Thursday 29 March 2012

Great Dane

 
We’re delighted to be exhibiting Anne Mette Hjortshøj's first solo ceramics show at the gallery, opening this Saturday 31 March.

Anne Mette lives and works on the small Danish island of Bornholm located in the Baltic Sea. We travelled to the island back in snowy February to make this short documentary about Anne Mette, looking at her influences both within and outside of the great Danish potting tradition and the beautiful nature of the island which permeates her pieces. 





click here to view more pots

Monday 26 March 2012

Spring Forward

As the clocks have now gone forward it's time to greet the extra daylight with a spring in your step.


David Kirk's Spring does just that; its two country walkers striding in opposite directions, but with equal purpose, while the horizon curves into a gentle smile. 


This visual playfulness features in much of David Kirk's work...cast your eyes on these.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Glass Jubilee

John Reyntiens at the gallery

Those of you who came to our Patrick Reyntiens exhibition opening in December will remember the fantastic talk and demonstration given by Patrick’s son – John Reyntiens. (Unfortunately Patrick broke his hip the day before so was unable to join us.) 

I've Slipped, I've Slipped!

John has been in the news this week as his new stained glass window was unveiled in the Palace of Westminster, commissioned to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
 
The window, designed and made of around 1,500 separate pieces, will be installed in its permanent position later this year.



Put it Up! Put it Up!


Read the BBC article here.
 

Or take a peek at the colourful stained glass in our Patrick Reyntiens collection, to which these two panels here belong.

Monday 19 March 2012

Love In the Time of Intolerance

Two Boys Aged 23 or 24

C. P. Cavafy was a Greek poet who was born in Alexandria in 1863. He was one of the earliest modern authors to address homosexuality in his writing and was discovered by Hockney when the latter was a student at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s.  
In 1966 Hockney began work on a series of etchings based on a selection of Cavafy's work – each print corresponding to a poem. The illustrations were etched directly onto copper plates (you can see this in the video below) using a simple, spare style which matched the unadorned yet powerful language of the poetry.
Though a number of the prints display direct reference to the middle eastern world of Cavafy’s poems (To remain, set outside a dry cleaning shop and The shop window of a tobacco store both have Arabic shop signs), other illustrations are based on drawings of Hockney’s friends in his bedroom in Notting Hill. 

The prints are not literal translations of a narrative, but rather Hockney’s interpretation of the sentiments explored in the poems: the passion of chance encounters, the familiarity between lovers. 

Portrait of Cavafy in Alexandria

The suite was published in 1967, the same year in which legislation to decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales was passed. Therefore, this set of prints represents an important public statement: one which is told through the most intimate and personal aspects of love.

To view the prints alongside the poems which inspired them, click here and flick through our online catalogue.  

The Arts Council made a film about the creation of the engravings entitled Love’s Presentation. Watch an extract in the video below or view it here:

Wednesday 7 March 2012

For Sale: Old & New



The Royal West of England Academy is opening a new exhibition this Saturday – Eric Ravilious: Going Modern/Being British.

The two pics above from our collection - Hams and The Clerical Outfitter  - form part of his 'High Street' series, widely admired for their portrayal of a quintessential, provincial pre-war England.  

Ravilious created 24 ‘High Street’ lithographs in 1936 and 1937, drawing directly on the stone in the studios of the Curwen Press. They were originally designed for a children’s ‘book of shops’ by Country Life Books, and since the lithographic plates were destroyed during the blitz, only 2000 copies were ever printed. 

Paul Laity in the Guardian recently described Ravilious’ watercolours as being ‘more popular than ever’, perhaps due to their charm and the friendly feeling of nostalgia they inspire. Yet he also wrote that ‘the secret of their appeal lies partly in their complex relationship with modernism’

Look at the patterns formed by those hams, stacked together with deliberate consideration for form and colour.  Or through the window of the clerical outfitter where the vestments greet us with something of the surreal. 

Ravilious certainly knew how to chronicle the details of British life, but as this new exhibition in Bristol aims to show, his artistic vision was far from parochial. 

Other shops for sale in our Ravilious High Street collection are:


                                        

 
 

Monday 5 March 2012

What's It All About?

Dora Holzhandler's Rabbi Studying Spinoza is probably contemplating some pretty deep questions (and possibly some answers). 

On Sunday 18 March you have the chance to join the artist in an intimate Q&A session held at this year's Jewish Living Expo (more details here).

Art historian Sister Wendy Beckett has been a devoted supporter for many years and has aptly described Dora as "offering to life here a total yes." And looking at the scenes she depicts, whether a family sitting down to sabbath dinner; a pair of lovers hovering over Paris or a mother lovingly holding her child, we see Dora capture the essence of human experience, often tackling life's big topics through the sacredness she finds in the everyday.

Watch the video below to find out more about Dora's influences and outlook. 


And click here to see how that's reflected in her art.