Long in the Tooth – The Art of Dental Decay at Kunsthuis

During my walk this week around Kunsthuis Gallery and Gardens I came upon one or two unusual pieces of sculpture. With the children’s play garden in the background this artwork, which appears to me to be an extracted molar, might scare off any children with a fear of the dentist – not an uncommon phobia! The decay on this dental presentation is quite natural but relates very well to the growth and erosion that can take place on uncared for teeth. However, it was a little unexpected in this beautiful garden setting. The comb-like sharp pointed teeth of the thistles are in better condition even though it is the end of the season and they completing their cycle for the year.

Tooth art

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Willow Wall

Returning from the wildflower garden to the children garden on my walk this week at Kunsthuis Gallery I explored one of its features. The willow tunnel entrance to this natural / man-made “dwelling” was too enticing not to do so. Bending down to child height I entered the dome shaped structure and enjoyed the changed and semi-secretive space with its growing willow walls and willow roof creating patterns and textures as it changed the sunlight from above.

willow wall

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

My Walk this Week – Kunsthuis

I have been off the grid, so to speak, for a couple of weeks while away on holiday in Scotland but our journey there took in a couple of other destinations in the North East of England. We delivered some of Julie’s work (Julie Brunskill – Ceramics) to the Kunsthuis Gallery in Crayke just north of York and discovered at the same time that Kunsthuis also has a nice cafe and gardens to explore. So my walk this week is a short tour around the place. I’m afraid there are no sound clips with this walk so you will have to imagine the north eastern English countryside sounds.

Follow my posts through the week to see some of the plants, structures and art work in the Kunsthuis Gallery Gardens.

Kunsthuis Gallery

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Stones in Circles and the Textures of Grass

These stones arranged in circles at Three Cliffs Bay on South Gower have been there as long as I can remember (which is not necessarily all that long!), but I don’t think they go back to neolithic times. People’s footsteps have worn the ground down over time as they walk around the pattern and if it is a construction of modern times, then it is perhaps remarkable that it has remained without damage or rearrangement for so long. Is this a sign of our respect for our ancient past, even though it may be an installation of modern times, or do we just like and respond to the pattern and texture of the arrangement.

And thinking of textures and patterns, I was taken with the grasses growing alongside Pennard Pill as it twists down the valley to the bay. The subtly changing flow of the grasses in the wind, their hues of blues, yellows and greens and the dots of white and buff grass seeds and flowers remind me of the circles of stones, at least when viewed in monochrome.

stone circles

Stones in Circles

Those changing textures and patterns can also be perceived in sound. The clip below presents the susurrus (there’s that word again) of my footsteps, firstly in soft sand and then through flickering, tickering grasses as my feet brush through them on my way to catch up with the other walkers.

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Perspectives Viewpoints and Angles

As I proceeded further along the beach towards Port Talbot on my walk this week, I became more and more excited by the patterns I was seeing. I kept walking backwards and forwards and around in circles to view the patterns of ridges and ripples in the sand from different angles, enjoying them from different viewpoints and finding new perspectives. As I said earlier in the week, I may be becoming obsessed with sand as a natural art form.

Sand Patterns

Sand Patterns

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Sculpted by the Flow

I was surprised to find such distinct sculpting of the sand by the flow of the ebb tide on my walk this week along the beach at Crymlyn Burrows in Swansea Bay. The sand banks were noticeable on the beach but even so, the flow of water that created these deep ridges must have been fast. Perhaps there was some other environmental influence of which I was not aware.

sand patterns

Sculpted by the Flow

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

The first shot in the sequence below is a particularly interesting mix of flowing sand and flowing water patterns. I guess the sand on the upper edge of the sand bank started flowing with the water it held after the sea had subsided to a level to allow this – fascinating nature yet again!

Patterns of Natural Sand Art

The wind on my walk this week on the beach at Colwyn Bay had been going to town (so to speak and literally!) when it comes to creating patterns. Not just the wind of course – its take the combination of wind and sea to create these particular patterns. In the first image they appear to have been brushing each others hair while in the second there has been more apparent friction with the sand ripples developing a multitude of blisters

Rivers of Sand

Sand Hair

Sand and Tide

Sand Blisters

Eating and Art

One of the places I wanted to check out on my walk around Corris was Stiwdio Maelor. It was closed when I was there but works of art were in the windows and as there is a long list of artists in residence for 2016 on the website, the artists may simply have been out and about in the mountain landscape. You can find out about the residency scheme for artists on the website and I am sure that any artists reading this that don’t already know of Stiwdio Maelor will be very tempted by it.

Whether artist or not, just round the corner from the gallery/studio is the local tavern to tafarn in Welsh. Imm sorry to say that it being first thing in the morning, I was not able to try it out but I heard good things from the owner of the hostel up the road.

Stiwdio Maelor - Liz Doyle

Stiwdio Maelor – Liz Doyle

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.