Art Space on Platform 1 Hackney Downs Station

I've been online exploring the mass of art spaces in Hackney.  I think the space on the station is a great way to catch footfall and give commuters something interesting to do while waiting for their late train.

http://www.bannerrepeater.org/about

Top 25 Art Blogs? - some art blogs to check out

creativetourist.comthe-top-25-uk-arts-culture-blogs

New Post digital printmaking book

Must go to bookshop  to look into this book - sounds interesting.  Will update this post then.  
Around £22.

The Blurb
This groundbreaking book establishes Post-Digital Printmaking as a distinct area of printmaking practice both technically and conceptually. Radically different from digital print production (inkjet on high-quality paper), Post-Digital Printmaking integrates Computer Numeric Control (CNC) devices such as laser cutters and CNC routers with matrix production for lithography, intaglio and relief. This contemporary practice incorporates the strengths of both digital and traditional, resulting in hybrid printmaking techniques.

A comprehensive and accessible technical introduction to this important area of printmaking, this book explains techniques and processes in detail, discusses the contexts within which Post-Digital Printmaking has arisen, and includes examples and case studies of artists applying these hybrid techniques in their work.

Designers Block - Art Cakes

Would you eat or just look?

for more on this at Designers Block:
http://designersblock.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/far-too-good-to-eat.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/CGMt+%28designers+block%29

or go to the maker's, Maggie Austin, Facebook page for lots more -
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix4fuibiRS9KHF95GKciyWvz5-b_2tzbg73FMQ837gvMLy9FpeqHqp4fmW_0mIsFvYRgd_3SRiNHnzdVZaHPgda-pLc0ylVEQdyZyi-T8Co6Tdre8rsjWAWJQmEe6SiU0q9-XBkV3iFJw/s400/73225_149112538467428_6462981_n.jpg

Banana Ice Cream - banana and a little honey and absolutely nothing else.

Finally tried it.  Sliced 2 bananas, froze for a few hours then put into food processor with a little honey.   Had to stop about 6 times to push frozen banana down.  After a while it turns lighter colour and fluffier with hardly any bits - the more processing the better.   Serve straight away.   I only used a tiny bit of honey - to get the mixture going in the processor more than anything but it could do with less or none, taste wise.  Now going to try and add other frozen fruit to the banana mix.   Great desert to make at the last minute for guests - especially if you always have frozen banana slices in the freezer at all times for use in smoothies.

Banana icecream - bananas and nothing but the bananas.  I know it looks like it has lumps but that's just the way I moved it up with the spoon - by the time I had looked at photo properly on my desktop, I had eaten it all.

White Cars - this is mainly for John but anyone can help me decide

I am changing my car in a few months probably from Qashqai to Qashqai +2 - 8"  longer, and not sure what colour to get. 

Scarily I have been starting to like white cars.   I hate white van man, white boy racers and those big white party stretch-limousines.   So why do am I starting to like them.   Since I am Mrs average (not cutting edge - if I like it then most people are getting one or it's at least availabe for sale.)   I thought I should investigate what's happening with white cars.

• I had wondered if it was the white iPod thing - i will definitely go for a white ipad (as well as loving everything white in my house).    
•  I had already try to investigate whether lighter colour cars would be cooler - thus using less petrol on air conditioning and show less dust than the black one  (black looks more sophisticated but is also more hot)  - and yes I was correct 
• in fact  I was right on all points - as this and other articles show-  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008036/White-cars-fast-catching-black-popular-colour-road.html
• apparently white went out after the 80s.  It's coming back and nearly overtaking black.  It's partly called the 'Apple Effect' and partly because of the above practical reasons.  However it's also because of a disgusting reality TV show about Essex young people who just love flash white cars - no I don't watch it.
• There are lot of white cars coming out - apparently it's been building up over the last few years (Ipad time).  I saw a great new mini yesterday in white with black top.  Apparently a lot of white luxury cars are out too.  I definately seen a lot on the road - because I'm looking I guess.   see this guys pics of fav white cars - http://www.here.org.uk/2008/02/more-white-cars-50-examples-of-why-white-is-the-most-popular-colour-choice-for-cars-in-the-world.html

My problem is that even though I might like the new white cars because of Apple, my love of white and the practical reasons (well yes I also can't resist bling sometimes), will I look like an old lady fan of the reality show - in a flash Essex girl's car (am I spiritually Essex - I'm obviously Essexist).  Will John look like a gangster and keep getting pulled over.  Will kids not be able to resist the nice white surface to draw on?  Will it be more likely to be nicked?

Apparently the colour of your car says something about your personality - grey and silver boring or is a company car.  Red is sporty obviously - most people too scared to have one.  Black is the most popular colour and white is about to overtake it.

