Tag: art

#365daysofbiking Churnet up

June 29th – Since it was to be the hottest day of the year so far, I went for it again: Another ride out.

I rode up over Chorley to Armitage, and then up through Blithbury and Abbotts Bromley to Denstone, then up the Churnet Valley Trail to Alton, which always gives gorgeous views of the castle at Alton, evoking Bavaria or the Loire Valley.

From Alton to Oakamoor on the wonderful valley-floor lane called Red Road, then a quick break in the village and up Star Bank for a drink at the Old Star pub to cool down/ From there a loop round Windy Harbour and Caldon Lowe over the Weaver Hills, and back home through Ellastone, Marston Montgomey, Sudbury and Yoxall.

A fantastic ride on a perfect day.

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#365daysofbiking Brutally wet in Cannock

March 6th – I had an important hospital appointment in Cannock, a place I rarely go. Cannock Hospital is actually lovely, and a model of the best of the NHS, but Cannock itself, I find a bit otherworldly. It’s nice enough, suffering like all post industrial town centres, with odd, lingering pointers to a more prosperous, or at least busy past.

The brutalist concrete relief mural featuring local industrial icons – pit heads, Caterpillar vehicles, Rugeley Power Station and GEC seems to have been transplanted from an earlier building or situation. It’s almost soviet.

Everyone seems to know of Walsall’s hippo, but who ever dares mention Cannock’s concrete elephant? How did that come to be? There’s a story there.

On this wet, grey and unpleasant day, I found Cannock solemn, but pleasant, and I shall come back – mainly to see if it wears it’s cloak of quiet melancholy on nice days, too.

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July 4th – Business in Brum at lunchtime, and a poodle back along the canal in the afternoon summer heat. The flowers right now are gorgeous – from the strong yellows of ragwort to the purples of willowherd – and even bindweed and  wild sweetpeas, right there in the inner city.

The other colour was from art – the Annatomix piece featuring the tangram style fox in DIgbeth was astounding, but I also liked the subtle wit of the red heron nearby.

A weary, but lovely ride.

September  22nd – Unusually, I had to visit Cradley on a work errand. I used to spend a huge amount of time in this busy little town, but haven’t been to visit in nearly a decade.

It changed, without me, as places do. Some familiar things remained – some shops, landmarks, factories – but there’s a shiny new bus station, lots of redevelopment an an interesting memorial to Mary MacArthur the trade unionist who fought so famously here.

The statues is by the same artist who made the Walsall Wood ones, and whilst the thought is there, it’s no Morris and it looks like money for old chain, if not rope. Oh well.

The High Street is suffering like they all are, but retains it’s quirkiness and frenetic air of business.

Around the corner, in Wood Lane, Griffin and Woodhouse still make chain to moor the world – some of it huge.

It felt sad to be back in a place I once haunted but now don’t really know at all well. Time moves on, with or without us.

July 24th – It seems the Walsall stenciller is at it again.

Since street artist made such an art of stencil painting, we’ve had a few copycats spring up locally, but today I noticed a new one on the over bridge to the disused canal arm in Pleck, Walsall.

A small, red person, as might be featured on a warning or keep Britain tidy sign. The image was fresh, there was still overspray on the gravel underneath.

I have no idea what this is about, but I shall be looking out for more… I think it’s rather cute.

September 22nd – Also coming out better than expected was Morris, the Brownhills Miner. I often have people grumbling I don’t feature him here often enough, but it’s hard to know what to do with him; Morris has been photographed so often and so well by others, my photos would jut be noise.

I’m very fond of Morris – as a technical achievement, he’s stunning and a wonderful demonstration of Finite Element boundary analysis as a method of solving complex shape resolution. But he’s also that rarity – a civic artwork with soul.

Morris has done very little for Brownhiills. He hasn’t ‘put is on the map’ – we never left it; he hasn’t created jobs or sparked a regeneration.

But what Morris has done is made lots of people smile, and wonder about the history he represents.

Which is worth an awful lot in my book.

September 17th – Unusually, I had to visit a supplier in Wolverhampton late in the afternoon. With a strong wind blowing from the west, it was a fun, easy ride home along the canal, which I picked up near Horseley Fields on the Ring Road. 

I notice 540 Degrees, the cat-loving street artist whose work I’ve spotted before has been to Wolverhampton. I know I shouldn’t, but I do like his work.

September 1st – Another evening working late, I managed to pass through Walsall Wood just as the sun was setting behind the pithead sculpture. It’s not a thing I’ve ever been fond of, as many people know, but it does make for an interesting view over the old rail line.

It was a beautiful sky and a lovely evening, but I was far too tired to appreciate it.

November 15th –  A long day and a late spin around Brownhills. The town was quiet, and there was no sign of the Christmas I’d seen in Birmingham the previous Friday. It was windy, but not too bad. Stood on a quiet traffic island, Morris Miner was still stood silent, metallic sentry.

Sometimes the most changeless things are best.