its own a fantastic facility just down the Pershore road and make a left by the cricket ground, with artist studios and tonnes going on for all age groups, space may be available here for my negotiated project in L6?

Image from MAC Birmingham- http://www.macarts.co.uk/event/doug-jones-alieni-iuris--from-somebody-elses-authority-

Ikea

On twitter and I found a tweet from Wolf Ollins about the 365 day Ikea campaign, such a brilliant idea, you can't get bored of an advert if you only see if for a day, and it just highlights all of Ikeas amazing products!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFOLmpWdBg

I then found how Ikea had promoted there new store in Milano, they basically highjacked the tag application on facebook, allowing people to tag themselves in pictures on the store managers own page, if you were the first to tag yourself on an object in the photo you won it!! The campaign get lots of free press and basically took over for a wee while!! Have a look at the link below, such a simple and unique idea!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYy_3786bo&NR=1

03/04/11

Posh Nosh

Cross Generations

Rock Hard Fruit Cake

A Walk in the Rain

Chit Chat

Pale Pastels

Salmon, Beef, Lemon Sole

A Grandpas Smile

A very family affair.

09/03/11

On a recent visit to London I went to the Whitechapel gallery, to see an exhibition by John Stezaker. Getting off the tube and Aldgate East, you are practically in the gallery already. The exhibition was in the main gallery through the giant glass doors, an interesting mix of colour and black and white photos collaged together in a whimsical and charming manner, the work was from a timescale spanning several decades though the outcomes were so modern at times the dates seemed some what unbelievable. The optical illusions seem to have happened so very randomly, the black and white images were more seamless than the coloured. My favourite pieces were the women with two sets of eyes, the small images of tiny people along the back wall and the train tracks. The pieces were beautifully spaced along clean white walls, at eye level, the natural recesses and different wall spaces allowed the work to be organised into sections of similar work which both flowed but also sectioned off work into loose groups. The work was framed in white plain frames, adding to the clean and minimalist feel of the exhibition. When looking at the section of work at the back of the gallery, music flowed in from an near by gallery space, a video piece by Giorgio Andreotta Calò, this added to the atmosphere in the gallery making conversation flow more freely in this end of the gallery, a mistake which took away from the formality and one that I quite enjoyed, and would maybe consider using in the future.

The exhibition is now closed, It ran from 29th January to 18th March 2011.

More information- http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/john-stezaker

Images from the above web address.

Tea and cake after so very needed but a tad too expensive on any budget, a very modern gallery with some interesting exhibitions coming up, very excited for the Fred Sandback Exhibition minimalist sculpture created using colourful threads, I wonder how close you will be able to get to the pieces? climbing inside would be interesting!! 25th May till 14th August, I hope I get there before America.

08/03/11

I recently travelled down to Brighton to see the Grammar, Nonsense, Imagination Exhibition in the Brighton University Gallery. The work was by two courses, Fine Art Print Making and Performance and Visual Arts (PAVA). There was some very thought provoking work and also some really interesting pieces by a variety of artists. I really enjoyed the concertina sketchbooks by Megan Hopkins and Helena Beer, and the taxidermy work by ... So interesting to see someone resurrecting an old forgotten technique into something more new and contemporary.

One of the best points about the exhibition was that it was great to see a group of students working together to produce an event (the opening night), a show directory and gallery which had obviously taken a lot of hard work and consideration, one shame was that I feel the work may have been better split into two halves, as the PAVA work in it 3D nature meant that to average joe it rather felt like the fabulous 2D pieces missed something, which in reality they didn't.

The Exhibition is now closed but ran for 1 week from the 4/03/11 till 12/03/11

Close Up of Concertina Sketchbook

Megan Hopkins.

Interesting Display Technique

3D techniques, layering creates texture (Megan Hopkins.)

The work shown above is by Megan Hopkins view her blog at

http://plainsailing-megan.blogspot.com/

I also wonder if Birmingham City University could do a similar run of events? shows by different groups of people? changed regularly? would they be on or off sight? something to think about for dissertation maybe?

Last Tuesday...

Last tuesday I gave a talk to 40 older ladies from the Wolverhampton and Chase Soroptmists about my trip to malawi last summer to teach first aid in primary schools with the organisation First Aid Africa, they were really interested and funny and I had a good laugh and some tasty grub to boot!

It was first for me too as I met one lady who was 100, she got an extra bit of stilton for that! and also a lady called Marjorie who was 82 still at work, got an MBE for her services to the elderly population of wolverhampton, though she originally worked in a Butchers over the war and then moved into fashion, they were all very inspirational ladies.

Its got me thinking about my professional practice model and how I need to get my bum into gear about where and what I want to be!! even if I do chop and change like Marjorie!! Even if my goal is just to travel the world and meet lots of exciting people so that at 82 I can still be on the board of a business that has to cancel meetings if I cant make it!!!

Bloomin Heston...

The new cinema food according to him equated to fake sperm and a fowl smelling fish caviar?

How simple and convient!!

New Blog

I have decided to move from my last blog- leggycarameldog.blogspot.com for a fresh start, my work, my views and anything I think will interest the world.

Today has been one of those days were everything that could possibly go wrong does, so I decided to come back from my job at Odeon Cinema and indulge myself in my blog and create a new one.

I am currently working on a project for the DA&D awards 2011, it is an environmental design project for the company Honda and it is all about the brilliant work honda do and how they wish to establish themselves as a brand that the world wish to exist.

I am also designing my sisters wedding invitations, planning a trip for 3 months to America and helping 20 volunteers get to Africa, to teach first aid in schools, trying to stop myself wanting to go back to Africa, holding down two jobs, doing some different printing techniques and live a stimulating life. Enjoy.