Textural studies

I always come away from a visit to The Hepworth wanting to make photos. Luckily there is no shortage of subject matter around the gallery, in the gardens and in the surrounding river. 

In the playroom

One corner of the gallery where the Edmund de Waal/Axel Salto exhibition was displayed was set out as a playroom, with art supplies and various objects. I love how The Hepworth encourages creativity in this way, especially for children. Edmund de Waal clearly feels very passionate about this too. In his words: 'A section in the exhibition in Yorkshire is going to be an area in which children (if they manage to fight off the adults) get to play with printing stamps. The idea is to have a space where young people can just try things out, not for any kind of curriculum needs, but because being a human being is about discovering what happens, bodily, with you in the world – which is play. Play makes you alive to the world in a material way. Stripping play and craft from children’s lives is just a disgrace.'

I rather liked the felted 'pebbles' - squishy and tactile, and with lovely colours.  

I was also absolutely fascinated by these things... They looked a bit like mushrooms but they appeared to be wood - and I think they are natural rather than carved. I've no idea what they are. Google and Google lens is no help - it identifies them as 'portobello mushrooms' from the 'gills side' (well, yes, that's what they look like but they were definitely wood, not fungus) and trepanned skulls from the smooth side! Ha. I'd say they are some kind of burr/burl... Incredible things, anyway. 

Apologies for the soft focus. It was so dark that I was using a very wide aperture on my lens and thus had a rather too narrow depth of field. 

Axel Salto

Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto: Playing with Fire - at The Hepworth, Wakefield

And so to Axel Salto's work, as curated by Edmund de Waal. Salto (1889-1961) was Danish: 'a radical, polymathic figure who crossed boundaries from one discipline to another, producing an extraordinary body of ceramic work alongside paintings, wood-cuts, drawings, book illustration and textiles.' Most of his work was inspired by organic forms: buds, seeds, sprouts and occasionally creatures. 

You weren't allowed to touch the exhibits, of course, though the surfaces almost begged you to reach out and caress their knobbly forms. 

Apart from the three pronged 'tooth' things (above top left) that just served to remind me of the tooth extraction I've recently endured (!), I enjoyed all the shapes and colours. 

There was more than a hint of what we might now call 'Scandi modern' in his fabrics and designs: complex, lyrical and yet at the same time still spare and clean. (The above photo shows three lengths of fabric and a clay relief panel.) 

I really enjoyed seeing them all. The exhibition is on until 4 May 2026, so local peeps still have chance to visit it. 

Edmund de Waal #2

Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto: Playing with Fire - at The Hepworth, Wakefield

In contrast to the ethereal, light coloured ceramic vessels and sheets I showed yesterday, Edmund de Waal was displaying 'the largest vessels I have ever made. Into their damp surface I inscribed fragments of Rilke's poetry, marking and erasing and rewriting the words, a kind of elegie. They are made with a rough, red clay that turns as black as volcanic stone: that is the alchemy of the kiln'.  

These were monumental, solid, textural... magnificent pieces. I loved them. There was a timelessness about them, a kind of Biblical significance. 

There were a couple of niches too, that contained much smaller pieces but in a similar dark tone. I loved the light on light/dark on dark displays in the exhibition. Magical. 

 

Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto: Playing with Fire - at The Hepworth, Wakefield

This was the exhibition I really wanted to see. I've only recently been alerted to Edmund de Waal, as I've been reading a delightful memoir by Nigel Slater: 'A Thousand Feasts', in which he talks about his own collection of Edmund de Waal ceramics. 

Edmund de Waal (b 1964, Nottingham) is a British contemporary artist, potter and writer known for his large scale installations of porcelain vessels. This exhibition at the Hepworth is his homage to and collaboration with the acclaimed Danish ceramicist, Axel Salto (1889–1961). It's (apparently) the first major exhibition of Salto's work and displays pieces by both artists that kind of dance around each other in a very beguiling fashion. 

These photos show some of Edmund de Waal's small ceramic vessels, beautifully delicate and imperfect pieces in the thinnest and finest material, lifted by subtle glazes, barely discernible embossed writing and some metallic, gilded embellishments. 

The more I looked, the more beautiful I found them. Their delicacy is belied by the fact that fired porcelain is actually quite a strong material. 

I was reminded of a couple of pots that I have at home that are precious to me. Oddly enough, my daughter and granddaughter made these once when we visited The Hepworth and had a play in their craft room. These are unglazed clay but there is an echo between the works, I think. 

Kira Freije: Unspeak the Chorus

Kira Freije: Unspeak the Chorus - at The Hepworth, Wakefield. 

