Spike Press posters
I like the band The National so perhaps I'm biased. I saw a bunch of posters designed for them over a couple of years by Spike Press and they took my fancy. Some for sale too if you like them at good prices if you are in the market for some artwork
Bumber by Number - Bumbershoot Paint by numbers project
I liked this project that showed this year at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle. Artists were invited to transform their choice of 'Paint by Numbers' paintings and came up with some interesting results. It's a great idea, I'd quite like to do one for fun myself. The results were mixed, I didn't love them all but I like the concept. These were a couple that worked well, the artists are as follows:
Mary Iverson - Before and after farm transformation
Jim Woodring - Bucolic covered bridge with added accident
Troy Gua - Ugly clowns transformation
The Snowden Flood Series of Great Days Out (which all blatantly include a visit to our shop itself!)
If you’ve got a day off why not then head over to the BFI/NFT to purchase some matinee tickets for a movie? Musical classic An American in Paris is on there from October 28th to Nov 20th and there are lots of afternoon screenings scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays. Hoorah!
Then grab a coffee at Benugo and maybe a pop into the BFI shop (where our last purchase was the epic 1900 – De Niro and Depardieu in a Bertolucci must).
Exit the building and head along the river westwards to The Royal Festival Hall to see the free exhibit there. Who couldn’t be inspired by – Art by Offenders. Incredibly moving and this year curated by magistrates and, lets say it one more time, free!
With a quick check of your watch in case you’ve been dithering, you should have time for a little (and possibly romantic, depending on who you’re with) walk back along the river eastwards to marvel at the architecture of the South Bank – The Festival Hall, The Hayward Gallery, The National Theatre and finally the Oxo Tower where snuggled ( we have the heaters on already) at the end of the first floor shops we will be waiting to say hello and have a quick chat (which may be what you want if you need a bit of ice-breaking on what may or not be a first date).
To make your visit even more special - on production of BFI matinee tickets during the musicals season we will be delighted to offer you a discount of 10% on any purchases AND if you are on a special date give us "the nod" and we can make an extra, extra special fuss of you to impress your intended.
Now, laden with bags filled with wonderful things from our store, make your way back to the BFI and depending on your film times either have a meal before or after your movie at the excellent riverside restaurant there conveniently named The Riverfront.
You may now feel inclined to have a few Gene Kelly style swings around some lampposts before you tippity tap your way home.
Enjoy your great day out!
BFI/NFT: http://tinyurl.com/6dawa7y
A bit of info about 1900: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074084/
And a link that tells you about the Art by Offenders exhibition: http://tinyurl.com/3mabuq5
The Science Museum - Phobias
I took my son to London's Science Museum on Monday as it's half term. You could probably live in there for a week and still not see all the great things they have in there, we love it. This visit we ended up in a new gallery and I was attracted by a case full of phobias. They had lots of them in Mason jars. Not to make light of any of these phobias, it must be horrible to have a fear of the colour white or of string! I liked the way they illustrated Decidophobia (fear of decisions) using little dice. Notice also the jar containing the fear of vegetables is placed next to the jar containing the fear of constipation. I guess they do sort of go hand in hand.
Hey Hay
On the weekend I headed up to Hay-on-Wye on the border of England and Wales. It's a great little town with a famous book festival. Apparently it was a sleepy village when Richard Booth moved there in the 60's and started his bookshop. Then he bought the castle and declared himself the King of Hay. At one stage the residents of Hay decided they were a separate kingdom and issued passports. Now there are over 30 shops selling 2nd hand and antiquarian books. It's a brilliant place to go for a weekend as if it's sunny you can walk in the Black Mountains. If not there's always a book to look at. Briefly looking at Richard Booth's website I think you can get yourself crowned king or queen of something if that takes your fancy. Hmm Queen Snow.... I quite like the sound of that.
