Sunday 14 October 2012

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 8

Busy in town. Tourists making the most of glorious weather.

Balloons and 'This Weekend' posters were put up all along The Grove, Station Plaza and Brook Street.


Billboard fame:


The first of today's guest experiences is from:

Ruth Wightman, oil painter at VENUE 13:

(Did he go through the submissions process?!...)


Hi all

A strange coincidence happened on Wednesday. As I was leaving Christ Church (VENUE 13 - late, I thought it was 5 and it was actually 6 ) the wonderful stained glass window on the stairs caught my eye, the words "Children" at the bottom of  the first shield particularly drew my  attention.
The window had been given to the Church by the Children of Frank and Mary Elisabeth Suddards in their memory in 1940.

After reading this I really looked at the  window and noticed what beautiful drawing and colours make up this window and remembered that it was once at the front of the alter before the church gained a floor.  The last shield reads "He that was dead came forth " with rather a creepy image of a bandaged figure shinning out of a deep blue background.

I'm not religious but  those words kept going through my head on the drive home.

As I neared my house I saw my neighbour who for a combination of reasons I only see about twice a year and so I stopped the car to catch up.

When she heard that I was exhibiting at Christ Church she told me that some of her relatives had given the church a stained glass window and she was amazed when I knew their first names and what really astonished me was that Frank was an artist and an Royal Academist ...so I can't help thinking he came forth!

Regards Ruth

The second Guest reflection is from:

Chris Smith (VENUE 10) on Gillian Gilroy's work at VENUE 13:



One of my favourite works in the trail is this cup cake (as we seem to be calling them these days) by Gillian Gilroy. It looks painterly from a distance, but starts to loosen into fragments, strips and flakes of coloured paper as the eye closes in. The colours are well-judged with each of the three main complementary pairings present: greens and reds, blues and oranges and most pleasing of all, a few fragments of grey which hint at purple, surrounded as they are by yellows and greens.

This might seem fanciful (I am sure it is), but I caught a sense of ambiguity in the work; between the thing it evidently is, i.e. a cake in a domestic scene and the possibility of something more monumental. Here is the case (ahem) for the fanciful idea of the monumental. Firstly the background is rather map-like, particularly with that curling archipelago form in the top left corner. There is a horizon line which joins a surface plane containing fragments of patchwork green. Then there is the cake itself: solid and  circular, topped by icing and supported strongly by those column-like flutings of alternating dark and light. Before you think me totally mad, I remembered what it was that fuelled these thoughts in my sub-conscious; a painting by William Nicholson of the view of Malaga from a hillside in 1936.


This has been the last blog of 2012 Art Trail. I hope you have enjoyed it!  

Thank you for taking the journey with us and all the best for the year ahead from Ilkley Art Trail!


Friday 12 October 2012

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 7

Busier around Town today and busier at most venues - this is good!

Tomorrow will be busy so get there early!

We have made it... to a bin!... But a full page spread in the Ilkley Gazette looks great - well done all.


FACE-BOOK JOBS

Two boons for The Trail are Judith Levin's lovely tea tin and Anita Bowerman's lovely paper cut maps.

Do visit Betty's cafe face-book and Yorkshire Tea face-book pages respectively and comment on their features as well as liking them (if you do).

In your comment, if you mention www.ilkleyarttrail.org.uk and it will reach all of Betty's and Yorkshire tea's friends! Anita has receives an order for a print of her map from America based on its presence on Betty's page. Good work!

Chris Smith has kindly offered another guest spot, this time on Gillian Gilroy at VENUE 13:

Guest blog coming soon but TTFN



Thursday 11 October 2012

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 6

The organiser has spent the day replacing signage that had gone astray and giving out programmes around town and has been relieved from blog content by something which I believe is a great thing to do: Chris Smith has offered to guest blog today and here are his reflections on Drew Ward's work:


Drew Ward – VENUE 13

Audience:


The paradox in Drew Ward’s drawings is that whilst they are full of lines, there are no drawn lines as such, only edges and when you think about it an edge is not a line anyway, but merely the point of transition between one thing and another. Phew, my head hurts!

I am struck by a recurring idea of slatted blinds or vents in these drawings. As we know a blind simultaneously blocks and reveals the view, but it also regulates illumination into a scene, in much the same way a vent regulates the flow of air. There is another sense in which these drawings are ‘airy’ too; they depict the high spaces in architectural buildings that would otherwise be unseen. In these places the exchange of wall, ceiling and corner are managed through complex crossings, skeletal supporting structures and services, which build from back to the front to give the drawings their double sense of space and atmosphere.

