Category: Creative

July 19, 2016

Dismaland

Dismaland: Because this was a highlight last year..brings back a few memories…

Dismaland:The temporary art project set up by the street artist Banksy in an abandoned lido in the quietly rotting seaside town of Weston Super Mare. Banksy writes in his opening welcome: ‘Bertolt Brecht once said ‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it’. Which is fine, but what if you’re in a hall of mirrors and the giant hammer is made of foam? This is the question raised by Dismaland Bemusement Park’.

And so it begins…

Birthed from the detritus of Disney, with bored attendants, patches of weeds and artistic despair, this decaying edifice to humanity is set on a 2.5 acre site with works from more than 50 artists from 17 different countries. It’s an instagramer’s delight, a visual sensation and a walk on the whacky, dark, black side.

A play on double standards starts immediately, from the genuine bag search on the street (anarchy has it’s place, no spray cans allowed here) to the fabricated threat of Bill Barminksi’s cardboard screening room. What’s real and what isn’t?

Inside it’s hard to know where to look first..the children slide riot van?

The sadistic carousel? Tesco would be so pleased..

Or the Big Rig jig, defying explanation or gravity.

There are traditional stalls – each with their own unique twist.

Knock the anvil over – with a ping pong ball and yay! you win the anvil! Hit the anvil and you win a red bracelet that reads ‘this is a meaningless bracelet’. Didn’t stop me wanting one. And then you ask yourself why even attempt the futile? Except we did. And failed.

Or maybe hooking a duck from the muck has a greater chance of success – except the punters have run off with all the ducks – and it’s all for a paper fishfinger in a bag..

Dominating the park is the dilapidated fairytale castle of broken dreams. ‘Step inside’, say the downcast attendants, ‘See how it really feels to be a princess’..

Through the darkness is the car-crash of Cinderella’s coach, her dying body illuminated by the flashes of pap’s cameras. We’re looking at them, looking at us..feeding us, feeding them..

Sometimes it’s the smaller, allegedly quieter stuff that catches the eye..

Sometimes the message is so strong to the extent you feel sleazy and ambushed with dirty fluids. This isn’t a place that brands itself on palatable.

The art wants you to look, not just spectate. to take part and not just consume..which is a line that is all too easily crossed. How many people are there walking around with the balloons stating ‘I am an imbecile’? Or actually taking selfies in the selfie hole?

Did these people really understand what they were doing? Did they nod sagely knowing they were doing this ironically? But then their ignorance becomes part of the point.

This isn’t a place for children despite there being works designed with them in mind..like the depressed, drunk Mr Rainbow puffing fumes over his tired playground..

Or The Husband’s favourite: Pocket Money Loans

Where the devil was in the detail.

Take a seat in a stripey deckchair and watch Punch and Judy landing a punch with a Jimmy Savile themed show..

Put up your feet at the Jeffrey Archer memorial pit fire. He’s still alive but a book of his dies every day.

Come into one of three galleries to wander round at your leisure. Meet the baby in the vending machine, covered in logos by Dietrich Wegner, guaranteed to make you ponder life.

Meet Jessica Harrison’s distortion of suburban tranquility.

Wonder if Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene is her real name or is just another trick of the mind. The art – tapestries made with power tools, certainly had a kick.

Banksy has pulled it off: It’s hard to be underground when you’re hailed as a national treasure by the very people you want to vilify, but that’s part of the conundrum that makes Banksy’s Dismaland so very special – it’s a spoof on the British holiday by the sea – take it seriously and you miss the point, and yet it quietly smiles through blackened teeth and grittily mocks: don’t understand this at your peril…

Impeccably crafted and precision cut, deeply unsettling yet strangely entertaining it’s so good, it can’t be legal..and probably isn’t.

Laters, Kate x

July 5, 2016

For Abbie x

This post isn’t symbolic of anything but it’s a look back at the year: It’s been a rollercoaster with a little too much chasing of tails, not helped with building works, the decorating of building works and a third project that’s been slowly ticking over in the background. It’s all led to less time for this place – but it’s been a point of pride to try and get something out each day and a big thank you to all those who have stuck through the chaos! This is definitely my outlet – a place to pin down thoughts and make ideas real and remains one of my favourite parts of the day.

