Knitted Glass ... Lost-Wax Casting ...

 

Archaeology is an amazing discipline … we are learning so much about past lives … and while I was looking into the lost-wax casting method, via the bronze-age site in Cambridgeshire, the houses had been built on stilts above a riverine area about 3,000 years ago, …

"Purple Reigns" by Carol Milne

... I was led to this wonderful sculpture: “Purple Reigns” by Carol Milne – a Canadian/American artist, who is best known for her Knitted Glass Work – glass sculptures utilising the lost-wax process.

This was a winning entry at a
Japanese Exhibition of Glass in 2010

She created this technique of 'how to knit glass' – which is set out in her Wiki link below … just so easy?!?!

Personally I've never liked knitting, I guess because back in the day we used wool – and that irritated my skin … eventually having realised what gave me the sweats … I eliminated wool from my wardrobe. Sorry!

Carol Milne

I am always totally in awe of creative artists like Carol Milne who can imagine these kinds of works …

... I don't think Prince's Purple Rain had anything to do with my curiosity re wax-casting … but we'll (and I definitely won't) never know!

Prince's 'Purple Rain' found
within the album
'Prince and the Revolution'

As my eclectic wanderings have taken me – nothing like a 3,000 year old wander!! The links below give you lots more information … I do find knitting glass: amazing!!

Carol Milne - via Wiki ... 

Lost-Wax Casting ... 

Thanks for visiting …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Blog Mojo returns …

 

I've taken myself off to visits to Namibia that occurred in the late 1990s … one came about as I belong to a TED group and introduced two TED talks … more on those later, possibly via another blogger …

... and then I came across this artist, Uli Aschenborn – born 1947, who just mesmerised me … there's another South African artist on the way later in the year …

The National Art Gallery of Namibia situated in Windhoek … displays exhibitions from local artists on Namibian, African and European Art …

This way up - the drawing is of a Mountain

... Aschenborn has had some of his work displayed here … much of it has movement as an integral part of the art, and so falls under the genre described as Kinetic Art.

Here it is ... the other way up it is
of a Crater

I've linked to his Wiki page – where you can see a few of works … one where the drawing, Mountain or Crater, can be turned upside down, another 'Sculpture-Morph, Male Life Cycle … where the artwork shows us an ageing boy, changing to an old man eventually to a skeleton …

Namib skyline

People are so clever … and this blogging world is always opening my eyes to new areas – so thank you for allowing me to be me and let you see into my way of thinking …

Uli Aschenborn Wikipedia link ... 

Happy New Year … I'll see you around soon …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Ghoul … or not as the case maybe …

 

This is Gregor Baci … who, from the 1600s, has been immortalised in this Hungarian painting … sorry – it just amused me today of all days, as one of Wiki's 'Did you Know' …

Portrait of Gregor Baci

Apparently he lived for a year after the event, caused possibly in a joust … the spearhead was sawn off - making life more comfortable for the poor man in the last months of his life ... 

I note that a comparable case was described in the The Lancet in 2010 when a craftsman was impaled by a metal rod falling 46 feet (14 m) from a church ceiling - he survived for five years.

Dracula - 'portrait in Ambras Castle'

I wonder if the rod was dislodged by bats in the Belfry … 

... or perhaps by Dracula ... 

The Baci painting hangs in Ambras Castle, Innsbruck … and was likely held by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, as he had been interested in arms and curiosities.

Life is sorting itself out here … November brings a few NHS aspects and then I hope December will leave me alone til 2026 dawns and a prognosis can be made as to what next …

The Spanish Hall in Ambras Castle
(couldn't resist putting it up - beautiful)

Life ticks along thankfully – can't say I'm desperately thrilled with it … but, though sluggish, I am positive and continue to make people laugh … which is good for one and all …

Enjoy your Halloween treats or horror films … no doubt there'll be a few Eastbournians out and about pranking around – I'll see them, but will be behind closed doors … not misery me, just glad I can get away!

All the best to everyone … I shall see you round about …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Grayson Perry: A Temple for Everyone exhibition …

 

Sir Grayson Perry, to give him his due, is an English artist known for his ceramic vases, tapestries and cross-dressing, as well as his observations on the contemporary arts scene, and for dissecting British “prejudices, fashions and foibles”.

Julie Cope tapestry

The Julie Cope tapestries were created for 'A House in Essex'.  Julie is a fictional Essex woman.  Two tapestries were completed for a commission for the charity "Living Architecture", they are held by the Crafts Council.

