Amelia’s Magazine | Zoo Good To Be True

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On Thursday the bath-time lovelies at Lush supported one of my great loves, case troche by staging Climate Rush themed picnics outside all 89 of their UK stores.

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As was detailed by Cari in a previous post, unhealthy my local Lush store just happens to be in Liverpool Street Station. Chosen as the flagship store for this event the picnic was attended by Lush superstar campaigners Sean and Andrew, here who have together helped us out in a very big way.

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I sent the interns ahead on foot and arrived to find a fetching gingham tablecloth – bearing the timely ‘Climate Change is No Picnic’ slogan – being spread and upon it a yummy selection of vegan cake and cookies laid out for passersby to enjoy.

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A trio of violins led by the Rush’s very own Deborah (her of sticky-fingers-in-parliament fame) struck up a tune as the lovely Lush girls, dressed in full Edwardian garb, handed out Trains Not Planes sashes to business men passing by and even managed to engage some climate change denialists in some productive conversation.

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The police, as ever, were present. In fact I swear I recognised one of them from the “Riot Gate” at Kingsnorth during Climate Camp last year. Unlike then, they were eager to smell the soaps (all packaged in recyclable paper – Lush tries not to use excess packaging, just one of the reasons we love ‘em) and chat to the pretty shop girls. I wonder if they’ll be so nice to us on Monday…

As Tamsin did her best to butter up the passersby in those famous suffragette must-haves, fishnet tights and a miniskirt, we were pounced on by a person dressed up as a giant mobile phone.

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A slightly surreal experience to say the least, as the Lush shop girls tried to dress the ungainly thing in some bright red sashes, whilst Sean did his best to engage the phone in conversation about how many times a year it flies. My interns finally arrived and proceeded to pose marvelously for the camera. We’ve been joking that Jonno and Roisin are evil twins – just check them out!

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Over the weekend there has been a flurry of Climate Rush activity, both promotional and creative – we’ve flyered the South Bank twice, and approached friendly looking cyclists left, right and centre.

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It seems that if you ride a bike you are generally a friendly soul, and all of them were happy to hear about Climate Rush bar a particularly unpleasant yuppie couple with a pair of fold out Bromptons that no doubt only see the light of day when the sun shines at the weekend. Fairweather cyclists, who’d have ‘em?!

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In between accosting cyclists we have managed to print a mammoth amount of sexy sashes and flags to attach to the back of bikes.

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I’ve discovered that I can still sew, and managed to knock up 5 pairs of fetching bloomers in record time (just don’t look too closely at the sewing, I was in a hurry okay?!) Made out of red and white striped fabric with lacey ruffles on the legs they look part clown and more than a little bit burlesque, but then whoever said we take the Edwardian theme too seriously?! I can’t wait to see what everyone else dons for out bike ride tomorrow.

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Bring it on…. let’s show the government and big corporations that we won’t let them get away with business as usual when it comes to Climate Change. Collectively we can stop this beautiful world of ours from being buggered over, so make sure you come along and enjoy a stylish Bike Rush with a purpose. This is one cycle ride you’re sure to remember…

Read a past blog about this event here. What do you think about direct action over Climate Change? Let us know your views.
Rowdy – Never Smile at a Crocodile

Sartorial Contemporary Art
26 Argyle Square
London WC1H 8AP
June 4th – June 27th
Open Tues – Sat 1:30 – 7pm or by appointment

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With work described as ‘Ren & Stimpy meets Goldsworthy’, shop this is the first major solo show for Rowdy in London to date. Mixing the Ancient with the Urban, medical Rowdy juxtaposes his trademark playful crocodile sculptures with the modern cityscape jungle. He also produces street art paintings reminiscent of caveman-esque cartoon monoliths.

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Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture

Saatchi Gallery
Duke of York’s HQ
King’s Road
London
SW3 4SQ
Until 13th September
10am-6pm, illness 7 days a week
Free

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A new generation of radical American abstract painters and sculptors from the US, 35 of them in total, with work both daring and inventive, fresh and exhilarating.

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Aditya Pande

Alexia Goethe Gallery
7 Dover Street, London W1S 4LD
Until 18th July
Monday – Friday 10-6
Saturday 11-4

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New Dehli artist Aditya Pande’s first solo London show draws on both fine and applied art principles. What start as drawings on computer morph into paper prints or canvas creations, and then become starting points for three-dimensional narratives. Frantic, glossy, grand and descriptive.

