Author: scooj

I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.

Thursday doors – 9 January 2020

Doors 93 – The Bristol Hippodrome

The Bristol Hippodrome is part of the cultural ‘beating heart’ of the city and has been so since December 1912 when it was first opened. The history of the theatre is well worth reading about, but because this is a post about doors (and I am notoriously lazy) I would direct you to this magnificent specialist theatre history site – Arthur Lloyd.co.uk.

I have seen many great performances here including several operas by the Welsh National Opera, plays and of course pantomimes when the children were younger.

Another link I have with the old place is my mother performed here with the Sadler’s Wells National Opera in the 1950s as a principal dancer with the company. She has fond memories of the theatre and the city.

On to the doors. The feature photograph, also repeated below for those who look at these posts on smart phones, shows the main entrance to the Hippodrome. What you don’t see here is that every night after the theatre closes, several homeless people sleep in front of the doors where it is safe and dry – theatre staff tend to gently move them on in the morning as I walk past on my way to work. This is the 5th wealthiest nation in the world, something is very wrong!

Front entrance to the Bristol Hippodrome, Doors, December 2019
Front entrance to the Bristol Hippodrome, Doors, December 2019
Side doors (in need of a little TLC), Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Side doors (in need of a little TLC), Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Access entrance doors, Bristol Hippodrome, Decmber 2019
Access entrance doors, Bristol Hippodrome, Decmber 2019
Fire exit doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Fire exit doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Fire exit doors and quick exit after a performance, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Fire exit doors and quick exit after a performance, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
The all important Stage Door for cast, musicians, tecnicians and groupies, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
The all important Stage Door for cast, musicians, tecnicians and groupies, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Ever wondered how they get the scenery in? Barn Doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019
Ever wondered how they get the scenery in? Barn Doors, Bristol Hippodrome, December 2019

 

So there it is, my first door post of the new decade. May I wish you all a very happy 2020.

If you like doors, you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj

Homonym 1. Coaster

 

Here I lay my cup

and through the window I spy

a small trading ship.

 

by Scooj

  • A memory of many, many hours looking out of the window of my Grandparent’s house which was opposite Falmouth Harbour in Cornwall – there was always something going on in the Carrick Roads (the natural harbour area or ria (flooded river valley)).

2678. Cheltenham 2019 (27)

I love the work of I Bee W, but feel a bit guilty that I haven’t posted much of his work – there is no reason for this, I just have a few pieces in my archive that never made it out. This poignant piece from the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 was always going to get posted as the subject matter chimes with me.

I bee W, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
I bee W, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

There is a high-gloss quality about this piece, which is remarkable really as it has been sprayed onto chipboard. The image is a sad tale of the disappearance of wildlife through biodoversity loss and climate change, the two most significant issues facing the planet. A little red-eyed tree frog – a representative of life on earth – is saying ‘Bye then!’ as if its existence is a trivial afterthought. Although quite funny, I find this piece and all it represents very depressing. I never thought I would witness first-hand the tipping point, where slowing or reversing biodiversity loss becomes impossible, but all I see around me is an acceleration towards that eventuality. Big changes are needed urgently if we want a beautiful future.

2677. Cheltenham 2019 (26)

One of the rather comforting things about the Cheltenham Paint Festival was the number of familiar Bristol-based artists who had been invited to paint, including the wonderful Mr Draws who is no stranger to Natural Adventures.

Mr Draws, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Mr Draws, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This imaginative piece combines a toothpaste tube with mountains… who’d have thought? When I first started photographing pieces by Mr Draws, a great many of them featured mountains, so it was nice to see this retrospective piece in Cheltenham. I have previously published a gallery of his work which you can see here.

Filling in the gaps

 

Barely an inch long

fragments millions of years old

telling a story

 

by Scooj

 

I spent a couple of hours looking for fossils at Bracklesham Bay last weekend and it was really tough going. I was lucky though and found these two sawfish rostral teeth from the eocene period – (quite a long time ago).

Sawfish rostral teeth fossils, Bracklesham Bay, January 2020
Sawfish rostral teeth fossils, Bracklesham Bay, January 2020

2676. Cheltenham 2019 (25)

I have only once before come across the work of Buber Nebz and that was a fabulous dog piece that he painted at Upfest 2016. That dog and this fine painting of a woman listening to music could hardly be more different and demonstrates that the artist is most versatile and constantly evolving his style. On his website biography he stated that his recent works contain pixels, something he is playing with at the moment and that can be seen in the hair of this woman.

Buber Nebz, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Buber Nebz, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I think that this piece has an oblique reference to the book theme of the festival, by mentioning words in the context of music with the slogan ‘where words fail, music speaks’. I’m not sure if this is Buber Nebz’ quote or he is quoting someone else, but it seems to work well here. This is a nice clean piece with a great colour palette – a great contribution to the festival.

Buber Nebz, Upfest , Bristol, July 2016
Buber Nebz, Upfest , Bristol, July 2016

2675. Cheltenham 2019 (24)

Consistently creative, hugely talented and generally just brilliant, Chinagirl Tile keeps on turning out the most incredible ceramic installation pieces time and time again. This clever combination piece for the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2019 features a ceramic tile girl spray painting a child-like horse with blue spots. I was lucky enough to catch up with Chinagirl Tile when she was putting this piece together – it was all a little tense as she was running low on the bonding material for glueing the tiles to the wall. While we chatted I managed to sneak a picture of her plan for the piece, and I have to say it all turned out pretty much as she had imagined it.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I think that Chinagirl Tile is unique amongst street artists in that I don’t know of any others who make such elaborate and artistic original tiles of this type. There are many installation artists, but none who do anything like this.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The girl is made up of about fifteen or more separate tiles, each perfectly crafted, glazed and fired and pieced together seamlessly. It is a painstaking process but one that yeilds such fabulous results. And… you’ve got to love that monkey on her shoulder.

Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Chinagirl Tile, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

At festivals, Chinagirl Tile consistently remains one of my favourite artists and any town anywhere in the world would be uplifted by one of her beautiful tile installations. The best part is that they tend to remain intact for several years, for people to enjoy.

Winter Heliotrope

 

Looking for the sun

where there is none to be found

a winter beauty

 

by Scooj

 

 

2674. M32 roundabout J3 (188)

There is something rather thrilling about coming across a new piece from a new artist and this is the perfect example. The wonderful bold wobbly woman, painted with a creative confidence that I just love is by Yoli Ward-Streeter (Yoliws) who is one third of an all female creative community in Bristol called glu (art).

Yoliws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2019
Yoliws, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2019

It is high-time that we had an injection of new street art in Bristol and especially from female painters, you can never have enough. The thing I love most about this piece is the sense of freedom and fun that it exudes, there is nothing pretentious or arrogant about it and the naive style, simple outline and solid fill added together create something really rather different and special.

I look forward to seeing more from Yoli and her partners at Glu and am already aware of some small pieces down at Cumberland Basin that have been painted by this collective. All good.

2673. M32 roundabout J3 (187)

Face 1st has been at it again with this beautiful piece down on the north side of the M32 roundabout. I think this must have been his last piece of 2019 and it features both a happy and a sad face which might be a reflection of the year gone by. Let’s hope that next year’s equivalent piece has two happy faces.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2019
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2019

The writing in this piece is so very easy on the eye with big fat letters and subtle shading and highlights that give it a nice 3D effect. The two things that stand out for me though are the little red heart and the tears of the crying girl. Thank you Face 1st for an incredible year of art, and a lovely t-shirt to boot.