The visual story was created on a computer when working closely with a digital mediator as well as tapestry weavers, translated the work into a 3D woven textile.  Like an impressionist painting, the palette is created by individual stitches of different colours sitting side-by-side then blending in the viewer's vision.

During Covid, he and his wife, Philippa, held a lockdown art club, when he selected and collated art from everyday people, fellow artists and celebrities, based on themes occurring during the pandemic … one advantage of being able to collaborate over zoom …

Ye Olde English Pot

In this exhibition at the Charleston centre in Lewes there were over 30 of Perry's own works exploring stories of the home … from textiles and pots to ceramic tiles and woodcuts …

His most recent works in this exhibition explore themes of national identity.  Ye Olde English Pot is presented in the form of a medieval beer flagon.  Decorated with traditional slipware techniques, it references the polarising effect of the internet debate, while also invoking heraldic iconography.

… he also works in printmaking, drawing, embroidery and other textile work, film and performance … a talented artist …

A Map of Days

'A Temple for Everyone' exhibition ties in with the Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, who had transformed their home at Charleston Farmhouse, in the 1920/1930s, into a canvas and sanctuary for their ideas …

You won't be able to see the detail in this map portraying 'a fortified town'... but Perry has a longstanding fascination with maps.  Using the language of map making and historic cartographic techniques, Perry plays with the medium and uses it as a container for ideas. We can trace people, dreams, ideas and identity through these works which resemble literal mind maps, displaying ideas and their interconnections with one another in great detail.

… similarly here Perry reimagines society through art, capturing the essence of contemporary life in his work … asking us to consider where we're at in life …

Plague Cat

I think having lived through Covid and having had to adjust to life in these times … we all probably now have different thoughts on our history as it stands …

During Covid he and his wife went through a walk around the deserted streets of London ... passing by Samuel Johnson's house, where the sculpture of his cat 'Hodge' resides.  Cats came to the fore ... here he's used the medium of an Islamic Incense burner ... and added pustules and boils ... to make it more decorative?!

Cocktail Party

I've selected very few of my photos ... with annotations as mostly provided by the curators of exhibition, which I've set out in smaller print ...  

This vase is an early ceramic work (1989), featuring women awkwardly engaged at a cocktail party.  Illustrated are Laura Ashley-style dresses, a Chanel suit, Madonna's bustier.  The vase offers a playful critique of high-class 1980s fashion, high society, and art world trends.  It also echoes themes found in Virginia Woolf's fourth novel, Mrs Dalloway, which highlights the tension between the polished public persona we present to the world and the private inner life that lies beneath.

Grayson Perry Trophy -
awarded to a person with good taste

The exhibits have made me think … and I'm more open to contemporary art … live and learn, I guess. Charleston's season of exhibitions at the Farmhouse will continue to explore the intersections between art and home … which I sadly will not get to …

This is the House of Essex built for the Living Architecture charity ... it does look really fun to look around - one day perhaps I'll get there.  

Grayson Perry - Wiki link ...

"House for Essex" wiki link ... 

Living Architecture link ... 

So - after all the above ... I hope you've been able to find your way round the information provided - I wasn't sure what to do ... as he's a complex, thought provoking character ... I was pleased I was able to visit the exhibition.

Here's another link to an exhibition in Edinburgh in 2023 - per Anabel's comment below ... it gives a little more explanation on Perry's career ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Floating Lady …

 

The art shuttle bus took Sue and I over to Lewes to the 'new' Charleston in Lewes … a building for exhibitions, community projects, artist-led workshops, gallery activities and educational programs tailored for local state schools, further education and higher education groups …

c/o Charleston in Lewes website

We went to see 'Grayson Perry: A Temple for Everyone' – which I'll post about next … as I need to get my head around explaining it!

It was fresh and chilly ... 

However … we had a lovely Spring day… on the way up in what to me was rather a 'Brutalist' building … the Floating Lady appeared … my photos don't do it justice against the bright (I know!) light of sunnier days … but the link below shows the sculpture off in all its floating glory.

My pic of her in the staircase foyer

Quentin Bell (1910 – 1996), nephew of Virginia Woolf, despite his talent as an artist, his career drew him to academia and book-writing … however he worked at various universities as a Lecturer in Art History – then ultimately as a Professor.

