Category: Art
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Samoa meets Scotland in Los Angeles
Last year the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) acquired five pieces of historic importance from the Pacific. One of those brings together two nations: Samoa and Scotland. The Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson, lived, worked and died in Samoa as he attempted to recover from ill health. (You can read about his journey…
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The world of beads
More than few years ago I was lucky enough to be invited to go on a trip to Tasiilaq, Greenland by an artist friend and colleagues from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, Denmark and Greenland itself. The week-long trip was in the Spring of the year and we were gathered together to explore how we…
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Carpeting nature
Debbie Lawson is a Scottish-born artist who plays with the idea of domesticity through her three-dimensional sculptures. In the latest series of pieces the artist uses Persian carpets as coverings, not just for floors or walls but also for animal figures. The result is a startling (and somewhat sinister) clash between the familiar and unknown.…
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This week’s Spotify playlist
The Spotify playlist this week begins with a choral piece, There will come soft rains, by Ēriks Ešenvalds, a Latvian composer. The short work seems an apt place to begin this week’s music. Each Sunday I compile and curate a playlist of music and sounds to go along with the blog. It is a way…
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This week’s activities
This week is going to be busy in Greymouth Māwhera! On Monday there is a workshop with Aquabella, the Berlin ensemble of women who perform world music acapella. This is followed by a concert on Tuesday evening by the group. On Tuesday there is also a concert of Baroque arias in St Patrick’s Church with…
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Poor Things
The wildly entertaining, thought-provoking, rollicking, surreal, dark and funny film, Poor Things, has the most wonderful costumes created by Holly Waddington and comes with an amazing soundtrack by Jerskin Fendrix. In this film, the majority of which is not shot on location, the exploration of growing up and experiencing life through the eyes of its…
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Shelburne Museum
Having grown up in New York with her parents, Henry and Louisine Havemeyer, and their collection of important Asian and European art, at the age of 19 Electra Havemeyer Webb decided to follow their example and begin her own collection of American art. Much of the Henry and Louisine Havemeyer collection is now in the…
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This week’s Spotify playlist
Each week a playlist on the streaming app, Spotify, is curated to go alongside the blog articles. You can listen to the playlist on the player above. If you do not have a subscription you will only be able to hear a few seconds of each track. A free subscription will be interrupted with advertisements…
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A piupiu for Sydney
Piupiu are woven Māori garments that are worn either around the waist or over the shoulder. The Biennale of Sydney, an event that gathers together artists from across the world, commissioned the art piece from kairaranga (weavers) Hone Bailey, Paehoro Konui, Merānia Heke-Chase and Manu Fox who created it over three months, working on it…
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The artistry of Africa’s forest dwellers
The people who live in the equatorial forests of Central Africa have a unique sense of artistry in their textiles and music. These people, although once all defined as “Pygmy”, a pejorative term that is no longer used, have a strong connection to their forest home and make use of its resources to create, amongst…