“Unearthed” at Blackwell

I’d booked myself a short break in the Lakes starting the Wednesday after Easter. After a good few days during the Bank Holiday weekend I was hoping for some good weather to do some walking but, unfortunately, the forecast for the first couple of days wasn’t so good. I decided against what promised to be a drowning on my first day and so, instead of going for a walk, I headed over to Windermere to pick up some supplies and then drove the short distance to Blackwell. It’s always a good bet on a rainy day and I wanted to have a look at their latest exhibition.

Unearthed by Kendal-based artist Amy Williams, celebrates the contribution of women in Cumbria who have often been overlooked by history, representing them with large scale paper-cut wildflowers. It’s not a large exhibition, only occupying one room upstairs in the Arts and Crafts style house, but I found it quite fascinating and educational.

For each of the ten women featured in the exhibition Amy selected a wild flower that she felt represented their character and created a large scale version from paper. Looking closely at these paper sculptures I could see that she had incorporated features and symbols that represented their life and contribution to society.

“For me it feels important to be able to shine a light on these extraordinary women and to commemorate their lives through this visual medium. I’m pleased we’ve been able to coordinate the exhibition to run across Women’s History Month, especially given this year’s theme of ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.’ I love the setting of Blackwell and am looking forward to transforming the space into a delightful wonderland. I’m grateful to Naomi Gariff, the curator, for giving me so much creative freedom to fulfil this vision. It’s a special thing as an artist to be given this opportunity.”

Amy Williams

The three flowers in the foreground, from left to right, are a Globe Flower representing Winifred Langton a Communist campaigner and activist, who fought for social justice; a Ground Thistle, representing Sal Madge a female Collier from Whitehaven; The spear shaped Mullein representing Theodora Wilson Wilson, a Quaker and pacifist who wrote The Last Weapon, an anti-war novel published in 1916 and banned a year later for promoting peace!

A detail from the Globe Flower representing Winifred Langton 

A Rambling Rose representing Mary Fair – A historian, archaeologist, photographer, motorist and specialist in X-Rays and radium science.

A Dandelion representing Margaret Fell from Ulverston. A founder of the Religious Society of Friends and known popularly as the ‘mother of Quakerism’.

A Thistle representing Ann Macbeth  A designer and educator, renowned for her Art Nouveau style of embroidery who was also an active suffragette.

Bindweed climbing over one of the windows, representing Muriel Sauer, a pioneering female climber in the 1940s, and founding member of the Keswick Mountain Rescue team.

Feverfew representing May Bowness, a working class woman from the Langdale valley, who helped the local community with their medical needs.

Mallow representing Annie Garnett  an Arts and Crafts designer and fabric expert who employed over 100 craftspeople in ‘The Spinnery’ from 1891 to 1914.

On the right Hayratte representing Betty Kirkland who joined the Women’s Land Army in 1940 doing work on behalf of the Forestry Commission. On the left Greater Knapweed representing all the women who’s stories have been lost

In an adjacent room there was a Community Garden – a display of wildflower paper cuts created by women from local community groups over a six-month period

Each of the women had written a short note about a woman who had influenced them and made a mark on their lives.

“Something in Common” at Blackwell

A couple of weeks ago we decided to drive up to the Lake District to visit one of our favourite places – Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts style house near Bowness. We hadn’t been there for over two years (yes, you know why) but we were keen to see the latest exhibition there – Something in Common – featuring the works of James Fox, a textile artist from Glasgow, now living in Lancaster. His recent work delves into the history of land rights and land ownership, posing the question – Who Owns England? – and the Blackwell exhibition takes up this theme, exploring the “right to roam” and is part of their ‘Year of Protest’ programme, featuring artists who use craft as a form of tool for social change and revolt.

