The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!

Can an artist examine the culture of self promotion in today’s society with a self promoting show called ‘The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!’? ‘When I came up with this title, I liked it because it chimed with one of my ongoing ambitions – to widen the audience for art without dumbing it down. Mainly I…

Colour From Your Kitchen

It’s Summer… and the Studio 21 artists have an exhibition at the Well House Gallery. The Gallery will be open throughout the weekend and seven artists will be talking about their work throughout the 2 day event. Ross will kick start the weekend on Saturday morning with ‘Colour From Your Kitchen’.  Using common ingredients from an…

The Museum of Childhood

‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.’ George Bernard Shaw Last week I took the car to get MOTed at the Kwik Fit on Bethnal Green Road. It takes about an hour so I took the opportunity to visit the Museum of Childhood for the first time….

The Knitting And Stitching Show

The Knitting and Stitching Show is a yearly extravaganza for all things textile related. A mecca for all fibre aficionados, the show tours the country visiting Dublin, Edinburgh, Harrogate and London. A little bit later than I would have liked, I am finally having time to sit down and try and catch up with myself….

Looking Forward – Design at the Helm

Blogging on the net can all seem a bit abstract and virtual, but sometimes you actually get the chance to meet the people behind the posts. Tomorrow is one of those occasions. From 12pm, those of you who happen to live in London or are passing through have the chance to come down and meet…

The Ballad of British Folklore

Candy floss, toffee apples, dodgems and waltzers; when I was a wee boy, this is what the Lammas Market meant to me. My gran loved the merry-go-round horses, and I looked at the rides for the big boys, like the rockets, with fear and excitement. Soon, I thought, I will get to climb aboard and…

Word on the Water – the Bookshop Barge

Living by Regents Canal, I have learned a lot about London’s waterways. We have a small residential community of eight boats outside our flat, and as a cyclist, I’ve used the towpaths for almost as long as I’ve lived in the city. I know a lot more about swans, having watched our local couple from…

Made You Look: Dandyism And Black Masculinity

As a teenager growing up in St Andrews in the eighties, The Face was my introduction to so many things –  one of my favourite bands New Order, the photographer Arthur Tress (his image ‘Hermaphrodite behind Venus and Mercury’ is burnt into my consciousness) and indeed the idea of style itself. It was also my…

Scott Thornley at Le 15 ter Galerie Méli-Art, Gourdon

I’ve been a wee bit quiet this week, as I’m in the Lot in south west France for a break with my sister and her family. Not many exhibitions to review or natural dying workshops going on here, or so I thought. It’s an area that I know reasonably well, having been here two or…

Textile Foundation 2016 Part 2 – The Exhibition

Before the Private View last Wednesday of Morley College‘s Textile Foundation 2016 Exhibition, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the show before it opened. For this final exhibition, the students are given free reign to showcase their talents and explore their interests. This year the subjects ranged form the idea of the Palimpsest to the view from…

Textile Foundation 2016 Part 1 – Private View

Last Wednesday was the Private View for Morley College‘s highly successful Textile Foundation course. With slightly fewer students compared to last year’s intake, each artist had a little more space at the Morley Gallery to make their mark. That all changed of course on the evening of the opening, when the gallery was full to…

Peter Jones: The Small Things Matter

On Monday morning, I roused myself as I used to and hopped on my bike for a cycle to Clifford Chance on Upper Bank Street, Canary Wharf. I was heading down to see this year’s Annual International LGBT Art Exhibition. This is the ninth year Clifford Chance have hosted a global exhibition across 8 offices…