But once again time has a life of it’s own: I’m leaving for Greece shortly – a whole week earlier than expected which means crushing everything into an ever smaller time frame. So I’m very grateful to Abbie and her blog Twenty, Trendy and Thriving for nominating me for a blog award and presenting me with a list of questions to answer. I’m going to be cheeky and use each question as individual Blog posts to give me something to hang my brain cells on.

Her first question is ‘Who is your biggest fashion inspiration?’ It’s a toughie and could be the continuing story of this whole blog, but if you distill it down, the grains of truth could be older ladies, like the Advanced Style girls who’ve learnt the lessons of life, know what suits them and unashamedly flaunt their own type of beauty.

Happy to be so relentlessly wrong, they’re right.

Pulling together looks with nothing more than one hundred percent pure style.

They encapsulate the knowledge that when you don’t dress like everyone else, you don’t have to think like anyone else. Food for thought.

Laters, Kate x

July 4, 2016

Holly go brightly..

Today marks the last Monday of term and school prize day – a day to avoid if ever there is one. I swore last year, after three hours of clapping in heavy, muggy heat that I would never go again – and that was after the mornings two hour session. But, there’s no emotional escape from the kids need to know you’re there..in world economics it’s a price too high to pay not to go, so it’s time to slap on the smile and don the nonchalance for one more time. I’ll be sitting there, checking out the colour combinations and trying to work out why some things work that really shouldn’t..and the reverse.

Think of me.

Laters, Kate x

June 29, 2016

Nicely Niche..

I was speaking to a friend yesterday about the appeal of embroidered patches and we were discussing where to buy them. I don’t know the cheapest place to find them (any suggestions gratefully received – I’ll pass them on) but I do know the best:

Hand and Lock has provided the finest hand embroidery since 1767, offering everything from civilian to military regalia to ecclesiastical to couture.

They have the skill to produce intricate delights such as this.

Which can then with their bespoke service and be translated, if you so wish, into…well..the imagination is your limit.

They also offer a range of machine embroidered badges, perfect for every day. You know they know their stuff because the sizes are perfect.

This place is a little slice of living history – it’s even possible to take part in workshops or tour the atelier. This is Britain at it’s best.

Laters, Kate x

June 21, 2016

A Girl Called Jack x

Jack Monroe is my latest hero. I discovered her whilst painting the hall..the joy of decorating is having an ipad close to hand listening to iplayer doing it’s thing. Radio 4 made a drama from her life, basing it around her love of cooking and her relationship with her Grandmother: Two things that float my boat – it inspired me to seek out her cook book.

Jack started by writing, in her own time, a local political commentary blog. Then she had to give up her career when she became a single mum and her wage couldn’t extend to childcare. The only solution was benefits and a mere £10 a week for food for the two of them. Her blog ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’ was a consequence of that constraint, written to share the recipes she magically managed to produce…which then turned into her own cookbook.

Being a single parent meant lack of time as well as a lack of resources translates into recipes that are both speedy and simple. There’s no frills or extravagant ingredients, instead she’s re-connected the umbilical cord highlighting that fantastic, nutritious food doesn’t need an overflowing handmade Devol larder and a certificate in corden bleu cookery.

(The vegetarian meals are awesome)

Jack believes that in order to tackle food poverty and a culture of convenience/microwave meals with dubious ingredients then cooking at home needs to be present on a less glossy, less sexy, less intimidating and more accessible way, which then has the rollover benefit of both spending less and reducing waste. Win win.

She makes you think about how you cook, why you cook..and how careless we are. The bottom line is we all need to care more.

I love her and I love her book.

Laters, Kate x

June 16, 2016

Shibori..

Yesterday was spent teaching a group of friends (I’m a rep for Charlie’s class) how to shibori tie-dye. It’s something I love to do with its heady mixture of deep indigo, spontaneity, freedom and promise.

