After this we decided to pop along to one of our favourite pubs The Minerva for a drink. For the first time ever, I managed to get sat in the smallest pub room in Britain!
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| Enjoying a pint in the smallest pub room in Britain in the Minerva |
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
APRIL - Weeping Window
I'm sure most of you will remember the beautiful poppies of the weeping window at the Tower of London. Well the poppies have been on tour and in March 2017, 5000 of them were pouring out of the window of our beautiful Maritime Museum. Like Blade before them, they were the subject of many photos and selfies. Here are a couple of mine.
After this we decided to pop along to one of our favourite pubs The Minerva for a drink. For the first time ever, I managed to get sat in the smallest pub room in Britain!
After this we decided to pop along to one of our favourite pubs The Minerva for a drink. For the first time ever, I managed to get sat in the smallest pub room in Britain!
APRIL - First Shifts
In April I had my first volunteering shifts. Both at Hull University, first up was the Science Festival. This is an annual event and to be honest, I'm pretty sure they could have managed just as well without us vollies but it was lovely to have the opportunity to be a part of such a fun event. It was a day crammed full of children's activities, all science based of course.
Next up was a shift of gallery invigilating and visitor welcoming at the BP Portrait Awards exhibition in the Brynmor Jones Library, the same place as the Lines of Thought was held. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to enjoy the amazing portraits on show. When you are there for 3 hours, it's plenty of time to see them properly rather than rushing round which is what we all usually do if we are honest. A few pictures below of some of my favourites.
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| A couple of my 'Super-hero' volunteers |
MARCH - Fantastic Felines & Jason
There was an exhibition in the Streetlife Museum that I kept seeing mentioned on Twitter. It was called Fantastic Felines and was a display featuring picture postcards designed by a music hall singer Violet Roberts. Although born in Hammersmith in 1895, her family moved to Hull when she was 6 and she spent the rest of her life in Hull and later, Beverley.
A very talented lady, as well as singing, she was a postcard artist. In Edwardian England, the postcard was almost like today's text message. Postal deliveries were several times a day so you could send a postcard in the morning and get a reply by the afternoon post. Violet's postcards featured drawings of comically dressed cats with amusing captions and the exhibition featured a number of them.
There's a great article and pictures on the KCom website here
On the way home through the station (now known as The Paragon Interchange although you'll never hear anyone from Hull call it anything other than 'station'), we stopped to have a look at the full-scale replica of Amy Johnson's biplane, the Gypsy Moth nicknamed 'Jason'. As part of the prison’s reducing reoffending initiative, Hull-based artist Leonard J Brown worked with inmates to create the model. I did spend a few minutes looking around for the model before spotting it up high. It is a little too high up to be instantly noticeable in my opinion but it does look impressive.
A very talented lady, as well as singing, she was a postcard artist. In Edwardian England, the postcard was almost like today's text message. Postal deliveries were several times a day so you could send a postcard in the morning and get a reply by the afternoon post. Violet's postcards featured drawings of comically dressed cats with amusing captions and the exhibition featured a number of them.
There's a great article and pictures on the KCom website here
On the way home through the station (now known as The Paragon Interchange although you'll never hear anyone from Hull call it anything other than 'station'), we stopped to have a look at the full-scale replica of Amy Johnson's biplane, the Gypsy Moth nicknamed 'Jason'. As part of the prison’s reducing reoffending initiative, Hull-based artist Leonard J Brown worked with inmates to create the model. I did spend a few minutes looking around for the model before spotting it up high. It is a little too high up to be instantly noticeable in my opinion but it does look impressive.
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| Full-scale model of Jason hanging from the roof in Paragon Interchange. |
Wednesday, 19 April 2017
MARCH - So...I Volunteered
I had thought about becoming a City of Culture volunteer last year when they first announced the volunteer program but I was worried that because I work full-time, I wouldn't be able to do much to help. After the first week's events though, I decided that I really had to be involved with this once in a lifetime opportunity or I would regret it forever.
I looked into it a bit more and discovered that it is really flexible, you really do exactly how much you want to do. You are offered shifts based on your interests and availability via an online portal and if you want to do it, you sign up, if you don't then no problem.
I went for an interview and to try on a uniform for sizings in early February and was notified about a week later that I had been accepted. Two core training sessions followed which were really good fun. Just a bit of information about how the volunteer program works and a section on local knowledge. Uniform collected and I was ready and raring to go....'scuse the slippers!
I looked into it a bit more and discovered that it is really flexible, you really do exactly how much you want to do. You are offered shifts based on your interests and availability via an online portal and if you want to do it, you sign up, if you don't then no problem.
I went for an interview and to try on a uniform for sizings in early February and was notified about a week later that I had been accepted. Two core training sessions followed which were really good fun. Just a bit of information about how the volunteer program works and a section on local knowledge. Uniform collected and I was ready and raring to go....'scuse the slippers!
Monday, 17 April 2017
FEBRUARY - I Wish To Communicate
I just wanted to mention this art installation because this is the kind of thing that I hope the City of Culture year will leave as a legacy - community spirit.
There is an estate just off the City Centre, Thornton Estate. It has a reputation for drugs, dodgy dealings and prostitution and most of us know little about it but that. However, as in most places, there are also plenty of good people living there and even some of the 'bad' ones just may turn out better given half a chance.
Instigated by an artist Silvio Palladino who lives on the estate and assisted by CoC funding and local charity The Goodwin Trust, this was in essence a very simple idea. Each resident of the flats on the estate had a coloured filter fitted to the external light of their flat, they could choose their own colour. At night, the flats are awash with colour. The project was inspired by Hull's connection to the sea and traditional methods of communication.
Watching the news report on the TV, I saw the various residents getting involved, helping to cut out the filters and choosing colours. One lady commented that it had 'got everyone talking to each other'. This is art being used in such a positive way, it's possibly going to be my favourite installation of the whole year.
I didn't manage to take any photos myself so have gleaned a couple from the many on the internet. I hope BBC4 and The Guardian don't mind!
There is an estate just off the City Centre, Thornton Estate. It has a reputation for drugs, dodgy dealings and prostitution and most of us know little about it but that. However, as in most places, there are also plenty of good people living there and even some of the 'bad' ones just may turn out better given half a chance.
Instigated by an artist Silvio Palladino who lives on the estate and assisted by CoC funding and local charity The Goodwin Trust, this was in essence a very simple idea. Each resident of the flats on the estate had a coloured filter fitted to the external light of their flat, they could choose their own colour. At night, the flats are awash with colour. The project was inspired by Hull's connection to the sea and traditional methods of communication.
Watching the news report on the TV, I saw the various residents getting involved, helping to cut out the filters and choosing colours. One lady commented that it had 'got everyone talking to each other'. This is art being used in such a positive way, it's possibly going to be my favourite installation of the whole year.
I didn't manage to take any photos myself so have gleaned a couple from the many on the internet. I hope BBC4 and The Guardian don't mind!
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| Photo credit BBC4 |
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| Photo credit - The Guardian |
FEBRUARY - A Day of Culture - Humber Street
In years gone by, Humber Street, being adjacent to the Humber Dock was home to the Fruit Market where all the fruit and vegetables would be unloaded from ships into the warehouses of the fruit merchants and the greengrocers would go there to buy their wares.
The fruit market, such as it is, has been relocated out along the A63/M62 now that transport methods have changed from ships, barges and railways to lorries and motorways. For many years Humber Street was home to nothing but derelict buildings.
Over the past 6 or 7 years, some of the creative folk of Hull have been migrating towards the area, leading to an organic growth. One of the first was the Oresome Gallery which offers bespoke jewellery pieces and regular classes to make your own piece. Our annual Freedom Festival became centred around Humber Street, the Marina and the Pier. Then came Humber Street Sesh in 2011. I remember the organiser appealing on social media for individuals and businesses to help out financially to get this off the ground. The first year was fairly small scale but like Freedom Fest, it has grown year on year and is now one of the most sought after tickets in town. Thieving Harry's started up just as a pop up cafe in an open front warehouse during events and at the monthly Humber Street Market. There is a Micro Brewery, Yorkshire Brewing Company which as well as it's core range, brews a few themed beers for events such as the Hull & EY CAMRA beer festival and Freedom Festival. The world's only Museum of Club Culture started by Mark Wigan in a unit on Humber Street, however the shop they occupied is to be demolished for a residential development so I don't know what the future holds for that venture. Dinostar is an interactive dinosaur museum and fossil shop and popular with families.
It must have been fairly easy to build on this already thriving cultural community for Hull City Council but to give them their due, they have invested a lot of money in refurbishing the roads and the warehouses whilst still retaining some of the feel of the old Humber Street. The cobbled road has been repaired and is complemented by the brand new granite blocked pavements and I love the wooden fruit crate street art.
Two newly opened restaurants appeal to trendy diners, Butler Whites and Ambiente and a local chocolatier who started up and still has a stall in the covered market as well as a soon to be opened Gin bar called Humber Street Distillery will appeal to the masses. There are now several galleries, although we seem to have lost one of the old ones that I can remember visiting a few years ago.
The day of our visit saw us in the then newly opened Humber Street Gallery, primarily to see Dead Bod now hanging in the cafe bar area of the gallery.
Whilst there, we popped into the exhibit in Gallery 1. Power in Woman by Sarah Lucas. For me, this was pretentious art bollocks at its finest! Basically it was plaster casts of literally topless women, as in their lower halves only, with cigarettes protruding from their orifices. Quite distasteful really and no matter how many people try to 'explain' it, I just don't get it. I would have gone upstairs to the other galleries to see the even more explicit exhibit of Coum Transmissions but Patrick had had enough arty-farty stuff for one day so we went for a beer instead!
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| Photo from Hull the Good Old Days Facebook Group |
Over the past 6 or 7 years, some of the creative folk of Hull have been migrating towards the area, leading to an organic growth. One of the first was the Oresome Gallery which offers bespoke jewellery pieces and regular classes to make your own piece. Our annual Freedom Festival became centred around Humber Street, the Marina and the Pier. Then came Humber Street Sesh in 2011. I remember the organiser appealing on social media for individuals and businesses to help out financially to get this off the ground. The first year was fairly small scale but like Freedom Fest, it has grown year on year and is now one of the most sought after tickets in town. Thieving Harry's started up just as a pop up cafe in an open front warehouse during events and at the monthly Humber Street Market. There is a Micro Brewery, Yorkshire Brewing Company which as well as it's core range, brews a few themed beers for events such as the Hull & EY CAMRA beer festival and Freedom Festival. The world's only Museum of Club Culture started by Mark Wigan in a unit on Humber Street, however the shop they occupied is to be demolished for a residential development so I don't know what the future holds for that venture. Dinostar is an interactive dinosaur museum and fossil shop and popular with families.
