Walsall

 A visit to Walsall New Art Gallery on my way to lecture at Cannock. There is an amazing exhibition by Tessa Farmer who uses natural dead insects, crabs and other animals to create stories that involve battles between the fairies. The fairies are sculpted on a minute scale from plant roots with wings from flies. Sounds bizarre - it is!!
The images from Walsall are all as taken - I did not realize when taking them that I had such limited colour palette in my views - not a trace of green anywhere!

Day in Walsall

It was particularly cold and wet today so I decided to revisit the New Art Gallery at Walsall, having greatly enjoyed exploring it a few years ago. It houses the Garman Ryan Collection - Kathleen Garman was Jacob Epstein's long-term Mistress (and eventually wife) and mother of three of his five children. The collection has lots of fine sculptures but also pictures by Epstein and by his son Theo Garman who died at the age of 30. Having soaked up all the wonderful images in the Gallery it was the toilets, which are lit with a purple light, that made a lasting impression. In the second image the cubicles can be seen reflected in the pedal bin lid.

The art galery itself is very photogenic with lots of warm wood floors, walls and ceilings and staircases.
I also went round the town and felt the Victorian Arcade was in complete contrast to the modern Art Gallery