I’ve posted about it before (here) but this year was a little bit different/lessons learnt – the scarfs are longer (2m – possibly the perfect length) and the dye is a new one: If you’re making a large dye bath with the more commonly used Dylon, it’s hard to keep the solution warm so I went for a procion dye that works with cold water (it’s the dye they use for batik dying) and it produced excellent results. If you want more info on dyes and techniques, check out this website (makes me wish I lived in Bognor)..this is a brilliant craft for kids in the summer..and imagine on duvet covers, sheets..or even larger pieces of furniture! Bella spent her evening after school dying..socks!

Gloves are always useful..

This may be old school..but it’s still the best.

Laters, Kate x

May 31, 2016

The Sitting Room x

Charlie, The Husband and I went to Twickenham on Sunday to see England v Wales (cr*p kicking but a great match). Before we left there was a huge discussion about the weather..hot? Cold? Rain? Snow? The general consensus was if the sun was shining it would be hot…but it wasn’t…so we dressed for winter. We got there…the sun came out…and we all fried like sirloin steaks on a barbie. Today, in contrast the heavens have opened and we’re probably getting the months rain in one day which means we’re all stuck inside as it’s half term. I’ve declared it a creative day, with my creative project being to paint the sitting room.

(I’ve been desperate to paint these velux windows white since they first went in)

The walls also need a lot of work where we had a leak (all fixed by the builders) and general 10 years of wear and tear.

I’ve surprised myself by sticking to brilliant white but it works on multiple levels: The ceiling with all it’s variation in height is blended together with the eye drawn to the highest point, the skirting board radiator that runs round the edge of the room disappears, and finally..there’s a fairly eclectic mix of furniture in this room that the white pulls together (spot the latest edition..my seventies table light..probably deserves a separate post).

I did all the prep work for half the room yesterday..I’m hoping I can get it all finished by tomorrow.

Not easy when the kids are off school for half term..for instance, I couldn’t find my phone yesterday – not a huge hardship as we’re not biologically linked. But it eventually turned up in Bella’s room, tuned to You Tube and a video about ‘Women making graffitti for the first time’ …if you’re mentally away..the mice play..

Laters, Kate x

May 27, 2016

Thank you Dievca x

In response to my post about Mark Champkin’s flower lights, the lovely Dievca sent me a link to Studio Drift’s Shylights at the Rijks Museum in Holland. I’m so grateful because they are a wonder to behold…

I thoroughly recommend watching the film they made during the making process: The attention to detail, the care…the joy.

Laters, Kate x

May 25, 2016

Innovation x

How about this for a super cool design: A light that opens up like a flower..and closes again.

It’s the work of the Science Museums Inventor-in-residence, Mark Champkins. Inside the petals are bi-metallic strips – a sandwich of copper and steel. The copper responds to the heat of the bulb by expanding, the steel doesn’t, resulting in the realistic bend.

Whilst I love it, It’s small and I’m not convinced it’s working to it’s true potential..Just imagine it as collection together designed as a blossomed branch huge chandelier..

Or inside a large eye-filling glass pendant: Three in a row over a kitchen island unit…heaven.

Laters, Kate x

May 23, 2016

Staircarpet and Cellar x

I finally grasped my courage with both hands and, bored of lifting boxes, fitted the stair carpet down to the new cellar.

Taking things seriously, I invested £40 in a heavy duty staple and nail gun (I’m hoping there will be options for more uses…like the main stairs). It worked really well – you have to use two hands which just means reduced chance of accidents. The only downside was I initially bought the wrong staples – even if the packaging/name looks the same, read the small numbers on the staple box carefully, otherwise it’s a return journey to the DIY shop to buy the right ones. I used 12 mm staples.

I also ordered some carpet grip from Ebay (the sort of stuff you lay under rugs to stop them from slipping). The thought process was that I wasn’t worried about slippage from laying the pile in the wrong way, as there was no pile, but I was aware that kilim is a thinner type of rug and wanted to give it some support regarding pulling from the staples and feet.

Then it was the simple matter of laying a piece of underlay with carpet grip and stapling it into place.

For the carpet, I pencilled off on each stair where the carpet should run centrally (7 cm on each side for me). Then the lines in the design were a big bonus, helping to keep everything straight and on track.

Finally it was the simple matter of stapling under the nose of the riser, in the middle and at either end. And again where the step meets the riser and working down. The last bit of kilim was folded up, tucked under and stapled away. Job done.