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Awards Day at West Dean College

Posted in Art, Biographical, Education with tags , , , , , , on July 13, 2014 by telescoper

Last week was a very busy week at the University of Sussex (including the Graduation Ceremony for students in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences), and yesterday (Saturday) saw me attending another event on quasi-official business, this time at West Dean College, which is situated in West Sussex, a few miles North of Chichester.

The occasion for my visit there was Awards Day at the college, and I got the chance to go because one of our Pro-Vice Chancellors was unable to attend so I volunteered to go in her place. I didn’t know much about the College before yesterday, except that it is one of several institutions whose degree programmes are validated by the University of Sussex.

In fact, the College provides MA degrees, diplomas and short courses for students of all abilities, from the beginner to the advanced professional practitioner across a wide range of creative arts, design and conservation (including rare and old books, furniture, and clocks).  The various degree certificates, diplomas and other prizes were handed out to students of all ages, which was great to see. Before I go on I just like to congratulate them all again on their wonderful achievements, especially those creative arts students whose work we were able to view after the ceremony including prize-winning sculptures by Lotti V Closs. I even made a discreet inquiry about whether it was possible to buy some of the pieces…

Anyway, West Dean College is based in West Dean House, part of an ancient estate that was eventually inherited by the poet Edward James, a notable patron of the arts particularly famous for his support of the surrealist movement. The house was extensively modified during the late around about the turn of the twentieth century which presumably accounts for the distinctive arts-and-crafts look of some of the exterior.

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The house is surrounded by an estate of 6000 acres in beautiful countryside. Ownership of the house, the estate and the art collection housed therein was transferred to the Edward James Foundation, a charitable educational trust, in 1964.

Many sheep were in attendance, although they didn’t come to the actual ceremony. To be honest, it was a much grander setting than I’d imagined it would be. In fact I think the last time I saw a place like West Dean House it was the site of a Country House Murder during an episode of Midsomer Murders or some such. The awards ceremony was held held in a Marquee on the lawns which, in the muggy weather, was a little uncomfortable though the programmes came in very useful as fans. Fortunately it all passed off peacefully without any murders although I did see a large group of crows in the fields, if that counts.

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The manner of my arrival was much less grand than the location seemed to require. I took the train from Brighton to Chichester and then got a bus to West Dean. Being about half an hour early for the kickoff, I had time to walk around the grounds of the house. There’s a beautiful walled garden with many lovely flowers.

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I recognized  Crocosmia Lucifer and Phlox among the following..

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These curious but beautiful lantern-shaped flowers evidently belong to some type of lily, but I don’t know what kind. Any offers? (UPDATE: I am reliably informed that these are examples of Erythronium Pagoda
..)

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The walled garden is just one small part of the estate, which also comprises workshops and studios used by the students, a very nice dining room and bar area plus rooms for meetings and conferences. I enjoyed a quick tour of the facilities after the Awards Ceremony, but must go back some other time to have a proper look. The other gardens are fine too:

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And this pergola would put most garden varieties to shame!

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Anyway, since one of the Prizes presented yesterday was for blogging about conservation, I couldn’t resist advertising the West Dean College blogs. They have two, in fact, one for Conservation (here) and one for Visual Arts (here). These are both hosted on wordpress platforms, so if you’re following this blog on WordPress why not give them a follow too?

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This Land is Mine

Posted in Art, History, Politics with tags , , on July 11, 2014 by telescoper

Brilliant video by Nina Paley on the tragedy and absurdity of armed conflict…

 

 

 

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What makes a perfect cartoon?

Posted in Art with tags , on June 18, 2014 by telescoper

I don’t know the answer to that question, but in my opinion this example from last week’s Private Eye comes pretty close. It made me laugh out loud anyway! :)

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The Fallen Project

Posted in Art, History with tags , , , on June 6, 2014 by telescoper

It’s not known exactly how many people died on D-Day 6th June 1944 when the Normandy landings took place, but a  fairly conservative estimate is about 9000 (including about 3000 French civilians).

