Chatsworth House- Beyond Limits

I'd like to share with you some pictures taken at the Chatsworth House Beyond Limits event over the last few years. These pictures are of my favourite pieces that I've seen there so far and found the most enjoyable and inspiring. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the artists who produced these wonderful pieces (bar a couple) so if any of you do know any of the artists get in touch and let me know who they are and which piece is theirs, thanks!

This baby was fantastic! It was enormous! Chris and I walked right up to it and all around it and we truly could not figure out how it was suspended in the air like that. I mean, obviously the left hand is touching the ground, but it's just so hard to imagine that that tiny base is keeping the whole large thing upright like that?! Magnificent!

 I loved this skinned man by Damien Hirst, the photos do not do it justice- the detailing on it was amazing.

And again with these two unicorns by Hirst- they were stunning! I'd love a piece of Hirst but somehow doubt I could afford one!!!

This lion was made out of car tyres and small car parts- it was so clever and must have taken ages to do. The photo can't convent how good this piece looked.

And finally 2 Juame Plensa's- each from a different year.

I've mentioned the dates of this year's Beyond Limits event before but in case you missed them it will be on between 07.09.12 and 30.10.12. Normal opening times and Garden entry charges apply (plus you have to pay for parking, £3). For full details and information please see www.chatsworth.org and look in the 'events' section. I'm going to try and go in mid/ late October this time as it's definitely getting a bit crowded at Beyond Limits in September!!!

Holmfirth Art Week 2012

Now that one great art event (Holmfirth Arts Festival) is over I would like to do a big, advert- style post for the next big Holme Valley art event- namely, Holmfirth Art Week!

I know I've mentioned it loooooads before but it really is a very special event, and this year the Fringe scene is huge and set to be very exciting. Plus, the Art Week raises tons of money for Macmillan, so its all for a good cause :)

I've posted all the links below that you need so you can get full details about this fantastic event, which starts this Sunday 01.07.12.

Please do take a look and consider visiting Holmfirth Art Week and having a day out there at the festival, or popping over one evening after work (make a night of it and eat in one of the fabulous restaurants available in Holmfirth). It's a great event for all ages and is family friendly.
This Sunday there's also the annual duck race going on in Holmfirth- so if you take your kids this Sunday they can have fun entering a duck in the race and visiting the fun fare etc that will be in the village (or close by at Sands- it moves around!) as well as seeing lots of fantastic and inspiring art at the Art Week and Fringe venues. Double whammy!

Website- www.holmfirthartweek.org.uk

Twitter- @HolmfirthArtWK

Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/HolmfirthArtweek

The Twitter feed is particularly good!

Below is some of Sarah Bamforth's art work which I've purchased over the years at Holmfirth Art Week. The biggest piece was bought from the main exhibition but the smaller ones can all be bought from the 'shop' at the back of the civic hall and taken home the same day. I've bought loads from that 'shop'!!!! I wonder what I'll pick up this year? Hopefully a couple more Bamforths to add to my collection.

Holmfirth Arts Festival 2012

En route to Holmfirth last Sunday (17th), I started my festival experience by parking up at the Toad and Tatie and walking up to Malkin House Barn (jel!) to see the Tributaries exhibition. I loved it! I thought that Judith Tucker's drawings were stunning and Harriet Tarlo's poetry was simple but effective. Both captured the area and landscape perfectly and worked really well together. The walls of the Barn were white and simple, so nothing about the interior distracted you from the striking drawings- save the amazing scenery outside! And the poems were published in simple font on clean white boards. I think the presentation helped the impact of both mediums superbly.
I would love one of Judith's drawings on my walls at home as a reminder of the area I have walked in so much myself and recognised so well within her work. The venue is a bit of a trek from the main road but more than worth it.

My first port of call once in the centre of Holmfirth was to stop by Towser Bothy to check out the zine library (very inspiring!). I particularly liked the book stand made from reclaimed materials- it really suited the venue and emphasised the 'do it yourself' vibe of the zines. The dry stone wall bar also looked fabulous and seemed to be doing a good trade.