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Feel The Force

Cafe Gallery
By the Lake, Southwark Park
London SE16 2UA
Until 28th June
Wednesday – Sunday 12 – 6
Free

Maja Bajevic, Benjamin Beker, Astrid Busch, Kate Gilmore, Immo Klink, Susan MacWilliam, James Pogson, Anina Schenker

Curated by Clare Goodwin and Liz Murray

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Inspired by engagement in power and resistance, Feel the Force is a collaborative show from eight international artists and debates the psychological, the political and the physical. Investigating roles of victim and perpetrator, the artists approach the term Force through avenues diverse as obsessional first love and the military.

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The Social Lives of Objects

Castlefield Gallery
2 Hewitt Street
Knott Mill
Manchester M15 4GB
Until 19th July
1-6pm Wednesday-Sunday
Free

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Hilary Jack, Lisa Penny and Dallas Seitz provide insightful examinations of society’s complex and perplexing relationship with material goods, from their beginnings in production to their inevitable obsolescence and decay. Everyday objects are recovered and represented and reinterpreted for our reevaluation of what role ‘stuff’ has in our lives and in our world.

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The Butterfly Effect

ARCH Gallery
15 Resolution Way
Deptford
London SE8 4NT
Until 20th June
Thurs – Sat 12:00 to 5:00pm

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The well-known theory that subtle actions can and will ultimately alter the paths of world disaster is given a makeover by God’s gift to drawing Paul Marks. Using the system to create intricate line drawings in which each line added by hand effects the next one added. The comparisons are as varied as lunar landscapes, overtly sexual and flows of air, smoke or water.

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ARCHIPELAGO – Gemma Anderson

Whitecross Gallery
122 Whitecross St.
London EC1Y 8PU
Until 6. June
Tues – Sat 11 – 6pm or by appointment
Free

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The final week to catch new work from Gemma Anderson including her signature drawings and newer etching work. Dream-like and fantastical depictions of fairies, land and seascapes drawing on her experiences of researching the Natural History archives in Canada, Japan and France her new work doubles as a personal travelogue.


Monday 1st June
Gang Gang Dance and About at Dingwalls, buy more about London
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Gang Gang Dance are one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. They take inspiration from all over the world without erring into the Vampire Weekend‘s at times jarring pseudo-exoticism, by mixing everything through a furore of delay pedals and reverbs, to create a cyclical and danceable freaky electronica. With support from Hot Chip‘s Alexis Taylor’s improv side project About.

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Tuesday 2nd June
Fanfarlo and {Stricken City} at ICA, London.

Amelia’s favourites Anglo-Swedish Fanfarlo, bring their grandiose but whimsical pop to the ICA. With support from {Stricken City}

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Wednesday 3rd June
Post War Years, Milke and My Tiger My Timing at The Lexington, London.

The Lexington reminds me of that friend you had when you were 16 who introduced to lots of awesome bands. Tonight they host Post War Years, Milke, My Tiger My Timing. Come and boogie on down.

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Thursday 4th June
Deolinda and Oliver Man at ICA, London

Get that summer vibe with some Portugese music… Deolinda, an excellent four piece inspired by traditional fado music. Australian Oliver Mann offers support at the ICA.?

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Friday 5th June
Dan Deacon, Future Islands, Teeth Mountain, Adventure at ULU, London.

This Friday, Upset the Rhythm are serving up the finest Baltimore exports since The Wire, with the promise of more bells than Stringer. Dan Deacon headlines at ULU with the Wham CIty Collective, having loved his latest record Bromst with it’s melodic plinky plonky electro noise, I can’t wait to see him live apparently his shows are a sight to behold. He shares the bill with the Baltimore synth-poppers Future Islands, the noisy electro outfit Teeth Mountain, and “game-boy” soul band Adventure.

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Saturday 6th June
Devo at The HMV Forum, London.

Q. Are we not men?
A. No we are Devo.

That’s right! Mega-group Devo play the Forum this Saturday, interestingly and even more awesomely member Mark Mothersbaugh also composes for Wes Anderson. They merge kitschy science fiction and a dark sense of humour- this is truly going be legendary.

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Monday 1st June

BEGIN THE SUMMER OF PROTEST IN STYLE! remember..
1.Meet in St James Square, visit just off The Mall, from 5pm (we set off at 6pm).?
2. Bring bells, banners, Suffragette style, a picnic to share.?
3. If you miss us then you can come and join at any point along the way, or just for the picnic, call 07751 805 275 to find out where we’re at.

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On Monday 1st June the UK Parliament returns from recess for the summer sitting. We want to give them a warm welcome and remind them of the heat they can expect if they continue to ignore climate change.
Ed Miliband (Secretary of State Energy and Climate Change) is in Bonn that evening, discussing with other ‘world leaders’ the agenda for the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Let’s give our ‘leaders’ a taste of the civil disobedience they can expect if real climate justice fails to materialise.
It is also the first evening of a coal conference at the illustrious ‘Chatham House’. Everyone who’s anyone, at least in the coal world, will be there.
We’ll begin our bike-ride outside their conference before winding our way ?through town.
Meet us from 5pm on St James Square, SW1Y 4LE. We’ll then move off at 6pm and take our bikes for a relaxed tour through London. Labour might think that investing in electric cars is the solution to climate change but we know that cars using electricity from coal-fired power stations is yet another red-herring.
Have you ever needed more reason to leave the house, embrace the sunshine and join the pedal-powered as they move about town?
Come along and make your impact felt.

Tuesday 2nd June

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Illustration by Faye Katirai

Entering an Ecological Age,
RIBA, 66 Portland Place, W1.
Peter Head explores how the world can begin to make the transition towards an ecological age of civilisation. focussing on urban areas and inefficient food production methods which consume land and non-renewable resources, 6.30pm, £8/£5
Info: 7580 5533/ info@bb.cc.org.uk

Celebrating World Environment Day – towards a new concept of development,

Francisco Lozano Winterhalder, 6.30pm, Instituto Cervantes, 102 Eaton Square
SW1. Info: 7235 0353

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Wednesday 3rd June
7pm

?‘Meltdown The End of The Age of Greed’?with Paul Mason

?Housmans Bookshop?
5 Caledonian Road?
LONDON,?
England
?N1 9DX,?UK?

Newsnight’s economics editor Paul Mason discusses the financial crash and explains why, love it or loathe it, the neo-liberal era is over. Followed by Q&A and book signing.???’Meltdown‘ tells the story of the financial crash that destroyed the West’s investment banks, brought the global economy to its knees, and began to undermine three decades of neo-liberal orthodoxy. Covering the credit crunch and its aftershocks from the economic front line, BBC journalist Paul Mason explores the roots of the US and UK’s financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences from the Ford factory, to Wall Street, to the City of London.??In response to the immense challenge now facing the existing economic system, he outlines a new era of hyper-regulated capitalism that could emerge from the wreckage. Paul Mason writes: “The book tells the story of the events of September-October 2008: I’m the economics editor of BBC Newsnight, so I had a ringside seat. It explains how we got here – from the shadow banking system, to subprime, to the commodities speculation that forced a billion people to go without meals in mid-2008. It also explains why, love it or loathe it, the neo-liberal era is over.”?
About the author: ??Paul Mason is the economics editor of BBC Newsnight and has covered globalisation and social justice stories from locations across the world, including Latin America, Africa and China. His previous book ‘Live Working, Die Fighting‘ was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.??Paul’s blog on the unfolding financial crisis ‘Idle Scrawl‘ can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/.

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Thursday 4th June

The Gate of Heavenly Peace,
7.30pm
Prince Charles Cinema,
7 Leicester Place, WC2 .

Tickets £6.50 / £5 Students / £4.50 Member – Q&A
Starring: ?This extraordinary three-hour film…is a deep, powerful and rivetingly complex study of Tiananmen… THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE will prove controversial in the West as well, for it shows that the student movement was divided against itself, with some its most influential leaders hoping for carnage. The student leader Chai Ling, shortly before the crackdown, announces in an interview that `only when the square is awash with blood will the people of China open their eyes.’ We have a special Q&A session with Antony Thomas (director of The Tank Man) and Tian Ai Zhang soprano soloist.

Friday 5th June

7.30pm
Food for All?
George Alagiah introduces the first in a series of debates on the big issues of our times, free, St. Peter’s Church, De Beauvoir Rd, Hackney

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Saturday 6 June

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Climate Camp Benefit Night
7pm -1.30am
Cross Kings Pub,
126 York Way,
N1 0AX
Are you interested in doing more to highlight the urgency of climate change? Are you intrigued but feel uncomfortable about going outside the mainstream political process? Would you consider getting involved but don’t know how? Are you nervous about the consequences?
Climate Camp Benefit Night
Poetry, Comedy and Bands


WDM’s London campaigner convention

When: 10am – 5pm, Saturday 6 June 2009 ?
Where: The Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA

Join the World Development Movement in discussing just and sustainable solutions to the financial and climate crises, and learn useful skills for campaigning for a better world.
Speakers include:
Andrew Simms (New Economics Foundation)?, Emily Thornberry MP, ?Nicola Bullard (Focus on the Global South), ?Paul Chatterton (Author, Do It Yourself: A handbook for changing our world)? Plus WDM policy officers and campaigners.
Another world is possible
For 30 years, free market dogma has dominated official politics the world over. Now that dogma has brought us a financial crisis, a climate crisis, and for thousands of the world’s poorest people a crisis of soaring food prices too.
Yet all over the world, people are responding to these crises by challenging vested interests and proposing alternatives. Alternatives which seek to build a just, sustainable and peaceful world, and which put people before profit.
Think Global is about making those alternatives a reality, by helping you to spread the word, understand the issues and learn the skills you need to bring about change.
Sessions include:
What is climate justice? ?Working with diaspora communities?. Stop Europe’s great trade robbery. ?Practical activism: Making change happen in your community. ?How to lobby your MP or MEP. ?The Green New Deal? Economic alternatives from the global south.
Plus bookstalls, lots of free educational and campaigns materials and refreshments.
WDM’s Annual General Meeting will take place during the day, and all WDM members are welcome to attend. There will be a parallel session for non-members during this time.
Email register@wdm.org.uk/ 7820 4900

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Saturday 6th June

Eco-village occupation London

In May 1996, 500 The Land is Ours activists occupied 13 acres of derelict land on the banks of the River Thames in Wandsworth, highlighting the misuse of urban land, the lack of provision of affordable housing and the deterioration of the urban environment. That action grew into far more than just a simple land rights action.
A community grew up on the site called Pure Genius!! over the 5½ months that the occupation lasted for…..
Then and now:
“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars” Martin Luther King.
In the first three months of 2009, nearly 13,000 Britons lost their home to repossessions. Now, perhaps more than ever, the ideas of peaceful land reclamation and eco-villages are becoming recognized as the solution to problems such as overcrowding in cities and the destruction of the land due to harmful agricultural practices.
Action:
In the spirit of Pure Genius, On June 6th 2009, hundreds of activists will converge on a piece of derelict land close by to Hammersmith in south west London to create an eco-village community based entirely on sustainable technology and construction techniques.
Come and be a part of this eco-village community.
Meet-up:
The exact location of the site will be revealed on the day. The meet up point is at Waterloo Station (under the clock in the middle of the station) at 10AM on Saturday 6th June. Please try to be on time as we don’t want to be hanging around all morning.
If you would like to speak to someone regarding the campaign or the occupation, please contact Carolyn on: 01727 812369 or Gareth on: 07515 166011 or email: diggers360@yahoo.co.uk

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Sunday 7 June

3pm – 7pm
Green Sunday
Arcola Theatre, 27 Arcola Street, E8.
Drop in between 3pm and 7pm for tea and cake on the roof, activities with the Secret Seed Society, a swap shop, market, debate about ethical consumerism with Neil Boorman and Morgan Philips plus music, film and books.
Info: anna@arcolatheatre.com
Find out more here
Mowgli. Ace Ventura. Romulus, buy Remus. Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls – there’s a number of individuals across the board that have lived their lives shoulder to shoulder with the animal kingdom. Whether these life experiences amounted to much creative cashback for the above is unknown – what we do know is that it certainly did for Dutch jeweller Felieke van der Leest, pharm who grew up next door to a zoo. She has spent years making collections of animal- inspired jewellery that has been exhibited in a whole lot of museums, including the International Museum of Applied Arts in Turn, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Montreal, the Modern Art Museum in Arnhem, and the Dutch Textile Museum in Tilburg.

