A Trip to Bath

Last Thursday I was reading Threadspider's excellent blog, and learned about an interesting exhibition taking place, finishing last Sunday. My younger daughter is home from university at the moment and she was up for driving me there, so off we went, on the most beautiful sunny afternoon, through the Somerset Lake District to the splendour that is Bath. We parked near to Pulteney Bridge and this lovely Victorian Post Box, and made our way to the gallery - except I'd got the wrong gallery! But, it wasn't really too wrong, because it was hosting another excellent show, by Edwina Bridgeman. I love the way she is able to envisage extraordinary potential hidden in driftwood and other found objects to create wonderful figuative sculptures with simultaneously a very stylised but primitive element. One day, perhaps, I will own one of her creations.

We then made our way to the Octagon Gallery, where our original objective was located. We passed this alley, home to the Sausage Shop, among others, and somehow managed to walk past the entrance below - I thought it was a furniture shop!

Anyway, eventually we found our way inside and saw some amazing textile exhibits by Carole Waller (who curated this show), one of Alice Kettle's massive embroideries, covetable wraps and felted hangings by Liz Clay, wonderfully-cut women's clothes by Terry Macey and other artists were showing a very varied range of textile works.

Then it was time to return towards the car, stopping for refreshment at the Bridge Coffee Shop, where we were able to enjoy drinks and chat at a table looking out at this view of Pulteney Weir.

The late afternoon spring sun made fabulous contrasts on the newly-greening tree branches

and lit up the water flowing from the fountain. There was plenty to gladden the eye.

I really should go to Bath more often! Thanks, Threadspider, for the nudge.

Animal Crackers

We recently spent two weeks in North Wales, and during that time made an excursion to Liverpool. Our objective was the Klimt Exhibition at the Tate there, but we took advantage of our route to stop off at Port Sunlight and the Lady Lever Gallery. Port Sunlight is, like Bourneville in Birmingham, an amazingly spacious and pretty housing estate built to accommodate factory workers, in this case at the Sunlight Soap factory. Unlike Bourneville (for the Cadbury family supported the Temperance Movement) there were even local pubs, and additionally the amenity of this wonderful Art Gallery. I suspect that, these days, the houses go for a pretty price and that the estate is solidly middle class, but I'll need to investigate that history another time.

To my disappointment, the wonderful collection of embroideries was not on display, although I enjoyed seeing some Pre-Raphaelite paintings and sculptures. In the grounds, we encountered a strange modern sculpture, like an animal which resembled a sheep with a kangaroo's tail, painted all in sky blue, with white clouds dotted across its surface. It reminded me a little of Jeff Koon's Balloon Dog, which we saw in Venice on the Grand Union Canal two years ago. Inside the Museum Shop, I bought a book of the collection which included pictures of some embroideries, and as I queued to pay, noticed a booklet about the Superlambananas (for so these creatures are called) and added it to my shopping basket. As we were leaving I noticed a companion creature in different colours, across the road outside the Heritage Centre.

On the journey into Liverpool, I began to notice more of these creatures. We managed to park close to Albert Dock, and on our way in (outside the entrance to the Beatles Story) came to face to face with this:-



I have since discovered that the original Superlambanana was 17ft high, and created by Taro Chiezo as a protest or comment about genetic engineering. I think he was very generous to allow his idea to be translated into 2 metre high canvases for artists to decorate and they certainly inject colour and fun into the city landscape and engage people of many ages in this art-form. The variety is wonderful. It is even possible to buy your own Superlambanana to decorate or enjoy as is!

Last Friday, we had a mini outing to the City of Bath, and as we drove in, a sense of deja vu came over me. Small, colourful and decorated creatures appeared on pavements and in the playground at Victoria Park. We arrived in the city centre and soon made a closer acquaintance with one of these sculptures, and learned that, in Bath, they are not Superlambananas but King Bladud's Pigs.

Again, this was a community art project. Pigs were sponsored by local people (including Jamie Cullum) and businesses (the one above was sponsored by Wessex Water) and then decorated by artists (including Kaffe Fassett, Candace Bahouth and Brandon Mably).

Sometimes the sponsors had a say in the decoration of the pig,

(this one was sponsored by Norland Nannies)

while others left it to the artists to choose how to colour and embellish the pig-canvas.

I like this Roman Pig with attitude - his name is Pignacius!

Again, it is possible to purchase your own pig to decorate and enliven your house or garden. I am quite tempted - I'd like one of each, really. There are also little ones for sale - piglets, I suppose.

