where art collides philosoperontap

May 31, 2014

Lincoln Eleanor Cross main body almost complete

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 7:34 pm

We have been following the progress of the carving of the new Eleanor Cross for Lincoln by sculptor Alan Ward. The main body of this historic new monument is now almost complete and Alan will shortly be beginning work on the slate wing and seating area around the base..

You can see that Eleanor is emerging from the stone. In my mind this is analogous to her re-emerging from oblivion after being destroyed by the Roundheads approximately 370 years ago.

It seems strange to thing that we have been covering this project on the blog with images and video whilst there will be no record of it being broken up all those years ago let alone of it being built, hundreds of years before that. I can almost feel the spectres of those involved walking around inspecting the statue making observations, or just quietly raising a ghostly eyebrow.

The original site of the Cross is lost although it is thought that it could be at the top of Cross O’Cliff Hill which stacks up when you think about it. The Church of St Katherines is at the bottom of this hill. The population of Lincoln at the time would only have been a couple of thousand people – a far cry from the busy town of today. The erection of the Cross would have been big news in those days. Let’s hope we can make a similar impact in 2014.

We don’t yet have a date for an official unveiling of the Lincoln Eleanor Cross but I certainly feel a party coming on. Perhaps recreate the drink that was on offer when the Cross was originally installed (I’ll have to check on that one as it may be just stuff like mead which is orrible and won’t play a part in any party of mine:) ). We certainly won’t be dishing out any gruel.

Lincoln based readers may want to make a mental note to revisit trefor.net periodically to look out for any announcement or by all means leave a comment and I’ll take that as a request to be notified. If you don’t want to go on public record re this just say so in the comment and I’ll keep it private. If you have previously commented this won’t work as these comments are not moderated in advance.

May 23, 2014

Lincoln Eleanor Cross – the story continues

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 7:30 pm

Work on the carving of the new Eleanor Cross for Lincoln continues with artist and sculptor Alan Ward making good progress this week. When looking at the work being done by Alan you begin to understand why in historical times it might take years to carve a statue. By using power tools Al has been able to reduce it to a couple of months. There is an awful lot of stone to hack away at.

The following photos show some progress during the week. The first one to appear was taken a few days before the second. The third image is a close up of the wing, The others are videos with a short chat with Alan regarding this week’s work and a look at him in action smoothing out some of the wing

May 15, 2014

Eleanor Cross for Lincoln – latest update

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 7:25 pm

At this stage of the game pictures speak louder than words. Just after I was there the bishop of Lincoln swung by for a gander. Happy with progress apparently.

A few pics for you. Links to previous Eleanor Cross posts at the end of this one so that you can track progress with the sculpture. Much of the work is painstaking chipping away of large parts of the stone block that aren’t needed for the stature itself. You can see from the close up the striata where Alan Ward has been chiselling away.

May 10, 2014

Eleanor Cross for Lincoln – Eleanor begins to emerge

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 7:19 pm
The new Lincoln Eleanor Cross begins to emerge from its stone home. It’s pretty astounding that a solid lump or rock can contain a thing of such beauty and you already begin to get a sense for the character.
These two videos chart progress over a few days last week. A lot of time is spent just hacking out stone as opposed to making the shape of the statue itself. Better you watch the vids than me transcribing them here. It’s outdoors and there is a lot of wind around but it gives you a good feel for the working conditions of a jobbing sculptor 🙂

May 4, 2014

Gorgeosity [def]

Filed under: ideas — Trefor Davies @ 5:48 am

An unusually rare state of inconceivable gorgeousness, usually in a female. This person both loves and is loved. Puts up with unreasonableness in an unreasonably nice way. Grows lovelier with each passing year.  Looks great in the pool. Likes snooker.

 

For Anne

May 2, 2014

Lincoln A2Z S17 – Nothing

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 6:05 am

It cannot be that S17 is “Nothing”. There must be a field there at least. Shirley. The A2Z doesn’t really help us here. If the Lincoln A2Z was the HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy it would at least have some entry. Maybe “nothing” was lifted directly from the book. I haven’t got a copy so I can’t check. I’ve looked on Amazon, eBay et al and all I can find is some work of fiction of the same title.

One thing you can’t accuse the HHGTTG of is being fictitious. Shirley. It would help if the A2Z showed S17 in green. That would suggest a field. It is bordered by Canwick Manor Farm, Westfield Farm and Canwick Heath Farm. Has there been a battle of the farms somewhere in history fighting it out for possession of S17? The 1st World War trench warfare of the agricultural world. I really don’t know, yannow. The Battle for S17 Trilogy. The definitive guide to 500 years of feuding over a small plot of land, unnamed until the Lincoln A2Z came along and arbitrarily called it what we know it as today.

Of course if you’ve never looked at the Lincoln A2Z you might never know the land was called S17. Unless there’s a sign there. I haven’t been but I doubt such a sign exists. If to did there would be others at regular intervals around our fair city. Most of them could have been pinched I supposed.  A bit like the regular fate of the Abbey Road sign off the Beatles Album of the same name. I’m sure we would have heard about that.

There aren’t very many plots with absolutely nothing in them. U15 is the only other one that springs to mind (after a cursory sweep of the map).

S17 twinned with U15. Birds of a feather. Kindred spirits. Losers in the cartographic story of the 21st century.

 

Fade to nothing…

May 1, 2014

Lincoln A2Z N7- Bishop Grot

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 7:03 am

Bishop Grot is in N7. It’s somewhere you drive past many times without thinking much other than “there’s Bishop Grot” or “hmm I notice it’s now a Uni”. Although I’ve lived in Lincoln since January 7th 1984 I only went to Bishop Grot for the first time a couple of years ago. It was to the showing of a film at “The Venue”. I’ve forgotten what the film was but since that time I’ve been getting pseudo spam email from The Venue advertising what’s on.

It’s only pseudo spam. Most of what I get sent doesn’t interest me but it was such a nice venue that I haven’t got the heart to block them. Since that day I’ve been back four times. Twice to Lincoln Rugby Club dinners, once looking at a new office and once to a piano concert with internationally famous Hungarian pianist Ervin Nagy. Erv’s a pal of mine. Nagy is pronounced Naje. Erv is pronounced Erv, to me at least.

What amazes you about Bisho Grot is the size of the campus. It’s much bigger than you think when you drive past. The other surprise as how cheap the beer was at the student union. Quality. Got a glass of fizzy water for free. It’s much healthier for you than beer although obviously has to be drunk in moderation. You can have as much beer as you like.

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