I spend quite a lot of my leisure time out walking on the moors and mountains and kind of take it for granted that I can do that. But that wouldn’t always have been possible. In many areas landlords forbid the hoi poloi accessing their estates on the moors that they used for hunting and shooting. But as working people started to have more leisure time walking and hiking became more popular, leading to frustration where they couldn’t gain access to what they saw as open land. This led to protests and mass trespasses, the most well known being that on Kinder but there were others, two examples being the trespasses on Winter Hill in 1896 and Latrigg, near Keswick, in 1887. We’re free to walk on all of those hills now, but despite the  Countryside & Rights of Way (CRoW) Act of 2000 the Right to Roam only applies to “open access land”, which comprises about 8% of the mountains, moors, heath, and coastlines in England and Wales. (Scotland has a different legal system and the The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 allows everyone access to most land and inland water in Scotland for “certain purposes”.) People campaigning and fighting for the Right to Roam have never gone away, including veteran campaigner John Bainbridge, who sometimes comments on this blog 🙂 – his book is worth a read.

Of course, there’s a balance between access and respecting people’s property and in Scotland exempts land where there are buildings, private gardens, land where crops are growing, schools and school grounds sports grounds.  The legislation also requires the right to roam to be exercised “reasonably and responsibly” and I’m sure that the vast majority of people would respect this. I can’t see any reason why the same approach shouldn’t be applied to England and Wales. Yet many wealthy landowners think otherwise and resist any extension of the Right to Roam.

During lockdown, where travel was restricted, James Fox started going out exploring the countryside close to his home in Lancaster. In particular, the Abbeystead Estate in the Forest of Bowland. the estate is owned by the Duke of Westminster and before the CRoW Act access to many parts of the wild moorland was restricted. I experienced this 20 or so years ago I used to go walking in Bowland regularly and know that I strayed off the permitted track more than once.

The works on display were created by a combination of hand stitching, machine embroidery and digital media. A small number of works from the Lakeland Trust’s collection, including paintings by Lowry, Ben Nicholson and Sheila Fell were included in the exhibition and there were two “soundscapes” playing

the Political Soundscape

a series of speeches by protesters and politicians who thought for the Right to Roam, Political Soundscape reflects the deeply emotional relationship between people and the land throughout history. Together, the readings are a testament to the ability of everyday people to affect positive social change when their voices rise as one.

and the Bucollic Soundscape

Featuring a series of poems by writers who were inspired by the landscape, Bucolic Soundscape reflects the enduring and affectionate relationship that people have with the land.

A two sided quilt A Patchwork Quilt (2021) illustrates the two different sides to the gouse shooting on the Abbeystead estate,

the front displaying images associated with grouse shooting

while the reverse highlands the “hidden” aspects of the use of the land for this leisure pursuit – restricted access, eradication of predators and “unwanted” wildlife and vegetation, burning of the land and other environmental issues.

One of three videos running on a loop showed how this banner had been created

The Rewilding Plinth (2022) raised questions about how the grouse moors impact on the ecology of the moors. He also raises the question of what impact “rewilding” – returning the land to it’s natural environment – could have on tenant farmers

and how, depending how it’s done, could have other adverse effects on the land.

The frieze running along the wall is part of the exhibition and symbolises how the land is “fenced in” to prevent access. The frieze design reminds me of some of the wallpaper designs by Morris and Co., particularly “trellis“

Sheila Fell – “Cumbrian landscape” (1967)

It’s a small exhibition, but inspiring and thought provoking, and we felt it was definitely worth the visit. Of course, we also took the opportunity to revisit the house and have a light meal in the cafe, after which we took another look around the exhibition.

And I never tire of the view from the gardens over Windermere towards the Coniston fells.

It was still early afternoon as we left the house, but we felt that we weren’t ready to return home. So what to do next?

A winter afternoon at Blackwell

After looking round the Scottish Colourists exhibition at Abbot Hall, and picking up some shopping in Kendal town centre, we decided to drive over to Blackwell as we’d not been for a while. It had been a beautiful, sunny, winter’s day and, although some cloud had come in, I caught some rather nice shots of the house and Lakeland fells illuminated by the winter light.