In September last year, the beach at Arromanches (code-named Gold ) was the site of a remarkable art installation called The Fallen 9000 during which hundreds of volunteers stencilled images of 9000 fallen soldiers into the sand.

 

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It’s a moving image, not least because the figures were soon to be washed away by the incoming tide. Let’s hope the courage and self-sacrifice of the soldiers who gave their lives that day are not forgotten too. Seventy years on, fascism is apparently once again on the rise in Europe. We should not forget where that road has led in the past.

Lest we forget.

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The Flowers of January

Posted in Art, Biographical, History with tags , , , , on January 12, 2014 by telescoper

Today’s tourist itinerary  took me first to the Tokugawa Art Museum, which contains family treasures from the Owari Tokugawa family, one of the families from which the Shogun was chosen during the Edo period (which lasted from 1603 until 1867 and is sometimes called the Tokugawa period). The collection is magnificent, comprising arms and armour of the elite Samurai warriors as well as art, garments, furniture, and household objects of the period, all made to a standard befitting a Japanese noble family. The highlight for me was the wonderful display of maps and books illustrated with exquisite ink drawings. What struck me most is how stable was the general form of artistic expression in the period covered by the museum, in contrast with what you would find in a European collection over a similar timescale. Japan was very much a closed country during the Edo period  and consequently did not experience foreign influences on its culture in the same way as Britain did in the 17th-19th centuries.

The Tokugawa Art Museum is adjacent to the Tokugawaen, a formal Japanese garden originally built in 1695. January is probably not the best time to visit this place – the numerous cherry trees must look beautiful when covered in blossom – but I was quite surprised to see a significant number of flowering plants even at this time of year.

I’m no botanical expert but these look like Camellias to me:

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These are Peonies:
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Some of the trees are still wrapped in their winter bamboo coats for protection from the frost:

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The lake contains an impressive collection of multi-coloured carp

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The Tokugawaen is worth a visit even in the off-season, but I really must find an excuse to come back in April or May when the cherry blossom will be out and, according to the literature handed out to visitors, thousands of Peonies will be in bloom all around the lake. That must look amazing!

Anyway, after that I travelled across town to visit the famous Atsuta Shrine, a holy place for the Shinto religion:

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Light was fading and I was already feeling a bit tired, but I did the necessary ritual ablutions, and had a quick look around. Visitors are allowed to make a wish after throwing a coin in the appropriate place, then bowing and clapping twice. I wished for a beer, and lo and behold on the way home I found a bar in which my wish was granted!

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Moonrise, Hernandez

Posted in Art, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , on November 1, 2013 by telescoper

During the late afternoon twilight of November 1st 1941, 72 years ago today, renowned American photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams took this wonderful photograph of the moon over Hernandez, New Mexico. It’s such a celebrated image that it even has its own wikipedia page, but because it seems to fit the theme of this blog I couldn’t resist sharing it here:

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Click on the image for higher resolution

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Share Your Sun

Posted in Art with tags , on October 19, 2013 by telescoper

It’s now ten years since Olafur Eliasson’s amazing instllation, Weather Project at Tate Modern. To celebrate this event people can share their responses to this unique experience online here or via the Grauniad website by contributing videos and photographs to a special archive.

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Orion Nebula (Herschel, after Turner)

Posted in Art, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , on September 6, 2013 by telescoper

I stumbled across this wonderful image (and associated description) yesterday and thought I’d share it. It’s a region of the Orion Nebula (which is located in the  Midlands region of Orion’s “sword”, i.e. the long thing hanging down below his belt).  It’s a turbulent region of dust and gas in which stars are forming. This image was taken in the far-infrared part of the spectrum by the Herschel Space Observatory, which is now defunct but much data remains to be analysed. Because the image was taken at wavelengths much longer than optical light, the colours are obviously “false”. I don’t work on star formation so I tend to see images like this just as beautiful things to be enjoyed for themselves rather than as a subject for scientific research. In fact, I have no difficulty at all in describing this picture as a work of art, slightly reminiscent of the cloudscapes and seascapes of  J.M.W Turner in that it is, at the same time, both a representation of a natural phenomenon and  an abstract creation that transcends it. You can click on the image to make it larger…

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UPDATE: I see that someone else has thought of the parallel with Turner!

