Sunday 31 October 2010

⁒⁒ trading history

walking back from a cuppa with friends,
I passed shops, salons, spaces:
shiny buildings of glass:
people bustle past:
no time to stop and stare:
but I wander:
this little shop has caught my eye before:
I needed some paper bags for a fair:
so I stepped inside to be greeted by a
man with a pleasant smile:
soft grey curls:
'you're lucky I'm open' he said:
'I usually shut early on a wednesday':
the shop piled high with every kind
of bag and label:
teetering layers of brown and colour:
I wonder how this little time capsule has survived:
supplying bags to public and trade since 1870:
a family business he tells me:
saved from the brink of closing, 
by a blogger and the bbc:
he's thinking of having a website:
a new generation of bag selling:
far from the days of his great grandfather:
I take my bundle of bright stripey paper:
a bargain £2.50:
and smile as he shows me an old sign ~
'todays price
2/8 per qtr':
I shall definitely shop there again:
I recommend it:

Thursday 28 October 2010

⑊⑊ stitch in time

yesterday, for the first time,
I visited a prestigious address:
in search of intricate hand stitched finery:
not a suit or shirt:
but fabric works by Louise Bourgeois:
cut, re-sewn, constructed pieces
made from hoarded linens:
woven strips and stripes:
silks and voiles of muted colour:
geometric forms made soft:
spiders web or parachute:
her parents restored tapestries for a living:
a childhood surrounded in fabric:
peaux de lapins, chiffons ferrailles a vendre:
suspended ghostly forms:
incarcerated fabric made flesh:
conscious and unconscious:
two pieces linked by needle and thread:
fear of separation:
domicile and maternal links:

alas I could not photograph my favourite pieces:
buttons sewn in patterns and grids:
on vintage cottons:
they reminded me of my own childhood:
sorting and organising the coloured discs
into piles and patterns:

a superb show of later works by a brilliantly prolific artist:
she is missed already:
and yes there is a spider:

{images from Hauser + Wirth as the gallery wouldn't let me take 
any photos *sans flash*
there were too many eyes watching me watching art which made 
my viewing quite uncomfortable: 
no hand outs and an echoing space made resonant by some loud
bloke trying to sort out their pc on the desk:  
I wasn't the only one complaining!}

Monday 25 October 2010

⏏ eject

shocked to hear on radio 4 news today
that Sony are dropping sales of
the walkman in Japan:

this little silver box kept me away from the 
numbers on bus journeys into town:
in my own private idaho of my bedroom:
byebye little friend:
gone but not forgotten:

Sunday 24 October 2010

ᕰᕱ annual walk

our local Flickr group meet:
walk from Old Leigh to Southend:
a fresh look at the familiar:
we all see with different eyes:
big skies on the Thames:
cockle boats:
birds bobbing on the water:
calling to each other:
 rigging ringing on masts:
when we were kids, we'd climb cockle mountains:
fishy smells and crunchy underfoot:
how tall they seemed:
we have all grown:

Friday 22 October 2010

✣✣ let them talk

pecha kucha #6:
what's one of those?
twenty images, twenty seconds:
cities, towns, creatives, thinkers:
Southend's pecha took place in the former 
Clifftown Reformed Church 
~ now the East15 Acting School, Clifftown Studios:
local artist and recent graduate Amy Frampton
spent time, hours, days in a housing estate:
the Kursaal:
eight hours in the car park:
confinement, vulnerability:
cataloguing experience:
then creating an installation as part of her degree show:
two rooms, flat packed:
I particularly liked her photographic record
of her practice:
Laura Keeble leaves her pieces to their own devices:
shopping Magi in Bond Street:
idol worship in a local graveyard:
interest in how people interact and react with her work:
she can install chocolate crucifixes on my shelf
if she likes:
no supermarket required:
amusing and straight talking Daryl Easlea :
passionate published musicologist:
whose final words left us all a'sigh:
the house ~ digital poetry by Mary Flanagan:
an interactive screen applet:
she explores radical game design,
critical play where 
"the games that people play and how they play those games 
change in response to culture":
I love Heidi Wigmore's work:
she curated the excellent Cliffhanger in June:
{blogged here}
as well as her darkly feminine pieces:
she revealed past projects:
wanderlust:
and a sneak preview of the new:
spoonfuls of pagan imagery:

finally a nod to Ian Brownbill, Metal's director:
for filling in the gap between Southend & Liverpool:
a creative connection that has changed our town for the better:
and given me the opportunity to hear about so many
creative and innovative people:
 without having to travel very far:

Saturday 16 October 2010

✈✉ not so lonely after all

a parcel from far away:
but then again so near:
paper peeping out from under curls:
a pretty cup of choc:
a little russian lady wrapped in pink wallpaper:
and a tiny piece of art:
oh I do thank you:

Wednesday 13 October 2010

𐐂𐐚 more than dressing up

Libbie's choice of exhibition, last weekend,
saw us visiting the 
taken during a Fastnacht festival in 
Germany, 2008:
a series of medium format photographic
prints by Axel Hoedt:

masks to unnerve:
costumes grotesquely steeped in folklore:
worn to chase away the spirits of winter:
revealing cultural tradition and costume:
historical figures and new interpretations:
taking on legacy & acted identity for the parade:
fastnacht is showing until 14th november:

Wednesday 6 October 2010

𝄐𝄑 a different kind of beat

last weekend was rampage:
of the poetic kind:
although there was rum involved:
and much laughter:
Cherry warmed us up:
her cutting observations raised cheers:
the pub was packed:
the vibe was good:
squeezing into the downstairs bar:
we shuffled together for the main act:
poet: comedian:
nods to the locale:
he didn't disappoint:
and I managed to get Angie's book signed:
kerching!

Saturday 2 October 2010

☯ let's sit down

today I can sit on the floor
with my legs crossed:
with both knees level:
not one facing up and the other down:
or twisty and wonky:
I can sit up straight:
comfortably with no pain:
something most people can do with ease:
something I haven't been able to do for over 15 years:
sukasana: