Haddon Hall, in the Derbyshire Peak District National Park, is a celebration of oaks. Its construction, contents, history and present day lands are hallmarked by oaks. It was thus an extraordinary place in which to be able to draw in metalpoint and prepare an exhibition for September 2019 about oaks and their future. Linking my passions for art and the environment are “Oak Matters”.
Read MoreWhen Art and Embroidery United - Part 2 /
Visiting master embroiderer Alain Dodier in Sainte Valiere, Southern France, was like straying into a medieval scriptorium, save that Alain is very much of our time Nonetheless, as he creates intricate vivid scenes in silk embroidery threads, using Bayeux stitching that harks back to the 11th century, his passion and dedication to historical detail and fidelity reminded me of the slow and painstaking creation of illuminated manuscripts that tell stories of great import to Western culture. His seven-meter panel about the Pilgrims’ Route to Santiago de Compostela is one such work.
Read MoreWhen Art and Embroidery Unite - Part 1 /
When art meets embroidery in a dark, complex historical tale of Southern France and takes five thousand hours to tell the story, this implies passion, skill, dedication and a deep sense of our need, in today’s world, not to indulge in such destruction. It is an amazing feat of story-telling.
Read MoreArt and Friendships /
Art is the most wonderful passport to making friends around the world. Sharing, learning, agreeing, disagreeing - friendships flourish and deepen over time. Many a time, art has been the bridge to making that friendship, just as it has down the ages for so many people.
Read MoreA Passion for Drawing /
Three exhibitions in New York, each by a superb artist in a different century, but all united by a lifelong passion to draw, draw, draw, anything and everything. For an artist, these current exhibitions are a wonderful reaffirmation of the central role drawing potentially plays in the development and creativity of an artist. Gainsborough, Delacroix, Wayne Thiebaud - three very dissimilar artists, yet they are all on the same page in a drawing book.
Read MoreQuarry "Cathedrals" /
Walking into the vast, cool, cream-golden chambers of the Aubigny limestone Quarry, in Taingy, Burgundy, is akin to entering a cathedral. Nature forms the stone originally, then man learns to work it to create and leave a history deep within the stone.
Read MoreOchres in Burgundy /
Serendipity led to St. Peter’s Church in tiny Moutiers-en-Puisaye, in north-west Burgundy. There, 12th century (and later) frescoes in red and yellow ocre from nearby mines are a delight to enjoy in this cool, beautiful Romanesque church.
Read MoreTiles that tell Tales /
Medieval and Renaissance tiles from the Champagne-Aube regions of France tell a great deal about early French society. The wonderful tile collection at the Musée des beaux-arts or the Musée Saint Loup, in Troyes allows one to peep into earlier worlds. Even though this world was underfoot!
Read MoreStones, Fossils, Archaeology and Art /
Stones that I picked up in the fields around Tremblay, France, led me on a wonderful voyage of discovery about the upper Seine River valley’s geology, archaeology and history, all of which helped me appreciate even more the seemingly humble stones I was drawing.
Read MoreCamille Claudel, so talented, so heart-wrenching /
Camille Claudel lived in Nogent sur Seine as a teenager, and from there, she was launched into her career as a sculptor, her talent carrying her to Auguste Rodin’s studio and into another complex world. The recently-opened Museum in Nogent sur Seine holds an important number of her sculptures, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of late 19th and early 20th century French sculptors.
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