We are the World Blogfest # 26: Artist’s Sculptures being Sunk to Protect the Sea …

A local fisherman’s dream to bring his stretch of Tuscan waters back to life, where commercial trawlers have been ravaging the seabed …

c/o Bowman Sculpture
see link at end - this is
'Stillness Born of History'

Bottom trawling involves dragging a large net (which cannot discriminate its catch),  across the sea floor snatching large amounts of bycatch … destroying the habitat (sea meadows), killing the unwanted fish and other marine creatures - all trapped in this method, used by commercial fishermen …

We’ve seen other structures being used in the seas to give shelter and thus life to species in decline … yet here are amazing works of art being placed along this stretch of coastline to reinvigorate the sea floor – they are already succeeding …

Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1569 - 1859)

Emily Young, the sculptress, has an interesting pedigree and thus links to artists, writers, conservationists, polar explorers … while her sculptures are completely inspiring …

She lives in London and Tuscany … but has travelled and continues to journey widely … her website highlights her work … I’d recommend you pop over and have a look at her sculptures – they are truly beautiful …

… the titles outside Tate Modern, London inspire:

                           Face of Stillness

                                   Stillness Born of History

… there is one exhibited in Siena until 20^th July 2019:

                                            Solar Disk III … just delightful …

Talamone - an important sea port in Etruscan
times, a central Italian Monarchy during the
Medici and Holy Roman Emperor times;
Nelson and Garibaldi both used the little
harbour as a re-victualing stop over.

There’s a very short video of one of her sculptures being lowered onto the sea floor, and then with the regrowth, as well as fish re-population with cuttlefish, sea bream, sea bass, squid, lobsters etc … the restaurants can again offer local seafood, rather than Asian frozen fish …

Paolo Fianciulli, a local fisherman, who started using concrete blocks to thwart the trawlermen, has been targeted by unscrupulous thugs …

Carrara Marble Quarry

… but now a team of sculptors, including Emily, are sinking their works of art to continue protecting this coastline …

Marble from the renowned Carrara (Tuscan) Quarry  has been donated to the sculptors … it is not of the finest white that Michelangelo once worked, yet exhibits the stone’s geological history …

… her other sculptures ask that the viewer broods across deep time, geography and cultures … in other words to think deeply about our world and its life – how it came into being, and how we are a microscopic part in Gaia’s existence …

Maremma Nature Reserve

So here we have artworks that have a higher purpose than being worth thousands of pounds (not dollars!) … 300 donated chunks of Carrara marble ready to be sculpted, lowered overboard, they need barges to take the ten-tonne statues out to their watery resting places …

A blogfest highlighting positive news
where people are helping the world

She maybe dumbfounding her agent, leaving her colleagues aghast, as the artist, who has been called Britain’s greatest living stone sculptor, lets her magnificent works of art disappear into the murky depths to protect a part of the Tuscan seas and coastline against unprincipled humans with no sense of responsibility …

We are the World … In Darkness, Be Light

By-catch ... fish left to die ...

This is my #WATWB – an artist who uses her talents knowing that they will mostly be sight unseen … a rock muse of the 1960s London – possibly ‘See Emily Play’ … to world renown sculptress looking to remind us … that all parts of our planet need our protection …

Her website is so well worth reading, while her sculptures are just staggeringly amazing … please, pretty please look!

About the sculptress Emily Young

Emily Young - see some of her recent sculptures, and about this project ... (as I've described above) please look to see why I was hooked!

Emily Young Wikipedia

Bowman Sculpture - who represent Emily ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher 

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Towner Gallery Mural – more and some fun facts …

The tennis is in an enclave … a few years ago – we could wander in, particularly early in the week – now security is tight (understandable) and the place is full, full of pre-Wimbledon tennis players … singles and doubles …

Layout of Courts etc - the Towner Gallery is bottom left (south-west)

… I can’t work out the tv bits either – not to say I’ve really tried – but the Beeb is only able to broadcast some matches – maybe the British ones …

The cafe is under the mulberry colour that swirls around
at the top ... opposite here is the new part of Eastbourne
College (school) ... perhaps they'll paint their white walls!

… but when the tennis is only quarter of a mile away – it’d be good to have the choices … but in general the ‘earth stations/ terrestrial', I guess! that I watch via the licence fee are sufficient … so I’ll whinge but put up with things!