Why pigs? Well, legend has it that King Bladud developed an unsightly disease of his skin (probably leprosy) and was cast out of court and the city and left to live his life in isolation as a swineherd. Unfortunately, the pigs developed the same disorder and were very uncomfortable. They found ease in bathing in mud and in water. They came across one particular spring and, when they bathed there, their skin healed. Bladud observed this and copied their example and was cured. He was able to return to his city, and the people made him king again. Thus Bath's reputation for healing waters was assured and many people have since followed the example of King Bladud in taking the waters there.

Following the Links tab on the King Bladud's Pigs site will introduce you to other, similar community art projects - including cows - now in eight cities(!), Elephants in Norwich and Bears in Berlin.

At the end of their exhibitions, in the autumn, the Superlambananas and Pigs of Bath will be auctioned off to raise funds for local projects.

Meanwhile, they've certainly brightened up a very dismal summer.

The Definitive Answer to the Case of the Missing Bridge

Still puzzling over the bridge enigma, I decided to try asking the Bath Tourist Information Centre. I received a very prompt and helpful response from Kirsti who works there. She told me that the Pulteney Bridge and the Ponte Vecchio Bridges are the only two bridges that are originally designed to have shops on them: the Rialto Bridge was not originally designed to have shops on it.

She goes on to say, "However I have located the following site which does refer to the four Bridges you mentioned on your email, please see attached link:
http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/georgian/pulteney-bridge.htm

Here it mentions that the fourth bridge is located in Erfurt Germany ; http://www.kraemerbruecke.de/index_eng.html
Please refer to the following site for an picture; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kr%C3%A4merbr%C3%BCcke

I hope this is useful for you."

Well, indeed it is, it has certainly helped assuage my curiosity.

The Missing Bridge Mystery: an Answer?

When I posted about the missing bridge mystery here, I so hoped someone would come up with some ideas. I've been thinking about this puzzle and discussing it with family and friends, and realised I had come up with one solution to the problem.

So, by the bridge there is a sign, which says that the Pulteney Bridge is one of only four bridges in the world that has shops along both sides of their full span. As I said before, I know that this is the case for both the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and the Rialto Bridge in Venice, both in Italy. So, where is the fourth bridge? Well, perhaps this is it? (Clue - it works better spoken than written.)

I came across another riddle during this research: What will they do if the Forth Bridge collapses? The answer can be found here, towards the end of the page. Or perhaps that, too, has already been done?

So, have I found the answer to the mystery or just the riddle? Is it an April Fool? Or is there indeed still another bridge to identify? I'd love to know.

Help Needed: The Case of the Missing Bridge

Dear Blogging Friends and Cyberpals,
Please can you help me with a problem of curiosity? If you are a regulsr reader, you will know that we visited Bath on Sunday. On Pulteney Bridge is a sign which announces that it is one of four bridges in the world with shops across the full span on both sides. This tickled my interest. I know that another two are the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, and the Rialto Bridge in Venice Italy. Googling comes up with numerous reiterations of the "one of four" statement but none mentions which is the fourth. I wondered if it might be the Kremerbruecke in Erfurt, Germany, but that seems to have been lined with houses rather than shops, I think. London Bridge across the Thames, in a previous incarnation, had houses and shops across it, but those and that bridge are long gone. So which is this mysterious fourth bridge? Wikipaedia on the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge)says that shops on bridges was once common, so this suggests the fourth bridge either still exists or did when that notice was written. This site says the Pulteney Bridge is one of only two in Europe, which is patently mistaken. The evidence sort of suggests the fourth bridge is not in Europe. So where in the world is it? Please tell me if you know..... No prizes except the title of The Magic Armchair Traveller's Bridge Guru, and my gratitude!

Bathed in Sunshine and Showers

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, was the occasion of a family outing to Bath. I'm still feeling really rough as the result of yet another flu-like virus, but I've been getting a little stir-crazy as the result of being so housebound, so I was determined to go. The weather looked threatening as we left the house, but mellowed into a fairly sunny, if bitterly cold, day.

