Tucked away near Tower Bridge is a pedestrian passage where you will find this doorway, leading to the gem of Wilton’s Music Hall. Regularly used as a film location and open once more for performances, this is the only remaining original and active music hall venue in London. You can join a history tour as we […]
One-minute blog of interesting things
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As a working contemporary artist I visit many exhibitions and shows, but sometimes it is the things I see that are part of daily life that capture my interest. My one-minute blog of interesting things reflects the fact that although we are increasingly time-poor, there is creativity all around us. Email me at info@carolinebanks.co.uk with your name and email to receive a weekly post that only takes 1 minute to read.
Lines of Beauty – work by Geoffrey Preston
Geoffrey Preston is one of the UK’s foremost architectural sculptors whose skills are used in restoration as well as for new projects. Lines of Beauty is an exhibition of his work, including his restoration of the Rococo plaster ceilings at Uppark House for the National Trust as shown below. I came across this exhibition when visiting the Foundling […]
Glass seen at New Designers
There is an innately seductive quality to glass. Charlotte Broadley, from Edinburgh College of Art, showed a collection called Deteriorate based as you may have guessed, on origami and the imperfections of a process of transformation. For me it was all about the geometric rawness of quartz and crystal. Jo Mitchell from the University of Sunderland […]
Performed Painting at The Ryder
The Ryder is a small project space in Bethnal Green and I was able to attend a recent private view for their Performed Painting exhibition. As you can see from the images below, the show looks at the act and enactment of painting. Is it action painting or our idea of action painting? The Spanish artists […]
A vintage summer fair – Carter’s Steam Fair
Now that Dreamland in Margate has reopened, the vintage fun fair seems to be on the rise. An earlier concept is Carter’s Steam Fair, started in 1977 by John & Anna Carter, who began collecting old fairground rides and restoring them before touring the country to share their enthusiasm. Everything is lovingly restored, even the show […]
Edible pattern from Cressida Bell
I’ve obviously been living under a rock to have missed this so far; Cressida Bell has taken the British Bake-off and cake trend to extend her repertoire – and I had only known her work in the context of interiors and clothing. Duh… She recently finished decorating a sail – thought you’d appreciate the change of scale. Thanks […]
Station to Station: a 30 day Happening at the Barbican
Station to Station: a 30 day Happening, has events taking place all over the Barbican for, need I say it, 30 days over the summer. A couple of the ones I attended were Model Universe by Liz Glynn and Smoke Performance by Olaf Breuning. Model Universe takes place in a darkened yurt with the artist giving […]
One Year On at New Designers – week one
I often see work in the One Year On part that I had skimmed over the previous year and Leah Jensen’s is a case in point. Her porcelain vessels look as if they have been digitally 3D printed using triangulation yet are hand carved using similar mathematical processes with Renaissance paintings of women as her visual source. She calls her […]
New Designers – textiles
I always visit New Designers with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. The former as I’m going to see new work, the latter as there is so much to cover in the limited time I have. The work that catches my eye is rarely obviously commercial although some, like these textured screen ideas below by Kirsty Tuckwell at […]
Ulster University – first time exhibitors from Belfast at New Designers
I know one of the tutors from Ulster University from many years ago and was pleased to see that the Belfast School of Art were showing at New Designers – as the only college there having to cross water to get here, the financial commitment is a serious one. The work was quite varied as the two students below illustrate. […]