Gallery

The Gardens Gallery, in the Proscenium Building, Montpellier Gardens, is a popular venue for local artists to show their work. The exhibitions always have free admission and are very varied. At the moment an exhibit entitled 'The World Through our Eyes' is on at the gallery. Three local artists - Sara Chardin, Amy Blacker and Gez Browning - are displaying their landscape paintings and photography.

Decay

As a complete contrast to yesterdays photos, today we have graffiti. Not much to say other than this stencil type of 'street art' is cropping up all over the place. Its a bit like a poor mans Banksy. Not as clever and not as funny. God, I must be getting old! OK, I quite like it!

Surprise

Another filler photo for the weekend. This one is from the trip I took to the Banksy Exhibition in August. I love his sense of humour. Late post today due to partying last night. And another party tonight! Unsurprisingly I have a hangover. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Posters

The Brewery complex in town has been open for about three years and several of the units are still empty. In a bid to try and integrate them with the surrounding restaurants and shops the management are hosting an art competition for local school children to brighten up the boarded facades with posters. Nice idea, in fact its...

Tea For Two

This cute couple were in the window of the Art Gallery and Museum, also promoting Affordable Art. They look quite happy at the picnic waiting to tuck into their knitted cupcakes. I want the little rabbit! Sad, I know.

Affordable Art

These bright glass sculptures are in the window of Cheltenham Art Gallery And Museum. They are part of a display advertising Affordable Art in the Museum shop. The Everlasting Flowers are handmade by Gooey Glass, based in Lechlade-on-Thames in the Cotswolds, and are yours for £150 for the large one and £120 for the small one. I need art to be a bit more affordable than that!

Check out Steve Callender's work at Gooey Glass.

The Odd Couple

On Saturday I asked if anyone could spy what was hiding behind the trees on the Prom. Lots of you had the right answer (mainly due to 'Link Within' photos - I should have thought that one through!) Anyway - its the Minotaur And Hare statue!

I've got a lot on this week so I'll catch up with all your blogs as soon as I can!

Can You Tell What It Is?

Any ideas what this is lurking behind the trees? Answer next week.

I've got loads on this coming week so posts will be short and sweet and comments few.

Have a great weekend.

Theme Day - Big

Another month has gone by and another one begins today. Here in CDPB world the first of the month is Theme Day and the theme for September is 'Big'. I really didn't have a clue what to post this month but luckily Banksy helped me out! This big (fake) spider in a gobstopper machine was one of the exhibits at the Bansky Exhibition in Bristol. As you probably remember we went there last month and waited in a big queue (another big!) to see the illusive artists work. Well worth the wait!

To see what others have come up with for this months Theme Day click here.

Banksy Statues

Today is the final day of my Bansky series and we are ending with some photos of his statues. If you want to see his art work and animatronics then scroll down to my past couple of days posts. The exhibit at Bristol Museum runs until the end of this month so if you are in the area, and don't mind queuing, then it is well worth a visit. Otherwise if it comes to a town near you make the effort to visit, you won't be disappointed.

"If you want someone to be ignored, then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town."

Banksy

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Banksy Artwork

Today's little offering from the Banksy exhibit at Bristol Museum shows just a small selection of his artwork and stencil drawings. I have loads of photos that I could have shown you but these are a few of my favourites. Hope you like them too. If you want to see some of the animatronics check yesterdays post and come back tomorrow to see some statues with a difference.

"When you go to an art gallery you are simply a tourist

looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires."
Banksy

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Banksy Animatronics

As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Bristol for my birthday to see something very cool - the Banksy Exhibition! The exhibit of over 100 pieces of the mystery artist's work is taking place at the Bristol Museum until the end of the month. The event is free and the museum, unsurprisingly, has seen record numbers of visitors. We joined the queue at 10 am and three and a half hours later we were finally through the door! But it was well worth the wait.

Little is known about the elusive artist known only as Banksy. It is believed he was born in 1974 in the Bristol area, where his notoriety began to grow due to his skillful graffiti and stencil work that started to appear around the city in the late 1980's. Since these early days he has gone on to become an internationally renowned artist, with his creations springing up in London, New York and New Orleans to name but a few locations.

