TAKE THREE (II)

Hello everyone,

Whilst doing the dishes the other morning I was thinking about some of the extraordinary art currently showing in the Christmas Exhibition. It occurred to me that, by chance, there's something of a threesome going on. For example:

'Trinity', non tarnish silver coated copper wire, collected dove feathers, abalone shell by Marcela Trsova.
A very beautiful installation which casts the most delicate shadows that dance on the walls.

'See no Fish, Here no Fish, Catch no Fish', acrylic on canvas by James Newton Adams.
I love their bright yellow, rubbery gloves.

'Three Sisters', digital painting by Kevin Low.
Otherworldly and enchanting, the attention to detail in the girl's clothes is very touching.

'Three Blind Mice' oil on panel by Dylan Lisle.
An impressive and powerful triptych that depicts his subjects with mind boggling detail.

'Waiting for The Tide', finest lead-free pewter on olivewood by Carl Newman.
There's nothing lovelier than a nice piece of wood, so tactile and I love how the wood grain mimics the tidelines in the sand.

So as you can see there's something for everyone in UG's 2013 Christmas Exhibition. If 3 is your lucky number then perhaps this selection might appeal to you.

Have a great weekend all!

The Messengers

Hello everyone

I thought you might like to learn something about the incredibly striking installation by Czech multi-media artist, Marcela Trsova, which is currently wowing visitors to the new exhibition, 'In the Company of Birds'.  

Made of  coated copper wire and real feathers, Marcela has painstakingly created her own birds in flight which, hanging from the ceiling, gently sway with the drafts in the gallery.  With a solitary Jay in the middle, surrounded by Magpies and Crows, the result is quite stunning - calming, thought- provoking and menacing all at the same time.

Here's what Marcela has to say about them:

"Flight has always represented freedom from the physical restrictions of  earthbound life, and the ascent of the soul to the Gods - either through mystical experience or through death.  Birds share something of the same symbolic meaning, but because they come from the skies they can also assume the role of messengers from higher powers, whether for good or for ill.
In Kabbalah, Renaissance magic, and in alchemy, the language of the birds was considered a secret, perfect language, and the key to perfect knowledge.  In many cultures across the world, the language of birds is the mystical language of angels and interestingly, the English word 'angel' comes from the biblical Greek word 'angelos', which means messengers - the messengers of the truth.
In mythology and superstition, crows and magpies have always been associated with bad omens, bad luck, or as the messengers of death.  This may be because of the colour of their feathers - black - and their nature (feeding on carrion).  The Jay however, although from the same family (corvids), symbolises truth, fairness and solidarity.  In the spiritual realm, the jay speaks of clarity and vision.  In Native American culture, the azure of the jay set against the blue sky indicated a 'double vision', or double clarity.  This visual and spiritual 'blue on blue' concept speaks of purity of the soul, truth of the heart, and clarity of the soul."

I always like and admire the research and thought that goes into all Marcela Trsova's creations, and we must also thank her for the dedication she has to her craft.  Here she is, at close to midnight, putting the final touches to The Messengers.

Speak soon.

Precious Bees

Hello everyone,

Along with all the fabulous bee paintings in the gallery this month, there are some interesting and unusual sculptures that have also been specially created for the Plight of the Bumblebee exhibition.

'Precious' is a work by Czech artist Marcela  Trsova, who you may remember by her fabulous ''Sea of Souls' installation earlier this year.  Marcela is a highly creative and imaginative artist who likes to use natural materials in her work.  'Precious' is made largely from black beeswax - unusual in this country, and created from the type of heather the bees pollinate:

'Precious', black beeswax and gold wire, by Marcela Trsova.
Each ball represents an element of the cycle of life, with the ancient symbols of the Seed, the Flower and the Fuit of Life depicted in the gold wire.

I'll let Marcela take up the story:

'The bees are an important part of food chain as without the pollination there will be no fruit, vegetables or cereals for us to eat. There are other pollinators in nature such as flies and wasps but bees remain the most important, espeacially for industrial agriculture.
In the piece I have created for the Plight of the Bumblebee exhibition I wanted to emphasize the importance of the bees in plants life cycle. To do so I used the ancient symbols of The Seed, The Flower and The Fruit of Life. They are considered to be one of the key parts of sacred geometry and have been used in many different cultures. They are also said to contain the values and the fundemental forms of space and life.

I feel the beautiful geometry of the designs is also related to the amazing organisational efficiency of the bees and geometrically perfect construction of honeycombes.
The design gets more complex as the plant cycle progresses, The Seed of Life being the simplest one. The symbols are drawn with gold plated wire and are embedded into the natural black bee wax spheres. The wax is dark because the pollen collected by the bees comes from heather moors, by using the gold wire I wanted to express the preciousness of the bees.' 

And here are the individual elements up close:

 

'The Seed of Life'

 

 'The Flower of Life', and:

'The Fruit of Life'

 Like all the artists who have created work for this exhibition,  Marcela has really thought about the issue of the declining bee population and really gone the extra mile to produce something relevant, interesting and beautiful.  There is still a week to go, so you have plenty of time to come in and view this inspirational and poignant exhibition.

Speak soon....

  

Sea of Souls

Hello everyone

And a warm welcome to our latest follower. Nice to have you with us.
It's also nice to break the 80 following barrier. Hip hip hurrah!

So I promised to show you some footage from the "Making Waves" opening. I am ashamed to report that I failed miserably. I am not ashamed to admit that it was because I was having too nice a time, chatting with the artists and visitors to the gallery, and generally enjoying the work on the walls....an absolute perk of the job, and by jingo the work is good!
I did however manage this wee snap:

I wanted to capture the gentle ambiance of multi media artist, Marcela Trova's installation, "Sea of Souls". A captivating and enchanting piece of work that is both relaxing and thought provoking to be around. I would urge you to come and spend some time with it and the breathtaking paintings on display while you still can.
This is Czech artist Mracela Trsova installing "Sea of Souls":

I have to praise Marcela. She spent a whole day up on UG's wobbly ladders (I remained calm!), installing the work. It was a painstaking process with no way to hurry it up. Getting the work to flow right depended on the placement of each fish in relation to the others. Every time one was adjusted Marcela had to be patient until it stopped moving. Much like Hannah Haworth's installation "The Hunt" which we exhibited at Christmas, "Sea of Souls" is another labour of love. There are 13 individual fish here and it took Marcela an average of 3 days to perfect each one. Many a cut finger too!
Have a shifty over this to learn more about the work:

http://www.uniongallery.co.uk/index.php/Artists/Artist/marcela_trsova/

I did manage one other photo from the opening:

It's a photo of seascape expert Hazel Cashmore's rather fabulous shoe.
Hazel does of course have 2 feet....for some reason I only thought to photo one.
I would quite like a pair of these shoes for myself!
Leaving you with this:

Ladies and gentlemen....introducing the one and only Ullysses!
I am enjoying having Jon Dawkins and Anne Rhodes staying with us in our now tidy house. (YES it's TRUE...the house is actually clean!) Largely thanks to the best cleaning co in town:
turboclean@live.co.uk
Jon was most taken by the previous pussy blog and kindly showed me this excellent photo.
I think it's fair to say Ullysses is quite simply Top Cat.


Have a great weekend x