All Things Considered

Birds
Posted by Simon Lewin

Having put the up post about Chris Watson's work below, it seemed logical to post another image from our current exhibition of Emily Sutton's handmade birds and drawings. At the risk of  delivering a terrible pun, Emily's birds have been flying out of the gallery. If you'd like to know what is still available, please call on 01263 735 777 between 10am and 5pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 31st, 2008

Chris Watson
Posted by Simon Lewin

A recent link from Underworld's website served as reminder about Chris Watson's work.

Having been a founding member of Sheffield's Cabaret Voltaire (when I first came across his work), Chris began his sound recording career in 1981 working for Tyne Tees Television.

His recordings regularly crop up on radio and TV nature programmes, and the Guardian rated his 2003 'Weather Report' album as one of the '1000  Albums to Hear Before You  Die'...

"Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and here he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. The unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears."

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 26th, 2008

Beijing Olympics
Posted by Kate Sullivan

I've really enjoyed watching the Olympic games. I've wept, cheered and rejoiced at the success of the athletes, and I've also cheered and rejoiced at watching (or listening) to something other than CBeebies.

I haven't yet seen the opening ceremony in full but have heard it was amazing.  Seb Coe has been saying that the Beijing Olympics will be the last of its kind. London's event is set to cost around £9 billion compared to Beijing's astonishing £44 billion. Coe is also saying that 2012 will be a 'fun' Olympics. Perhaps in other words, don't expect it to be compete with China's extravagant global event which I have to say, will be a good thing.

Not exactly an athletic challenge, but tricky all the same is Bryan Berg stacking 140,000 cards to replicate the Beijing Olympic village. My mind boggles at the patience involved in achieving such a sculpture. I seem to fail to even stack the washing neatly.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on August 22nd, 2008

Count Arthur Strong
Posted by Simon Lewin

We had the pleasure of seeing Count Arthur Strong last night in Edinburgh - one of hundreds of performers appearing at this year's festival.

You may have caught his shows on Radio 4. If not, there's a brief taster below - a promo for Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Chicken Out campaign.

Back in Edinburgh next weekend, this time to see the Neil Cowley Trio (again) at The Jazz Bar.

Posted by Simon Lewin on August 17th, 2008

Make your own Donna Wilson Monster
Posted by Kate Sullivan

Sniffing my way through the latest aromatic copy of Icon Magazine (I think it's the printing ink that makes it smell so good), I noticed that the online version of Icon magazine, Iconeye has a downloadable guide to making a Donna Wilson knitted monster.

I know knitted monsters are not everyone's cup of tea, but in this era of etsy and home craft, making things yourself can be simple as seen in the 'how to make a monster' video on this page. Donna Wilson's work is fun, tactile and uncomplicated. Her guide to making her monsters is fairly uncomplicated too, and if like me you have a glut of shrunken jumpers, all you need to do is shrink them a bit more and turn them into gifts for a new born or a birthday present to scare a niece as I unintentionally did earlier this year.

Posted by Kate Sullivan on August 9th, 2008

The Weather Tree
Posted by Kate Sullivan

It's so very British to talk about the weather. When we're in a spell of either hot or rainy climatic events, it feels as though we're in it for ever, but of course we never are. The Weather Tree is one way of showing how good (or bad) the British seasons really is.

The Weather Tree poster is a simple drawing of a tree with twelve branches representing the twelve months of the year. The branches have have a leaf for everyday of the twelve months. You decide on the colours you want to depict the weather types, then you simply colour in a leaf everyday to record the day's meteorological happenings.

Dorothy Thelwall, the artist behind the weather tree, is also producing One-Day-at-a-Time Tree. This poster helps you record what ever daily achievement you wish.

I'm about to make a purchase, they cost £5 each including postage and packaging. I'm going to buy the Weather Tree and a the One-Day-at-a-Time Tree to record my irrational mood swings - could the two are related?

Posted by Kate Sullivan on August 1st, 2008