I am a child of the North born and schooled in County Durham with my roots firmly embedded in the Mining Industry. My Father worked at East Hetton Pit in Kelloe and then was transferred to Easington when the Village pit was closed in 1983. I have vivid memorie
The invitation to be surprised? Art that touches the pulse.
Posted on by James Woodward
I first came across the work of Barbara Hepworth in 1980 during a visit to Aldeburgh. I had gone on a weekend party to a friend’s house on Crag Path which is the sea front road that’s offers an uninterrupted view of the North Sea.
The town became famous because of it
Space, Colour and Form in Kettles Yard : Reading Ways of Life by Laura Freeman
Posted on by James Woodward
This book was a present from a friend who had seen that I had visited Kettles Yard some few months ago. I have been hanging onto to it so that I can read slowly and carefully without interruption. What a treat it is ! I should say that I need no convincing of this space
Lingering Ghosts and the challenges of Public Art
Posted on by James Woodward
For those of you who know Sarum College you will be aware that we have a long tradition of exhibiting Art. At the moment we are showing some arresting and disturbing portraits crafted by Sam Ivin (pictured above)
Sam Ivin is a photographer whose work focuses on s
The Windows
Posted on by James Woodward
The Windows
Lord, how can man preach thy eternall word?
He is a brittle crazie glasse:
Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford
This glorious and transcendent place,
To be a window, through thy grace.
But when thou dost anneal
Miro on Ageing
Posted on by James Woodward
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN OLD MAN
When artist Joan Miro was 24 years old, he predicted that he would do his best work in old age.
The exhibition, "Joan Miro: Instinct and Imagination," documents the work he did in his 70's and 80's. In keeping with the idea of positive a
Auckland Castle
Posted on by James Woodward
I have very vivid memories of visiting Auckland Castle as a sixth form student beginning to wonder about my vocation to the ordained ministry in the Church of England. At a young people's gathering in the Throne room of this imposing building I remember the Bishop of Durham, John
The genious of Gormley
Posted on by James Woodward
I was determined to make a significant detour during August to see some public sculpture on Crosby beach and this short piece gives me an opportunity to show off some of my photographs. The journey to Liverpool was not in vain and I was able to glimpse again at
Vacation Surprises : (1) Craigie Aitchison in Glass
Posted on by James Woodward
I travelled up to London during my summer holiday to attend a wonderful celebration of marriage of Robin and Sezgi Amos at St Mary the Bolton's in Chelsea. It was a sunny day and I managed to arrive at the church early to catch up with friends. As I wandered around the church
intricate
Posted on by James Woodward
intricate
Intricate and untraceable
weaving and interweaving,
dark strand with light:
designed, beyond
all spiderly contrivance,
to link, not to entrap:
elation, grief, joy, contrition, entwined;
shaking, changing,
forever
forming,
transforming:
all praise,
a
roses in sunlight
Posted on by James Woodward
roses in sunlight
Our sense of these things changes and they change,
Not as in metaphor, but in our sense
Of them. So sense exceeds all metaphor.
It exceeds the heavy changes of the light.
It is like a flow of meanings with no speech
And of as many meanings as of me
Peter Lanyon
Posted on by James Woodward
I love surprising discoveries. As a very enjoyable lunch last week in a London restaurant in Notting Hill this particular picture captured my imagination. I was sitting opposite it and amazed at its rhythmic and soothing effect. Painted by a Cornishman, influenced by American abs
Peter Lanyon
Posted on by James Woodward
I love surprising discoveries. As a very enjoyable lunch last week in a London restaurant in Notting Hill this particular picture captured my imagination. I was sitting opposite it and amazed at its rhythmic and soothing effect. Painted by a Cornishman, influenced by American abs
thy fearful symmetry
Posted on by James Woodward
angel tiger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry ?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
When th
Let us return?
Posted on by James Woodward
ultimate blue
Let us return to imperfection's school.
No longer wandering after Plato's ghost,
Seeking the garden where all fruit is flawless,
We must at last renounce that ultimate blue
And take a walk in other kinds of weather.
From Adrienne Rich, Ste
Image of the week : Black on Maroon by Rothko
Posted on by James Woodward
This painting comes from one of three series of canvases painted by Rothko in 1958-9 in response to a commission for murals for the small dining room of the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York. The Four Seasons, one of the smartest restaurants in the city, is in the Seagram Bui
Image of the week: A Busy Life by Dubuffett
Posted on by James Woodward
Painted in August 1953.
It is one of the series of paintings known as 'Beaten Pastes' (Pâtes battues) executed between March and December 1953 of which Dubuffet has written:
'These paintings are done with a smooth light coloured (almost white) paste, fairly thick, sp
sunflowers and our search for the divine?
Posted on by James Woodward
attain God...
he said, then realised
it had been done
with nothing
but sunflowers
from Nicolette Stasko, Conseil de Gauguin (advice from Gauguin)
Ways into death and its narratives
Posted on by James Woodward
Quietus: The vessel, death and the human body
An exhibition by Julian Stair Winchester Cathedral Autumn 2013
FB friends will have seen some (not very good) photographs of Winchester Cathedral caused in part by a failure to take my specs on my journey ! However the mai