Primed and Ready to Go

This week I have started to prepare for a body of work on Berwick in Northumberland. I spent a fascinating few hours here walking in Lowrys footsteps (who was fond of a holiday here, no wonder I found it inspiring !) Some of the buildings and streets really did get me excited, a lot of the buildings I find interesting have now been demolished in Salford and Manchester and Berwick was bristling with charm!

Here are some Wikipedia facts:

Berwick-upon-Tweed (pronounced : BERR-ik ə-pon TWEED) or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the Scottish border.

Berwick's strategic position on the English-Scottish border during centuries of war between the two nations and its relatively great wealth led to a succession of raids, sieges and take-overs. Between 1147 and 1482 the town changed hands between England and Scotland more than 13 times, and was the location of a number of momentous events in the English-Scottish border wars. One of the most brutal sackings was by King Edward I of England in 1296, and set the precedent for bitter border conflict in the Scottish Wars of Independence.

In 1174, Berwick was paid as part of the ransom of William I of Scotland to Henry II of England. It was sold back to Scotland by Richard I of England, to raise money to pay for Crusades. It was destroyed in 1216 by King John of England, who attended in person the razing of the town with some barbarity.

Henry Travers, born in Berwick in 1874, was a character actor best known for his roles in Hollywood film productions, most famously as Clarence the angel in It's a Wonderful Life. One of my favourite films!


Over the next few weeks I will be posting my progress so watch this space!

Residency at Lime

Today I started my residency at LIME arts and have begun to plan out how I will spend my time here. It is a fantastic opportunity for me to develop my practise and create new work.

Lime develops, co-ordinates and delivers a wide range of creative projects within health care. The aim is to show how the arts can play an important part in enhancing quality of life and quality of care.

New Beginnings! New Ideas! time to breathe!

BP Portrait Competition 2011

This years entry to the 2011 BP portrait competition measures 200mm x 250mm, it depicts Abdel Ali al-Megrahi. It is presented in an english swept frame made from black oil resin which has been decorated with european and antique gold.

Title: Abdel Ali al-Megrahi 2011

"On 31 January 2001, Megrahi was convicted, by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment."

"Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Government on 20 August 2009 following doctors reporting on 10 August 2009 that he had terminal prostate cancer and was expected to have around three months to live. In December 2010 it was reported that his condition had deteriorated and that he was in a coma. Some questions are still being raised into the reason for his release, and whether if he had appealed his conviction might have been quashed"

"On 16 July 2010, four United States senators made public their concerns over the release, stating they believed that the oil company BP pushed for his release to secure a deal with Libya. BP confirmed that it did press for a Prisoner Transfer Agreement"

source:wikepedia