Here you can see the mulberry colour which is now above the
cafe area; the white triangle below - with pink, blue and orange
 - around it is where the #13 was written

Here’s a few more views … with some odd notations that happened …

Can you see the sludgy khaki ... it does look as though it's not
quite finished ... but the architectural lines of the building ...
make things a little challenging to tie images up - especially
when it is unfinished.

Painting by numbers – yes it happened … my lucky number (13) shows here … though turns out to be sludgy khaki colour – definitely not my favourite …

Though we could have had painting by socks …?  

Not the best - but you get the picture!

This VIP made a mistake of going into the Towner as I was walking down for a few more photos (I don’t usually carry my phone/camera around with me – so quite often need to go back to places to take a photo … not sure of the name for that sort of person?!) …

Man and pink socks - sight unseen
going in the front entrance

… anyway back to ‘my man’ with the pink socks! – he had an appointment with the Chair of the Gallery … and though he disappeared inside – a troupe came out to see the painting’s WIP … so I asked, to everyone’s bemusement, if I could take a photo of said feet – socks are good!

c/o Towner Website
(clever I see he has a pink shirt on!)

David Dimbleby has been the chairman, since the Towner became a Trust in 2013, and is one of our finest television broadcasters, writers and presenters … who has hosted, written and presented various cultural programmes for the BBC … and my pink-socked man re-appeared with the great and the good of the Gallery.  Poor chaps I hope they don’t read this!

They've revamped the tennis area for the
prestigious pre-Wimbledone tournament, so lots
of workmen, cherrypickers etc around ...
how unfortunate that the beautiful mural was damaged;
do you see the khaki parallelogram?  I'll be interested
to find out how they connect the various colours
in this magnificent mural ... 

On another visit I noticed that a workman had probably accidentally bashed the beautiful work … as there was a white patch … not small, but not large … so I kept returning – thinking I’d see one of the artists making reparations.

I did – it was the director of the London Mural Company … patching it up – he’d finished by the time I arrived – so was able to briefly chat.  His dungarees were well spattered …

Brewer's Paint

I emailed the marketing department of the paint company, who supplied the paint – they are an Eastbourne company, established 1904 – for some information about their sponsorship ... I got no reply:  I’ll be visiting them – I don’t give up!

Merchandise 'walk' at the back of the courts ... when
I went again - it was a lot full ... talk about clutter
- I hope the visitors can move around - it is certainly
choc-a-bloc with paraphernalia

That’s it for now … pink socks posted, dungarees with the paint spats, while the mural was once again intact … the only challenge now are the many seagulls that live with us.  How they’ll keep it clean in the year ahead – is perhaps another question I’ll ask.

Well our Mural has set my brain off listing other posts I could write up – so there’ll be more … and other things as I’ve been out and about locally …

Practicing last week

The next is about art … but under the #WAWTB banner – We are the World Blogfest … coming up at the weekend …

Side view looking towards
the sea ... 

It is now spattering rain again – but the tannoy system is working … I shall just hope the weather gods will be kind to the tournament … but if it’s this hot – we could get another storm … still some years it’s blowing a hoolie and is very cold …

Happy Summer days …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Towner Gallery Mural and Eastbourne Tennis preparations …

Suddenly this wonderful mural appears … marking the building’s tenth anniversary, when the new Towner art gallery opened.   

On the west side looking north towards the admin buildings
of Devonshire Park - painting still in progress

More views and details to follow.

Manor House in Gildredge Park

The collections had previously been housed in Manor Gardens … 

The Towner before the mural

... and were moved to their new home in this purpose built facility - adjacent to theatreland – a ball-boy’s throw to the seafront, and overlooking Devonshire Park …

Looking west - the Downs just visible in the background
(front of Congress Theatre and Welcome building - both
revamped this year; Eastbourne College (school) the white
building in the middle of the photo - part of their
new extensions visible here.

I’m showing some views of the preparations for the pre-Wimbledon tennis tournament -  that’s held here every year … with some annotations …

Taken from the school's wall - looking east ...
and back entrances to Theatre and Gallery

I met the Muralist from the London Mural Company, who was painting the design … 

Back of gallery and theatre - the mural is a wrap-around
(How they did it will be interesting to find out -
architecturally it's an interesting building

... and in two week’s there’s a talk by the artist/designer, so I’ll be giving you an update ...

Green green grass of home -
mowing preparations before Park
is transformed for the tennis

 … and letting you know some ‘funny’ stories that have come about …

Preparations almost ready - this was the 20th
(taken from the Art Gallery's cafe area)

The photos are mine – the professional ones of the Gallery I'll post shortly; we've had reasonable and good weather: interspersed this week with some mega storms - Wednesday we had over 1,000 lightning strikes – it was impressive!  Mind you I slept through most of it!