It must have been fairly easy to build on this already thriving cultural community for Hull City Council but to give them their due, they have invested a lot of money in refurbishing the roads and the warehouses whilst still retaining some of the feel of the old Humber Street. The cobbled road has been repaired and is complemented by the brand new granite blocked pavements and I love the wooden fruit crate street art.
Two newly opened restaurants appeal to trendy diners, Butler Whites and Ambiente and a local chocolatier who started up and still has a stall in the covered market as well as a soon to be opened Gin bar called Humber Street Distillery will appeal to the masses. There are now several galleries, although we seem to have lost one of the old ones that I can remember visiting a few years ago.
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| Patrick and Dead Bod |
Whilst there, we popped into the exhibit in Gallery 1. Power in Woman by Sarah Lucas. For me, this was pretentious art bollocks at its finest! Basically it was plaster casts of literally topless women, as in their lower halves only, with cigarettes protruding from their orifices. Quite distasteful really and no matter how many people try to 'explain' it, I just don't get it. I would have gone upstairs to the other galleries to see the even more explicit exhibit of Coum Transmissions but Patrick had had enough arty-farty stuff for one day so we went for a beer instead!
FEBRUARY - A Day of Culture - Wandering.
As well as The Ferens, we popped into the Maritime Museum to see the Bowhead exhibition. The blurb read:
"Get up close and personal with a Bowhead – also known as a Greenland Right Whale – in this lifelike audio visual installation, commemorating the city’s whaling heritage. Bowhead has been created by the University of Hull and Hull School of Art and Design, showcasing the best of the city’s emerging talent in music and games design."
I could see that this was very good and that it would take a lot of work to design such a thing but unfortunately Patrick and I found it a bit boring just watching a CGI whale swimming round in circles. You can't please all the people all the time as the saying goes.
Next up was Zebedee's Yard to see The Last Trip, a touching memorial to Hull's lost trawlermen. Made of rusted steelwork, it features the titles of all jobs aboard a trawler cut into the steel as well as titles of family members such as 'husband' 'brother' etc. Members of the public can purchase a 'ships bow' which can be engraved with their own memorium to lost family members and has space for a floral tribute. Personally, I thought the plastic flowers stuffed into these engraved memorials a bit tacky and felt they spoiled the overall effect. I would have preferred them without the flowers but that's just my opinion. It has a light and sound installation and is really very moving.
Continuing our walk down Whitefriargate having grabbed a bag of chips to eat en route. We continue into Silver Street to cut through the stunning Hepworth Arcade, a fantastic example of a Victorian shopping arcade, leading to our indoor market where you can buy almost anything from specialist teas or vinyl records to your weekly shop and then enjoy a coffee at Caffienated whilst admiring the latest match-worn Hull City shirt from past players as loaned by the fantastic Hull City Kits guys
Hepworth Arcade is apparently the only L-shaped Victorian arcade in the UK. It's also where Marks & Spencer opened their first Penny Bazaar in Hull. More importantly than that is that it has been home to the amazing Dinsdales joke shop for 80 years! Most of us who grew up in Hull, me included, would have spend most Saturday afternoons gazing in the window and deciding whether to buy the trick dog poo, the nail through the finger or other such practical jokes. An excellent article here from the Yorkshire Post.
Whitefriargate, the Market Hall and Hepworth's Arcade are not specific to Hull 2017 City of Culture of course, they have always been here, part of the rich culture that we have always enjoyed. It's not often that I take the trouble to visit nowadays but when I do, these are the places that evoke some of my happiest memories. When I was growing up, this was 'Town'. When people say, they are going 'to town' usually meaning the city centre area of the place they live, this was the place we 1970s kids called town. The place we spent our pocket money or babysitting wages. For me, Woolworths down Whitefriargate, Dinsdales and the second hand record stall on the old outdoor market. Whenever I'm here, I'm transported back in time.
Next, onto Humber Street...more of that in the next post.
"Get up close and personal with a Bowhead – also known as a Greenland Right Whale – in this lifelike audio visual installation, commemorating the city’s whaling heritage. Bowhead has been created by the University of Hull and Hull School of Art and Design, showcasing the best of the city’s emerging talent in music and games design."
I could see that this was very good and that it would take a lot of work to design such a thing but unfortunately Patrick and I found it a bit boring just watching a CGI whale swimming round in circles. You can't please all the people all the time as the saying goes.
Next up was Zebedee's Yard to see The Last Trip, a touching memorial to Hull's lost trawlermen. Made of rusted steelwork, it features the titles of all jobs aboard a trawler cut into the steel as well as titles of family members such as 'husband' 'brother' etc. Members of the public can purchase a 'ships bow' which can be engraved with their own memorium to lost family members and has space for a floral tribute. Personally, I thought the plastic flowers stuffed into these engraved memorials a bit tacky and felt they spoiled the overall effect. I would have preferred them without the flowers but that's just my opinion. It has a light and sound installation and is really very moving.
