'When God hammered Crow, he made gold'

This week I have been recalling the most memorable interview I have ever conducted, with an artist-goldsmith of great talent, skill, imagination and intellect.

It was around three years ago that I travelled to London to meet Kevin Coates at his home, and I was instantly mesmerised by our conversation, which covered everything from life experience and development of ideas, to architecture, music, mathematics and myth.

It is undoubtedly his wide knowledge and deep thought that allow him to conceive such original ideas for jewels and centrepieces - with impeccable attention to detail and skill applied to their creation.

This does of course mean that it is a long and tiring process to create a full exhibition of objects (see below video for an insight), but I'm sure Kevin would agree that every hour is an hour well spent.

I visited the most recent exhibition, 'A Bestiary of Jewels', at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, UK, in March last year. Billed as a "poetic elaboration of the bizarre medieval encyclopaedias known as Bestiaries, which assemble lore and myth about animals", it was composed of twenty-one jewels pairing a series of creatures with a human counterpart, which Kevin himself chose based on mythical, allegorical, symbolic and historical associations. Each one was displayed in its own 'book-page' mount.

Among the pieces are A Hedgehog for Brahms, A Barbary Ape for Rose Macaulay, A Cat for Montaigne, A Salamander for Cellini, A Snake for Casati and A (second) Rabbit for Fibonacci. But of course I just had to select A Crow for Ted Hughes as the illustration for this blog post!

In this brooch, a mystical purple crow made from sulphided silver with labradorite beak wraps itself around a large diopside, with its piercing opal eye fixed on the viewer. It represents Ted Hughes, a renowned poet whom Kevin met some time before his death in 1998, and takes its inspiration specifically from Hughes's poem, Crow's Song of Himself.

When God hammered Crow

He made gold

When God roasted Crow in the sun

He made diamond

...

When God said: 'You win, Crow,'

He made the Redeemer.

Captivation at its most captivating.

With thanks to Kevin Coates and Nel Romano for permission to reproduce the image, for their friendship and for the inspiration they have given me.

The universe heralds spring

Solar eclipse, supermoon and spring equinox blessings to all!

The close encounter between sun and moon is completely obliterated by cloud in the skies above me unfortunately - as is often the way with these things - but I hope elsewhere the full spectacle can be enjoyed. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of it later!

Featured painting: Secret Garden by Amanda Clark - Earth Angels Art

Mind, Body & Spirit Fair draws closer!

Just a quick heads up that this Saturday the 25th East Anglian Mind, Body & Spirit Fair comes to the Forum in Norwich, UK.

With free admission, it promises to be a magical, informative and therapeutic affair, with tarot readings, therapists, arts and crafts - lots to look forward to!

The event is co-hosted by Inanna's Magical Gifts - one of my most favourite and regular haunts in the city, which will likely crop up from time to time in this blog! Do visit if you are in the area; you'll see a link to the shop's Facebook page at the side of my blog homepage.

A tale of two artists

Though much marginalised throughout history, and still to some extent today in galleries, many women artists have made a huge impact on the art world, society and our imaginations - and their stories and creations never fail to inspire. This weekend, two in particular have occupied my time...

First was Eloise Harriet Stannard, whose work I discovered for the first time at a morning art history lecture. A member of a family well known for its artistic output, Eloise was one of three trailblazing yet little-known female members.

The daughter of Alfred Stannard, who was a renowned landscape painter and prominent member of the Norwich Society of Artists along with his brother Joseph Stannard, her artistic talents were recognised and nurtured throughout her life by her father and her fellow female artist relations: aunt Emily, cousin Emily and sister-in-law Anna Maria.

Eloise (pictured right) followed in her aunt's footsteps focusing on still life, a subject that was generally regarded as 'acceptable' for women, but she was by no means taking the easy way out. She likely understood very well that progress could only be made by adhering to certain basic social 'rules', as indeed her aunt had understood before her.

Taking inspiration from her pioneering relation, she pushed the boundaries of the social sphere by including glimpses of landscapes in the periphery of her flower and fruit studies (an example pictured above); adding birds and insects to the composition (somewhat less risque than her aunt and sister-in-law's series of paintings of dead game); and working with an acute understanding of audience and market for her work through her range of subject matter and ability to reproduce certain pieces that proved popular.

Unfortunately, Eloise's work fell from fashion towards the end of her life, as abstraction and impressionism grew in popularity; she accepted progress, but simultaneously mourned the changing times, especially the arrival of photography, which now captured the realism that was at the heart of her painting style. But she continued working until her death in 1915, aged 86. Poignantly, her last commission was to restore a piece she had created in her younger life.

 

* * * * *

The second artist was Remedios Varo, whose work I viewed a few years ago at an exhibition celebrating three female surrealist artists, the other two being British painter Leonora Carrington and Hungarian photographer Kati Horna. The three ladies met and became friends in Mexico City in 1943, having fled from World War Two persecution.

Remedios's fascinating paintings invite the viewer to enter a mesmerising yet terrifying world of magic, androgenous characters, fantastical beings and strange buildings set in dark and atmospheric environments. Some, especially the later paintings, are widely believed to communicate feminist messages.

Though she was firmly part of the surrealist circle of the time, Remedios was nonetheless working within the confines of a movement and culture that did not credit women with the same level of artistic ability as men. Indeed, the characters in her paintings are frequently seen in enclosed, claustrophic spaces.

Her work has sparked the imaginations of millions of viewers during and after her lifetime - as have her talent and achievements. I'm certainly a huge fan, and thanks to several hours of framing, I now have prints of six of my favourite paintings ready to go up on the wall!

Remedios Varo images: Eisabeth Skene and Mary Holman on Flickr

The church, the crow and the curious coincidence

Just as spring turned to summer last year, a little crow was lost among the ruins of a 13th century church.

I called him Elidor, after the boy in a fairy story I had recently heard in Wales, but then later realised I had misremembered the name - it should have been 'Elidorus'. Having investigated the name I had accidentally chosen, I discovered it was the title of a fantasy novel by Alan Garner in which four children are led to a ruined church and find themselves transported to the mysterious world of Elidor.

A curious coincidence...

Elidor unfortunately did not survive his fall, but I had the honour of nursing him for a brief time. And now he is the inspiration behind this blog - there he is, in the page header!

The journey begins...

Welcome, travellers! I hope this will be a place of esoteric mystery, inspiration and enchantment for those who happen to stumble upon it, full of natural wonders, atmospheric places, magical moments, creative craftsmanship and intriguing stories and myths that capture my (and, I hope, your) imagination...