My Walk this Week – A Day in Northampton

Posted on 14/05/201816/05/2018 by Alastair

My walk this week is from a day trip we had to Northampton a few weeks ago. We were there for the opening of an exhibition in which my daughter (Hannah Duncan Creations) had be invited to take part – Enamel Today by the British Society of Enamellers. The exhibition is at 78 Derngate, the only Charles Rennie Mackintosh house in England.

Apart from the obvious interest I have in my daughter’s work I also had an interest in the Northampton architecture, and not just the Rennie mackintosh house.Continue reading→

My Walk this Week – Art and Design in Leeds

Posted on 23/04/201823/04/2018 by Alastair

My walk this week in Leeds is my vehicle for showcasing my daughter’s work as a jewellery artist – Hannah Duncan Creations. I say “artist” because the work she designs is her means of expression, but she is a great craftsperson as well. The collection she delivered recently to the Craft Centre and Design Gallery includes work based on the rocky coastlines of Britain and in some pieces the very sand from the beaches forms a part of the work.

The image below is an example of Hannah’s work and if you would like to see more please visit her website at Hannah Duncan Creations.

Hannah Duncan Creations

Our recent travels to York (see last weeks walk posts) allowed us to help Hannah out and visit Leeds on our way home. The day was beautifully sunny and our walk to the City Art Gallery and the Design Centre below it was brightContinue reading→

The Nuts, Bolts and Perspective of Architecture

Posted on 11/04/201807/04/2018 by Alastair

On my walk this week around an area of the Bristol cityscape next to Temple Meads railway station, I was attracted by the patterns and perspectives, and the nuts and bolts of the architecture and construction along the riverside.

A passing walker said he liked the view up the river from under a nearby bridge so I made a point of heading that way. Underneath I found I liked the view of the bridge as much as from it, enjoying the rows and patterns in perspective of nuts and bolts and rivets as well as the dark heavy weight of the structure. The design and engineering of structures like this and all the architecture around me was remarkable. The arrangement of the buildings is also remarkable and looking at them from different angles creates a new jigsaw of shapes with every turn of the head.

arrangement of shapes

architectural perspective

Looking out from under

Constructed and construction

Riverside cityscape

nuts and bolts

nuts and bolds perspective

My Walk this Week – City Sunshine

Posted on 09/04/201807/04/2018 by Alastair

My walk this week is around a small central area of city of Bristol next to Temple Meads railway station. I had been for an interview with the Theo Moorman Charitable Trust for an award of funding towards developing new work in my tapestry weaving – the application was successful I am pleased to say.

It was a sunny day and my next appointment for the day was later in the day in Newport where I ended up with another short walk – see last week’s posts. So I took the opportunity to have a little explore of theContinue reading→

Urban Walk – Second Side of the Triangle

Posted on 28/03/201824/03/2018 by Alastair

Looking at some of the patterns and features on my triangular urban walk this week, the second side of the triangle provided me with a number of everyday aspects of the city with, to me, points of visual interest. The angles and perspectives of architectural features, when looked at on their own and viewed without the context of the wider urban environment, become simply lines, shapes and patterns and can be seen as works of abstract art.

Those lines and shapes are reflected in the design of murals on the walls of the Elysium artists’ studios but opposite this is an apparent anomaly – Continue reading→

My Walk this Week – Architecture of An Urban Triangle

Posted on 26/03/201824/03/2018 by Alastair

My walk this week takes a look at and listen to a small urban triangle in Swansea, South Wales. I had been looked at the patterns of tower block scaffolding on a number of occasions in passing and thought it would be good to find the opportunity to take a closer look. So, duly prepared with my kit on a dry day I set out to explore both the scaffolding and other features of a small area that includes both the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and on the opposite side of the road, UWTSD Swansea College of Art.

There are three different eras of architectural design in this first stage (or side of the triangle) of my walk – the classical style of the Glynn Vivian and the College of Art, the more functional style of the early ’70s in the Oldway House tower block and the mixture of block and glass in the new entrance to the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.Continue reading→

Still Travelling but Walking in Circles

Posted on 21/02/201819/02/2018 by Alastair

Still in York on my walk this week I found myself getting lost! I wasn’t actually lost in that I knew where I was, but I could not find the place I was looking for. I was full of a rotten cold and blame this for being unable to read the sat nav map I tried using on my phone to navigate on my walk to the required shop. I started out from the car park at Clifford’s Tower and passed by St. Mary’s church but then ended up going round and round in circles in the intricate layout of small central streets and passages.

I did a better job of finding my way to meet my niece and walk with her back to my parents’ house. While waiting I found the these gates of interest Continue reading→

My Walk this Week – Travelling in Time

Posted on 19/02/201816/02/2018 by Alastair

My walk this week is a little bit abstract in walking terms. There was some actual walking involved but I will get to that later in the week. Today I want to walk back in time first of all to 1915 and then 1942 and 1963.

by Alastair Duncan 1942

In York recently I added a few items to my growing archive of images of my family. My intention is to digitise them over time but there is a huge collection going back many years.

Below are two photos of my Grandfather (known as Tiger) – one from each end of his life. It can be seen that in 1915 he was a soldier and in 1963 he was an artist. The next photo is of my namesake, Alastair, who died of septicaemia in 1942 – from the art and design work he had done that year at school, it can be seen that there was the potential for him also to go into the arts.