Here is the sensible 'cafe late' ( cool late' or boring beige) colour of my current car.

My current colour - light enough and was the most popular colour for Qashqai - the one time I went understated.

I popped into Nissan yesterday to take pics of other colours and noticed they had just got in a new lot of their very cute Micras in - all in white.

The latest lot of Micras - all white

The Qashqai in white

Grey is ok

There are 2 reds - this is the brighter one.  Quite like both.

Black looks good but needs more chrome to look sophisticated.  It gets hot.

Knitted cushion cover - use old jumpers.

I was in Cork St galleries and there is store that always has nice but expensive things.   This time it had a knitted cushion cover.   Don't know how much - if you need to know the price, don't come inside dear - but I assume from previous prices of things there, it must be at least £100.   But it has given me more ideas for using old shirts and jumpers.   Would be nice to have a buttoned up shirt under buttoned cardigan as a cushion cover or sofa arm rest.  Might do it.

Two button knitted cushion covers.

this post is just for me: holding position for pictures

so i can upload to my google map of st ives holiday - can only insert pictures from urls.

Another wonderful Saturday trawling art Exhibitions: Antony Gormley @ White Cube Hoxton, Zhang Huan at White Cube Bermondsy

Dropping my friend John off at work at the library every Saturday means I am out early to get the best  unlimited-time parking spaces near galleries. 

Yesterday was the turn of the White Cube in Hoxton Sqare that I hadn't been to in ages, to see Antony Gormleys new sculpures.  I've signed up to their newsletter now to keep up as I didn't know they'd  opened another one in Bermondsy which is a big simple beautiful space - white walls, polished concrete flaws and huge ceilings of light (not sure if daylight or lighting).

White Cube Hoxton, Bermondsy, Mason's Yard-St James, Hong Kong:    http://whitecube.com/

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Antony Gormley - Still Standing  @ White Cube, Hoxton

 I like Gormley: he places humans in the centre of both seaside/urban/etc landscapes.  (eg Angel of the North and Another Place)  He has managed to create the emotion of these characters in their individual poses using blocks of steel (the building blocks of life?)

At one point I was standing with arms crossed, chin on hand looking at one character when all of a sudden I noticed he was in the same pose.  Bit scarry until I realised I had probably unconsciously mimicked his pose or that Gormley had simply used a common pose of people looking at art. 

One of the attendants said she had run in one day dying to use the loo, when she spotted the characters hunched over holding his groin area.

       

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Zhang Huan The Mountain is Still a Mountain  @ at White Cube Bermondsy

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/zhang_huan_the_mountain_is_still_a_mountain_bermondsey_2012/

I also went down to check out the newish White Cube Bermondsy, their biggest gallery, not knowing if I could make it - but again the Olympics are keeping London's traffic to the level of a midnight run.  I was also intrigued by the exhibition of a Chinese artist I'd never heard of - I think contemporary Chinese artists are really creating exciting new and beautiful work.

Wow what a discovery - and there's much to discover.   Why didn't I know about him (born '65, graduated 93, exhibiting since '95)  I'm obviously not on the cutting edge of what is going on.

here's his site:   http://www.zhanghuan.com/

First discover the works in this exhibition
These huge , seemingly (be patient there's more to it) traditional painted copies of old black and white photos, are haunting in themselves - yes I know I'm a sucker for the sadness and nostalgia of old photos of people now long dead - who they were, what life they lead - especially in a very different culture, my own death etc.  And, in the wonderful open space of the new gallery they are given the space to breath life.

Then there are the simple names he gives them which you know have more meaning.  You get the feeling there is something else going on - 'National Day' showing celebrations in 1959 in Tienanmen Square is obviously more than just what it seems.  Even though he doesn't mention the name of the square, it must be obvious to all Chinese at least.  

'Our Parents' -left.  'National Day' - right.

'Our Parents' - how evocative of what they went through to bring up their children in China and the seriousness one showed in a portrait of a good communist family.

'The Soldier'

'Division Meeting' - left.  'President Yuan' - right.

'My Literary Teacher' 

'My Literary Teacher'  What wonderful ideas did she impart to her students?

Then we have a slightly surreal 'Fire'.  Is this the destruction of the freedom of the press.  Is this man important.  You can read up on this or just enjoy the image.

'Fire'

Then you discover the method
Then  you realise they have all been created in the incence ash he collected from Budhist temples.  He also makes sculptures with it. 

