Planet Ruby Starrs

Alongside the regular Bowes museum display was a fantastic exhibition ''Catwalking: Fashion through the Lens of Chris Moore''.  This exhibition showcased a large selection of iconic photographs documenting the fashion industry from the 1960's to the present day and includes a number of stunning dresses on show from Fashion designers such a as Vivian Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Versace and many others. I was a exemplary student and as requested I didn't photograph the McQueen collection but I have to say it stole the show and this exhibition, which is on til early January, is well worth a visit for the costume exhibits alone - but the photographs are interesting and I enjoyed the accompanying video of the 2013 (need to check this) Vivian Westwood catwalk show. http://thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Exhibitions/2018/Catwalking-Fashion-Through-the-Lens-of-Chris-Moore

The ongoing life of an art student... so far its great - tiring and a bit daunting - but I'm loving it!  I'm into week one officially, but really my second actual week at the Northern School of Art as, us direct entry students, got a fab pre class week induction. The first modules are underway and I have had a couple of proper lectures already - in a lecture theatre!!! Its real student life!! I've even been in the student union, admittedly only to eat my lunch bait but I've had a good poke about found the library and most of the places I will need to be in the next few months. As students we are all allocated our own work space, a bay with a desk, some wall space and space to put some drawers or such like under - its out own dedicated space and I'm looking forward to making it mine!!! Currently its very sad looking but watch this space it wont take me long to make it feel like home. In reality the work is looking quite complex, which I suppose is not surpr

We went to the Festival of Thrift.  Its a pretty amazing collection of everything you could think of to do with recycling, reusing and reducing in general.  Its an annual event and this year was held in the Mighty Redcar - a place I have some fondness for as I worked there for a few years in my previous life as a daily grinder.  I'm not sure but I think its very much a Northeast event and is held up here rather they being a national thing- I hope so because its good to see something so positive happen in an area which often get neglected when it come to culture.. (yes I know that is up for debate but compared to the south it is poorly served). cardboard art The traffic approaching the area was terrible but there was plenty of on site parking and in the end the event was worth the waiting in lines along the the A174.. I don't now how the festival organisers could change that - its just a testament to how popular the event is!!! The festival was much bigger then I expect

The next chapter begins ... A glorious Monday morning. Masses of house martins whizzing round the house welcoming the sunshine.  A jolly good morning sent to my lovely girls to make sure they are out of bed, my school bag packed and raring to go- and on the road to college... some very pretty meadows strewn down the central reservation of the A689 and the odd roundabout on the way to Hartlepool making for a scenic journey. First week nerves kicked in a bit, but all in all it has been a very productive and interesting week. There are a small number of new students joining the year twos in the textile class, six newbies from various places - 3 of us from Newcastle - all with foundation degrees but needing to resit our second year as this is a requirement for the Northern School of Art.  This isn't a problem for me as I just want to do this for as long as I can so an extra year is actually a bonus for me! Our first week is aimed at introducing the new direct entry students

Libraries are our friends.  –Neil Gaiman I've touched on this subject before - but its dear to my heart and I worry we might lose such precious resources so I'm going to bat on about it again!! Its about 57 years since I joined my first library.. I was the youngest person to become a member of our local branch and I had to satisfy two major conditions.. the first, being fairly obvious was that I could read, and the second, was that I was big enough and strong enough to open the heavy wooden swing doors.  The library itself was in a building at the end of our road and I used to think I was allowed to go on my own not realizing I was followed at a discreet distance on all my early visits.  It was a lovely library set on two floors and. Completely paneled and furnished by the mouse man - Robert Thompson, beautiful heavy wooden furniture and panels with little mice carved in a odd intervals.  At the tender age of 4 I was totally convinced  that the mice ran about at nig

Warning of things to come.... I am starting college again next week!!! Yes I'm once again a fully fledged art student, now enrolled with The Northern Art College - I've got a badge and pen to prove it!! I will be traipsing over to Hartlepool many days a week to  study BA (hons) Textiles and Surface Design.  I'm excited and ever optimistic that it might be a more rewarding experience then my last attempt.  Don't get me wrong there was a lot to like about my last course and I learnt a lot but life at college slowly unraveled as staff were ill and no back fill so no lectures, very little guidance and a disappointing outcome for some at the end.  I was lucky - maybe being a 'mature student' helped and I was able to stay focused and get my foundation degree  with a distinction and move on to explore different avenues... I am going to take the opportunity of all this change to try and have a little revamp of my blog... it will still be the same ramblings but I'm