The biggest rabbit in the world - by Gelitin
Lots of my friends like knitting but sadly I think they mostly stick to items of clothing. On a hillside in the Piedmont region of Italy lies an enormous pink knitted rabbit. He's died a sad death - his knitted entrails spill from his side. Sometimes hill walkers have climbed on top of him and are sleeping or picnicing on his body. This extraodinary project took 5 years of knitting and was devised and made by Italian artist collective Gelitin. You can see the 'hare of Artesina' from space via Google Maps! I wonder if the members of Gelitin were inspired by the film "Night of the Lapus" about massive genetically altered rabbits taking over the world.
So if you are keen on knitting, maybe you'll be inspired to work a bit bigger from now on!
The Book barge
Maybe it's because my mum is a dealer of vintage books but I do love a good independent bookshop with a great selection of things you can't live without but never knew you needed. In the beginning of August I was in East London hurrying along a canalside road, late to meet friends and then I saw this wonderful looking barge moored by Broadway Market. I wish I'd had time to have a look inside and buy a few books as from the pictures on their website it looks like a place you'd like to while a few hours away at. It was a nice sunny evening so they'd put a few foldout tables and chairs on the path and were serving tea and cakes to a bunch of people who were browsing. I see on their website blog they have a diary of where they will appear next (mostly the north for this month), today they are in Worcester.
A Life in Snowden Flood Products
Vikki, a new customer of mine emailed me shortly after making an order from my website.
"It brought a smile to my face when I first went onto your website some months ago. As I looked through your creations, I realised so many of them were reflections of my life with my adored husband. Almost the story of our time together".
Curious, I emailed back asking her to explain... which she kindly did, and I thought it was very lovely so I'm posting it here with her kind permission. I love Vikki's idea to celebrate her husband's 40th by telling a narrative through my products, it's a very touching idea to me because much of the inspiration for my work comes from a fascination about how we map our experiences onto souvenirs - so that even seemingly ordinary things like tea towels can become very special and have meaning. So how would you mark your life through products? While you are mulling it over, here is Vikki's explanation of how she and her family celebrated her husband's life through some of my pieces (and these are her pictures also)
TEA TOWELS
We met and our early days saw much time spent on MOTORWAYS - me living in South London & him in Leamington Spa. We worked in Reading... much time on the M4 & M40.
As we commuted along the Embankment - and walked by the Thames - we nominated ALBERT BRIDGE as our bridge.
One of the first holidays we took, was to follow his passion for SKIING. (Rather a traumatic experience for me - but I try!)
Another favourite holiday, one that he's taken annually since he was 6 months old, was to his grandfather's CARAVAN in Wales.
TREE GLASSES - we've just moved house. We are hugely fortunate to live in a beautiful area marked with majestic old trees. As we look out of all our windows, our view is framed by enormous trees.
And finally, turning 40, it's an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful qualities he has as husband, friend, father, son: Bring on the FUNFAIR MUGS - We've talked often about the values and qualities we hold and that are important to our family life. Many are reflected in the words on the mugs. And we love funfairs, fancy dress etc.... And he's GREAT FUN to be around - always positive, energetic about life and special.
We can use all the items every day and it will bring a smile and a memory back.
LASSCO Three Pigeons
I like mooching around antiques markets and carboots quite a lot. Infact I do most of my shopping that way plus a good dose of Ebay for good measure. A little while ago I was up in Oxfordshire and we popped into LASSCO Three Pigeons site for tea at their cafe. They always have lovely things and they display everything beautifully. I like the unexpected mix of objects. This visit I was most taken with an old gardening fork (I'm obsessed with my garden) and a vitrine full of mens shoes from the 1970's.
There's a much bigger LASSCO building in Vauxhall, not far from where I live in Brixton and it's great too. It also has a really nice restaurant/cafe, the food is simple but very good.
Russian travel posters by Intourist
I haven't been blogging lately as I've been off travelling around Italy and Turkey. I love travelling and maybe that's why I have a big file on my desktop of images of travel posters through the ages. Here's a group that I particularly like from Intourist. Intourist is a large Russian travel agency that was established in 1929 by Stalin and staffed by KGB operatives although they don't mention that on their website. They produced some wonderful posters in their early days... holiday in Baku anyone?
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