Charleston Farmhouse with pond

He often came down to Charleston Farmhouse, the Sussex home of the Bloomsbury group (writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20^th century) … when he wrote several of those books on the Group and the Farmhouse.

Bell as a child had been fascinated with optical illusions … as children they'd been taken in the early 1900s to see the Maskelyne's family stage show. Jasper Maskelyne (1902 – 1973) was a vain man, and though helping out with World War II deceptions, died an embittered drunk.

In situ - outside Leeds University

Bell was dumbfounded seeing the lady levitated – thinking it was impossible … but recalled watching the trick … with the lady eventually lying horizontal six feet from the floor.

So inspiration took hold and the completed fibreglass sculpture was placed over the Charleston Farmhouse pond … before being moved, after the War, to Leeds University, where Quentin Bell was a Professor of Fine Art.

Quentin Bell - late in life

I was fascinated to learn about Bell's interest in Maskelyne Cook's (House of Mystery) magic show … and then his crafting and creation of this sculpture … now back in rural Sussex ...

All grist to the mill … I will be back anon …

The Magician's Scapbook - Maskelyne and Cooke: House of Mysteries

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Oscar Wilde sculpture update, together with other Paolizzi artistic interpretations …

In December I posted about three sculptures, in particular the Wilde one by Eduardo Paolozzi … but didn't mention the reason why it looked like it does …

Paolozzi's sculpture

Paolozzi creatively designed the sculpture as three segments referring to dominant times in Wilde's life …

… the distress of his life as he suffered …

… the loss of respect, symbolised by his fallen head being sculpted as such …

… the segmentation representing his troubled life and his ultimate death …

The art work has been condemned by many … as it would be near impossible for a non-specialised viewer to understand it.

However it remains ... for our interpretation – such as it is … but many would prefer a statue that welcomes us to come and have a talk with the great conversationalist and playwright …

Here we have his triptych
tapestry - in the ICA

Paolozzi was a Scottish artist, known for his sculptures and graphic works … while being widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art.

Next I came across Paolozzi's triptych tapestry 'A perspective on innovation' (1981) commissioned by the Institute of Chartered Accountants to hang in their Great Hall – it has now been moved to another part of the building.

One of the mosaic panels that was
moved during the construction of the 
Elizabeth line 

The triptych is easier to understand … and I find it really interesting … we can see his interest in post-war developments in science and technology ... also applied here in the mosaics ...

… then there are the mosaics at Tottenham Court Road tube station … again reflecting his interpretation of the local area and his wider interest in mechanisation, urbanisation, popular culture and everyday life.

Skilled workmen carefully removing
part of a panel before restoration

Due to the huge expansion of the new Elizabeth (tube) line in recent years … the art works were carefully relocated to their new place … the link with its documentary tells this story …

Paolozzi's Pop art collage

Pop! goes the end of this two-part series – brief … but Pop is to the point – Paolozzi was the first to display the word “pop” on his collage in 1952.

December's blog post ... 

Institute of Chartered Accountants - Paolozzi's tapestry ...  

Restoration works at Tottenham Road Underground station ... 

First post on Wilde's sculpture ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Sculptures - two heads, one mouth ...

 

These three sculptures fascinated me … then of course various tentacled rabbit holes appeared, let alone my own grey cells with lots of space between, which enjoy taking their time …

Sculpture of Oscar Wilde's head in
the format adopted by Eduardo Paolozzi,
the sculptor

I came across this posthumous sculpture by Paolozzi of Wilde's head. Did you know these are his names: Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) … I laughed and thought oh well … I'd better write them up for this post.

Wilde lived a great deal of his life in Chelsea – hence the positioning of this sculpture – which Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 – 2005) was commissioned to produce … more on him anon in 2025 …

On the website there's a short video -
hence 'A Flying Visit ... '

Pangolin Editions, where this sculpture was crafted – there's a short video on its home page about The Foundry 'A flying visit to Pangolin'.

Pangolin Foundry, Stroud, England

I was pleased to learn that The Foundry has formed the Ruwenzoni foundation in the UK and in Western Uganda furthering the talent to be found …

… expressed on their home page 'The impetus driving the idea was a belief that 'good news also comes out of Africa' where so much talent can flourish if given an environment which allows it''.

Students learning in Uganda

It's worthwhile looking at the Trustees, and the Ugandan directors … rabbit holes with tentacles worth exploring … 

Head number two, the Apennine Colossus, has taken millennia to form … but was crafted by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna in the late 1500s …

Apennine Colossus
(by Giambologna)

… it is about 36 feet (11 metres) high and is meant as a personification of the Apennine Mountains … more information can be found in the link … it always amazes me at man's creativity.

