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It’s safe to cross
Many years ago, when I was in Berlin, I took this photo. I liked the sprightly hatted man telling me it was safe to cross. A bit of research tells me that he is an Ampelmännchen.
I’m not the only one to have enjoyed the different “it’s safe to walk” lights. Yesterday’s edition of The Knowledge pointed me at Walking Men From Around the World.
I enjoyed seeing that Corunna uses a female figure to let people know it’s safe to cross. Perhaps the Moss and Fog article should be called “Walking Men (and Women) From Around the World”. That said, the original art installation behind the imagery in the article is called Walking Men Worldwide, so perhaps it’s OK?!
It did leave me wondering if there are other places that use women on their crossing lights, so I did a bit of an AI search. Turns out that there are, though they seem to be rare. Germany has the Ampelfrau, with her skirt and pigtails, and Amersfoort in the Netherlands has (or had) Sofie, with a ponytail. Pingtung in Taiwan even had a couple who became parents. I think it’s the variety I find charming.
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Dip marbling
Many months ago I was looking for some different craft related activities to try during my sabbatical. I came across this Dip marbling workshop and booked on. I was interested in it because of the idea of playing with colour.
There were three of us in the class so we had plenty of time with and attention from our teacher and she showed us two different styles during the class.
The first method was Suminagashi, Japanese ink on water. We then moved on to Ebru marbling with acrylics over seaweed infused gloopy water.
Work in progress, when most of the acrylics were in place but before the surface got worked.
I came back round to a similar palette for that third attempt, though it took me a while to settle on it. I think I was getting a bit tired by that point.
What was really noticeable here was that some of the paints behaved differently to others - some really spread out, and some didn’t, some feathered a lot, and others stayed sharp around the edges. I think it would take quite a lot of experimentation to get a predictable output.
I enjoyed the workshop. I liked the simplicity of the ink based marbling, but I loved the colour combinations of the acrylics. Now I need to work out what to do with my marbled paper.
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Goodwood Art Foundation
Somehow I hadn’t heard of the Goodwood Art Foundation until earlier in the summer despite it being open over a year. Once I’d learned of it, and discovered that it was dog friendly with the exception of the gallery spaces, I knew that I wanted it to be a family outing. Our initial date was thwarted when I realised that they weren’t open on a wednesday, thank goodness I checked before setting out. Yesterday the weather was good enough for an outdoor wander without being so hot we had an overheating dog to worry about.
As we walked around I began to wonder if it was where the old CASS sculpture foundation space used to be. This was confirmed when I popped into the Pigott Gallery as the guide told me the space used to be the ticket office for CASS. The view from the gallery reminded me of the view from some of the windows of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen. Looking at art with the green of trees and nature behind it. Stunning.
We stopped in at the on-site cafe, 24, as it was dog friendly, and sat out on the terrace beneath the trees, spotting a couple of the sculptures we’d just seen. Carrot cake for Richard, a raspberry muffin for me, and a treat for Breezy. Three satisfied customers.
The scale of Hélio Oiticica’s Magic Square #3 was breathtaking, and walking through it, hearing how it changed the sound around me, was even better. Colourful panels framing glimpses of the landscape beyond, it was wonderful to be part of the piece rather than just looking at it.
While being dark on the outside, the inner surface of the bars of Eva Rothschild’s Cosmos changes colour from top to bottom, meaning that as I walked around it I got a different feeling from it.
The main exhibition space was showing Nancy Holt’s MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater. I adored this piece, Mirrors of Light II, with its conceptually simple use of mirrors and a light source.
One of the exhibits, Solange Pessoa’s Nihil Novi Sub Sole, reminded me of the summit stones we’d seen at Pendle Hill the other week. I loved how they were scattered around the pathway leading me along as I looked at the patterns carved into soapstone. I like that, having watched this short film, the artist considers that the way that they age in the environment is part of the art itself.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. If I’d found somewhere like this while on holiday I’d have been delighted. Finding it an hour away from home makes it all the more special. From what I gather some of the sculptures will stick around for a while, and some will be refreshed. And obviously the landscape will vary with the seasons, it’s designed to have 24 seasonal moments, meaning each visit will always offer something new.
