Jeremy Deller at Turner Contemporary Gallery.

It was the opening of the new Jeremy Deller exhibition at the Turner Contemporary Gallery on Saturday. link to gallery site here  Part of the exhibition called English Magic, has been on tour since it was first seen at the Venice Biennale in 2013.

The British Council  has an article about Jeremy Deller and the British Pavillion in Venice here.

On the opening day, the Melodians Steel Orchestra were playing and the gallery was packed. The orchestra played music from Jeremy Deller's film and other works and were joined by The Big Sing, Turner Gallery's  resident choir. They also performed a piece arranged by Emily Peasgood part of the SoundsLikeArt project.

I really like the sound of the steel drums, which seem to have a particular energy that is uplifting.

I made my way upstairs during their performance to stand and look down at part of the orchestra from above.

The main galleries had the English Magic exhibition and some small Turner paintings chosen by Jeremy Deller.  I only had a brief walk round and will go back several more times before the exhibition ends.

The large wall art pieces are dramatic, the figure of William Morris overturning a luxury yacht in the Venice lagoon, and the Hen Harrier holding a crushed Range Rover in it's claws.

Other exhibits include Neolithic hand axes, photos from the Ziggy Stardust Tour of 1972  and text based banner type works.

Broadstairs Folk Week

The annual Folk Week at Broadstairs went ahead a short while ago. Website here I really enjoy the atmosphere there on the streets. The Morris dancers were taking turns along the promenade with musicians and dancers.

One of the hobby horses dressed in tatters was being stopped by children, who enjoyed seeing him move his wooden mouth.

In the old shelters, groups of musicians were jamming together and clog dancers danced alongside.

There were craft, food and other stalls near the bandstand where the daily activities for families was taking place.

Quite a lot of us rushed for the marquees when we had a brief but heavy shower of rain.

Most of the day time performances were taking place in pubs this year, which was a bit of a shame I think. It would be good to have some in cafés and perhaps in the bandstand or outside.

The Chimney Boys were playing in one of the hotel gardens later in the afternoon so I stood nearby to listen to them. Their facebook link here
The beach filled up with people during the afternoon enjoying themselves in the sunshine.

Zebra finches at the Barbican Curve.

I had thought the exhibition finished but was really pleased to find that Celeste Boursier- Mouge's installation at the Curve in the Barbican was still there. ( on till 23rd May) It has a flock of Zebra finches loose in the large space with a number of electric guitars that pick up the sounds made by the birds perching and walking on the strings.

Absolutely fascinating, the finches are apparently getting tamer and some settle on people and especially check out things that look like nesting material including shoe laces.
They have been nesting in the boxes put up on the walls and staff have been finding eggs they told me, they are taken back to the centre where the birds come from for hatching.


Barbican website for details of the exhibition here The sounds that are made by the finches are played through speakers, and we hear them along with the chirps the birds are making.
It is a privilege to be with the finches flying free, squabbling and nesting and feeding, going about their everyday business I suppose not at all knowing they are part of a very popular art work.

Billy Childish at the ICA

I went to see the exhibition of Billy Childish's work at the ICA last week. Info on the exhibition here. I didn't know too much about him apart from the fact he lived in Chatham and wrote poetry and music and was a bit of a punk. It was good to see some of his work, artists books, paintings, prints, videos and poetry.
A good article about Billy Childish here.

" you also walk up the sides of trees,
your tiny feet stepping close
to the wings of moth"
from Divine Conception 2007


I enjoyed the thickness of the paint applied directly on linen canvas, paintings of boats from the river Medway, and the figure of Robert Walser, who was found in a field close to the asylum where he had been staying for some years. Walser has been an influence on Billy Childish's work, especially his writing.
The combination of sketches and photographs in some of his artists books gave me an idea for similar combinations. There was also one of his mother's pots in one painting and outside on the ICA desk, they were very interesting and I thought I'd see if she exhibited them herself.