Continuing our walk down Whitefriargate having grabbed a bag of chips to eat en route. We continue into Silver Street to cut through the stunning Hepworth Arcade, a fantastic example of a Victorian shopping arcade, leading to our indoor market where you can buy almost anything from specialist teas or vinyl records to your weekly shop and then enjoy a coffee at Caffienated whilst admiring the latest match-worn Hull City shirt from past players as loaned by the fantastic Hull City Kits guys
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| Eating chips in Hepworth's Arcade |
Hepworth Arcade is apparently the only L-shaped Victorian arcade in the UK. It's also where Marks & Spencer opened their first Penny Bazaar in Hull. More importantly than that is that it has been home to the amazing Dinsdales joke shop for 80 years! Most of us who grew up in Hull, me included, would have spend most Saturday afternoons gazing in the window and deciding whether to buy the trick dog poo, the nail through the finger or other such practical jokes. An excellent article here from the Yorkshire Post.
Whitefriargate, the Market Hall and Hepworth's Arcade are not specific to Hull 2017 City of Culture of course, they have always been here, part of the rich culture that we have always enjoyed. It's not often that I take the trouble to visit nowadays but when I do, these are the places that evoke some of my happiest memories. When I was growing up, this was 'Town'. When people say, they are going 'to town' usually meaning the city centre area of the place they live, this was the place we 1970s kids called town. The place we spent our pocket money or babysitting wages. For me, Woolworths down Whitefriargate, Dinsdales and the second hand record stall on the old outdoor market. Whenever I'm here, I'm transported back in time.
Next, onto Humber Street...more of that in the next post.
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
FEBRUARY - A day of Culture - Ferens Art Gallery
I think I've visited the City centre more in these first three months of 2017 than I have in total over the last 5 years. I'm absolutely loving seeing so many people enjoying the city and what it has to offer.
We had a good wander around one weekend at the beginning of February visiting among other places, The Ferens art gallery which has had a multi-million pound refurb. It re-opened in January to a great fanfare and much press interest due mainly to the addition to it's already fabulous collection of a newly restored 14th century masterpiece by Lonzeretti and a temporary exhibition of Francis Bacon's Screaming Popes. They had 10,000 visitors in the first weekend alone.
A bit of background on The Ferens Art Gallery, it is named for the man who bought and donated the land on which it is built. The great philanthropist Thomas Ferens who you can read more about here . He is well worth a read. He helped establish Reckitt and Colman and as a great supporter of charity, by 1920 was donating £47,000 of his £50,000 earnings to charitable causes. As an MP for Hull, he was a champion of womens rights in parliament. A truly great man who I admire tremendously. One of the Galleries is dedicated to him and his legacy.
I love wandering around the Ferens but there is almost too much to take in for one visit. When we visited, it was hosting the 50th annual open exhibition for local professional and amateur artists. As always with these kinds of things, some art we loved, some we hated but all of it made us think and discuss. As I haven't visited in a number of years, I enjoyed seeing some of my old favourites again.
I've always loved this beautiful painting. From the tenderness of the mother's gaze at her baby to the pretty bedroom setting. It's one I always look for whenever I go in.
So majestic! This is one of those enormous paintings that one that you can sit in front of and just soak up.
As well as my old favourites, this new addition really grabbed my attention. It features neon illuminated lines from the poem by Thomas Hood, Gold Gold Gold.
If you've never visited The Ferens, what's stopping you?
We had a good wander around one weekend at the beginning of February visiting among other places, The Ferens art gallery which has had a multi-million pound refurb. It re-opened in January to a great fanfare and much press interest due mainly to the addition to it's already fabulous collection of a newly restored 14th century masterpiece by Lonzeretti and a temporary exhibition of Francis Bacon's Screaming Popes. They had 10,000 visitors in the first weekend alone.
A bit of background on The Ferens Art Gallery, it is named for the man who bought and donated the land on which it is built. The great philanthropist Thomas Ferens who you can read more about here . He is well worth a read. He helped establish Reckitt and Colman and as a great supporter of charity, by 1920 was donating £47,000 of his £50,000 earnings to charitable causes. As an MP for Hull, he was a champion of womens rights in parliament. A truly great man who I admire tremendously. One of the Galleries is dedicated to him and his legacy.
I love wandering around the Ferens but there is almost too much to take in for one visit. When we visited, it was hosting the 50th annual open exhibition for local professional and amateur artists. As always with these kinds of things, some art we loved, some we hated but all of it made us think and discuss. As I haven't visited in a number of years, I enjoyed seeing some of my old favourites again.
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| First Born - Frederick Elwell |
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| Lion at Home - Rosa Bonheur |
As well as my old favourites, this new addition really grabbed my attention. It features neon illuminated lines from the poem by Thomas Hood, Gold Gold Gold.
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| Untitled (Gold) by Bik Van Der Pol |
If you've never visited The Ferens, what's stopping you?