Last but not least … the mouth of a river … a stack of slate … what to do … but create a hedge (usually a wall in town) in London – that's actually a pictogram of the river Thames as it twists and turns its way through London to the North Sea …

Can you envisage the River Thames
as it winds its way to the North Sea

This last creation is by Andy Goldsworthy – who we consider to be the founder of modern rock balancing … 

... this artwork is permanent, found in a side street just behind Buckingham Palace … being 'just some stacks of slate' …

I love what we can learn … I've just joined a TED group here … and I was able to bring up two subjects I'd posted about as part of this blogging fraternity … it's a learning environment.

One was about bees keeping elephants at bay in Kenya (2015) … and the other was relative to one of my favourite computers on the market – RaspberryPi (2020 x 2), linked to a robot … which we were discussing at the TED group.

I will try and recalibrate my brain to be more stable and methodical in its approach to humanity outside its own sphere … let me hope!

Pangolin Editions - their sculpture

Oscar Wilde sculpture - c/o Ian Visits 

Pangolin Editions - Foundry

Ruwenzorifoundation in Uganda - supported by Pangolin Foundry

Apennine Colossus - natural/crafted sculpture

Slate Wall - c/o Ian Visits ... Andy Goldsworthy

Bees and elephants in 2015 

(PS Lenny is a young lad, who has been extraordinary over his tough young life)

Raspberry Pi x 2 in 2020

     first Raspberry Pi                 second Raspberry Pi used by young engineer

Thanks for bearing with me …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Stubbs', his son, Townly, ... stipple engraving, Wedgwood, Écorché art ...

 

Laughter, Crying, Terror, and Tranquility … all stipple engravings made by George Stubbs' son: George Townly Stubbs (after his father) …

Laughter

These prints, by Townly Stubbs, reproduce a lost set of wax models of facial expressions made by his father based on the influential illustrations of 'passions' designed by the 17^th century French history painter Charles Le Brun, which many artists of the period used as a guide for depicting human expression.

Charles Le Brun's The Expressions
(1619 - 1690)

But please note (!) George Stubbs snr (1724 – 1806) … took licence with Le Brun's illustrations … as he 'removed the skin' to reveal the muscular foundations of the expressions … adding to his personal artistic fascination with anatomy and physiology. This is known as Écorché … as depicted by Leonardo da Vinci.

Echorche by Leonardo

As you might have gathered … I've become slightly obsessed with the work of George Stubbs …

Crying

Stubbs was 'full on' as far as experimentation was concerned … which I'm sure you've gathered from this post and the earlier one.

Terror / Fright

He also collaborated with Josiah Wedgwood in producing ceramic plaques … it took over three years for a satisfactory 'canvas' to be prepared … with which Stubbs and Wedgwood continued to refine.

During this time – Stubbs also experimented with  methods of painting enamels on copper. Again a few years passed as he worked with new pigments appropriate for enamelling in the 1700s.

One of the books I learnt from

As Stubbs snr was silent to the world … we have hardly any records of the work he was carrying out. Wedgwood's discoveries were however listed in his Experiment Books – and also in his personal letters to his friends, unfortunately his Books detailing the Stubbs' records have vanished

Anglo-Saxon hilt showing garnet
inlay in the Cloisonne style

The word 'enamel' is used to denote both a material and various forms of pictorial art which are made from the mixes. The material is essentially a kind of glass formed from silicates with some technical adjustments.

Mosan 12thC armiet - showing the cast
recesses for the enamel
(in the Champleve style)

The main forms of enamelling are Champlevé, Cloisonné, Bassetaille, and painted (vitreous) enamels … these latter were the type Stubbs was exhibiting. I've linked Wikipedia's pages for each type …

Vitreous Enamelling on my ring

Well that's it … I just wish I was artistic and technically capable … still curiosity clicks in … as you can see …

The ring was made for me about 20 years ago … it's beautiful and was a wonderful prize to win – I got to chose what I wanted made … lucky me.

Écorché - c/o Wikipedia

Tranquility ... let's all be tranquil

Charles Le Brun - French painter, physiognomist, art theorist  (1619 - 1690)

Champlevé technique ... 

Cloisonné style ... 

Basse-taille ... 

Vitreous Enamelling ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories