HELLO CULTURE LOVERS AND FOLLOWERS
I AM JUST GONNA PRETEND IT IS NOT THE 8th JUNE …. OK, I AM 8 DAYS LATE TO PUBLISH MY HULL CULTURE STORIES.
GOOD NEWS IS – I HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLY BUSY PHOTOGRAPHING AWESOME THINGS. MY PHOTOGRAPHERS LIFE IS AS MANIC AS I WANT IT TO BE, LOVE THOSE “OFFICE” DAYS WHEN MY “DESK” IS NEAR SEASIDE OR WITH INSPIRING MUMS IN HULL, OR WITH AMAZING PEOPLE FROM ESKIMOSOUP DRIVING AROUND EAST YORKSHIRE.. LOVE ALL THAT.
OK, CULTURE BUSINESS. MAY WAS LIVELY, ESPECIALLY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH WHEN MOST OF MY CONTENT WAS CREATED.
FERENS ART GALLERY – MASTERPIECES IN FOCUS FROM THE ROYAL COLLECTION
20% INSPIRED BY INSTAGRAM FAVOURITE STEFAN DRASCHAN
P.S. I USED TO DO THAT A LITTLE BIT ANYWAYS, BUT NOW THAT IS AN OFFICIAL FOCUS POINT.
FERENS ART GALLERY CLANGERS, BAGBUSS&CO
THIS WAS AN EXHIBITION OF CONFUSION ALTHOUGH LOVELY CONTENT. I HAVE NO SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT TO “Bagpuss, see the Soup Dragon and behold Noggin the Nog. Oliver Postgate’s voice and Peter Firmin’s puppets shaped the childhood memories of millions since they started collaborating in the 1950s. As well as telling the story of Bagpuss and The Clangers, the exhibition goes behind the scenes of their other creations; Pogles Wood, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine.Discover original puppets, sets and filming equipment. See how characters developed, and learn how Oliver and Peter developed their stop-frame animation techniques alongside a selection of toys and puppets from Hull Museum’s permanent collection.”
SOURCE: HULL17 WEBSITE
BUT I SAW SOME LOVELY SMILES, FEEDBACK AND GENERAL SENTIMENT AROUND THE PUPPETS AND SETS.
REALLY IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHT OF MINE – HULL COLLEGE STRIKES WITH UCU HULL
FOR THOSE WHO KNOW ME WILL UNDERSTAND MY ANGER. MY CAREER STARTED THERE, HULL SCHOOL OF ART&DESIGN WERE PART OF MY JOURNEY IN BECOMING A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER AND BEING ABLE TO WORK AS ONE IS A LIFE CHANGING THING TO HAVE AS LEGACY OF EDUCATION. SO I WROTE TO EMMA HARDY, I WROTE TO HULL DAILY MAIL MY VIEWS ON JOB CUTS AND COURSE REMOVALS.
HERE IS A BIT OF THAT:
“I am taking the time to write because I feel incredibly let down by Hull College Chief Executive Michelle Swithenbank, who has announced plans to cut 231 jobs as part of a five year reconstruction plan to make the organisation financially self-sufficient.
Reconstruction implies that something is broken and needs to be made whole again. That is not my experience at HSAD at all. My course provided me with everything I needed: knowledgeable and experienced tutors, well equipped facilities and a varied curriculum that included studio photography, use of film cameras, printmaking, filmmaking and business skills. It was a life changing three years that gave me an opportunity to build important foundations that I needed in order to work as a photographer in the real world. I spent three years surrounded by experienced, clever and intelligent photographers and artists who made me believe that anything was possible. They pushed me to achieve my goals and challenged negative and small thinking, opening my eyes to what I could achieve.
I understand the need for the college to be financially solvent and am appalled to hear that college leaders have allowed a £10m deficit to be racked up and that an additional £1m plus deficit is forecast (as reported in the Hull Daily Mail, 8 May 2018). However I do not feel that full consideration has been given to alternative money saving or money making measures. Innovative ideas like broadcasting live tutorials in photography, film-making and computer game design would put Hull where it deserves to be – at the forefront of creative education. Opening up facilities to the public and local businesses would also generate additional income. Can Michelle Swithenbank really tell us that job cuts is the only way out of the mess?”
I ALSO DID MY PART AND WENT DOWN TO ONE OF THE STRIKES TO TAKE SOME PHOTOS.