We don't live so far from Bath as the crow flies, but it always seems to take forever to get there, due to the meanderings of the roads. It is, however, a pretty route, past the Blagdon and Chew Valley Lakes along the side of the Mendip Hills, through pretty little villages with duck ponds and beautiful parish churches, then cutting down to the lakeside near Chew Magna, where many waterfowl can be seen, before twisting uphill again through farmland and woodland. At this time of year, you can enjoy the structure of things, before leaf break. Down the road from us there is an orchard whose apple trees are so full of mistletoe that they appear to be already in leaf. Further on, a field of llamas is dissonant with the rural Englishness of it all. Fields of red earth, punctuated by stitch-like straw stubble fail to camouflage the colours of the pheasant and his mate, hunting for food. Mounds of primroses bloom below the naked roadside hedgerows, newly pruned and laid. In other places, daffodils and narcissi have naturalised in clumps along the grassy banks. Hillside fields are divided by lines of bare hedging, again ressembling stitching,this time untidy wheatsheaf clusters or long-legged cross. Because there has been so much rain recently, large puddles lie across the entrances to fields, attracting the attention of passing ducks. My favourite roadside tree has lost a large ivy-clad branch in the recent storms.

Not my favourite tree mentioned above, but a splendid Silver Birch by our parking place 

Our first objective in Bath took us along the south bank of the River Avon, through the old industrial part of the city, alongside the railway line, before we cut inwards to find parking between the Holburne Museum and Pulteney Bridge - as I have a blue badge which allows concessions for parking due to my mobility problems (otherwise we would have used the Park and Ride). As it was Easter Sunday, the shops were mostly shut, removing their usual tempotation to browse. We crossed the bridge and the road and entered the Victoria Art Gallery, where the final week of The Blue and White Show was commencing. This exhibition features work by Candace Bahouth (two different links) , Kaffe Fassett (again two links) and Carole Waller (again x2), inspired by the beautiful blue and white china collection of Tom Hickman's family. This was also displayed, in a magnificent, vast Georgian-style dresser. There are many fascinating pieces of work in this exhibition, by all three artists. I had not seen Carole Waller's work before and was fascinated, partially for her interesting palette of moody blues with other colours, and her use of fabrics, with fascinating glazing potential as well as clothing with delicate touches of embellishment.

Candace Bahouth's work was primarily mosaic, although there were also framed assemblages of articles linked by colour but which intrigued by hinting at other connections. There were mirrors of china mosaic with shells, beautiful little shrines of ceramic and mirror shards, a wonderful mirror mosaic egg, shoes, a bench, a table, an obelisk and an urn on a plinth as well as a portrait panel. Candace Bahouth was present, in fact, and we exchanged a few words with her and another visitor about cigarette cards, which she had included in assemblages.

Kaffe Fassett's work encompassed the range of his published creativity: patchwork, knitting, painting, ceramic decoration, and needlepoint, and he had certainly not limited himself to the blue and white, although there was a lovely blue and white Lady in the Lake quilt, another Round the World Quilt used as a table cover underneath his painted china pieces (blue on cream). There was also a blue beanie hat, which I think was crocheted, covered quite closely by vintage, mainly white buttons of different designs.

The display of blue and white china was almost overwhelming in its quantity and, indeed, the whole exhibition was so full of pieces that it was quite hard to see individual items. However, it was a joyful display of the pleasures of the Blue and White, and how different artists can run with a theme and take it in many different directions.

I was very good, and only bought some postcards of the show: I could easily have succumbed to temptation provided by books, fabrics, scarves and other delights, but I didn't. It did reinforce my love of blue and white china.

We left the exhibition and felt rather hungry, so went round the corner to take a light lunch at Garfunkel's before gazing at the weir below the Pulteney Bridge on the way back to the car. We were amused to see a couple of ducks descending from the upper to the lower level by way of (what else?) duck boards placed over a series of steps beside the weir. The water was rushing over the edge of the weir and it was fascinating to just stand and stare, but the bitter wind soon got us moving again.




I liked the frieze of waves on this sandstone building just off the bridge.

So back at the car, we set off for our second destination, Prior Park (I'm being so generous with links today!), as my son has had the ambition to return there for an Easter Egg Hunt for years. The three children (no longer, in the case of one or two) did the whole circuit around the valley to do the egg trail, while we oldies pottered in the relatively flat upper level before retiring to the warmth of the car and the Sunday paper for company (once again, disabled parking saved the day). It was interesting to see how the restoration of the garden is progressing, and I'd love to return later in the year when hopefully I will feel fitter and more mobile so I can do the whole trail, which is gorgeous. There were swift showers of rain and sleet while we were there, interspersed by sunny spells.





Eventually our chilly children returned triumphant, quiz completed and easter egg won, and we could drive back through the gorgeous countryside for home. Last evening I was exhausted and so I am today, with terrible pains in my joints and muscles; but a small price to pay for the joy of such an enjoyable outing.