Symbolic Forest : artists

The Neighbourhood

In which we visit some neighbourhood artists

Published at 10:29 pm on May 15th, 2009

Filed under: Artistic.

As summer comes in, it seems as if every weekend there’s something artistic or creative to do. Last weekend it was the Bristol Comic Con (which we missed), and the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail, which we didn’t miss; or, at least, didn’t miss all of. The Southbank Bristol Arts Trail, in short, is a weekend event where creative people around Southville throw open their doors and turn their houses and/or gardens into galleries for everyone to visit. And it was the weather for it: we toiled around the hills of Southville, trail maps in hand, all the time seeing other people doing the same.

Class Consciousness

In which people talk about art

Published at 9:53 am on May 3rd, 2009

Filed under: Artistic.

Last week: the cinema, as I said. Yesterday, we happened to be around the Harbourside, so popped into the Arnolfini to see one of the current exhibitions, “Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie: Class Hegemony in Contemporary Art”. It’s a touring exhibition that has travelled around various European venues in the past three years or so, changing and unfolding each time as the artists involved respond to the discussions their exhibition provokes. In general, though, it questions the concept of working as an artist; the sort of people who work as artists, and the ways in which the art world will automatically perceive an artist and attempt to classify their work based solely on their background and origins.

Art

In which we have an arty weekend, and get inspired

Published at 4:58 pm on April 8th, 2009

Filed under: Artistic.

A bit of an arty weekend for us – well, an arty Sunday at least.

Steam trains

In which we visit Levisham

Published at 11:23 pm on December 18th, 2007

Filed under: Artistic, Dear Diary, Geekery, Trains.

A spare weekend: we went wandering, in the car, and on foot. We drifted through the moorland village of Levisham, as untouched a village as you’ll find in Yorkshire, with one road wandering through it across a broad green. Ambling downhill, we reached the railway station. We watched a train pull in, and shunt about, great clouds of steam rising in the December cold.

Guerilla art

In which we talk about art and anonymity

Published at 6:55 pm on October 2nd, 2007

Filed under: Artistic.

Over the years I’ve had all sorts of plans for art projects which have never quite got off the ground. So I’ve never had to answer the question: how would I feel if I did something Artistic, which became famous all over the place, but nobody knew it was me who did it.

Infernal machines (part 2)

In which we discuss an artist of invention

Published at 6:54 pm on June 12th, 2007

Filed under: Artistic.

The other week, I wrote about W Heath Robinson, and how I first discovered him: illustrating the children’s books of Norman Hunter. He wasn’t as good for the stories, though, as a later illustrator, who is much less well known. His name is George Adamson.^*

Infernal machines (part one)

In which we talk about a classic artist

Published at 7:04 am on June 1st, 2007

Filed under: Artistic.

A few months back, I saw, on a friend’s bookshelf, art books about members of the Robinson family: Charles Robinson and his better-known brother William Heath Robinson; and I resolved to write about them here. It’s taken me a while.