View towards the Kentmere Fells from the window in the White Drawing Room

A close up of Yoke and Ill Bell

Christmas installation in the main hall

The White Drawing Room

Katie Spragg at Blackwell

So this weekend the “Beast from the East” made a comeback. Although the east and south east were worst hit, snow, freezing temperatures and a strong wind in the North West meant that we cancelled a planned short break walking around Ullswater. So stuck in the house I had the opportunity to write up about an exhibition we saw the last time we were up in the Lakes at the end of January (when the weather was less awful!).

While we are Abbot Hall visiting the Land|Sea|Life exhibition, as usual we had a look at the other rooms in the Gallery. On display were a couple of works by Katie Spragg, a taster for her exhibition showing at the Lakeland Art’s Trust other main venue, Blackwell.

Katie Spragg creates ceramic works but they’re not the usual pots and vessels. They’re uncoloured, ghostly, reproductions of plants – grasses and flowers. She also produces animations using her ceramics and illustrations.

At Abbot hall there were two animated pieces. In the Meadow illustrated the effect of the elements and people on a grassy meadow

For the other piece, While Away, vsitors could sit in a deck chair to watch grass made of porcelain blow in the wind.

Intrigued we decided to drive over to Blackwell to take a look at the works on display in the Arts and Crafts House.

Blackwell’s website tells us

The exhibition of ceramics at Blackwell will showcase eight new responses to the Arts and Crafts house and the surrounding landscape, alongside six existing works previously displayed by the Craft Council COLLECT at the Saatchi Gallery, Miami Art Week and the British Ceramic Biennial Award show.

Spragg spent a week at Blackwell in November and was inspired to create new works based on her experience. She said, “In the mornings Blackwell feels very serene. The nooks and corners of the house lend themselves to daydreaming, particularly at this time of day. I became interested in how the landscape is framed through the windows of the house and also how nature is brought inside.”

Most of the works were displayed in one of the exhibition rooms upstairs, but three had been located downstairs – two in the White Drawing Room and a third high up on the window sill in the Great Hall.

As well as displaying her work in standard style Perspex boxes, she also uses Victorian glass domes, “peephole boxes” and other types of cabinets.

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Arts & Crafts bedroom at Blackwell

Last Autumn Blackwell opened a recreated Master Arts & Crafts bedroom inspired from  designs by Hugh Baillie Scott, Blackwell’s architect, interpreted by contemporary designers. The items of furniture and other objects on display are very typical of the Arts & Crafts style.

The oak bed has been created for the room from a actual design by Baillie Scott from the Pyghtle Works catalogue printed in 1901.

Griet Beyaert at Blackwell

On Monday we checked out of our B and B in Keswick, and after picking up supplies for our stay in Kentmere, we drove to Blackwell. We couldn’t get access to the cottage we’d booked until late afternoon and a visit to the Arts and crafts house near Bowness is always enjoyable.

The current exhibition features works by a young artist who works in glass – Griet Beyaert. The main exhibit was The Light Within – a “site-responsive glass, sound and video installation” created in conjunction with Paul Miller – working  collaboratively as The Glass Cyphers.

In addition there were a number of works by Griet strategically positioned around the house – suspended from the ceiling, standing on furniture and window sills

placed by the artist to draw further attention to the beautifully carved wooden interior and stained glass windows that root Blackwell in its Lakeland location.

The works were abstract sculptural forms made from glass, a medium I’m interested in given that my first job was working for a major glass manufacturer.

I thought that they were very attractive. They rather reminded me of delicate sheets of ice and snow.

 

The Light Within was located in the Oliver Thompson Gallery on the first floor, it’s

a multi-layered video projection-mapped onto sculpted glass works and accompanied by a soundscape.