From the guide:

'Entitled ‘The Mountain is Still a Mountain’, a reference to the teachings of a Chan Buddhist master from the Tang Dynasty period, this exhibition presents a series of large-scale figurative ash paintings that touch on diverse cultural, political and spiritual themes.  Painted from historical photographs taken from old magazines, family albums and the propagandist publications distributed by the government during the Cultural Revolution, their subject matter ranges from depictions of political leaders, such as the influential Nationalist Party members Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Hanmin, important intellectual and religious figures like the writer Wei Wei and the Buddhist scholar Shen-yen to anonymous family portraits and panoramic seascapes. Also included in the exhibition are two monumental paintings of significant historical events; 1959 National Day (2010), a view of Tiananmen square on the anniversary of Mao Zedong’s declaration of the People’s Republic of China, and Grand Canal (2009) showing labourers at work on the Beijing to Hangzhou Canal.  Incense ash is a highly charged and significant medium for Zhang. It embodies the harmony and unity of collective religious ceremony as well as the intensely private, individual experience of prayer. Described by the artist as a transformative ‘message carrier’, it is both the residue of disintegrated material – an index of memory, history and the past – and a deeply spiritual signifier of restitution and hope'
 

Then discover the radical artist - (genious?)

You know someone who can create such works in ash must be intense and obsessive to say the least.  The catalogue hints at his work as a performance artist so you know he is no traditionalist.  Then I saw a book in the bookshop on his performance pieces using his own body - very good looking he is too - and later on google images.  Again from the guide:

'Carrying on from earlier performative works, such as Pilgrimage to Santiago (2001), in which the artist enclosed himself in an immense, swinging thurible, Zhang’s use of ash in these works melds traditional Chinese and Western art historical references with his own complex, personal and religious meanings.'

Images of Huan's wide ranging performance and other work from google images:

Incense ash sculpture

'1/2'

'Family Tree'

'To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond'

 

'12 Square Metres'

'Human Nature'

'Three Legged Buddha' 2008, Royal Academy

'Long Island Buddha'

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Anslem Kiefer - Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom @ White Cube Hong Kong

For anyone lucky enough to be in Hong Kong, the Kiefer exhibition would be amazing.

Fabric Dying/painting/screenprinting / couldn't resist some Neocolour II - Watersoluble Wax pastels

Yesterday I received another inspiring and enlightening post from my friend Kim's blog and since I was at Atlantis Art near Brick Lane I decided to take pics of their fabric dying/painting solutions so I could compare web prices when I got home and at some point do further investigations - i will link this post to an update post at some point.

For more of this post:  kim its all about me -  i-dyed-this-week-but-lived-to-tell-tale

Kim's post on DIY screen frame is also very useful: kimitsallaboutme - screen-printing-for-cheapos
 

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Atlantis Art - Fabric Colour

The first picture is the fabric dye section and the rest were next to it in the screen printing section.
Kim's post makes the good distinction - fabric paint makes fabric stiff while fabric dye/inks sinks into the weave leaving fabric feel as it was.

Atlantis art are currently creating an online store but for now you can get their latest catalogue here: http://www.atlantisart.co.uk/cat2011.html.

The links below to the manufacturers sites give descriptions for their products uses.

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Permaset

 Permaset site - the benefits of water based inks in fabric printing : http://www.permaset.co.uk/

Atlantis Art Fabric paint section - Permaset waterbased screen-printing inks.

Screen Printing Ink - white, very large - assume you can colour this

Artists Acrylics - Screenprinting Gel (not sure of brand)- I think this is the stuff we used in class - about 2-3 tablespoons of this with a minute sprinkle of very strong powered colour was enough for a few screen prints.

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Speedball

 http://www.speedballart.com/our-products

Photo emulsion to develop a photo onto your screen for printing

 

Speedball also make the Dizo brand - Packet version

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Dalery-Rowney System 3 screen printing acrylics

Their website for more info: daler-rowney.com/en/content/system-3-range

System 3 Textile Medium for screen printing - various mediums available in various brands to extend colour, make more transparent, extend drying time etc.

Screen block for painting directly onto screen to block out areas you don't want ink to come through.

The Price -£11.99

System 3 Removable Screen Block - This sounds fantastic - 'System 3 Removable Screen Block (a removable coating medium). When the printing liquid has dried through, the screen block material (coating medium) can be applied with a rubber print blade. After the coating has dried, the print can be washed with cold water, thereafter the screen is ready for the print. After printing, the screen can be washed with soap and hot tap water and re-used.'

Screen Drawing fluid - Direct block-out or “Negative Method”) Using Screen Filler is another simple means of preparing a screen for printing. The screen filler is used to block out those areas that you do not wish to print. This allows the ink to be forced through the screen wherever the Screen Filler has not been applied.

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Neocolour II - Watersoluble Wax pastels

I couldn't resist buying some more watercolour pastels.  They are lovely and soft and so many wonderul colours.  I bought lots of greens this time.  I feel a green field coming on.