Art on your Doorstep

At the moment there is a travelling exhibition from the National Gallery on display in the city centre. 

It's an outdoor exhibition sited in the gardens of the old Bethesda Chapel opposite the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.  Stoke-on-Trent was chosen as their first venue so the exhibition could be part of the 100 years celebration of Stoke becoming a city.

Entitled 'Art on your Doorstep' it comprises fifteen life size facsimiles of works of art chosen by the gallery.  As it is Friday I've picked out five to highlight.  Some remembered from the Art History A level I did many years ago.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)   'A Wheatfield with Cypresses' painted in 1889.

Joseph Mallard William Turner (1775-1851) 'Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway' 1844.

Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) 'An Experiment on a bird in an air pump' 1768

Georges Seurat (1859-1891) 'Bathers at Asnières' 1884

Henri Rousseau (Le Douanier) (1844-1910)  'Surprised' 1891

Across the road at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery are two interesting exhibitions.

A Century of Collecting 1925-2025

and

'Arthur Berry 100 - A celebration of a cultural icon, poet, painter and playwright.'

All for now.

More Snowdrops

This morning was so very cold.  I walked into the kitchen to see the limping fox sitting on the lawn opposite the kitchen window with a slight smattering of snow falling on his head.  He waited patiently whilst we sorted out something for him to eat, dashing, as gingerly as he could on three legs, to the top of the garden until we were back indoors before returning to eat.  

I promised more snowdrops and there were lots at the Dorothy Clive Garden this morning.  After a warming coffee and toasted teacake we set of to find them.

Last Wednesday I had a lunchtime hospital appointment so we spent an hour at the Brampton Museum which is just a short drive from the hospital.  There is a new exhibition called 'From Leek to Llandudno' and it's about the emergence of rail travel to the seaside and family holidays taken there.  

More on this exhibition and another display at Trentham in a later post.

More sad news this week.  A friend rang to say that our former work colleague and friend had died.  That's three people we've known for a long time in the last couple of months.  

I was looking through some old photos and found this one of both curators I had worked with.  I must have taken the photo.  We were out on a jolly following the Pilgrim Fathers' Trail that J (in pink) had put together for the Museum she worked for.  We were in North Nottinghamshire and into Lincolnshire near Gainsborough where J worked.  I can't remember which church this was but it would have had a connection to either William Brewster or William Bradford.

Anyway, S (in blue) would have been 90 in March this year, and my friend and I had a reminisce about the happy times when we all worked together in the 80s and early 90s.  S retired to Wales near Llandrindod Wells.  J became a Buddhist nun, I've no idea what happened to her as we eventually lost touch.  How time flies and how precious memories are.

All for now, I'll be back with trains to the coast and willow woodland animals.

The Longest Yarn

The Longest Yarn - A Thread through History - is a travelling exhibition which depicts, in 80 panels, the lead up to the D Day landings of 6th June 1944, the Longest Day.  It was completed in time for this year's 80th anniversary.

Above Stoke Minster. The iron railings guard the resting place of potter Josiah Wedgwood.

The Longest Yarn is on display at Stoke Minster until 5th December and on Friday morning we went along to see it.

The inspiration for the 3D project came about as an idea from a lady called Tansy Foster who initially wanted to create a topper for her garden wall but the idea grew.  The 80 panels, each a metre long, represent the 80 years since the events and the 80 days of The Battle of Normandy.

Each panel depicts events happening across Britain and France on that one day and has been constructed by volunteer knitters from across Europe, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Photographs from the time inspired the creators of the panels.  Above President Eisenhower makes the final decision to go.

The detail in each display is amazing.

Parachutes landing and getting caught on buildings and trees.

Above the bombing of Carentan station.

After a while it became impossible to take photos as the Minster became quite crowded but the whole exhibition is quite spectacular and very detailed.

This morning when we passed by the Minster on our way to walk at Westport Lake there were queues waiting to get inside.  I'm so glad we visited yesterday.

There is so much more to see than the items I have photographed, apologies for the fuzziness of some of them. 

Above Stoke Minster in sunshine as we left the exhibition.

The exhibition is moving on to Tewkesbury Abbey from here, then to Enniskillen, Norwich and Peterborough before it leaves these shores to travel to Cape May, New Jersey in the USA in April next year.

A smaller exhibition of Britain at War is being made at the moment comprising of just 6 panels ready to go on tour next September.

Wild flowers and exhibitions

August is just flying along isn't it? Where do the days go?  We have got gardening done and made some visits locally.  We also visited a lovely exhibition at the Burslem School of Art with friends who came over from Beeston for lunch. There were some wonderful works of art in the Three Counties Exhibition.  The three counties being Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. 

 I've been struggling health wise and after the bone marrow biopsy I had in April I have been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder caused by a faulty gene so have, over the next few weeks, to start treatment for that.  I had a venesection on Thursday which is the start of the ongoing process. This now explains the blood clot in my leg and the two PEs I had in 2022 and 2023.  I'll try to keep blogging here and there.  I've just noticed that this is my first post for this month. It reminds me of some school reports, usually for maths, when there was always a comment of 'could do better'.

Anyway at the moment I'm looking for things colourful and cheerful and found them at Trentham Gardens where the wild flower meadows are looking wonderful.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves, although they don't do justice to the wonderful sesnsation of being amongst them.

All for now.

Wintry Days

 After all the wet weather the last few days have been sunny but oh so cold.  We have managed to get out and about for a couple of walks this week. Both yesterday and today the sky has been so blue.

Tuesday we woke up to a light dusting of snow and the car had to go into the garage for it annual service.  Wednesday, after a supermarket shop, we visited the Brampton Musem in Newcastle (under Lyme) for a mug of coffee and a shared slice of banana bread.  I liked the sign on the front of the counter in the tea room cafe.

After coffee we popped into the galleries to look at the latest exhibition.  Art work by the Society of Staffordshire Artists.

Yesterday we took a walk around Trentham Gardens the weather was so different from last week.

The fountain in the shopping area had frozen with some beautiful patterns in the ice.

Lots of blue sky, shadows and reflections.

Even though it was getting towards midday it was still very cold.

On the lake the Coots were marching across the ice, there were quite a few of them all together. Apparently the collective noun for Coots is a cover.

They were joined by two Little Grebes.  The Little Grebes or Dabchicks had found an un-iced over area to keep diving in.

Cormorants. 

Nuthatch

At home Snowdrops are peeping through the frost and snow, there is no sign of the Winter Aconites yet.

I'm looking forward to seeing them both again this year.