Paula Lindblom

These brooches were made by my friend and colleague Paula Lindblom, from Sweden. They are made with layers of graffiti collected from her neighbourhood which are altered with materials such as glass beads. I met up with Paula last summer when she visited London and we swapped work, I got one of these brooches......

"I think this graffiti pieces are very interesting, if you think about it,
it’s one person per each layer in this painting piece… so in one piece of
jewellery many people have been involved, I think that it’s an interesting
thought and I like the idea that so many layer is the same numbers of people who
has made one of this pieces... an absolutely urban pieces."

Icons: A portrait of England

Which one would you choose? This website shows a selection of Icons that represents England http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons All voted for by us and include: a cup of tea, Robin Hood, an oak tree, pubs, Monty Python, a Bobby and of course Sherlock Holmes. It's hard to pick a number one icon.

Mudlarking

These Treasures are always interesting to find....sometimes collected and sometimes photographed and left where they were found http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-thames/features/mudlarking-about

Visiting Yorkshire

I took these images while I was visiting my sister's new home in Yorkshire. The landscape is amazing and yes the grass is really that green.

On my visit I went to Leeds, a great city. I had a chance to visit the Craft Centre who have often shown my work, so it was good to finally see it in real life. Its a great gallery if you get a chance to go http://www.craftcentreleeds.co.uk/without_colour.html and is right next to the Art Gallery, there is so much to see, including work by Barbara Hepworth, Walter Sickert and Stanley Spencer.

I also visited Saltaire and Kath Libbert's Gallery http://www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk/ which is housed in a Victorian Textile Mill. http://saltsmill.org.uk/ Where you can also see stage sets designed by David Hockney.

New Work by Kate Haywood

Here are some news works by Kate Haywood http://www.katehaywood.co.uk/ (yes we are related, she is my sister) Last month she had an exhibition at Giggleswick School where she is currently artist in residence. Students, staff, galleries and the public were invited to the show to see new pieces she has been making while being resident at the school.

I visited her recently and threw some very "wobbly" pots which I won't be posting images of!....but they were fun to make. I love watching artists throwing work on a wheel, it looks like magic to me and having a go yourself makes you appreciate their skill even more.

Congratulations on the Exhibition and the new work.

The Jewellery students at l' Escola Massana are showing their final projects this month. Thank you Ramon for sending me the information and congratulations to all your students.

Find out more about the school at: http://www.escolamassana.es/ca/page.asp?id=1

Find out about Ramon Puig's work at: http://www.klimt02.net/jewellers/index.php?item_id=662

More Oxford pics......

Oxford: Natural History Museum

It's always good to visit the museums in Oxford. The Pitt Rivers was closed for a refurb when I visited but the Natural History Museum is always open and each time I see something new. This procession of skeletons reminded me of the film "One of our dinosaurs is missing". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075016/ This film was aways shown on television, on Christmas Eve..... it seemed to be on every year and it makes me think of Christmas when I watch it.

Mr Darwin