FEBRUARY - Lines of Thought
The exhibition Lines of Thought has been at the Brynmor Jones Library at Hull University between 3rd January and 28th February 2017. It was previously at Poole in Dorset at the end of last year and will go on to Belfast after leaving us. Being one of only three venues to host this prestigious exhibition, I felt that as the venue is literally 10 minutes walk from our house, we really should make the effort to go along. I am very pleased that we did.
I'd mentioned it to Patrick's sister Coral and as they were coming to our house to pick up some beers from us, she and William decided to go along too. After a nice lunch of homemade carrot and coriander soup (thanks Patrick!) and a sandwich, off we all tootled through the wind and rain.
The Brynmor Jones Library, named after the chap who initiated research into LCD technology in the 1930s, is where poet Philip Larkin spent 30 years as Librarian. In 2015 it underwent a £28million refurbishment, part of which was the new gallery and exhibition space to house the University's impressive Art collection, which was previously a bit tucked away in another building. The gallery was easy to spot with the queue outside it and the two blue and pink clad volunteers handing out tickets to punters.
Once inside we set about viewing the drawings in the exhibition space on one side of the gallery. This ranged from drawings by 15th Century masters such as Da Vinci right up to current artists. I'm not sufficiently 'arty' to pretend to understand it all but basically it was all about how drawing is really just thinking in pictures. It was arranged by types of thinking rather than by date and the five sections were: The Likeness of a Thought, Brainstorming, Enquiry and Experiment, Insight and Association and Development and Decisions. Have to say that angle went over my head really and I just enjoyed seeing the pictures. I'm always a bit blown away by the thought that I am looking at something that someone drew 500 hundred years ago!
I did take some photos myself but I'm not the world's greatest photographer so I've borrowed some pictures from the British Museum website instead.
Studies for Adam & Eve by Aldrecht Durer, 1504. This really caught my eye because I like the thought of old Aldrecht back in 1504 doodling away trying to find the right look for Adam's arm
Studies of a turbaned African man by Jacques De Gheyn II c.1603-1629. This one really impressed me for it's detail. The folds of the clothes and turbans, the features, ears and skin. I spent a good while looking at this and wishing I could draw.
Asian Elephant by Rembrandt c.1637. I just loved this one. I'd have this on my wall as it is. I've no idea if Rembrandt ever converted this to a painting but if you click here, it does give quite a lot of information about this particular elephant, called Hansken who arrived in Holland in 1633 as a gift to the Prince of Orange.
The other half of the gallery houses the University's own Art collection with paintings by the 'Bloomsbury set', sculptures by Jacob Epstein as well as many others.
I rather liked this one. Madrid Crowd 1931 by Sylvia Gosse
I was rather proud that I recognised this was a crab! Maquette for a Crab by Bernard Meadows
Coral and I liked this one because she looks as if she is about to say to some hapless guy "Just you effing dare!" Portrait of Mrs Randolph Schwabe 1917 by Augustus John
So a really enjoyable afternoon viewing rare art that we wouldn't normally get the opportunity to see. Might not be everyone's idea of fun but I loved it.
I'd mentioned it to Patrick's sister Coral and as they were coming to our house to pick up some beers from us, she and William decided to go along too. After a nice lunch of homemade carrot and coriander soup (thanks Patrick!) and a sandwich, off we all tootled through the wind and rain.
The Brynmor Jones Library, named after the chap who initiated research into LCD technology in the 1930s, is where poet Philip Larkin spent 30 years as Librarian. In 2015 it underwent a £28million refurbishment, part of which was the new gallery and exhibition space to house the University's impressive Art collection, which was previously a bit tucked away in another building. The gallery was easy to spot with the queue outside it and the two blue and pink clad volunteers handing out tickets to punters.
Once inside we set about viewing the drawings in the exhibition space on one side of the gallery. This ranged from drawings by 15th Century masters such as Da Vinci right up to current artists. I'm not sufficiently 'arty' to pretend to understand it all but basically it was all about how drawing is really just thinking in pictures. It was arranged by types of thinking rather than by date and the five sections were: The Likeness of a Thought, Brainstorming, Enquiry and Experiment, Insight and Association and Development and Decisions. Have to say that angle went over my head really and I just enjoyed seeing the pictures. I'm always a bit blown away by the thought that I am looking at something that someone drew 500 hundred years ago!
I did take some photos myself but I'm not the world's greatest photographer so I've borrowed some pictures from the British Museum website instead.
Studies for Adam & Eve by Aldrecht Durer, 1504. This really caught my eye because I like the thought of old Aldrecht back in 1504 doodling away trying to find the right look for Adam's arm
Studies of a turbaned African man by Jacques De Gheyn II c.1603-1629. This one really impressed me for it's detail. The folds of the clothes and turbans, the features, ears and skin. I spent a good while looking at this and wishing I could draw.
Asian Elephant by Rembrandt c.1637. I just loved this one. I'd have this on my wall as it is. I've no idea if Rembrandt ever converted this to a painting but if you click here, it does give quite a lot of information about this particular elephant, called Hansken who arrived in Holland in 1633 as a gift to the Prince of Orange.
The other half of the gallery houses the University's own Art collection with paintings by the 'Bloomsbury set', sculptures by Jacob Epstein as well as many others.