THIS MIGHT NOT SEEM LIKE A VERY CULTURAL TOPIC, BUT IN FACT IT IS, BECAUSE HULL SCHOOL OF ART&DESIGN IS PART OF CREATING A NEW GENERATION OF ARTISTS.
IT WAS ALL A BIT DAUNTING, BUT THE SUN WAS OUT AND EVERYONE UNITED FOR ONE IDEA. AND THIS WILL BE THE CHANGING POINT FOR FUTURE, BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO CARE, WILL NEVER LET THINGS GO EASY. WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART.
CULTURE/ART AT QUEENS HOUSE SHOWCASE RUN BY CREATIVE ENRG ON TWO OCCASIONS:
ABOVE CHRISSY COLLINSON SITES UNSEEN
BELOW ILLUSTRATOR MIKE WARLEY AND HIS WONDERFUL CREATIONS.
I ALSO WENT DOWN TO THE HULL TAPESTRY AT THE GUILDHALL
IT WAS ON MY LIST FOR MONTHS AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. IN A NUTSHELL – FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE MAKING, THE HULL TAPESTRY ILLUSTRATES, IN COLOURFUL AND VARIED STITCH, THE HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CITY OF KINGSTON UPON HULL OVER PAST 700 YEARS. DEPICTING HULL’S DIVERSE HISTORY AND PIONEERING SPIRIT, THE HULL TAPESTRY GROUP HAS FASHIONED A BREATHTAKING MONTAGE OF HULL LIFE THROUGH THE AGES.
I ALSO HAD A STROLL THROUGH HULL ONE DAY WHEN THE SUN WAS OUT AND REVISITED THE SOLAR GATE ‘N QUEENS GARDENS.
FIRST TIME VISITED THE DAZZLING EVENTS FOOD AND ARTISAN MARKET AT THE LAWNS COTTINGHAM.
ON TOP OF THAT I TOOK PHOTO OF A NEW SCULPTURE ARRIVAL IN TOWN: RESEARCH STILL GOING ON WHAT THAT WAS, GOOGLE AT THE MOMENT IS NOT HELPING,SO IF ANYONE KNOWS – EDUCATE ME.
ALREADY MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY – I WILL BE ONE OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR THE ILLUMINATE PROJECT: LEGACY
WE HAD OUR FIRST MEETING LAST WEEK AND IT IS STILL EARLY DAYS. AS SIMILAR AS THE LEGACY SEARCH TOPICS ARE BETWEEN US, WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT PHOTOGRAPHERS AND WILL PRODUCE VERY INTERESTING PHOTOS. THAT’S THE PLAN. AS A START UP I AM LISTING AND REVISITING ARTISTS FROM 2017 THAT INSPIRED ME TO WRITE ABOUT THEM AND FIRST ONE WAS MARK WIGAN. HE KINDLY OFFERED ME TO GO BEHIND THE SCENES AT HIS WORKSHOP, BUT DUE TO WORK COMMITMENTS I WAS UNABLE TO JOINT, SO WORK IN PROGRESS.
SO THESE ARE SNAPS FROM HIS THE TRANSGLOBAL ART OF MARK WIGAN EXHIBITION, JUST AS I CONVINCED HIM TO BE PART OF MY SEARCH FOR CITY OF CULTURE 2017 LEGACY:
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
WAS TAKING PHOTOS OF INCREDIBLY TALENTED ILLUSTRATOR CALVIN INNES IN THE NEWEST BANKSIDE GALLERY.
I CAME ACROSS THE BEAUTY OF INDUSTRIAL ESTATE IN THE AREA. IT WAS A BIT OF A EMOTIONAL CONNECTION MOMENT AS I FOUND THE SITES AND SCENES DISTURBING AND BEAUTIFUL AT THE SAME TIME.
I AM OK NOW. I AM EXCITED FOR THE SUMMER AND EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS COMING UP REALLY MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE.
STILL RE BRANDING AND HOPELESSLY TRYING TO MULTITASK, BUT EXCITING TIMES AHEAD.
NEXT MONTH I’LL BE HALF HERE, HALF IN LATVIA, SO JUNE 2018 CONTENT STILL TO BE DISCUSSED.
HAPPY CULTURE PEOPLE.
ANETE SOODA PHOTO 