In most of the drawings the blocks of tone seem to slide alongside each other in seismic shifts. Fragments, or shards, break away to form new ribbons of light and dark pattern, which remind me of the black and yellow tape used by workmen to cordon-off dangerous construction sites. This simile could be apt given the lofty heights in which these drawings have their origins.
Alternatively, what I meant to say is - I really like these drawings!

Thank you Chris.

I am hopeful of another guest blog slot from Chris tomorrow...

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Day 5 A Post

Hmmm... there seems to have been an issue with disappearing banners and signs!

This may well be Bradford Council in which case we will never get them back as they have a policy of destroying them, or a vandal / disgruntled resident. Either way, we are some signage down!

Can I ask you all to have a look at what you have erected and just replace any that are missing and I shall endeavour to replace the central generic ones. We have a laminator if anyone has pouches and so anyone is welcome to borrow the machine for an hour or so, or to do it at my house if that's easiest.

Please let me know re progress / signs missing so I can keep tabs.

Onwards...

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 5

And still the weather favours us.

It was very quiet around town, however and footfall may not have been great.

The organiser still has camera issues, so apologies for the lack of images, but Eric Moss has sent me a good image of his work and a You Tube link for your interest. Any others will be welcome.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDhSp137PTU&feature=player_embedded

Four people spent an hour or so giving out programmes for the Trail to people on the Grove and at the railway station and the reaction was very positive. This time of the week we definitely have more people saying 'I have one' and 'I'm doing it' and many happy appreciative faces!

Speak tomorrow.



Tuesday 9 October 2012

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 4

A day of brilliant weather once more but the organiser had little opportunity to wander whilst busy with promotional pursuits. However, 2 venues were visited before camera batteries gave up. Soldiering on and, in fact spurred on by a lovely evening in the company of Sandi Toksvig speaking about her new and fascinating novel at Ilkley Literature Festival, here are my lovely discoveries for today:

VENUE 8 - Unedited raw Joy Godfrey

Joy's sister Chris Bailey's Glass looking good also at VENUE 8


Rock face Watercolour (print) - Joy Godfrey


Chris Bailey


Joy again...


Joy Godfrey

 Joy's Bronze 'I believe in Angels'


Joy's Bronze Kiwi

Is this Ken? no it's still Joy


And then to Ken Jaquiery - Ceramics (Venue 8)




Always uplifted to see Ken's 'ambitious for form' character in all his work.

There followed images from Lucia Smith (VENUE 24) with intense-pastel-colour and subtle-pastel-colour takes on our Dales. She will forgive me for losing her pictures I know! Nothing a glass of wine won't resolve. Camera hossie in the morning.

Bonus Post - Judith Levin's Taylors of Harrogate tea tin

Judith Levin, best known for her swathes of heather moorland oils, has made a piece especially for Ilkley Art trail this year. Fancy a brew? Put the kettle on and have a look at this:




Slippers, and ...Aaaaaahhhhh

Monday 8 October 2012

Ilkley Art Trail 2012 - Day 3

Day 3 is a day of lost images! 39 in all and I will try to revisit the venues due to feature today, through the week!
What I can relate, however, is a catch up from Saturday of pics I was too done in to negotiate other IT issues with to feature then...


Sculptor Melanie Wilks (VENUE 27 now finished) in a garden designed by Helen Taylor




The Arcade (VENUE 4) has never, maybe since it's Victorian hey days looked so remarkably brill. Thanks to Anita Bowerman, Stephen Harrington Simpson and Kate Johnson. Many thanks to all the resident businesses, Nora's, The Dress Agency, Create and Arcade Kitchens for their lovely support and coffee! Together we have made it greater than the sum of its parts.





 Denise Ledgerwood - Two rooms and a hallway of  amazing fragmented images conveying an experience over time. (VENUE 12 in Ben Rhydding)





(VENUE 16) Flick with hand crafted silver and shell. And there's a pint to be had at this venue!

(VENUE 15) Emma Fotherby's ceramic work inspired by and made with moorland features.





(VENUE 15) Vicki Nolan - Mixed media paintings.



(VENUE 15) Emma Fotherby


(VENUE 13) Heather Dawe's mountain landscapes.




(VENUE 13) Gillian Gilmore - Mixed media



(VENUE 13) Drew Ward's work. Talk about what can be achieved with a limited palate!



A collaboration! The artist, the organiser, the audience and the piece! 


 (VENUE 13) Ruth Wightman's oils dreamlike and reminiscent of Angela Carter.




C'est ca. Catch you after another day...