17/01/23 street call on Jianchang Hutong, Beijing
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Category Archives: Walking
Sculpture on a house in Hemingford Abbots, Cambridgeshire
DSC01913.JPG Originally uploaded by escdotdot.
This is a shot of a house that I passed yesterday while out walking. My eye was drawn to the metal reliefs attached to the wall. Things like these reliefs are what I look forward to most when I’m out walking – random pieces of artistic expression out in the wild.
Stylistically the house looks like it was built in the ’60s, and on the side wall of the wing have been applied some metal sculptures. As far as I can tell they’re the same piece repeated and rotated to create this arrangement. On each piece the silver metal is sculpted into layers which are then lifted and folded to form the relief. The piece or pieces remind me of the abstract artworks featuring repetiton that were being produced in the ’60s by Erwin Hauer or Norman Carlberg.
It looks like there’s some question over their status (or value) as ‘sculptures’ as the present owner of the house has hung a bird-feeder off the part second from the right on the bottom row (somewhat obscured by the tree in this picture). I don’t really care if they’re ‘sculptures’ or not, and – if I was being pedantic – I would also question their quality either as sculptures or as ornaments, but what I would say is they’re a great addition to the house and add a point of interest to the scene.
Technorati Tags: architecture, art, cambridgeshire, erwin hauer, hemingford abbots, house, metal, norman carlberg, relief, sculpture
france
I’ve just got back from a short holiday in the South of France.
I went with a group of friends to the Languedoc-Roussillon region and stayed in a cottage in Fenouillède, a small hillside hamlet nestled between two rocky peaks with ruined Cathar castles at the top.
You basically have a wide glacial valley flanked by ranges of tall mountains on which the Cathar built their strongholds, all of which are perched at the top of the highest points and are very difficult to get to. The landscapes are what I imagine Switzerland looks like.
One thing that struck me was how French towns are full of very old, dilapidated buildings. In England I think they would have all been tidied up or redeveloped. But they add a great deal of charm to the place.
saving the pony
So, there’s this larger-than-average kissing gate as you stop following Monk’s Lode and cross some fields back into Wicken.
And the lock isn’t very secure, so that it easily pops open, leaving the gate standing ajar. One of the ponies had managed to negotiate this and got trapped on the wrong side of the gate. When I reached the gate the rest of the horses and ponies were milling around while the trapped pony was trying to find a way to get through the fence. I managed to coral it through the gate and back to freedom. I suppose someone else would have done the same thing if I hadn’t.
Every time the pony had it’s back to me, as I was guiding it through the gate, I was thinking this is a very bad position to be in, I hope it realizes I’m trying to help and doesn’t kick out. Nice pony.