Received some amazing pictures last week from one of our artists, Jill Newman. The images are of the largest ‘urban forest’ in the country, inside the Heygate Estate, Elephant and Castle.
It needs protecting from Southwark Council and property developers Lend-Leese who plan to demolish the old estate and build “luxury flats.” (Jill Newman)
Click here to see the rest of the images. I particularly like the black and white ones as it gives it a more magical quality, like a well-kept secret.
Bee pollinating a flower
The sun is out, birds are chirping, a light wind breezes by… *aaachhooo! *rubs eyes…damn hay fever!
Spring is slowly but surely upon us but so is the start of the hay fever season! Those who suffer from it (like me) will know how frustrating and annoying it is and those who suffer from it badly (like me) will already have started feeling the effects of it!
There are many ways people choose to combat this annoying condition, be it tablets (one a day), nose spray (if it’s already blocked, how does that work??), vaseline (yes, around the nostril area) or sunglasses (keeps away the pollen from irritating your eyes). However, I find that while tablets work very well, they aren’t necessarily good for the body in the long run. What your body needs is a way to naturally build up immunity to this seasonal problem. This is where my natural hay fever remedy comes in handy!
Just so you know, I found this recipe online years ago and can’t remember who gave it but do remember it was a female on some obscure forum somewhere. I’ve tried this and it really does help.
The bee pollen and Echinacea tincture can be purchased at any natural health outlets.
(Follow instructions on the bottle for the amount of bee pollen and Echinacea tincture you put in)
Hope you have found this useful and do let us know your thoughts and comments on this!
Last month, in a rare booking, we were asked by Groundwork to provide lunch for a visit from people from the Big Lottery fund. The Big Lottery fund visited a number of lottery funded projects in and around Burgess Park (our Heart Garden program being one of them) and also discussed and surveyed the park and its future renovation plans.
With emphasis on natural and homegrown food, Art in the Park delved into our creative minds and garden to come up with a simple and satisfying menu for the lunch. As well as fresh, grown winter greens (miners lettuce, watercress, etc), salad, sandwiches, variety of cheeses and spreads and sliced fruits, we also made lavender cupcakes! These light and fragant cupcakes went down a treat.
At Art in the Park, we use our own homegrown lavender as we know it is pesticide free. These cakes remind us of summer in the depths of mid-winter. Recipe is courtesy of Nigella Lawson.
The lunch was a big success with Peter Wanless, CEO of Big Lottery tweeting:
“@artintheparktwt – thank you for a delicious lunch and warm welcome. Keep up the great work!”
Here at Art in the Park we regularly have lunch thrown together from what is brought in on the day as well as whatever’s growing in our garden. You may have seen this from our previous posts such as ‘Ready, Steady, Cook!‘, ‘Winter Planting‘ and ‘Happy Harvesting.’
One of our most regularly (and the easiest) recipes we put together are soups. Today we had AitP artist Jill Newman‘s Cold-buster soup. It’s great for those days when you want to fight off colds or just want to strengthen your body’s natural defenses. Since we loved it so much, here is the recipe!
Method:
Serving suggestions: Great with croutons thrown in and alongside cheese on toast.
(Note: For those who haven’t got much time, a lighter and quicker version of this recipe involves only the essential ingredients which are lemon, ginger, black pepper, mint/ parsley, onion or garlic or both and stock/ bouillon.)
Friday 10th Dec
Last week saw the Heart Gardeners getting into the festive and creative spirit making innovative, handmade Christmas decorations. Using lots of natural materials such as laurels, holly, pine cones and even some figs! Most of the material were leftovers from the wreath-making workshop the week before.
We’ve recently found another ceramicist to use our kiln room for well…making all things ceramic. In response to a current project, our new ceramicist Mario has put together a series of small sessions for Art in the Park staff and artists to make some sample ceramics for it.
Using leftover clay from previous projects (nothing goes to waste here!), the first session involved molding the clay into the desired shapes. Before firing them up in the kiln, they have to be left out to slowly dry. To do this, we have alternated between covering them up in cling film and leaving them out in the open. More updates when it comes!
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Image via Wikipedia
Art in the Park recently attended the MOVE exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in Southbank Centre. The pieces in the gallery are intended to involve visitors in ways not normally expected.
…invites you to become a participant – or even a dancer – in installations and sculptures by internationally renowned visual artists and choreographers…explores the historical and current relationship between visual arts and dance…Performances are woven into an exhibition of sculptural works, set pieces and installations, which can be activated by the public and by a group of resident performers in the gallery.
excerpt from introduction of MOVE Gallery
A favourite piece of ours included Isaac Julien‘s Ten Thousand Waves (2010) which was a cinematic nine screen installation of three separate stories. One of the these riveting stories told of the tragedy that occurred in north east England in 200 when a team of Chinese cockle-pickers were drowned in Morecambe Bay. It truly does pull you, physically because of the multi-screens and mentally because of its composition. A definite must-see!
Another favourite of ours was the Christian Jankowski’s Rooftop Routine (2007), a hula hoop workout encouraging and teaching participants to try this hip-moving skill.
Others include Mike Kelley‘s playful Adaptation, Tania Bruguera‘s disturbing Untitled (Kassel) (2002), Lygia Clark‘s sensory The House in the Body (1968), William Forsythe’s gruelling The Fact of Matter (2009) and Bruce Nauman‘s unsettling Green Light Corridor (1970s).
Here are some pictures of some of our staff participating in the exhibition.
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To cheer those up on a Friday with a breathtaking panoramic view of the area around Art in the Park in snow!
(click for larger images)
Earlier this year we also took some panoramic views of Burgess Park in the late summer, you can find this in our flickr set.
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A busy day of blogging! In the studio today are Art in the Park artists Andrea Sinclair and Bill Hudson working on samples for this Saturday’s decoration and wreath making workshop. Various samples will be made to give participants a visual starting point for creating their own. The workshop is part of this sat’s event announcing the new Chumleigh Cafe name. There will also be mulled wine and minced pies!
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You may have seen from our previous posts that Art in the Park’s artist Bill Hudson and his trusty assistant Brian (one of our regular volunteers) have been working on a Christmas Tree planter for Chumleigh Cafe’s Christmas Tree. Today, it was finally put up! Bill Hudson, local sculptor Will and Quadrant Park Manager Graham had to lift the 5 metre tree with a hoist before slotting it carefully into the metal tube affixed inside the planter. It was then filled up with soil and moved to the corner outside Chumleigh Cafe.
More pictures to come when it’s decorated with lights, trinkets and bobbles.
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