View towards seafront beyond the trees
(the south end of Carlisle Road ... I call the road diagonal alley)

I now hope the rain has left for Spain … and we have a beautiful three weeks of English lawn tennis … strawberries and cream, sunshine, as well as excellent sport …

Back of the theatre complex - listed buildings
 (far left the Victorian Devonshire Park and Winter Garden
with the modern Congress Theatre, 'against' which the
Towner Art Gallery was built ten years ago)

Have very happy 2019 summers everyone … on this the longest day of the year …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Write … Edit … Publish … Bloghop: Caged Bird …

That wasn’t … was it … surely he couldn’t know I was home … my stomach sunk … nope – I wasn’t going to answer the bell … but if he knew I was home – how could I avoid having to face him.

WEP Challenge for June 2019

I’d been to hell and back to get that restraining order … I’d been intimidated long enough, my child suffered as I did  - we lived in constant fear … but I thought those days were over, seemingly it wasn't to be until the authorities helped us to get new lives … what now …

There he stood … smirking – knowing I’d be in a heap inside … my stomach churning … then he demanded to see his (our) child – who I’d made sure was in the back-room and couldn’t hear … but I had no choice – he said he knew his child was here … how?

Restrained

This happened time and again during the restraining order … and each time he seemed to know exactly what we’d been doing, what we watched on the tv, how we entertained ourselves …

Terror was coming over me – I really couldn’t handle this form of abuse any more … I just wanted to end everything – but what would happen to my child …

I was really struggling to stay in control of our day to day existence – I felt overwhelmed … waves of negativity flooded over and through me …

My estranged husband had always been coercive – he had isolated me from my family and my friends … at least now I could contact them – but … this abusive man still knew what was going on …

My heart was pumping … I needed to resolve this … someone suggested I meet with a domestic abuse charity …

Various smart appliances

… then I learnt all the horrors that he’d been perpetuating, and through a charity I was able to see how he’d been able to control us, even after the restraining order …

That was a few years ago – though the damage won’t leave me, I am coming to terms with life where my child and I can live in relative peace …

Domestic Violence kept me caged as a bird …

I read an article on the aspects of knowing your tech – hence ‘this story’ … as spying can occur through so many smart devices now-a-days … apps via phones can be linked to door bells, smart products (thermostats, home security cameras, tvs, domestic appliances, toys, that Echo thingie)  etc etc) … these open us all up to unprecedented levels of control and surveillance … be aware … be very aware, be aware for others too …

Hilary Melton-Butcher 

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Courage, Commitment and Bravery … D-Day 2019

The moving commemorative events held this week on the 75th anniversary of D-Day … were only the start of the end ... 

50th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day 1995:
Lancaster Bomber dropping poppies in front
of Buckingham Palace

... it was another 11 months before Victory in Europe could be formally acknowledged, when Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered its armed forces.

Military Cross

One hundred years ago today my father was born, twenty-five years later he was on shores of France … he fought for Britain, the free world, his life and for others to live … he was awarded the Military Cross …

… like many, my parents, did not talk about their Army experiences, but certainly their lives were affected, then they lived on with their families … until their time came.

Painted in the middle of the
Second World War
Navy, Air Force, Army personnel
depicted, but we must remember
all the others behind the scenes

I’m sure my family would endorse all elements of the 2019 D-Day Proclamation that ceremonially commits its 16 signatories:

“To work constructively as friends and allies to find common ground” even where their opinions differ and “to work together to resolve international tensions peacefully.”

The Proclamation was signed by:  

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the USA.

… and states:

"Over the last 75 years, our nations have stood up for peace in Europe and globally, for democracy, tolerance and the rule of law.

We re-commit today to those shared values because they support the stability and prosperity of our nations and our people.

We will work together as allies and friends to defend these freedoms whenever they are threatened."

Allied Invasion Force on D-Day 1944

I, on my own behalf, and everyone who reads this blog would encourage us all to be humble, remember what they were willing to give – we have to preserve this brave and courageous generation’s legacy of Peace and Freedom.

Let Us Not Forget ... 

My detailed post (in the A-Z format) on the 70th anniversary in 2014 can be found here ... 

I'd like to add a note to this post:  One thing I've learnt is - we need to understand history, the different peoples of this world, their culture and customs etc - before we go expecting others to be like us ...

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories