norman parkinson.

Beautiful feature in today's Guardian on the much under-shown Norman Parkinson - who served, as great fashion photographers often do, as both a documentarian and an image-maker of his time.

Stylish much? I'll say.

This latest exhibition, An Eye for Fashion, runs through April at the M Shed gallery in Bristol. 

Nice one Norman. You look like a fun guy. 

olivia plender.

Good news for the world of comics -  one of the first mainstream all-female illustrated graphic novel anthologies, Bayou Arcana, is set to launch in the not too distant future.

And while such "all-female" touted projects do so often ring out a touch patronizing, in an industry often known for marginalizing work done by lady-scribes it feels momentous when efforts are made to correct imbalances. So, unpleasant images of head-patting aside, it's certainly worth celebrating such steps in the right direction.

And in light of this news I felt it right to highlight the work of my most favorite new graphic storyteller, the macabre Ms. Olivia Plender. Her inclusion in last years Newspeak: British Art Now  was, for me, the true highlight of the show. Her featured work, The Masterpiece (with its title taken from an Emile Zola novel) was a feverish vignette, of full of pulp glamour and psychedelic excess rendered in moody pencil strokes. Oh and yes, it's all hand drawn.

Such captivating noir harkens back to an era when comics were self-consciously gratuitous and unabashedly sexy. So let les femmes reign supreme! They obviously seem to know what they're doing.

view The Masterpiece in full here.


all images © Olivia Plender 

milliner mistresses take over craft central.

 St John's Square was all a-twitter Tuesday evening with the launch of the Pop-Up Hat Shop currently occupying the eastern corner of the ancient priory courtyard. This event was the love-child of five up-and-coming designers who met through milliner Martina Bohn, whose hat block hire service provided a platform for such like minded ladies to meet and work. In an act of sartorial solidarity, the gang conspired to create their own space for showcasing and selling a collection of their latest toppers. And the results are so delightful that now I can't seem to stop alliterating.

The shop is based at Craft Central, a non-profit workshop/studio dedicated to supporting craft and design. Its breezy main gallery provides the perfect display for a lush spread of berets, bowlers, bonnets and caps; arranged in tall glass cases like trophies in a school gymnasium. All was seen-in in thoroughly good style, with champagne flutes and hearty gossip all 'round. Delicious work by some truly talented women.

Highlights include pieces by Thirzie Hull, whose vintage inspired berets make good use of taxidermy and other organic ingredients. Her combination of materials plucked, preened or skinned from the natural world with softer elements such as ribbon, lace, and gold leaf imbue her work with a lightness of touch and a heady dose of whimsy. Delightful, authentic, and full of romance.

 

YashkaThor's architectural woven bonnets are also a standout, crested waves of color in a sea of white-washed walls. Martina Bohn's own kitsch headgear is out in full force, and includes dignified looking caps with butterflies and scorpions glued askance. Not exactly an easy task to stick over-sized insects on your hat and make it look  half-glamorous, but Miss. Bohn took the plunge and appears to have surfaced triumphant.

Milliners on display include: Martina Bohn, Pamela Graham, Louise Halswell, Thirzie Hull, Yashka Thor. All works are for sale.

Pop Up Hat Shop will be open until the Sunday, November 20th at Craft Central. 33-35 St. John's Square. EC1M 4DS

more about craft central - http://www.craftcentral.org.uk/
more about Marina Bohn - http://www.martinabohn.com/hatblocks/

go visit.

[images taken by Charlotte and courtesy of Miss. Hull]

                                                           

a long evening at the v & a.

Went this weekend for a bit of late night carousing at the Victoria and Albert. A gorgeous place which never ceases to amaze as a sheer monstrosity of all things lush and splendid.

Having spent the majority of the evening getting sidetracked by some delightfully frothy espresso martinis, my company and I failed to make last entry for the Postmodernism headliner. All was not lost though, as we did have just enough time to sneak a peak at The Power of Making, which was conveniently free and ten meters from the bar.

Guest-curated by designer Daniel Charny, this comprehensive presentation of assorted crafts asserts in its introductory wall scrawling that "Making is the most powerful way that we solve problems, express ideas and shape our world. What and how we make defines who we are, and communicates who we want to be....The power of making is that it fulfills each of these human needs and desires. The knowledge of how to make is one of humanity’s most precious resources."

A bit on the grandiose side, but hey, we are standing in the world's largest house of "objects", i.e. the museum home to the biggest collection of decorative art and design. And it's not an entirely overblown sentiment, nor a showing unfit for such an introduction. I'd be the first to admit a tendency to deify craftsman and craftswomen. There is something indescribably cool about someone who can make things. It's got old-world glamour and more than a hint of rugged sex appeal. As with the marble sculptor versus the oil painter, it is the hands rather than the paintbrush which become the artistic instrument we fetishize. A "maker" is gifted with not only a creative vision but a brutish command over the physicality of that vision.

Anyways, thoughts to ponder. Some highlights to follow:

Sueshiro Sano. A third generation Japanese ship builder who turned his wood working skills towards making some absolutely stunning mahogany bicycles. Sweeeet!

Marloes Ten Bhömer. Dutch born London based designer of kooky shoes. Amazing. Check them out. This chick is totally taking over where United Nude leaves off.

Dalton M. Ghetti. Former carpenter who somehow manages to tread the line between kitschy and totally adorable with these miniature pencil sculptures.

Also present was a crochet grizzly bear, some amazing knitwear by Sandra Backlund, and a very sleek dressage saddle.

Oh, just go.

finally... fish bar.

It lurked behind closed curtains for months, but the mysteries of Fish Bar have at last been revealed. Turns out this ex-chippie is now home to an exhibition space co-run by photographers Philipp Ebeling and Olivia Arthur.Its a well presented, open gallery whose stained wood walls, exposed white brick and back-lit ceilings speak to the rustic minimalism of its creators own photographic aesthetic.   

Their inaugural show is Father and Son, a double feature comprised of works by Indian-born Pablo Bartholomew and the amateur photographs of his father, Richard. It’s a surprisingly compelling project, with Pablo’s photographs capturing his voracious youth in 70’s Delhi, and his father’s languid portraits of artist friends and family life two decades earlier providing a poignant narrative of kinship. 

It’s all very bohemian and really quite a treat. Click here for Pablo's own photographs of the show.  

Find Fish Bar at

http://www.fishbar.ph/


all images ©  Pablo Bartholomew