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The Lindisfarne Gospels

Posted in Art, History with tags , , , , on July 25, 2013 by telescoper

450px-Lindisfarne_Gospels_folio_209vOne of the interesting things going on in Durham during the week of this conference is an exhibition relating to the Lindisfarne Gospels. This extraordinary book was written around 715AD, just after the death of St Cuthbert. For those of you not familiar with Lindisfarne, or “Holy Island” as it is often called, it’s a small island off the Northumbrian coast, connected to the mainland by a causeway which is covered by the tide twice a day.

Although the Lindisfarne Gospels are about 1300 years old, the colours remain extremely vivid. It’s a remarkable thing to look at the pages on view in the exhibition to see the marks made by a human hand all that time ago; it’s difficult not to wonder about the life of the person who devoted what must have been a huge amount of time compiling this exquisite work.

Incidentally, St Cuthbert’s remains now lie in a tomb inside Durham’s magnificent cathedral, of which we have a fine view from the balcony of the Calman Learning  Centre during the coffee breaks:

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Buildings of Sussex (University)

Posted in Architecture with tags , , , , , on May 24, 2013 by telescoper

Shamelessly ripped off from the University of Sussex Staff News comes an interest snippet. Nearly 50 years after it first came out, the revised Sussex edition of a renowned series of architectural guides is about to be published – with our own Falmer House on the front cover.

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The news item goes on

The Sussex volume of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’s comprehensive and authoritative 46-volume series was first published in 1965. It includes seven pages on the “uncompromising” 1960s Sussex architecture by Sir Basil Spence – the subject of an exhibition on campus in 2012.

“The campus has worn well,” writes Antram, who is sensitive to the original, listed Spence buildings and those of the later, evolving campus.

“There is a carefully controlled relationship between landscape and buildings, sometimes formal, sometimes informal, the established park and Downland setting omnipresent …

“The buildings are remarkably homogeneous, their leitmotifs being heavy, chunky slabs of in situ cast concrete vaults, often used as bands, contrasted against the red brick walls …

“Roman indeed seems the epic monumentality of the Sussex buildings with their rhythmic arches and grand exterior staircases, even if that formality is softened by the materials and the asymmetrical layout.”

The campus tour of individual buildings begins with Falmer House, the first 1960s building in the country to be given Grade I listed status by English Heritage.

Pevensey 1 is described as “high drama”, the Chichester Lecture Theatre as an “awesomely plain brick drum” and the Library as a “rather brooding presence”.

Swanborough, meanwhile, is “unassuming”, and East Slope consists of 13 “troglodytic blocks stepped up the hillside”.

In my experience, opinions are generally rather divided about the architectural quality of the buildings on the University of Sussex campus. Mine are too, actually. I think the overall plan is wonderful with its accurately aligned central axis visible in the jacket photograph. On the other hand, some of the buildings – especially the John Maynard Smith Building (when I was a student here  it was called BIOLS) is not very good at all and may well be demolished soon to make way for new Science Buildings. I agree that East Slope is dire. The building I am in – Pevensey (formerly MAPS) -is actually rather nice, and most staff seem to like it here. My favourite building on the campus, however, is the Library; largely because Sussex still has a “library” as opposed to a “Learning Resources Unit” or some such nonsense. In any case I don’t find it at all “brooding” so I’m  mystified by that comment.

Some have called it brutalist but I think the relationship between the campus buildings and the surrounding countryside has been managed very sensitively. It’s purely a matter of taste, of course, and no doubt some locals will want to express differing opinions through the comment box!

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