I rather liked this one. Madrid Crowd 1931 by Sylvia Gosse
I was rather proud that I recognised this was a crab! Maquette for a Crab by Bernard Meadows
Coral and I liked this one because she looks as if she is about to say to some hapless guy "Just you effing dare!" Portrait of Mrs Randolph Schwabe 1917 by Augustus John
So a really enjoyable afternoon viewing rare art that we wouldn't normally get the opportunity to see. Might not be everyone's idea of fun but I loved it.
Sunday, 9 April 2017
JANUARY - Blade
No sooner had the dust begun to settle on the last showing of the Made in Hull light show on the evening of Saturday 7th January when workmen surreptitiously began removing certain items of street furniture. Street lights, bollards etc. began to disappear from the city centre streets. We all had no idea that this was happening and certainly no idea why.... but in the dead of night, a 75 metre wind turbine blade began it's slow, careful journey from Alexandra Dock, in East Hull, towards its home for the next 3 months in Queen Victoria Square. We awoke on Sunday morning to the avalanche of social media posts showing the film footage of it's journey and placement and it's fair to say, the citizens of Hull didn't know quite what to make of it at first. Me. I was smitten!
The artist responsible for the idea is Nayan Kulkarni. Was it art? Well the blade itself, no. It is a marvellous feat of engineering but not art... but the placing of it and the respresentation of this new, modern future for Hull's industry against these beautiful Victorian buildings of our past, yes I think that was art. Most of us may not have seen it as that to start with but by the time it left in March, I think most of us had fallen in love with it. A master stroke by Siemens to cement their place in Hull's future history. Last week was all about the past, now this is the future. It engaged people like no one expected it to.
For most of us, it was impossible to walk under it without reaching up to touch it. You just couldn't resist taking a photo every time it came into view as you walked through town.
We all took selfies with it.
Everyone was completely blown away by the sheer size of the thing. 75 metres long, 3.5 metres diameter at it's base and weighing 25 tonnes. Our Hull blades are actually the world's largest fibreglass components cast in one single piece.
It got people talking, it engaged and interested people. It fascinated children and divided opinions as to whether or not it was 'art'. When it left on March 18th, I think we all felt a little bit sad to see it go.
However, it's not lost to us forever. It was a gift from Siemens to the people of Hull. The first ever blade off the production line at their Hull factory and is to be displayed outside their Alexandra Dock offices.
The artist responsible for the idea is Nayan Kulkarni. Was it art? Well the blade itself, no. It is a marvellous feat of engineering but not art... but the placing of it and the respresentation of this new, modern future for Hull's industry against these beautiful Victorian buildings of our past, yes I think that was art. Most of us may not have seen it as that to start with but by the time it left in March, I think most of us had fallen in love with it. A master stroke by Siemens to cement their place in Hull's future history. Last week was all about the past, now this is the future. It engaged people like no one expected it to.
For most of us, it was impossible to walk under it without reaching up to touch it. You just couldn't resist taking a photo every time it came into view as you walked through town.We all took selfies with it.
Everyone was completely blown away by the sheer size of the thing. 75 metres long, 3.5 metres diameter at it's base and weighing 25 tonnes. Our Hull blades are actually the world's largest fibreglass components cast in one single piece.
It got people talking, it engaged and interested people. It fascinated children and divided opinions as to whether or not it was 'art'. When it left on March 18th, I think we all felt a little bit sad to see it go.
However, it's not lost to us forever. It was a gift from Siemens to the people of Hull. The first ever blade off the production line at their Hull factory and is to be displayed outside their Alexandra Dock offices.
JANUARY - Made in Hull, the first week (Part two)
After seeing the light show and the fireworks on the opening night, we set off to see some of the other installations but most were too crowded and to be honest, we skimmed over them and we were a bit too tired to do them justice. We'd seen the main events and so decided to head home and visit again one evening during the week to seek out the other things and see them properly.
On the Thursday evening, we hopped on the bus into town and were absolutely gobsmacked at the crowds. The official estimate is that there were 100,000 visitors to the light show that night alone and I think most of them were there at the same time as us! It was heaving with bodies and we couldn't actually get onto the square so watched the show from down the side of the Maritime Museum. We were able to view it on City Hall that time, rather than the Ferens as we had the first time. It was interesting to see it on a different 'screen' and both agreed that Ferens, being mostly flat fronted was a better screen but some of the parts of the film looked better projected on City Hall. The Hull Fair clip in particular and the blitz scene with windows smashing and buildings crumbling looked so realistic, as though the windows of the City Hall really were shattering.
From there we made our way across to Whitefriargate to see several installations set up in the windows of vacant shops. Some better than others, a little summary of them all below.
Amuse Agents. This is a mock up of a newsagent with Small Ad notices in the window. Absolutely hilarious and proved so popular that it is the only one of the installations to be given a stay of execution after the week and is actually still there now in mid-April.
Pauline's Gift Shop Emporium. A tribute to a second hand shop in Hull's Princes Avenue which became a bit of a local legend as did it's owner, Pauline Gift. Customers came from far and wide and this installation was a mock up of the shop, featuring genuinely interesting vintage items along with the accumulated junk that is always to be found in these kinds of shops. A sound track of people's memories of Pauline, which were actually quite touching played along in the background.
