From Hugh Warwick……That’s The Way To Do It….From Kilmorack Gallery….
by Bernie Bell - 08:55 on 29 November 2023
From Hugh Warwick……
……a thought-provoking message…..
“Covid, books and a Luv Song!
28 NOV 2023 —
After all this time I have eventually been flattened by Covid. A week in and I am still testing positive - but at least feeling less ghastly than earlier. This is so disappointing. I have so much to do! And have already missed out on important events … not least of which is the funeral of my cousin (an indirect covid victim). So just in case you needed reminding - it is still out there … and if you have friends and family who are vulnerable - reach out to them and understand how they may well be retreating from busy public spaces.
To keep my family as safe as I can I retreated to the shed (it is well insulated) and have been only coming into the house in a mask. Nights have required me to wear a lot of clothing!!! And be in a sleeping bag under a duvet! My boy has now been stricken - just hope that my wife, Zoe, can avoid this … really, I can’t remember when I last felt that poorly.
One of the events I have missed is the Oxford Green Fair - for years it has been a feature in my calendar - I get to talk to hundreds of people about hedgehogs - a stall full of leaflets - and books to sell (to help pay for the stall!) … and with that in mind … I have about 40 bookplates left so if any of you would like signed books for Christmas presents, let me know - drop me an email: hugh.warwick@gmail.com - if you can use an SAE that will help. Buy the books from your local shop - or WildSounds (here are links to Hedgehogs, Water Voles, Beavers and Linescapes) - or evil tax dodgers (only because not at WildSounds - A Prickly Affair and The Beauty in the Beast) — and let me know!!
There is some good news out there - the East Cambridgeshire District Council, based in Ely, asked members of the public to vote for what species they wanted to grant extra protection. And it was the hedgehog (of course) … now, I have to say it is a bit of nonsense setting people to choose between bats and toads, barn owls and bees - and OBVIOUSLY - every council should be putting equal effort into helping all of them.
But at least work for hedgehogs will actually benefit many other species too … and the report on the BBC website said that the council were expecting developers to cooperate. Now - I hope that this cooperation is enforced with some pretty strong teeth … if any of you are from that neck of the woods, could you let us know how things are going?
If you have not joined up with the Hedgehog Highways Facebook Group - now is a good time - as we can discuss Ely’s progress all the more easily on there … drop in and join the fun (which is maintained with the utterly amazing Jacqueline and Rose - exemplary moderators!)
Finally - Poetry Please on BBC Radio 4 - with the wonderful Roger McGough - spun us a treat this week … as he invited in the great man, Benjamin Zephaniah to share a collection of his favourite poems … and to read what has to be one of the greatest hedgehog poems of all time!!!
Luv Song
“I am in luv wid a hedgehog
I've never felt this way before
I have luv fe dis hedgehog
An everyday I luv her more an more,
She lives by de shed
Where weeds and roses bed
An I just want de world to know
She makes me glow.
I am in luv wid a hedgehog
She's making me hair stand on edge,
So in luv wid dis hedgehog
An her friends
Who all live in de hedge
She visits me late
An eats off Danny's plate
But Danny's a cool tabby cat
He leaves it at dat.
I am in luv wid a hedgehog,
She's gone away so I must wait
But I do miss my hedgehog
Everytime she goes to hibernate.”
If any of you would like to support the work I do on here - you can drop coins in my metaphorical hat. Thank you.
And next update - I will be back to full steam - I hope!
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That’s The Way To Do It….
I’ll quote at some length from ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake…
https://octobergallery.co.uk/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=166
……….and hope he doesn’t mind….
“The partnership between Macrotermes and their fungi has even been weaponised by humans for radical political causes. In the early twentieth century in coastal west Africa, locals secretly released termites in the military outpost of a colonising French army. Driven by the voracious appetites of their fungal partners, the termites destroyed the buildings and chewed up the bureaucrats’ papers. The French garrison quickly abandoned their post.”
Not a shot was fired….no one was hurt……and yet…..RESULT!
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From Kilmorack Gallery….
“Cold winds and a frosted car remind me that Christmas is approaching. A fine art gallery isn't the obvious place for budget shopping, but it is possible to leave the gallery with something at every price - from a five-digit painting or sculpture to a free catalogue.
Some incredible ceramics can be bought for under £100, even township bowls by Patricia Shone. She has been gathering and refining clay from small crofting townships for years and these are the results. For a little more you can have one of Allison Weightman's Scorched Earth Vessels.
At under £300, you can have a Paul Bloomer etching. These are framed with non-reflective glass and are powerfully moving for such small works, or you can have a Helen Denerley monoprint or a drawing by Lizzie Rose.
Under £500 could afford Peter White's Pot, Robert Powell's Blue Dress or a Lotte Glob flying creature. For a bit more you can have Robert McAulay's latest Gap 2 painting, Henry Fraser's Balaclava or Janette Kerr's Blashy Wadder, Vaila Isle.
Under £1000 will get you Jane MacNeill's Frosty Path, Glenmore, Maggie New's Mound v, Shona Barr's Park Life, Patricia Paolozzi Cain's Lion's Roar or Allan MacDonald's bank of gold, Eskadale River. From here options open up because the worlds created by artists are limitless. You can have larger works that will fill important spaces, in the home and in the heart.
At £8.99, many people bought copies of Confessions of a Highland Art Dealer as gifts last year. The results of its third literary shortlist will be announced in a few weeks, and many other gallery publications are available too.
Confessions of a Highland Art Dealer book £8.99
360 degree tour
Can't make it? This is the virtual way. Please explore our 15th November walkthrough.
Kilmorack Gallery, by Beauly, Inverness-shire IV4 7AL
+44 (0) 1463 783 230
Always open by appointment. Full opening times online.
Exhibitions & Arrivals
Gallery Artists
News
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/17/a-different-kind-of-rock-art-part-eleven/
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