Govan Craft Cafe 'Colour Workshop' by Impact Arts
14 May 2019
On Tuesday afternoon I was at Elderpark Community Centre in Govan for the Govan Craft Cafe Colour Workshop. The Craft Cafe is a regular free creative programme for people aged 60+, delivered by Impact Arts every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Colour Workshop, part of the 2019 Luminate Festival, had attracted several newcomers as well as many Craft Cafe regulars. When I arrived at the all-day drop-in session there were about 30 people busy exploring colour through a range of visual art techniques. Charlotte Craig and her team were helping the participants to make circular mandalas to experiment with colour mixing. I joined in with a group making a giant mandala in the sunshine outside the Community Centre, wetting a large circular piece of paper with water before sprinkling powdered pigment on it to create a beautiful array of swirling patterns. It was interesting how this group creative activity naturally led to a rich conversation. The companionship and fun that people get from taking part in the Craft cafe was plainly evident.
Labels: Luminate2019, VisualArt
‘The Museum of Hope in the Dark’ by Forest Fringe
14 May 2019
On Tuesday morning I was at Tramway in Glasgow to see ‘The Museum of Hope in the Dark’ by Forest Fringe, part of the 2019 Luminate Festival. Andy Field’s installation consists of a darkened room with six bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Each of the bulbs flickers on and off, apparently at random, but actually creating messages in Morse code, transcriptions of short texts about Hope by six older women: Lois Weaver, Jo Clifford, Geraldine Baird, Samshad Waheed Ghani, Tasneem Karim and MAC. You are provided with paper, pencils and a guide to Morse code and invited to decipher the messages but I found it impossible to follow any of the quickly pulsing lights, and was too distracted by the other five. Fortunately the full texts are also provided to visitors (in a sealed envelope). They address a range of topics, including depression and discrimination, in prose and poetry, finding hope in the darkest places.
Labels: Exhibitions, Luminate2019
‘Timefield’ by Ian Cameron, Kate Clayton, Frank McElhinney, Annie Peel and Lesley Wilson
13 May 2019
On Monday afternoon I was at the Platform Arts Centre at The Bridge in Easterhouse on the outskirts of Glasgow (where we held the 2014 Epic Awards Ceremony) to see ‘Timefield’ – a cross-art collaborative installation developed by five older artists, as part of the 2019 Luminate Festival. Ian Cameron, Kate Clayton, Frank McElhinney, Annie Peel and Lesley Wilson have created a fascinating, immersive experience about nature and ageing. As you enter the room you are surrounded by large painted wall-hangings and encompassed by John Wills’ three-dimensional soundscape. Projections of long exposure photographs on two sides of the room display a montage of naked older bodies, showing the impact of time on the body. The soundscape and the projections are each on repeating loops of varying lengths and there is a hypnotic quality to the way they occasionally seem to coincide and reinforce each other. It was also interesting, when you accidentally walk through the beam of one of the projectors, to see your own shadow alongside the projected bodies and reflect on your own ageing – briefly becoming a participant in the piece.
Labels: Exhibitions, Luminate2019
'A Creative Century' by Voluntary Arts Scotland
13 May 2019
On Monday morning I was at Dance Base in Edinburgh to see ‘A Creative Century’ – Voluntary Arts Scotland’s exhibition exploring ten decades of creativity as part of the 2019 Luminate Festival. Kelly Donaldson has curated a fascinating series of portraits of ten Edinburgh residents and their creative pursuits, from a child under ten to a person in their 90s and every decade in-between. The stories are inspiring and Derek Anderson’s photographs are lovely, beautifully composed and showing the joy these people get from their creativity. Placing the exhibition in Dance Base is also very clever: Scotland’s national centre for dance runs hundreds of dance classes every week and huge numbers of people will see the pictures in passing and will undoubtedly be drawn in by the stories. You can see all the portraits and videos online at:
https://www.voluntaryarts.org/creative-century Labels: Exhibitions, Luminate2019
'Northanger Abbey' by Jane Austen, adapted by Katherine Rigg
13 May 2019
On Saturday we were at The Place in Bedford to see the Cyphers Theatre Company’s production of ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen. Katherine Rigg’s adaptation, directed by Marcus Bazley, is good fun, capturing the tone of Austen’s spoof gothic novel with the right balance between earnestness and mockery. The energetic young cast of five actors very effectively conjure up the genteel society of Bath and the disappointingly modernised Abbey with minimal scenery and props. The show is silly while still managing to find some real Austenian pathos and romance.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
‘Placeless’ by Masha & Marjan Vahdat and the Kronos Quartet
10 May 2019
Of the many performances I have seen at the WOMAD Festival over the past fifteen years, one that has stuck in my memory was two sisters from Iran, Masha and Marjan Vahdat, who I saw at the 2014 festival (reviewed here in August 2014). Masha and Marjan Vahdat break Iranian law every time they perform in front of an audience that includes men, but proudly continue to do so around the world. Their haunting voices – usually taking turns to sing solo, only occasionally duetting – are both powerful and melancholic. I was fascinated to discover that they have now recorded an album with the Kronos Quartet – who feature on my favourite world music/string quartet collaboration on the Malian singer Rokia Traoré’s 2003 album ‘Bowmboi’ (which I have written about here in December 2007 and September 2016). ‘Placeless’ is a collection of songs written by Mahsa Vahdat, with lyrics by the classic poets Rumi and Hafez as well as three contemporary writers. The Kronos Quartet provide an unobtrusive accompaniment to the sisters’ voices. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful, serious collection which blends Western classical music with the Iranian vocals. ‘Placeless’ is part of a bigger Kronos Quartet plan to highlight music from the seven Muslim-majority nations affected by President Trump’s US travel ban. You can see a video of one of the tracks from the album at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK2sHz8Rs5k Labels: Albums, Music
'Father of the Bride' by Vampire Weekend
3 May 2019
In February 2008 I wrote here that “my new favourite band is Vampire Weekend”. We’ve both come a long way since then but I’m enjoying listening to the first Vampire Weekend album for six years, ‘Father of the Bride’, which came out this week. It’s a sprawling, varied double album but the mood is mostly cheerful and upbeat. Ezra Koenig continues to combine an eclectic range of influences. ‘This Life’ returns to the jangling sunshine African guitars of ‘Oxford Comma’, ‘Married in a Gold Rush’, featuring Danielle Haim, has a country feel, while Alexis Petridis in The Guardian suggests ‘Sympathy’ is “equal parts flamenco and early Pet Shop Boys”. I hadn’t noticed before how much Koenig owes to Paul Simon but I can now hear that influence in many of the tracks. Try ‘This Life’ at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIGNNOZ0948 Labels: Albums, Music
