Travel opens our eyes not only to the differences between various countries and cultures but also their similarities. One thing it seems that we all have in common is the desire to use our hands to craft beauty from simple objects. And what we create says much about our culture and heritage.
-
-
In recent years the development that first started around the central part of Newcastle’s Quayside has spread eastwards. And the area around where the smaller Ouseburn flows into the Tyne, in particular, has benefitted from regeneration. It makes a great destination for a stroll along the river, and there’s plenty to see when you get there. It’s only about a 15 minute walk from the Tyne Bridge to the mouth of the Ouseburn, although you’re bound to stop along the way.
-
The sculptor Barbara Hepworth and her husband, painter Ben Nicholson, came to live in St Ives when World War Two broke out in 1939, as a haven from London. She stayed here for the rest of her life, living and working in Trewyn studios from 1949 until her death in 1975. It was her wish that her home and studio were set up as a museum of her work.
-
Before I came to Bulgaria’s capital I was warned that Sofia was not an especially attractive city and had little to see. I soon found out how wrong that is. In recent years the city has tidied itself up and done a lot to highlight its history, especially its Roman antiquities.
-
Can you change the world, or at least one village, with art? It seems that in several parts of the world, that idea is taking hold. In this out of the way spot a group of young Polish artists have painted portraits of famous people on the walls alongside those of villagers.
-
It has become quite usual to see murals on many of the walls of our cities. Whether we call it graffiti or street art; whether we love it or hate it; it is part of the urban landscape. But do we expect to see it in a remote rural village in the Gambia?
-
There is something infectious about a person who displays a real passion for a subject. You find yourself getting drawn in, even if your own interest, up to that point, was only superficial. Such a person is Alex Hansen.
-
None of us are able, at the moment, to gather new travel memories. Perhaps for that reason, the recollections of travels past become all the more precious. And what better way to trigger these memories than browsing through your mementos – old photographs, scrapbooks perhaps, and for those of us who buy them, objects and souvenirs.
-
London is a city of contrasts, where famous sights and almost palatial homes can rub shoulders with the worn and neglected. Just as its people are diverse and eclectic, so too are its buildings.
-
Angels typically fly or float in the air, but not this one. The Angel of the North is firmly rooted in the ground, in recognition of the miners who once toiled beneath this spot. Whether you arrive in Newcastle or Gateshead by road or by rail, you'll be greeted as you approach the city by this amazing figure of an angel with outstretched arms, who appears to be watching over travellers.
