Delighted that the team at Bean and Brew, a lovely café here in Wallingford, have given me wall space to display - and hopefully sell - various photographic prints. I’ve a prime wall too, right at the entrance. I have to say that the prints look wonderful framed. Another local business, Oxfordshire Prints , have done a fine job in framing them.
I have been working towards a panel for the RPS over the last few months, with the intention of applying for a Fellowship distinction. Like many, I imagine, having ones work subjected to the highest level of photographic scrutiny is daunting. For me, social media comments also raised doubts and a crises of confidence that led me to put off taking the project further for several months.
Today, however, I had a most instructive zoom video meeting with one of the RPS assessors, Paul Mitchell. His critical comments on the panel below were enlightening, instructive and very positive. He reinforced my issues with some of the images, raised ‘concerns’ with some others but overall was entirely positive and supportive of the concept and execution.
One area to address is ensuring that the food used is recognisable. So the fish fingers need to look like day-glow, square fish fingers and the gammon should look like a typical cheap round of gammon and not the artisanal, rare breeds slice I used.
This was the second panel I have presented for appraisal. Last year a visit to RPS HQ in Bristol with a panel made up of wine door images left me feeling a bit lost. I put this down to trying to adapt an existing body of work to the RPS criteria and it just didn’t fit. At least to me.
The washing line project was designed purposely for the RPS. And it works. Well, according to Paul at least.
Overall I left the session feeling inspired, creative and positive. There are 5 images that need replacing (one of which I already have) and interestingly not all the ones I felt were weak. Three images also need looking at again, where either the processing is off or the subject isn’t immediately obvious. The next couple of weeks are going to be busy.
I can’t claim any credit for inventing this marvellous idea; that’s down to the highly talented photographer and fellow MA graduate Megan…
The concept is simple, using a small collection of images, you create a mini public gallery. The name of your gallery, the space you choose, is determined by the location as provided by the whatthreewords app. This app overlays the world in a grid and assigns three words to that space for a unique identifier.
I selected the wall at the back of my parking space - Broadens.Rang.Melts Anywhere would do that is accessible by the public. I’ve used a converted red phone box in the past as an exhibition space, that would be perfect for example. Megan, I understand, is using the large gates at the entrance to her house.
The social media tag to use is #whatthreewordsgalleries On Instagram the page to follow is @whatthreewordsgalleries.
What images to display? Anything! Megan sent me over some sheets of paper for creating some cyanotypes, which I was going to use. I thought it might be fun to create some from images taken from the Broadens.Rang.Melts square, print out a negative on acetate and use that to create the cyanotypes. But the results are not consistent and now my printer refuses to accept the acetate sheets to produce more; even though it happily printed off five yesterday morning.
So plan B is a display selected from the washing line project images. It is now up and viewable… not sure how they will fair in the rain mind, but easily replaced…
As the virus restrictions are slowly being lifted now is the time to put some art on display for free. I do hope people will join in as I think it is a grand idea.
broadens.ring.melts
A lovely note from the organisers of the Wine Doors Exhibition in Florence, that ended last weekend.
the other day I dismantled the photographic exhibition at the Pergola.Since last November 9, the day of the inauguration, thousands of people have passed during the shows and guided visits to the theater, and many have stopped to look at the beautiful photographs of Andrew and Robbin.
The people at the bar counter told me that the comments were very positive, many people complimented them, many signed and left a sentence on the guest book. Here is what I found on the last page:
"Niches, flashes of light, colours of time, sensations ... Sometimes the detail eludes us, sometimes the essential, fortunately there are those who manage to capture emotions."These are words addressed to the two photographers, whom I thank for their availability and skill.
This initiative has certainly made known the wine holes to many people, showing them in a particular light: for the association, a good result.
Greetings to everyone
Mightily delighted that my Seascape Triptych was selected for inclusion in the Libertalia Exhibition about to open in the Hive Gallery, Blackpool.
The three images, taken in Blackpool during a brief respite from a nasty storm, form part of the Impressions of Place series that I am currently working on and experimenting with.
Libertalia has a private view on Friday 13th December 2019 (5-7pm) with the exhibition running from the 15th January until the 15th February 2020. (Closed for Christmas and New Year). Opening times are 11-5pm Thursday to Saturday.
