A rare overseas sumo tournament was recently held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Before it began I attended a demonstration of sumo hairdressing hosted by Japan House out of curiosity. The presenter was sumo commentator Hiro Morita, the tokoyama (sumo hairdresser) was Tokoami, highly skilled with over 2 decades of experience and his […]
General
Materials
I have found that I return to the same range of materials again and again. Something draws me back to explore them more deeply, finding each encounter slightly different. Each material has personal associations and this pair of scrolls shows four of them. Gesso. Traditionally used as a sealant for a range of surfaces including […]
The magic of a rainy bus journey
It was a rainy evening on the way home from the studio. I’d finished my book so just gazed aimlessly out from the front seat at the top of the bus where someone had wiped the window with their sleeve earlier. Others have been entranced by electric light in the rain. An obvious example is […]
Waterlicht at Lumiere London
Created by Daan Roosegaarde and first displayed in the Netherlands, Waterlicht , shown at the recent Lumiere festival, imagines the water level a flood could reach if we don’t take active responsibility for our environment. It’s a dream-like installation with the water line above our heads.
Pigeon Air Patrol in London
If you live in a city and want to know more about the air quality in your area then get in touch with the Pigeon Air Patrol. This innovative idea involves pigeons flying around (as they do) equipped with tiny little air monitoring backpacks devised by Plume Labs, which report on the quality of our air. […]
Creativity on display at the People’s Climate March in London
An estimated 50,000 people marched through central London on a damp grey day before the beginning of the UN climate summit in Paris and here are some of the ways people chose to illustrate this crucial global issue. Wonderfully mobile animal heads at the beginning of the march at Hyde Park Corner Polar bear topped ice floe by […]