Reflections. A bit odd this, just a film which filled a whole shop window of various people sitting on a bench down Whitefriargate. Not quite sure what it was all about.
We're all going on a summer holiday. In recognition of the caravan industry which is a very large employer in the Hull region. In one side of the shop window, a set up of the inside of a caravan with two women playing board games whilst in the other window a film played showing a production line in a caravan manufacturing company.
The Heart of Rugby. In case you don't know, Hull has two rugby league clubs. Hull Kingston Rovers, the Robins, in the East and Hull FC, the Airlie Birds, in the West. This display in a double fronted shop showed films and memories of both clubs, one in either window with kit and fan memorabilia displayed around the screens. I'm originally from the East of the city so a Robin in case you wondered!
On then to other areas. Projected onto the side of the C4Di building near Humber Street we had photographer Quentin Budworth's Hullywood Icons where ordinary (or slightly bonkers depending on your viewpoint) people of Hull recreated iconic scenes from Hollywood movies but with Hull as their setting. Enormous fun, I followed this on the site blog as the photographs were being taken and only wished I could have thought of a scene to do myself.
At the High Street Underpass we had something called Embers, which the blurb told us was a multi screen and sound installation recreating self expression in the the protective womb of the club space. In reality it was a screen showing dancers at a rave with a soundtrack that didn't seem to go with it. Not impressed I'm afraid.
On Scale Lane, projected onto a gable wall was (in) Dignity of Labour. It wasn't to my taste if I'm honest, it showed scenes of people working in boring manual labour, along with a depiction of young people constantly building blocks one on top of the other and then them all collapsing to be built up again. The cleverest part of this was that it was in the full view of the offices of Oriel House which is where anyone who has ever had to claim benefits in Hull knows is the place where they make the decisions on how much or if you get any money this week!
Last but certainly not least, down at our iconic aquarium The Deep, where our two rivers meet, a projection on the side of the building called Arrivals and Departures told the story of the ebb and flow of people, animals and cargo from distant shores through our City over the years. We are "A place built on working hands washed here by the sea". See it here. Arrivals and Departures
On the Thursday evening, we hopped on the bus into town and were absolutely gobsmacked at the crowds. The official estimate is that there were 100,000 visitors to the light show that night alone and I think most of them were there at the same time as us! It was heaving with bodies and we couldn't actually get onto the square so watched the show from down the side of the Maritime Museum. We were able to view it on City Hall that time, rather than the Ferens as we had the first time. It was interesting to see it on a different 'screen' and both agreed that Ferens, being mostly flat fronted was a better screen but some of the parts of the film looked better projected on City Hall. The Hull Fair clip in particular and the blitz scene with windows smashing and buildings crumbling looked so realistic, as though the windows of the City Hall really were shattering.
From there we made our way across to Whitefriargate to see several installations set up in the windows of vacant shops. Some better than others, a little summary of them all below.
Amuse Agents. This is a mock up of a newsagent with Small Ad notices in the window. Absolutely hilarious and proved so popular that it is the only one of the installations to be given a stay of execution after the week and is actually still there now in mid-April.
Pauline's Gift Shop Emporium. A tribute to a second hand shop in Hull's Princes Avenue which became a bit of a local legend as did it's owner, Pauline Gift. Customers came from far and wide and this installation was a mock up of the shop, featuring genuinely interesting vintage items along with the accumulated junk that is always to be found in these kinds of shops. A sound track of people's memories of Pauline, which were actually quite touching played along in the background.
Reflections. A bit odd this, just a film which filled a whole shop window of various people sitting on a bench down Whitefriargate. Not quite sure what it was all about.
We're all going on a summer holiday. In recognition of the caravan industry which is a very large employer in the Hull region. In one side of the shop window, a set up of the inside of a caravan with two women playing board games whilst in the other window a film played showing a production line in a caravan manufacturing company.
The Heart of Rugby. In case you don't know, Hull has two rugby league clubs. Hull Kingston Rovers, the Robins, in the East and Hull FC, the Airlie Birds, in the West. This display in a double fronted shop showed films and memories of both clubs, one in either window with kit and fan memorabilia displayed around the screens. I'm originally from the East of the city so a Robin in case you wondered!
On then to other areas. Projected onto the side of the C4Di building near Humber Street we had photographer Quentin Budworth's Hullywood Icons where ordinary (or slightly bonkers depending on your viewpoint) people of Hull recreated iconic scenes from Hollywood movies but with Hull as their setting. Enormous fun, I followed this on the site blog as the photographs were being taken and only wished I could have thought of a scene to do myself.
At the High Street Underpass we had something called Embers, which the blurb told us was a multi screen and sound installation recreating self expression in the the protective womb of the club space. In reality it was a screen showing dancers at a rave with a soundtrack that didn't seem to go with it. Not impressed I'm afraid.
On Scale Lane, projected onto a gable wall was (in) Dignity of Labour. It wasn't to my taste if I'm honest, it showed scenes of people working in boring manual labour, along with a depiction of young people constantly building blocks one on top of the other and then them all collapsing to be built up again. The cleverest part of this was that it was in the full view of the offices of Oriel House which is where anyone who has ever had to claim benefits in Hull knows is the place where they make the decisions on how much or if you get any money this week!