I forgot to say that some where on this trip we did the Spanish Steps and the the Trevi Fountain, we wandered the bars and night spots of Trevestare and ate an enormous amount of pizza and I drunk quite a lot of red wine - we are on holiday innit!! The airb&b has delivered yet again although it said quiet location with garden and actually its on a very busy road and the outside area is tiny.  but we have sat outside in among the trees having a night cap and it was all molto bello... We had three very long days travelling and sight seeing, so day 4, our final day, was supposed to be very laid back - late rising, slow brekkie, and finally out to explore the modern art museum. After so much classic history its interesting to hit modern art and be brought back to the present. Its a great gallery - wonderfully spacious and after yesterdays  complete manicness at the Vatican sooooo peaceful and empty of people  -and full of really interesting art.  it was a great mix of

painted ceiling and walls How many pictures of painted ceilings should I post... How many roman ruins pictures... statues... tiled floors... tapestries... maps...... We 'did' the Vatican Museum today - finishing up with the Sistine Chapel - it was a mammoth 3 hour slog - and when I say slog I don't mean it wasn't enjoyable but its bit like trying to walk backwards on a conveyor belt of people - round a most beautiful building with incredible exhibits from amazing tiled floors to the obvious painted frescoes and ceilings. such detailed stone carving  In-between all this were sculptured bits of marble sliced and mirrored and in every kind of colour and pattern marble could ever be seen in. it was all very sumptuous -and completely over the top!!!!  Every surface was patterned, tiled, marbled or painted.  The Map corridor was just amazing - map fresco only one I could get pretty much whole there were so many people about I cant help thinking of the poor

I'm in Rome with Dr Fred... it a continuation of my crammed in culture fix!!! In between London and Rome I had a birthday and I was allowed to share my day with my eldest Grandchild who stole my birthday 9 years ago.  We had a greatest showman party and it ws great fun - really lovely to spend the day with my lovely family especially as we have not had the best year. So post birthday...up at 5.00am and on a plane across the continent and then a collection of confusing trains and more trains and we finally wound up in a very nice AirB&B in a place a little out of town but on the main rail link. I love a good lion statue We sorted our digs out and then went back down into town to check out the large park we had seen on the map.  We didn't want to be too adventurous or go too far as we were quite frankly cream crackered - too much birthday glee and not enough sleep but a wander through the park and an early tea and beer seemed a good idea and then an early night to star

We really crammed what we could into the few days we had in London, having really 'done' the V&A we decided to have a little flirt with the natural History museum and and the Science museum. The Natural History museum proved quite enticing - we initially wanted to see the whale bone in the great hall and got sidetracked by all sorts of fab exhibits - another amazing place for inspiration and interesting photographs....... we entered the ball of fire up the escalator into a world of discovery - volcanoes - earthquakes - we found the earthquake simulator and were 'earth quaked' (slightly tame compared to the real one I was in in Peru) we wandered through the building looking for the great hall there was just so much to look at and the building itself is just fantastic.  I got a bit carried away in the stuffed bird section and thought the whale display was fabulous. By the time we got to the science museum we had a very serious case of museum leg... museum b

We walked miles today - excellent day out first at the V&A - one of the most amazing museums, such grandeur and such opulence and thats just the building.  we went primarily to see the Frida Kahlo exhibtion - and it was very interesting, there were less of her personal artifacts then I had expected and more (very beautiful) photos of her and her (less beautiful ) husband Diego Rivera. It was nontheless a very good exhibition and gave a deeper insight into Kahlos life and how the pain and misfortune she suffered influenced her art.   She was indeed a very beautiful, talented woman and in spite of recovering badly from polio, being bedridden for over a year due to a serious motor accident, and having serious problems with her leg she managed a full and productive life . She undertook lots of travelling, considerable paintings and it seems quite a large number of lovers.  Her injuries sustained in the bus crash incident left her body very damaged and she wore a plaster corset f