Swindon in the Past Lane

So what is The Big Draw? It's  the world's biggest drawing festival from The Campaign for Drawing and on Wednesday it came to the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery courtesy of the artists from Artsite.  Whilst in the art gallery I took the opportunity to talk to the conservators working on more than 30 paintings by Kate Tryon, an American devotee of Richard Jefferies. I was interested to learn that many of the frames were originally gilded but sometime in their history they had been painted over. A similar story to some of the portraits in Lydiard House whose frames received a coat of white paint, which has since turned grey from the smoke from open fires. I very much enjoyed the ceramic exhibition From Where I'm Standing inspired by the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery collection. I found the work by Keith Varney reminiscent of Edmund de Waal's only to be told that SM&AG holds work by this prestigious ceramicist too. Is there no limit to the treasures contained in A...

The last serious act of vandalism to take place in Radnor Street Cemetery happened across one weekend several years ago. A break in at the chapel saw windows smashed, including the beautiful rose window above the door. The intruders lit a fire in the sacristy, the small room off the chapel, using a box of documents stored there. The documents were a 'Form of application for permission to erect or restore a memorial' and included a description with the measurements of that memorial; the inscription; the name and address of the owner of the grave and how much the memorial cost. Invaluable information lost in the fire, but in recent weeks I have glimpsed a rare surviving document. These are the details of the Boucher family grave. As you can see this document tells us who the stonemason was, the dimensions of the memorial and the inscription. In loving memory of George Boucher died 8th July 1915 aged 61 years also Mary Boucher died 25th February 1943 aged 88 also ...

Swindon Open Studios - personal highlights. A tour of Olive House and talking about Swindon Suffragette Edith New with Marilyn Trew. Meeting Lizzie Kendall and making a Buddhist prayer flag. Viewing  Paul Exton 's Bradenstoke Priory Triptych and planning a  Radnor Street Cemetery  project. Talking to Claire ( The Bear's Kiln ) about Swindon Suffragette Edith New. And talking to Sally Taylor  about inspiration, innovation and Salubritas et Industria. Swindon Open Studios continues tomorrow and next Saturday/Sunday September 10/11. Visit the website for more details. Olive House Stained glass front door, Olive House More stained glass, Olive House And yet more stained glass Olive House I spy Swindon175's Caroline Black talking to Swindon 105.5 presenter Dave Woods Home is where the heart is, by Claire Eastcott Studios Surrounded by Beauty by Carmen B. Norris You might like to read more ...

Last year an exhibition of Ken White’s work opened at The Post Modern, Theatre Square, Swindon to celebrate the artists' 70th birthday. In the 1980s Swindon boasted a fine collection of Ken's murals - one at Cambria Bridge, the famous ‘Swindon Personalities’ in Union Street/Prospect Place, the King Class Locomotive Passing Through Swindon Railway Works at Henry Street, to name just a few. Sadly today just one mural now remains - the Golden Lion Bridge looking down Fleming Way. And even more disgraceful is the fact that Swindon does not own a piece of Ken White’s art.  Now how on earth can that be? In 2003 Advertiser journalist Shirley Mathias was asking exactly that question. Shirley wrote: ‘But the closest Ken has come to recognition by the borough was an invitation to hang two works in a display which is part of Think Art, an event sponsored by the borough’s Swindon Arts project together with, among other supporters, Nationwide, Westfield who own the Br...