Moving Pictures

To the Black Swan for Portraits of the Working People of Somerset. When I first read about this, I had my doubts. What would be the point of getting people to pose and then video-ing them, rather than just shooting still images? What would video add? And the title was hardly a grabber, either. 


But I was converted. Projected onto the end wall of the gallery, they are beautifully lit and shot - subdued colours with hints of Victorian photography and Vermeer. The seated ones work best (those standing look rather uncomfortable). A potter, a basket weaver, a coffin maker, a stone carver, cheese makers and so on sit perfectly still in profile with their work and/or tools around them. Then a slight turn to camera -  and the effect is both surprising and revealing. 


The accompanying oral history interviews would benefit from some judicious editing (a frequent problem with oral histories for the casual listener/viewer), but the portraits are well worth a visit. I've not spent such a long time in a gallery, so engrossed, for many a day.


At the Black Swan until 5th May.


http://www.blackswan.org.uk/exhibitions_black_swan_arts_Detail.php?Portraits-of-the-Working-People-of-Somerset-29

Bras & Bravos

Randa Bott stares, smiling, out of the front page of the current edition of The List. She's promoting her lingerie shop on The Bridge. But between the magazine going to press and this weekend, the shop has put up the closing down notices. This is unfortunate  - not because I avail myself of Randa's goods (sorry not to be able to reveal that Weekender is a cross-dresser) - but because any one-off retailer in Frome that has to close down is bad news for a town that sells itself on its independent shops. And Opal's demise is a double whammy. Frome is proud of its bridge: along with nearby Bath, it claims to be the only town in Britain with shops along a river crossing. The cafe here has already shut, and Randa's imminent departure leaves a big hole in this historic retail strip.

Better news this weekend from The Black Swan - its 2012 Open Art Exhibition has just opened, and the quality and variety is excellent. We were particularly impressed by Annemarie Blake's wide screen, monochrome (and local) landscape, the manipulated photographs of Joseph Beveridge, Alison Shanks' witty ceramic toaster and the textures of Mark Nesbit's 'Titanic'. The gallery needs support, and it was encouraging to see so many people there this morning. Well worth a visit, for all sorts of reasons.

www.thelistfrome.co.uk

www.opallingerie.co.uk

www.blackswan.org.uk

Catherine's Congestion

A busy weekend, for sure. Friday night saw the private view of the Black Swan's Christmas Show, with works donated to help fund yet another financially-stricken Frome arts institution. The exhibits were of variable quality, but it seems a little churlish to criticise when the artists handed them over gratis. An automaton by Ralph Steadman was, inevitably, the major attraction. But Mrs Weekender and I were much taken with Alison Harper's textile pieces which resembled distressed frocks. Pinned to the wall, it was as if the wearers had just slipped out of them after a most hectic night's revels.

Onto the Oakfield Choir's Christmas concert at Christchurch on Saturday. Eschewing the usual carols and over-familiar seasonal fare, this was an ambitious, yet curious, programme. Entitled "A Frosty Christmas Eve", only two of the items had any Yuletide connections. The singing and playing was sometimes glorious, at other times ragged, but all power to them for avoiding the obvious and tackling such pieces as Saint-Saëns' 'Oratorio de Noël' and 'In Terra Pax' by Finzi.
Stars of the evening were undoubtedly tenor Andrew Dickinson, harpist Daniel de Fry and the sadly unidentifiable leader of the orchestra. Their performances alone were worth the two hours' discomfort, thanks to Christchurch's unforgiving pews. Oh, how we suffered for their art...

And so to Sunday's Artisan Market on Catherine Hill - packed with locals and visitors: a rip-roaring success, you might think. But it was so packed that at times it was impossible to get up or down the Hill. I'm sure traders lost out, because at the narrowest points if you merely stopped to investigate what was on offer you immediately created a tailback. As one stall holder said to us - why not extend it up into Catherine Street where the road is wider? Or are there traffic management issues there? Another plan might be to make the Hill one way for pedestrians during events like this. But, hopefully, plenty of jam and jewellery was sold before the rains came...

http://www.stcatherinesfrome.co.uk

http://www.oakfieldchoir.co.nr

http://www.blackswan.org.uk