Anger, despair, lethargy, isolation, love, community, gratitude, indifference, helplessness, hopelessness, resilience, heartbreak, loneliness, creativity, turmoil, fear, anxiety, kindness, hope… If you recognise this tumultuous range of emotions as a summary of the last 18 months, then you are not alone. The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown us all onto an emotional rollercoaster with the ups and downs of wading through…
Set against the beautiful backdrop of Hutton-in-the-Forest on the edge on the Lake District National Park, I finally got to experience the exciting creative event of ‘Potfest in the Park’ back in 2020. This fabulous annual ceramics festival has been going since 2001 and it had been on my radar ever since doing ceramics as part of…
Oh 2019, you came around so quickly… I don’t know where the end of 2018 disappeared to and now its half way through January! It does mean one thing however: it’s time to look back at what I’ve been up to throughout the year. This time last year I wrote about my Top…
Sculpture trail season has started in earnest with birds and animals flooding in to various cities around the UK like Noah’s animals to the ark. July has seen penguins take to the streets of Dundee, giraffes to Worcester, hares to Norwich, bees to Manchester, owls to Bath and Wallace and Gromit characters to Bristol. But if you’re going…
The phrase “You Learn Something New Every Day” springs to mind when I think of my trip to the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston. But actually it was more like ‘many things’! Who knew Preston was the birthplace of the UK’s motorway network? The creator of teetotalism? Home to the tallest church in England that…
May 2018 has seen an extraordinary group of residents fly in to Ironbridge to take up perch. This World Heritage landscape in Shropshire has become a little more colourful with the arrival of the Let’s Go Quackers sculpture trail – a flock of 10 oversized ducks sporting vibrant and jazzy plumage. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, this…
Looking back at 2017, I’ve had some amazing experiences and been to some incredible places. My plans may have had to change a bit from my original hopes for the year and from February onwards I had to stay in my home country, but all that has meant is I’ve gotten to discover more great things about the…
Back in 2016, Tate Modern held an impressive Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition. There are no paintings by O’Keeffe in any British collection, so this was an exciting opportunity to see a major collection of her work all in one place. Note: Photography was not permitted in this exhibition so all my images are taken from the official Tate…
The Millennium Galleries in Sheffield are one of the three galleries that make up the Museums Sheffield Charity and a must on any Sheffield itinerary. On my visit last week, I spent a fair bit of time exploring the many small galleries that make up the museum and was impressed with the variety of exhibitions on and their pertinence to…
Little Moreton Hall is the most perfect moated timber framed manor house in Britain and probably the most famous. It was built bit by bit between the 1440’s and 1580’s and offers free guided tours. However, I recommend just wandering around by yourself which is ideal for engrossing oneself in the structure of the building. You’ll see…