Last but certainly not least, down at our iconic aquarium The Deep, where our two rivers meet, a projection on the side of the building called Arrivals and Departures told the story of the ebb and flow of people, animals and cargo from distant shores through our City over the years. We are "A place built on working hands washed here by the sea". See it here. Arrivals and Departures
JANUARY - Made in Hull, the first week. (Part One)
Talk about In With A Bang!! Wow. We certainly started it off in style with a fantastic light show of Hull's historic moments and events over the past 70 years or so.
On Sunday 1st January, New Years Day, Queen Victoria Square, Hull was the setting for a spectacular film and sound extravaganza shown across the facades of the beautiful buildings surrounding it. The former town docks offices, now the Maritime Museum, The City Hall and Feren's Art Gallery all became screens for the film to play out on a continuous loop every evening from 4pm to 9pm. Images and sounds of events such as Amy Johnson's solo flight to Australia in her gypsy moth Jason, the magic of Hull Fair,, the music of The Spiders from Mars, sporting heroes from our rugby and football clubs, such as Roger Millward, Clive Sullivan and Dean Windass with his legendary Wembley play-off final winner which sent the Tigers into the Premier League for the first time, as well as Luke Campbell, Olympic Boxing Gold Medallist in 2012 and Karen Briggs, former World and European Judo champion. The depiction of the blitz of WW2 and a very moving segment in memory of the tragic loss of lives during the triple trawler tragedy of 1968 made a few eyes fill with tears.
I felt so proud standing there watching not only the show but the faces of the people around me, looks of wonder and awe on their faces and tears in their eyes. As we finished watching it that first night, I remarked that although it was so busy, I expected that a lot of the spectators were also in town for the firework display which was to be later, down at the pier and I hoped it wouldn't be empty for the rest of the week. How embarrassing would it be to have a light and sound show playing out each night to an empty Victoria Square? How wrong could I have been and how proud and happy did it make me to be so. The crowds swelled in number as the week went on and people were going back over and over again. Civic pride in bucketloads and this is the reason for it.
Made in Hull Light Show
I mentioned fireworks earlier. Well, this was a ticketed event due to safety reasons and crowd control, although the tickets were free. Unfortunately, the morning they were released online, the City of Culture website became overloaded and just couldn't handle the volume of traffic. We were not lucky enough to get tickets at that time but luckily for us, Patrick's sister Tina had two going spare and so offered them to us. I nearly snapped off her hand! So after the light show, we headed off to meet Tina and Andrew to collect our tickets and walk down to the pier together ready for the firework display which was to commence at the symbolic time of 20:17. In the event, it was a few minutes late starting but I think you'll agree, it was worth the wait.
In with a BANG!
There were several other fantastic art installations around the city centre for that first week. I'll tell you all about them in the next post.
On Sunday 1st January, New Years Day, Queen Victoria Square, Hull was the setting for a spectacular film and sound extravaganza shown across the facades of the beautiful buildings surrounding it. The former town docks offices, now the Maritime Museum, The City Hall and Feren's Art Gallery all became screens for the film to play out on a continuous loop every evening from 4pm to 9pm. Images and sounds of events such as Amy Johnson's solo flight to Australia in her gypsy moth Jason, the magic of Hull Fair,, the music of The Spiders from Mars, sporting heroes from our rugby and football clubs, such as Roger Millward, Clive Sullivan and Dean Windass with his legendary Wembley play-off final winner which sent the Tigers into the Premier League for the first time, as well as Luke Campbell, Olympic Boxing Gold Medallist in 2012 and Karen Briggs, former World and European Judo champion. The depiction of the blitz of WW2 and a very moving segment in memory of the tragic loss of lives during the triple trawler tragedy of 1968 made a few eyes fill with tears.
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| Phot o credit KCom.co.uk |
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| Photo credit Hull Daily Mail |
Made in Hull Light Show
I mentioned fireworks earlier. Well, this was a ticketed event due to safety reasons and crowd control, although the tickets were free. Unfortunately, the morning they were released online, the City of Culture website became overloaded and just couldn't handle the volume of traffic. We were not lucky enough to get tickets at that time but luckily for us, Patrick's sister Tina had two going spare and so offered them to us. I nearly snapped off her hand! So after the light show, we headed off to meet Tina and Andrew to collect our tickets and walk down to the pier together ready for the firework display which was to commence at the symbolic time of 20:17. In the event, it was a few minutes late starting but I think you'll agree, it was worth the wait.
In with a BANG!
There were several other fantastic art installations around the city centre for that first week. I'll tell you all about them in the next post.
Thursday, 23 March 2017
Hull's Year in the Spotlight.
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| Photo credit KCom.co.uk |
This blog is just my own personal experiences of this special year, recorded for my own memories. If it interests anyone else along the way then I'm pleased to be of service.
The events were meant to be recorded as they happened but as usual, I'm a grand starter of projects but don't always keep up the momentum, so most of the posts have been written retrospectively as you'll see by the dates.
Just one more film link that I want to have a record of for my memories then on to the blogging. The City Speaks - poem by Shane Rhodes
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