Having moved from Sussex to Suffolk just before Easter, we’re settling well and it’s fascinating to observe what comes up and out in the new garden. The Beast from the East has delayed spring up there (we’re at least three weeks behind the south-east) so we’ve had the gift of two springs this year! Recently…
Category: Springlines
‘Life Writing Projects’, harvests and dreams
It’s past mid-September. Summer is a mirage behind us. Back there – over my shoulder – are silvery skies, long walks by the sea and light evenings with family and friends. Autumn brings harvests, and fresh starts. Earlier this year I wrote two reflective essays about breast cancer in my family and about becoming breastless,…
Springlines at Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery, 9 June – 14 October
The latest Springlines exhibition has been in the plotting stages for at least two years, so I’m really excited to report that the show opens at Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery on 9 June and will run until 14 October. The town of Tunbridge Wells came into being thanks to the mysterious rusty red…
Working hard in paradise
I have never before been away for two weeks to an artists’ residence or colony, just to write and work to my heart’s content, but I can really recommend Fundacion Valparaiso if this is something you feel inclined to do. The formula, to my mind, is perfect: each artist has their own large studio/room (if you…
StAnza 2016 – a festive table
What a privilege to be invited to take part in StAnza 2016, the 19th annual poetry festival in St Andrews. Heartfelt thanks to Eleanor Livingstone and to all the members of the team who every year organise and programme this outstanding festival. StAnza extends such a warm welcome to everyone who attends – it really…
Putting up Springlines at Glyndebourne
Yesterday was a long day – but thank goodness the rain more or less held off and so we could get the paintings (some of them are huge) and all the text panels into the Stalls Gallery without too much trouble. Hanging the larger paintings proved quite a challenge for Steve, partly because he had to be…
Springlines exhibition at Glyndebourne from 8 July to 30 August
Mary Anne and I are delighted to announce an exhibition in the Stalls Gallery at Glyndebourne from 8 July until the end of the season on 30 August. We’re going to show work from all kinds of watery sites we’ve visited over the past year or two, and there’ll also be a specifically Glyndebourne focus….
Event at University of Brighton, 26 Feb 2015
University of Brighton, Arts & Humanities, invites you to a Writers in Residence Salon Thursday 26th February 2015 Boardroom (M2), Grand Parade, BN2 0JY All welcome: free entry, wine and canapés from 5.30 pm discussion on CREATIVE COLLABORATION from 6.30 pm How do artists from different disciplines approach creative collaboration? How can they identify and overcome…
Mary Anne Aytoun-Ellis’s recent exhibition at Portland Gallery, London
Here’s the text of a review I wrote for Mary Anne’s latest exhibition at Portland Gallery, London, which included a good number of paintings made as part of the Springlines project: Tim Craven, Curator of Art at Southampton City Art Gallery, in his excellent essay at the front of the catalogue, places Aytoun-Ellis’ work firmly…
Springlines quiz… the answers!
1. C On average each of us uses 150 litres of water a day. 2. B A floush-hole is a hole which receives waste water from a mill-pond. 3. B It was the River Tillingham that provided water power to operate the bellows of an iron works used to make cannons for the Royal Navy…
Clare Best 