His exhibit brings together his art work, sculptures, installations and animatronics, all of which are very cleverly conceived and thought provoking through their humorous nature. Today I'll show you some of his animatronics. Below are some of my favourites, though there were many more that I could have shared.

"We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves."
Banksy

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Big Bird

Continuing in the same vein as my previous posts here is another bird! This bird is made from wicker and is large, about ten feet wide. It is attached to the wall, next to the escalators, in the Regent Arcade. The point of it? To advertise the newly opened ByLocal shop, of course! It worked as well, I headed upwards to see what it was all about and found a shop selling paintings, pottery and all things arty created by local artists and crafts people. I hope the big bird does its job and leads shoppers up there too.

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Hoarding Art

As I mentioned yesterday the hoardings surrounding the construction site that is Hotel Kandinsky have been brightened up with art. The paintings have been created by local school children and some, like this one, are really good. I like how they've been 'framed'.

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Horny

A rather intense looking Rhinoceros at Nature In Art, as featured the other week. I remember going to a zoo when I was a kid and leaning over the railings to pat a Rhino. The thing I remember most about that day was a boy whose red baseball cap fell off his head, landed in the enclosure and the rhino ate it. Funny the things we remember. This begs the question - what bizarre childhood memories do you have?

If you saw yesterdays post and want to know the difference between a scooter and a moped check the comments for Chucks explanation. Thanks Chuck!

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Shoeshine

Here is another installation from the windows of the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, making up part of The Open West contemporary art competition. This piece is the creation of Henny Burnett and is entitled The Shoemaker's Shrine.

Burnett says "This installation is a response to Northamptonshire's shoe industry both past and present. The central piece consists of hanging cast latex shoes suspended in a cluster, each lit by its own pool of light. Entrapped within the translucent casts are various pressed flowers, field grasses and butterflies which make reference to the Victorian "secret Language of Flowers." A memorial to the shoe industry's Victorian heyday."

I liked this piece for its simplicity, though I'm sure it was far from simple to create.

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On The Edge

Its amazing what you find on your way to the library. All these little white plastic men were lined up in the window of the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum. The background was black so the window perfectly reflected St Matthews Church, opposite the museum. I've added to the art!

The installation is entitled On The Edge and was created by Swedish born artist Charlotte Jonerheim. She is one of 40 artists selected to exhibit in The Open West, a competition for contemporary arts. Submissions include film, painting, drawing and sculpture. Just seven of the entrants were selected to show their work at the Art Gallery & Museum, with all exhibiting at the Pitville Campus of the University of Gloucestershire. Over 2300 works were submitted by 380 UK and international artists. The exhibition runs until the end of the month.

Jonerheim says "Exploring detail is what often begins the process. I am not interested in an object per se, my fascination lies in its multiplication - in tens, hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands! An important aspect of my practice is the way I assemble my work. Grids, patterns and structure play an important role in transforming apparently insignificant objects into an entity in their own right which then attains its own object sense.My work is obsessive and time consuming, however I find a great sense of calm in repetition. My concerns also lie in the surface of my work. This can be manipulated by placing a small object in a specific order thereby creating an unexpected result."
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Stickle Brick

Last photo today from Nature In Art. This simple piece was quite impressive. Just some bleached driftwood attached to the red brick wall. Very effective.

If you want to see a close up of this head over to Macro World.
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Two Things Challenge - Window / View

Its Sunday and its time for Two Things Challenge. As with my other posts over the past few days this post too is appearing by blogger magic. It continues my series of photos I took at Nature In Art last weekend.

The building had loads of windows, like the one above, and if I could have taken photos inside the building the shot below shows you the view I would have seen!

How does the artist go about carving a piece like this?!

If you want to join in with the Two Things Challenge, or to see who else is taking part this week, head over to the Two Things Challenge site.

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Invasion!

As I said yesterday I couldn't take any photos inside Nature In Art but there was no stopping me in the grounds surrounding the building! There were all sorts of different nature-inspired sculptures outside, and over the next few days I'll show you a few of them.

I love this oversized bug made from all sorts of scrap metal. I couldn't see the name of the artist anywhere, and there is no reference on Nature In Art's website, so for now he or she will remain nameless. What I do know is that this is a very creative way to recycle!

I'm away until the middle of next week but post will appear by magic.
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