This is the first major solo exhibition for Kira Freije (b 1985 London): twenty life size figures in small groupings 'suggesting narrative fragments or a frame of mind. Freije casts her own hands and feet in aluminium, building her metal sculptures from the feet upwards, welding together stainless steel strips like a pencil outline to create their forms. To these, she adds faces, or parts of faces, cast from people who are important in her life, as well as fabric and found materials such as brass and copper to complete the materially-rich whole'.

At first look, I wasn't sure I liked them but then I gradually warmed to them, finding them very expressive and evocative, full of emotion and exquisitely crafted.  

For the first few minutes, I was in the room with only a couple of other people, quietly drinking it all in. Then a large group of young students arrived, bringing a very different vibe! It became quite hard to move around and find clear angles to take photos. I'm all for introducing young people to good art, but to be honest I could have done without them right at that moment! It was well worth seeing though. 

 

Return to The Hepworth

It's almost a year since I last went to The Hepworth in Wakefield, so it felt like time to remedy that. There were a couple of exhibitions that I wanted to see, so I treated myself to a day out (with coffee and cake, of course). The train journeys there and back were not brilliant; apparently there's been a landslip somewhere, which was causing cancellations. Wakefield has two stations: Kirkgate, quite near The Hepworth, and Westgate on the far side of the city. In the end I had to walk to Westgate to get a train home but, hey ho, it meant lots of 'steps' that day so my health app won't be nagging me! 

The gallery, as I've shown before, is a brutalist concrete structure, designed by British architect David Chipperfield and opened in 2011. I love it -  its setting in a loop of the River Calder, the uncompromising building that always seems very appropriate for the sculptures it houses, and of course the world-class exhibitions themselves. 

A wander: wildlife and wonder

     

The dry, bright days are such a relief and a blessing. They've been few and far between this winter, so it's been important to make use of them. Thankfully I have many beautiful places I can easily walk, so one day I chose a longer circuit along the river and canal. There was lots to notice - some marcescent beech leaves added a touch of copper to the canalside.

I was delighted to spot a female kingfisher (identifiable by her red 'lipstick' beak; the males' beaks are all black). Usually you just see a blue flash whizzing past at speed but, surprisingly, this one was content to sit on a branch for ages, only occasionally flying off but then returning to more or less the same spot. This is the best photo I've managed of one in a while, given that I don't have a long telephoto lens. 

Not far away, I was entranced by a flock of long-tailed tits. These are my absolute favourite bird. You rarely see just one; they like to forage in busy little groups, maybe half a dozen or so in a small area. About the size of a great tit, they are prettily coloured with pink, black and white plumage and a noticeably long tail. They really are sweet little floofballs. 

My two favourite trees again: I just love their shape; I think they have beautiful winter skeletons.

Snowdrop season

There are gardens that specialise in snowdrops though I haven't particularly sought them out this year. I've nevertheless spotted quite a few clusters round and about. They're always pretty and always an encouraging sign that the seasons are moving on. Spring is just around the corner! 

 

Otterly amazing

I'd heard there was an otter locally but I didn't think I'd be able to find it. In the end it wasn't difficult as there was a sizeable gathering of onlookers. The crowd didn't appear to faze it; indeed you rather got the impression it was playing to the audience. It was moving fast and you never knew quite where it would resurface after a dive, so I found it a challenge to photograph, given that I don't have a long telephoto and the area was fairly dark. I'm reasonably pleased with these in the circumstances. It's probably the first time I've ever seen one in the wild. I never dreamed it would be so accessible. It was quite a character and was clearly enjoying the abundance of fish. It has been in the area at least a few days; one wonders how long it will stay. Maybe long enough to be christened 'Salty of Saltaire'? Who knows.... 

Potato Day

14th February was not only Valentine's Day but, in Saltaire, Potato Day. That's something organised here annually by the West Yorkshire Organic Group. They take over the hall of Shipley College's Exhibition Building to sell seed potatoes to gardeners and allotment holders. In this way, people can get advice and growing tips, access unusual varieties and buy smaller quantities, without having to resort to online suppliers. It has become something of a celebration, with stalls selling craft items, fruit, veg and preserves, many grown or made locally. There's a seed swap organised by Veg on the Edge, our community gardening group, and a café too. It's surprisingly popular with local residents. 

The red-skinned, organic, Sunset variety had already sold out - but I wasn't buying potatoes anyway, as I don't have a garden. I bought some apple and pear jam from the Community Orchard. 

The logo made me smile: Mr Potato Head! I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers having a kit of plastic parts that you stuck into potatoes and other veg to made characters.