Leeds Light Night 2011

Only had time for a quick trip into town to see this years Light Night installations in Leeds city centre. As usual some very "individual" pieces of art that failed to get me excited but some great stuff too if you walked around and looked for it.
First stop was to see a little dancing in front of the gallery.

Next I found a knitted band on Lands Lane complete with drummer

A quick trip to the Howard assembly rooms followed shooting in virtual darkness as people sat and watched the screens and listened to music.

Down on Briggate a band struck up and then led a carnival group down the street.

As I passed the Light I mused that once more there seemed a lot of arty installations but very few I`d seen were to do with light.

Almost out of time I thought I`d pop back to Millenium Square which had been quiet earlier. The Civic hall had become a Tetris screen and a caravan of some sort of magic pills had drawn a long queue

Having had enough I set off home only to be attracted by the light of what was by far my favourite of the evening - the Leeds Met Students of Performing Arts and their excellent Masquerade. A brilliant show of light and magic illuminating Queen Square and showing what Light Night is all about - or should be for me.

 I did not give it enough time this year. If you don`t know Light Night check it out next year. I didn`t see the Prancing Pixies, the Monster Trespass or many of the other intriguingly named works but liked what I saw in the main and it brought a smile to people`s faces in these hard times.

I`m not getting to be a luvvie after all!

The Hepworth Museum

After recent posts extolling the virtues of Plensa at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Chatsworth`s Beyond Limits  and the Coldstones Cut I was fearing that this Geordie lad with a love of football, beer, whippet and pigeon racing and leek shows was getting a bit poncey. A trip to the Hepworth Museum today has reassured me that I have not lost my northern roots that has previously had me being one of the Geordies scratching their head in the Baltic on the Newcastle quayside ( I refuse to recognise the Gateshead element) saying "Whey ye bugger what`s that aal aboot?".

A few quotes  summing up the art on offer:
"That`s a nice piece of wood ruined"
" I hope that coach party arriving have something else to do after half an hour in here"
"The toilets are the best bit"
" I like the stairways"
" I prefer the view out of the window" and that was Sue not me!

Admiring the view - it`s behind you Sue!

It was not all bad though. The cafe was very nice with great food and one or two pieces were nice to see. Photography policy? Only in galleries 4/5. Trouble was it was not always easy to know which galleries were 4/5 as the signposting / labelling was admitted to be poor. A Sunderland College were in with permission to shoot anyway to add to the confusion. You could tell which ones were from Sunderland. Apart from their photographer stickers they were the ones scratching their heads and saying "Whey ye bugger what`s that aal aboot?" in a strange southern style and crying in their drinks about recent results in the north east and comparisons with the mighty Magpies.

There was a nice structure outside too. If I could have been bothered by that stage I`d have looked to see what it was. Nice playground for the kids though and some new redevelopment in that area. It was absolutely packed with visitors. Photographically speaking best bits were outside with the imposing grey building and surrounding boatyard with curios sights to see.

Funniest bit of the day was on the drive back seeing a van which I joked was a case of the guy adding "the wife" onto the side of the van as a bit of an afterthought. I then saw she had the critical role of oversight over driving abilities.

Beyond Limits

Sotheby`s have their annual selling exhibition at Chatsworth House just now (until 30th October 2011) and it`s worth a visit. Of course we had to go on a hot sunny day in October and spent 2 hours getting there with heavy traffic and it was absolutely packed with people!
Never mind - some interesting works on display from Lynn Chadwick,Nadim Karam, Ji Yong-Ho, Damien Hirst  and Jaume Plensa (just the one I am afraid so check out Yorkshire Sculpture Park for more of his work). Our verdicts? Well it was a shame that due to water shortages the grand cascade and fountains were only on for an hour and better to go when fewer people. As for the art?
 Damien Hirst - over-rated moulding work with a splash of paint

Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama flowerrs - plastic tat that looked out of place here

My favourites?  Lynn Chadwicks people, Nadim Karam`s Miu with it`s great reflections and Ji Yong-Ho`s fantastic lion.
Overall not as good as the exhibits when I went 2 years ago but still a great idea and lovely to see the kids sitting on the cascade steps waiting for the water to turn on and the rainbows in the water by the Squirting Willow

Miu by Nadim Karam

Squirting Willow and rainbow

Ji Ying-Ho`s Lion

A Cut Above

After tea and cake in one of the splendid coffee houses in Pateley bridge why not take the road out to Skipton and visit The Coldstones Cut. As you park in the Toft Gate car park signposted there is little to tell you what is ahead. A distant low mechanical noise, with the wind in  the right direction perhaps, is all you might hear.

Following the sign you come to Toft Gate Kiln where lime was smelted from 1700 or so and taken by cart to Pateley Bridge railway. Little sign of that heat and dust now but a 5 mile walk from here will take you down to the lead mines too for a little industrial heritage tour. Not on this day though as it was just too hot - at the end of September would you believe!!!

Toft Gate Lime Kiln Remains

Go up the hill (rises around 40 metres in 500 so quite steep) and you come to the understated entrance of the Coldstones Cut. Looks like an inner city street or alley combined with yellow parking lines and bollards. In deference to the usual health and safety priorities there is more emphasis on warning you about the untreated paths in winter, climbing on walls etc rather than definitiive information boards.

I`ll have to return at a different time when the sun is less bright but these give an idea of the impressive stone cutting and construction of the Cuts.

When you follow straight through to the lower viewing platform you see what is beyond. A huge working quarry that you never knew was there still producing lime but more concentrated on the excavation of high quality stone used elsewhere and in the construction of this iconic structure that has been made to blend into the beautiful open countryside. A ride over this in a plane or balloon would be fantastic but don`t get me started on balloon rides!

 Going back and through one of the side cuts takes you to the upper viewing platforms where even better views are to be had and one of them has a ring of advisory notices in steel telling you the direction and distance to key cities and locations - though it did include  Middlesbrough in this list for some strange reason!

Walking through the cuts gives an idea of the size of the stone used and the skilled work of the masons. Hard to show them but you walk through the cut shown here from the top platform

All in all a grand day out as they say in these parts and well worth a visit - you can take in How Stean Gorge or Brimham Rocks on the same trip too!