Seascape Triptych © Andrew Barrow 2019
Preparations for the Libertalia Exhbition, Hive Gallery, Blackpool
"The exhibition tells the hidden story of our pirate ancestors who guarded people’s liberties. They are said to have founded ‘Libertalia’ 300 years ago with pirate gold, to create a place where people could be equal and masters of their own destiny. Some believe Ingela Gathenhielm was its mastermind. Known as the pirate queen, she led a global pirate empire from her Pirate House in Gothenburg.
The exhibition transports her pirate house to Blackpool, filling it with images, sounds and symbols that resonate with Ingela and what she stood for. It invites the Gathenhielm pirates back to help us imagine what Blackpool would look if it were ‘Libertalia’ today, asking audiences to contribute to a ‘Libertalia’ manifesto for Blackpool and raise the ‘Libertalia’ flag.
Conceived by UK & Swedish artist-pirate’s Alexis K Johnson and Isabel Lagos, the exhibition is co-curated by Arrested Re-Development’s Dawn Mander, Libby Nightingale and Kate Yates. Featuring the work of artists from Gothenburg, Blackpool, Liverpool and South America including John Mark Allen, Jorge Alcaide, Andrew Barrow, Dylan Cross, Jacquie Cross, Norma Foulds, Piet Geboers, Mark Hetherington, Simon Job, George Johnson, Mathew Jones, Beata Kuczynska, Teto Lagos, Lisa McQueenie, Olivia Du Monceau, Jess Monger, Gareth Monger, Andrea Norrington, Richard Oughton, Juan Carlos Poblete, Anna Radovich, Monica Ravliuc, Jackie Sarafopolis, Peter Jamieson Sinclair, Ruta Staseviciute, Douglas Stewart, Kieran Thresh, Tracey Vallance, Danielle Waine and Elizabeth Ward. With performances by Sean Brown, Laura Colville, Baz Garrod, Linda Hampton, Tom Wright, and local residents.
Follow ‘Libertalia’ on Facebook and Twitter @TheLibertalia"
No time during the busy opening event to take any photos - thanks though to all that came, and to those that ordered prints. For those that couldnt attend (the exhibition runs until January 2020) below a selection of the hall before the arrival of everyone. The exhibition is at the Caffè Guido Guidi at the Teatro della Pergola, Florence.
The Florence Wine Doors project and the exhibition received a grand write-up in the latest edition of the RPS Travel Group journal. The double page spread is displayed below for those not a member.
A selection of the Wine Door photographs will be on display in Florence, Italy will open on the 9th November 2019 in the Caffè Guido Guidi at the Teatro della Pergola, Florence at 17:30. The exhibition runs until 10 January 2020.
With many thanks to Jo for supplying these images, (and also for getting this show organised to begin with), from the Falmouth Uni Deepwater 2019 Graduate show… not just my image on show but an array from my highly talented peers too…
Very excited to be showing more of the Wine Doors of Florence project in two locations in London - the Wine Place wine bars in Covent Garden and Kensington. This is a collaborative display with Robbin Gheesling, a researcher into the provenance and history of these little historical remnants.
Set up for this long running display was yesterday… the white painted brick walls are the Covent Garden branch.
Rather thrilled that one of my Wine Door images is to be displayed at the Deepwater Graduate Show. This is the first Falmouth Flexible MA Photography Grad show dedicated to the 2018 and 2019 Graduates, of which I fall into the latter group.
The show is to be held in theprintspace Gallery, 74 Kingsland Road, London from the 21st June through to the 2nd July 2019.
As part of the Oxfordshire Art Weeks series the Cornerstone Gallery in Didcot selected this autumnal tree photograph to form part of their Woodland exhibition. The exhibition runs until June 2019.
The framed photo is available to purchase at the exhibition.
Autumnal Woodland © Andrew Barrow 2018
Having just completed the two year Falmouth Photography MA, thoughts turn to the graduate show this coming June - DeepWater2019. This is the image from the Wine Doors Project I will be exhibiting (we dont have a huge amount of space).
The image, Wine Door Via del Corno, is available from PicFair for a very reasonable price!
Wine Door Val del Corno © Andrew Barrow 2018
Many thanks to those you visited my little pop-up exhibition in St. Peter’s Church, Wallingford.
For those who didn’t make it to the exhibition the images that were displayed are shown here. Plus those that were available as a free postcard. Prints are available to order from PicFair.
The final preparations are completed for the exhibition. Easels are ‘rustically’ painted, all the prints are mounted on card and the big two (the anchor/statement) photos have arrived. Wine will be served from 6PM on the Saturday… some interview slots for the Saturday morning, private showing, are still available.