Bright Sparks

Bright sparks, creative hands, young minds. Working with three local artists - Colm Docherty, Sam Jones and Sandi Kiehlmann.....

...local kids explore their creativity - discovering textures, drawing and sketching built  and natural environment, using natural materials as artistic tools and resources and more....

These workshops were run as part of the beautiful and extraordinary Julie Brook exhibition at the Burgh Hall Dunoon - art inspiring art inspiring our bright sparks.

All images are ©Burgh Hall Dunoon and Powan Ltd - If you would like a print of any of these or other images on the blog or to find out more about my work, please contact me at www.therainboweffect.co.uk or powanmedia@gmail.com for details on sizes and prices, and please feel free to post a comment! Feedback is always gratefully received - thanks for reading!!

Embra

Cold, grey, dreich but beautiful - skylines and roofs making exquisite shapes in the glowering sky, astonishing architecture, pigeons with attitude and kids bouncing with vigour, vim and gallusness. This was half-term, that was Edinburgh.....

All images are ©JeanDonaldson/powanmedia - If you would like a print of any of these or other images on the blog or to find out more about my work, please contact me at www.therainboweffect.co.uk for details on sizes and prices, and please feel free to post a comment! Feedback is always gratefully received - thanks for reading!!

Little Red

Having spent a lot of 2013 wishing I lived somewhere a bit more urban and frenetic, looking at the superb street photography of colleagues and peers with envy, I came to the decision at Hogmanay that:

a) Envy was a pointless, tiresome waste of time - I'm never going to move again (probably).

b) I should capitalise on the extraordinary environment I am very lucky to live in.

With this in mind, I began to think how I could use the breathtaking landscapes that surround our wee wooden house in a way that suited my passion for photographing people. And so the idea of the 'Little Red' project was born.  

The idea was to frame the landscape in a way that emphasised its sheer size, wild and remoteness by using a small figure captured in each frame, often gazing out to the land or lochs, or moving through the spaces. The winter in Argyll is a bleak and beautiful season, full of washed out, muted colours and often overcast skies. By dressing my figure in red she or he would be a distinct presence throughout the images - and the size of Little Red would emphasise also a sense of isolation in a vast space.

250 raw images later, which were distilled down to 45 and a final cherry pick of the 10 strongest images - here is Little Red:

If you would like a print of any of these or other images on the blog, please contact me at powanmedia@gmail.com for details on sizes and prices, and please feel free to post a comment! Feedback is always gratefully received - thanks for reading!!

Robert Stewart - An Argyll Artist

Described as 'one of the foremost British designers of the second half of the 20th century', Robert (Bob) Stewart was a prolific and immensely productive Argyll artist and designer, as well as Head of Textiles and Design at Glasgow School of Art. His work spans textiles, ceramics, graphics, fine art, murals, mosaics and tapestries - his output was extraordinary. 

Stunning 'Raimoult' fabric hanging in the Burgh Hall

A fraction of his extraordinarily diverse and beautiful output can be seen at a small but extensive exhibition at the Burgh Hall, Dunoon. Thanks to the hard work of curator Anne E. Ferguson,herself an artist and ex-student of Bob, this visually stunning exhibition has 'come home' to Cowal.  

Cushions made with Ardentinny (left) and Macrahanish (right) Linen Union fabrics

 The show is a treat for the eyes, with many references to Bob's love of his home environment in Cowal and Argyll, especially his striking textiles named after local places such as Kilmun or Glendaruel.

Anne E. Ferguson introduces Jimmy Cosgrove, a colleague and contemporary of
Robert Stewart who opened the exhibition

Small selection of Robert Stewart's ceramics

Running until 30th September you won't be disappointed if you pop in to have a look at one of Argyll's finest artists.

Detail from ceramic mural (1967), once displayed at the Douglas Academy
now needing a home!

More fabrics! (Top & left), Kilmun Linen Union, small 'Sun Man' cushion (right) &
'Striven' (front)

It wasn't all tea and cakes....

Miss E does Art #1

Admittedly, we did drink a lot of tea and eat a fair amount of cake on our recent Manchester trip. However, we also managed to cram in some 'culture' as well. Top favourite - the Manchester Art Gallery on Quay Street - a cornucopia of new, old, traditional, avant garde, arts, crafts and more. Highlights included lolling about on benches staring at huge Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite paintings and hiding in dimly lit installations giggling - I never said we were connoisseurs!:

Next!

This one was big on drama - Alexander von Wagner's 'The Chariot Race'

Miss E does Art #2

Installation - Casten Höller's 'Drawing Game with Radio'

The Gallery of Craft and Design housed in a former Victorian theatre was filled with some truly beautiful stuff. Not only one of the architectural highlights of the Manchester Art Gallery, this gallery has a fantastic collection of over 1,300 objects from ancient pottery to the latest designs in furniture and lighting. 

Miss E admires the exquisite Harold Raby Collection of  English Enamels -
'dainty and pretty, quaint and curious'

The gorgeous Ultra Fraggola Mirror by Ettore Sottsass

Then we shuffled off to the exquisite and atmospheric late Victorian Gothic building that is the John Rylands Library - housing one of the greatest collections of manuscripts and printed works in the world including some of the oldest fragment of the New Testament, the Guttenberg Bibles, most of Caxton's works, the first edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and more. This extraordinary building, possibly one of the most beautiful libraries ever, has a modern edifice stitched on to its side, providing visitors with a great cafe that serves a huge and rather good cup of tea....I'm sensing a theme here.....

The hushed corridors, John Rylands Library

Secret stairs, ornamental gates

Carved stone dome  - John Rylands Library

Decorative glass in window at the John Rylands Library

Old and new - buildings cleverly 'stitched' together

So, in summary, Manchester was mainly cups of tea, with the occasional cake thrown in and a delicious smattering of culture. We've already booked our next trip - Liverpool in October. Now, anyone know a good teashop?......