After that I caught the 2.30pm performance of Repiano at the Holy Trinity Church. The performance was really busy, which was good to see. I enjoyed this installation very much, the music and lights went really well together and were stunning in the venue- the church interior made an ideal 'silver screen' for the colourful, fast paced images that Illuminos had created. I think I would have preferred the 'music' to be an actual piece of music rather than just warm- up sounds of the Skelmanthorpe Band and an occasional note or two from a tune, but that's a small criticism really. A visual and audio treat on a Sunday afternoon.

Sadly the poetry busk had been called off the previous day due to the naff weather, so next I headed up to Victoria Park for the workshops, of which there were 2 that afternoon. The sculpture workshop was awash with children and I didn't feel right muscling in on their space and fun, so below are some pics from this workshop which I casually observed.

I did however get a turn on the Cyanotype workshop. This is the practise of using silk or paper treated with chemicals and sunlight to create simple and unique images. My own creation is below (this piece isn't for sale ha ha). Lots of families with young children were making the most of these (free) workshops, which was brilliant to see.

Finally, I stopped off at Emma's Tea Parlour for the Poetry Parlour. Things were very much winding down by the time I got there but I did get to hear a few poems and the event took me inside a place I'd never been before but will definitely be returning to- the decor was lovely and the drinks selection was brilliant.

All in all I had a fantastic afternoon and look forward to next year's festival, at which I'll hopefully be able to attend much more and possibly even do some volunteering. There's still some stuff going on this weekend so do have a trip to Holmfirth and check the Festival out if you can.

Now, I feel so inspired by Judith Tucker, where are my pastels and chalk....

Hi everyone, this is my latest painting, completed this week.
It's a small canvas, using acrylic paint, 7 inches in width and 5 inch's in height, £35 (inc p&p). It's called 'Herdy Sheep Couple Over Derwent Water'.
If you would like to buy this painting you can use the comments box on this blog or contact me via Twitter (@BekhaG) or by email at rebecca.greensides@hotmail.co.uk.

Hmmmm... what to paint next? I'm also going to start a very special project soon, which I will share with you all as soon as I can. Need some more canvases!

I'm quite enjoying painting these little colourful Lake District scenes- might do a few more. Particularly as I'm heading there again next week- I'll be coming back all inspired :)

I'm going off radar for a few days to help my boyfriend celebrate turning 30, but will do a post late next week letting you know my thoughts on the Holmfirth Festival of Arts and what I got up to while I was there. I'm going tomorrow and can't wait! Praying for a little less rain than have endured today :( Do try and get there yourself- the Festival is on NOW and runs until next Sunday (24th).

These are the pictures I took of Caro's sculptures at Chatsworth House Gardens on Jubilee weekend. Well, not all of them- just my faves. I'm not 100% sure that the last sculpture (2 pics) are even a Caro but hey- it looked good so it got snapped! There's 15 to view in total so not all are pictured here but I think I captured the best of them.

I think Caro's work actually looks better in photographs, in real life its a little underwhelming (don't shot me!). I love the industrial feel to these sculptures though and their 'colours' and materials only enhance that link. Viewing them got me thinking about working people and British trade- farming, metal work, boat building, and how important it is to preserve these trades and our industrial heritage.

The largest sculpture (3rd and 4th pics) was infested with people, despite several large signs asking visitors NOT to climb on or touch the sculptures- ahhhh the Great British public eh? So sadly it isn't a fantastic or clear shot of that piece.

Caro was a colleague of Henry Moore and I can definitely detect the influence in the colour palette and abstractness of these works. Caro is credited as one of the most influential British sculptors alive today and embraced and promoted the idea of spectators viewing sculpture at ground level, close up. This is very much how the works at Chatsworth are presented (and YSP for that matter). You can walk around them, up to them, lay your hand on them, they look different depending on the season/ light/ weather. It does allow you to engage with the pieces in a way you simply can't with paintings hanging on a wall, or sculptures on pedestals in galleries. If you've never seen sculptures presented in this way I can definitely recommend it, its often magical (that sounds a bit soppy, but its true!) and always a delight.

Caro also has some small Bronze sculptures on display at the magnificent Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) until 01.07.12 so you can get a double Caro dose if you fancy!

For more info on Caro at Chatsworth go to http://www.chatsworth.org and for YSP head to www.ysp.co.uk.

I know the new background is a bit dull, I'll get something better up soon, which will hopefully be more text- friendly than the last background (lovely though it was).

A few items on today's post-I've been a busy online bee!

I'm a bit late to get to this event myself now this weekend (think it ends this weekend- one for next years diary!), but if anyone is at a loose end check out https://www.facebook.com/BradfordOpenForArt.
Artists Open Studios throughout the area - A range of Art and Craft fairs - Art exhibitions - Art and Craft Workshops plus enjoy the many other attractions of the area (Bradford).

The dates for next year's Saltaire Art Trail are now available. Next year's event will be held between 24th and 27th of May 2013 (I hope its not going to clash with Shepley Folk Festival!). You can find them on facebook, on Twitter @SaltaireArt, read their blog at http://www.saltaireartstrail.blogspot.co.uk or simply have a look at their website http://www.saltaireartstrail.co.uk for more information.

Don't forget Holmfirth Art Week is fast approaching- 1/7/12 till 7/7/12. The Art Week is on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolmfirthArtweek and Twitter @HolmfirthArtWK or you can take a look at the wonderful website www.holmfirthartweek.org.uk.

Similarly, Holmfirth Arts Festival starts on June 14th and runs until June 24th. I will be in attendance next Sunday (17th) and am praying the ran will stop so the outdoor activities can go ahead. You can find them on facebook also at http://www.facebook.com/HolmfirthArtsFestival, on good old Twitter @HolmfirthARTS, and view their website at http://www.holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk, where you can also buy tickets for the ticketed events. They have even been kind enough to re- tweet me, so definitely check them out if you are in the Twittersphere (and if you aren't then why the hell not? Twitter rocks!)

Its all go at the moment in the art world! And on that note, off to start a new piece...

In other news, finnnnnally got my facebook page sorted out to go with this blog. Have a nosy and 'like' it at http://www.facebook.com/pages/BekhaG. At the moment the content is pretty similar to the blog but hopefully that won't always be the case, so you can check out both the blog and facebook for different content.

Don't forget you can also email me at rebecca.greensides@hotmail.co.uk or tweet me @BekhaG.

I'm thrilled I'm nearly up to 300 page views- thank you everyone for reading!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to do a quick post to point you in the direction of two more Art events you may wish to check out.

First, the Leeds Art Fund is marking its 100th anniversary with an exhibition entitled Art in Our Time at the Leeds Art Gallery (near the Headrow in Leeds city centre). The exhibition is running until 26.08.12 and is free to enter.

The exhibition is accompanied by a series of talks from artists including Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry. On Monday 25 June, Grayson will speak about class, taste and art at a talk at the Gallery. The 'events' and 'talks' to accompany the exhibition do carry a charge and booking is recommended. For more information check out the gallery's website at http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artGallery. I'm definitely going to check it out asap.

Secondly, the good old National Trust has an annual scheme called 'Trust New Art' which, it states, 'connects people to places through contemporary art and craft'.

You can discover exhibitions, events, artist's residences and even commission art in a number of National Trust sites throughout 2012. The Trust also says ' By presenting unforgettable creative responses to our houses, gardens, coastline and countryside (through the Trust New Art Scheme), our current supporters can experience our places in new ways, while others will visit for the first time'. 

If you're interested in checking out art at the Trust they have a facebook page you can check out, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trust-New-Art, or you can follow them out on Twitter, https://twitter.com/trustnewart, or you can read their blog at http://trustnewart.wordpress.com or go to their regular website http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

The blog has a banner photo at the top of a 'red tree'. Chris and I saw this massive painted tree at the lovely Croft Castle a few years ago as part of that year's Trust New Art Scheme and it was fab! Certainly worth a look if you are thinking of visiting a National Trust property this summer/ autumn.

Hi everyone, like a total silly bean I put the wrong email address on my last post, it is actually rebecca.greensides@hotmail.co.uk! Not .com. Prawn!

Photos and review of Caro at Chatsworth coming soon, and I'll also be starting a new painting this week.