A photograph can’t do justice to the installation – we thought it was very imaginative and effective

Laura Ford: Seen and Unseen

Last weekend, on a whim, we decided to take a short break in Cumbria. We’d planned to visit the latest Lakeland Arts exhibition which straddled Abbot Hall in Kendal and Blackwell, down the road near Bowness, and as the weather outlook was pretty good a stop over in Grasmere followed by a walk on Sunday seemed like a good idea. So that’s what we did.

We set out earlyish on Saturday and drove up to Kendal. First stop was Abbot Hall to see the first half of the exhibition of works by Laura Ford, previously shown at Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, (20 June – 6 November 2015), and also the National Gallery’s Rembrandt self-portrait which is “on tour” round the country with Abbot Hall one of the venues.

I have to admit of never having heard of Laura Ford before the exhibition was announced, although she is represented in the collections of Galleries including the Tate, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The publicity photos I’d seen looked interesting but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The works on display were mainly sculptures, but there were also a number of ceramic pieces, paintings and drawings. Most of her works are figurative – lifelike humans and animals, but with a twist. She works in bronze, other metals, fabrics, wool, Jesmonite and other materials, including clothing to dress some pieces. Her works include  humans dressed as animals (or ‘sculptures dressed as people who are dressed as animals’), humans with animal aspects and anthropomorphic creatures. Most with a very Surreal influence evident.

The exhibition blurb tells us that

Laura Ford is one of Britain’s most original sculptors and is well-known for her portrayals of animals through which she explores aspects of the human condition – although Ford describes her own work as sculptures dressed as people who are dressed as animals. Deploying a nightmarish imagination she uses humour and acute observation to engage with social and political issues. Her works are personal and particular but also draw inspiration from popular culture as well as painting and sculpture from throughout the history of art.

Nightmarish is a very apt description for many of the works we saw.

The artist is skilful in creating realistic poses so that many of the figures look as if they are about to move. In some cases we worried that if we looked back they would have followed us! That aspect made some of the works very creepy indeed.

At Abbot Hall, they were displayed in the main exhibition space upstairs but some were located in the Georgian furnished rooms on the ground floor. For example, this pair of Medieval Cloud Girls standing amongst the furniture in the drawing room on the ground floor

Upstairs we encountered this group of rather creepy penguins the size of children. There was something about them that made it seem as if there were real children inside the costumes.

Perhaps it was the worn plimsolls they were wearing and the way they were posed. I was almost convinced that they had moved when we came back into the room.

At Blackwell the works were distributed throughout the house and outside in the grounds.

These Armour Boys  appeared to be evidence of a battle that had taken place in the Great Hall

The poses were very convincing.

Old Nick relaxing by the fire in the dining room

There were a number of smaller ceramic pieces displayed in the White Drawing Room.

I don’t think I’d like to bump into these fellows. A rural version of the Ku Klux Klan? or Something out of the Wicker Man.

There seemed to be a surprise around every corner including this mouse boy

and an elephant boy partially concealed behind a wardrobe in the small dressing room

There were two giant rag dolls in the bedroom

 

creepy enough without the second face on the back of it’s head

The Lake District is closely associated with Beatrix Potter who lived over the other side of Windermere from Blackwell. There were three sculptures which almost could have come from her stories, except the characters were clearly down on their luck

Perhaps that’s what upset these two children

It was a marvellous exhibition that we thoroughly enjoyed. It’s always great to discover something good that you weren’t expecting and this was certainly the case on Saturday.

The Lakeland Arts website suggests that visitors really need to see both aspects of the exhibition by visiting both locations. I think that’s true and they do offer a reduction voucher for the second site when you ay admission at the first you visit. Mind you we are Friends of the Trust and so are able to visit as often as we like. And the excellent exhibitions they put on make the annual fee well worthwhile.

Romeo and Juliet at Blackwell

While we were on holiday up in the Lake District, the London based Globe Theatre’s touring company were performing Romeo and Juliet in the garden at Blackwell on three consecutive evenings, organised in conjunction with the Bowness based Old Laundry Theatre . We decided we’d like to and see it as we weren’t staying too far away.

