Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Carsington with WoW - Sunny but Windy

A smashing WoW day at Carsington
with Reg and Mike of which more later.

But I wanted to share with you two more Chatsworth snaps. I won't wade through the lot, I promise. This beautifully determined young lady was walking purposefully towards the Zaha Hadid piece as if intending to scutinise it closely. She is part of the Sothebys Exhibition I think but had no plaque. So I'm afraid I can't help as to the author's identity. A lovely piece of work, and again, the parkland setting was just right.

Picture 2 is of another interesting work without a plaque or even a title and this time I made enquiries of staff. I was told that, so far, Sothebys hadn't provided 'author identity' because they were unsure as to the provenance of the piece. This seemed somewhat dubious but it didn't seem appropriate to badger the attendant who was trying to be helpful.

I'll give it my own title - 'Cement Mixer Lorry on even Larger Lorry'.

The structure was an incredibly fine filigree of a ferous metal which had rusted to good effect. Whether or not it was because parts looked like an Christian 'Rood Screen' or because of the little 'spires' all over the place but the piece had definite religious connotations.

It was so eye-catching and as soon as people spotted it they walked closer to get a better look.

If I discover more about it I will definitely let you know. Probably too much to hope for, that some 'learned' blog-reader pen a 'comment' of explanation ! Much as AnonymousRob did with the 'Mystery Stones' at Middleton. By the way Rob ' the word on the streets' is that it would be great if you rejoined us at EPS. Your skill, advice, and influence particularly for the benefit of the newer members would be of enormous value. So, there you are then, how can I say more !!

Unfortunately Jill, children are prevented from even touching the exhibits. Even Elizabeth Frink's 'War Horse' has a silly little chain round it. And, bad decision in my view, he has it appears, been moved from the parkland (where he magnificently scanned the distant horizon) to the Courtyard where he is completely hemmed in. In my opinion, with this completely daft and useless chain round him he looks sad and as if he feels rather stupid. There is no way that children touching the work could cause damage and the fence would not deter a serious vadal. Oh well ! At Yorkshire Sculpture Park there are no fences (as the link will show you) and kids have a great and rewarding time. Always seeming happy and well-behaved. I'm not a psychologist so I can't explain it.

Thanks also Bungus for your erudition on matters architectural. And other affairs. A while ago Jill used the word 'educational' about this blog, and I glowed. All the 'comments' are invariably a valuable contribution and I am proud to be the conduit. The Chatsworth Farm Shop to which I refer is in the village of Pilsley, about a mile and a half from the House and is not to do with the Garden Centre.

Today's walk at Carsington was lovely. Reg had noted a weather forecast indicating that West of Notts. was going to be sunnier. And it was so, even if windy. I dropped Mike and Reg at the Hopton end of the Reservoir and they walked round the edge, to join me somewhere near the Visitor Centre. I faffed about trying to take a picture of wind-surfers in the sun, and pied-wagtails and swifts. There was no way that auto-focus was going to deal with the latter and I resorted to pre-focusing and then locking, but only roughly successful. Certainly no award winners.

Photos will follow tomorrow.

Today's quote is again from my iGoogle homepage:-

"It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech"

Mark Twain

Nipping over to Peter and Joan in the morning, to discuss computer matters. And then on Saturday I am helping to take down the EPS exhibition in Kimberly Library. And one day next week we are going over to Carsington again to visit David and family. Sleep tight and I'll catch you tomorrow. Off to watch Rick Stein now......

errata.. It is Friday we are going over to Peter's. So, if you are reading Peter - Don't panic !

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh ye of little faith!
It is my belief that you are part right and part wrong about the mysterious ‘lorry’ sculpture.
I suspect it is a modern work by the Indian sculptor Ravi Nahindra and that it IS of religious significance as, typically of his work, it represents a Juggernaut or Carriage of the God Vishnu. But rather than being made of iron, I would expect it to be fashioned from stained bamboo and, cosequently, be quite lightweight.
As there is no 50p piece, it is difficult to judge the scale but I would expect it to be about half to three-quarters full size; am I right?
On the other hand, I could, as Sothebys obviously suspect, be making it all up.

The horse probably is rather stupid if he regards the chain as a way of fencing him in.
“With one mighty bound he was free,” I would say.

I concur with the RG opinion of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Although some of the slighter (sizewise) works there can appear a little lost or uncomfortable in their wide-open surroundings, things generally feel right. And I know how pleasantly surprised we both were that none of the many children appeared to be bored; in fact they really did seem to like being there.

Thanks for the compliment on my contributions. I try to do my best but, you know, you can’t always believe everything you read! (I do however try to give a clue or two when I am not being entirely serious or altogether truthful). I am sometimes very tempted to contribute to ‘Wilkepedia’ which, as someone said, was compiled by Ken Dodd in the 16th century
And, apropos, ‘Tongue in cheek’ always seems a strange expression to me because anyone speaking like that would not fool anyone.
“Fah de fah de fah fah.” Is what it would sound like.

Thanks for clearing up the Chatsworth ‘Farm Shop’/’Garden Centre’ confusion.

A sort of companion piece to the (tongue-in-cheek?) Mark Twain quote is:
"The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made." -
-- George Burns

Anonymous said...

PS
Headline from BBC Radio Nottingham Homepage:
"Two die as car hits tree in park"
How, without reading further, did I know that the scene would be Lime Tree Avenue in Clumber Park?

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone

The identity of the walking lady sculpture was a challenge I couldn't resist. According to the Chatsworth website it is "Walking Madonna" by Elizabeth (Elisabeth?) Frink and was bought in 2002. No doubt RG will do a proper link, if I've correctly identified it.

Thank you for leeting me know about the complimentary 'word on the streets'. Presumably, if I join and contribute to other peoples learning (I'm sure there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere - is it after the 's' in 'peoples'?) the Chairman will let me off the penalty he's imposed for denigrating his Attie pictures? (Ref Bungus and tongue in cheek)

Best wishes.

Rob