As we’d left booking tickets to rather late the performances on the Monday and Tuesday were fully booked but we managed to get tickets for the Wednesday. This ended up working out quite well for us. The booking website was clear that the performance would go ahead in all but the most extreme weather conditions. So we made sure we had our waterproofs with us. Luckily, we didn’t need them. Although it had rained for the first two evening the Wednesday performance started in bright sunshine and it stayed dry. However, the temperature wasn’t so warm, especially as the sun began to go down, and we needed to wrap up well. The lamb stew and coffee we bought helped to keep us warm as well.  The setting, by the side of the house with views of Windermere, Grizedale forest and the Coniston Fells was familiar to us due to our regular visits to Blackwell, but magnificent none the less.

The play was performed by a small company of only 8 actors most (in fact, all except the two leads) had to play multiple roles, differentiated by their costumes and clever use of regional accents. They performed on a “double decker” mobile stage, very useful for the famous balcony scene but also cleverly used throughout the play. Its design was based on those used by Elizabethan companies, when most plays were performed by travelling players.

I’ve never seen Romeo and Juliet before – either on stage or the films made of it – and never read or studied the text. But the plot was familiar to me, so there were no major surprises. I thought the ending was a little weak. The warring clans were rather quick to make up after the deaths of the two lovers, but hey, who am I to criticise the Bard!

The company pulled the humour out of the play, more so than most productions (I was told!) and there was effective use of music too. The play started and finished with the actors playing instruments and singing and music and other sound effects were used to enhance the mood throughout the performance. The two main roles were played by young actors – Juliet was only meant to be 14 after all. I thought they did well. There were strong performances from Sarah Higgins as the nurse (with a broad Scottish accent) Matt Doherty as Tybalt, Paris and a Geordie servant, Tom Kanji as Benvolio and Friar Laurence and Stephen Elder as Juliet’s father.  The latter was particularly good in the scene where he insists that Juliet marries Paris, seamlessly going from the loving father to enraged dictator.

The performance finished as it was turning dark and we had a 30 minute journey back down the country roads to our cottage.

All in all an enjoyable evening.

Views from Blackwell

I never tire of the views from Blackwell, looking towards Windermere and the Coniston fells, or towards the northern hills and mountains.

Ceramics at Blackwell

Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House near Bowness in the Lake District is one of our favourite destinations for a day out, often combined, as was the case last Saturday, with a trip over to Abbot Hall Gallery in Kendal. Both houses are owned by the Lakeland Arts Trust and have regularly changing exhibitions. The shop at Blackwell always has a large range of ceramic works, by a changing roster of artists, for sale and they usually have an exhibition of ceramic works taking place. During our last visit a few months ago they had an exhibition of works by Emilie Taylor and one of the current exhibitions at the house is a small display of works by three leading British ceramic artists – Gordon Baldwin, Alison Britton and  Nicholas Rena -who

all grapple with ideas of form and function within the wider debate of where contemporary craft stands in today’s art world.

The works were all displayed in one room, lit by a strong natural light that presented some problems for photographs.

I particularly liked these two pieces

The white spherical object is by Gordon Baldwin and is typical of his work

The work next to it, Blue Bowl by Nicholas Rena is very different. With a completely smooth perfect finish it was hard to resist touching it!

There was a second, small exhibition of ceramics on the stairs leading down from the first floor to reception featuring works by Edmund De Waal and Hans Stofer. It was curated by Becca Weir who is a trainee at Lakeland Arts and Kendal Museum and she was inspired by Anecdote of the Jar, a poem by the American Poet Wallace Stevens

‘I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.’

A book of Wallace’s poems, opened to show the poem, is displayed by a group of circular pots by Edmund De Waal

There were two other groups of pieces by him.

There were only 2 works by Hans Stofer on display. They are similar to Edmund Se Waals in that they are predominantly white, but in this case they are not thrown or cast as complete pots, but have been assembled using pieces of found china