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Most affronting is the seamlessly funny juxtaposition of ideas – like the rapper penguin with bling around his neck and diamond eyes (a brooch), rubber ducks squeezed into lifeboat rings (a necklace). Her creations are bit like neo-Sylvanian families gone Shoreditch: a testament to a wealth of spangly imagination channelling the uninhibited spirit of the animal world.

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As van der Leest says, “animals are never boring”, and when they’re swinging from hoops, or squatting on their own little aeroplane runways, even less so. I think she accomplishes the same effect as Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton or Lewis Carroll, tapping into her customer’s childish sense of wonder that might have got replaced by cynicism along the way. It was her own childhood fascination that propelled her into her profession, having spent her family holidays indoors watching National Geographic and knitting clothes for her bears, even crocheting an entire mouse family along with a piece of cheese.

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There’s something so perfect about them they are almost uncanny; you might be left scratching your head and wondering if Jack Russells hadn’t been nonchalantly wearing American football uniforms all along. She has also, amazingly, made much of it multi-functional, including the necklace of strolling lions whose leader can be detached and worn as a brooch.

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This reaction, of course, might have something to do with van der Leest’s crazy good capabilities with her materials. Van der Leest, who originally trained as a goldsmith, combines metals with textile techniques – after studying metalwork in Amsterdam she became reacquainted with knitting and crocheting. She began to introduce metal into her works after she developed RSI as a means of combating the repetitiveness of knitting, although she has said she enjoys working with textiles for their variety and availability. It’s not all kittens and cupcakes though: there’s something masochistic about some of her work, in particular the dismembered animal parts hanging from a chain, or the decapitated giraffe with a nest instead of a head.

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They’re startling pieces that seem to upset you with their disorder, making you wonder about the relationship between the animal world and the human one; how one can shape – and, indeed, destroy – the other.

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Humanising animals is a tradition that goes so far back into children’s stories that it would almost seem unnatural to have van der Leest’s creatures without a narrative. Like the rollerskating diplodocus: since as the diplodocus was a famously slow animal, the next logical step was for van der Leest to allocate it with two pairs of tiny rollerskates). However along with this tradition comes a tendency to infantilise the idea as it happens, but what’s most striking about van der Leest’s pieces are their modernity and their sophistication – in short, it’s subversive humour for grown-ups. In a period of fashion where people are mercilessly bandying around words like ‘austerity’ and ‘practicality’, I think wearing a badge of a goldfish on a giant set of wheels has never been more necessary.

Categories ,Animals, ,Children, ,Craft, ,Holland, ,Jewellery, ,Stories

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Amelia’s Magazine | R-Art Attack!

Undercover: Lingerie Exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum

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“Welcome to Limehouse.” With those words, about it Jarvis Cocker set off on the latest instalment of his 30 year musical odyssey, visit this site launching into set opener Pilchard from his new solo album, Further Complications. For such a long, often tortuous journey which began at a Sheffield secondary school and the formation of what was originally known as Arabicus Pulp, the Troxy did seem a rather apt stopping point – a former theatre turned bingo-hall in the deepest End End, where Stepney and Limehouse blur into each other, now restored and reborn as an unlikely concert venue.

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In fact, Cocker did remark, in his own inimitable way, that the place reminded him of an ice-rink from his youth, where he went to “cop off” with someone, and you still half expected to hear calls of “clickety click” and “legs eleven”, even as support band the Horrors were going through their Neu! meets Echo and the Bunnymen infused motorik indie.

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There were a few half-hearted requests from parts of the audience, but tonight was most definitely a Pulp-free zone (the presence of longtime sidekick Steve Mackey on bass was as near as we got). The set leant heavily on Cocker’s sophomore solo effort, which has a rockier, heavier edge to it than its’ predecessor (not surprising given the pedigree of producer Steve Albini). That said, old Jarvis still has the wry wit and subtle smut that made albums like Different Class such stand outs back in the day (witness news songs Leftover and I Never Said I Was Deep), and he still has plenty of those weirdly angular dance moves up his sleeves. As if that weren’t enough, he even dusted off his old junior school recorder skills on the introduction to Caucasian Blues.

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A couple of numbers from Cocker’s debut solo album made an appearance towards the end of the set, including a driving Fat Children, whilst the encore opened with Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time. We ended on the closer from Further Complications, You’re In My eyes (Discosong), where Jarvis appears to channel the spirit of Barry White – there was even a glitterball to dazzle the Troxy’s faded glamour.
As Jarvis took the adulation of the massed faithful, it seemed like, after a bit of a wilderness period post-Pulp, old Mr Cocker has most definitely got his mojo back.

12 June – 27 September 2009

The Fashion and Textiles Museum‘s summer exhibition hopes to present the evolution of underwear over the last hundred years. The result is a lacklustre exhibition with a thrown-together-in-minutes appearance.

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The exhibition is organised into areas covering research, more about innovation, seek materials, order celebrity, marketing, print and colour. Despite the ‘evolution’ title, there isn’t any sense of a chronological representation, apart from a small part of the opening corridor of the exhibition where underwear is displayed by year.

It is here where the most interesting pieces are displayed. Beginning with a Charles Bayer corset from the 1900s, we take an (albeit short) walk through the brief history of underwear. There are great examples from Triumph International – then a pioneering underwear brand, now underwear powerhouse governing brands like Sloggi.

We see a sanfor circular conical stretch bra, reminiscent of Madonna’s iconic bra designed by John Paul Gaultier in the 80s (which the placard reveals, to nobody’s surprise, is where JPG sought his inspiration).

In the main arena, there are corsets hanging from the ceiling, of which there are 8 or 9 examples. The corset, as the information details, is one of fashion’s most iconic items. So how can so few examples tell us anything we didn’t already know? Only one of the artefacts is pre 21st century – most are borrowed from burlesque ‘celebrities’ such as Immodesty Blaze and Dita von Teese – hardly representative of underwear’s evolution.

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The bulk of the exhibition centres around print, pattern and colour, and again the exhibition relies too heavily on modern pieces, with a small scattering of interesting M&S items. This area, again, relies too heavily on modern underwear – usual suspects La Perla and Rigby & Peller extensively featured – but other key brands, such as Agent Provocateur, fail to get even a mention.

Pioneer of modern underwear Calvin Klein isn’t covered nearly enough as he should be, save for a couple of iconic 1990s white boxer shirts. In fact, men’s underwear isn’t given any coverage at all, which is a shame considering this exhibition’s bold title.

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This exhibition does hold some key pieces, and regardless of what I think, it’s definitely worth seeing if you are a fashion follower. Its many flaws could have been ironed out with more attention to detail, and it’s a shame that the FTM isn’t more of a major player in London’s fashion scene. If you want to see stacks of salacious, expensive, modern-day underwear, why not just take a trip to Harrods? They have a larger selection and don’t charge an entry fee!

Dear Readers, symptoms

I am writing to share something a little bit special with you. We all know that warm butterflies-in-the-belly feeling when envelopes arrive through the letterbox with your name and address handwritten carefully on the front with a return address of a friend or lover on the reverse, pilule a beacon of personal correspondence among a mundane plethora of bills, more about takeaway menus and bank statements. How much more sincere is a ‘Thank You’ or a ‘Sorry’, how much more romantic is an ‘I Love You’ or ‘Marry Me’ when it comes in pen to paper form rather than digitalised and, heaven forbid, abbreviated via modern technological means.

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Letter writing may be an old fashioned and somewhat dying art, one that we all claim to still do or intend to do, but actually don’t make time for in a world of convenient instant messaging, free text plans and social network sites, but Jamie Atherton and Jeremy Lin refuse to abandon the old worldly ways of communication just yet.

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Finding their stationery was like being invited to a secret society for letter writers, a prize from the postal Gods to congratulate and reward all those who participate in mail exchanges, to inspire us to keep going to strive on and not let the Royal Mail network collapse from lack of traffic. The more I find out about this creative pair of gents the deeper I fall under their spell. Two handsome young men, madly in love with each other, one English one American, live together in London nowadays but in the 12 years that have passed since they fell head over heels they have lived in San Francisco too and co-created Atherton Lin, the name under which they produce, distribute and sell their products.

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Their work, such as the collections of Winter and Summer greeting cards, is as collectable as it is sendable. Each of the four cards in a set tells a tale; funny, sentimental, melancholic and earnest. They strive to avoid clichés or overused formulaic recipes for ‘commercialised cute’, but instead the boys have created a world of butterflies, badgers, bicycles and balloons, using recycled materials and harm-free inks. It is not just their illustrated correspondence materials that Atherton Lin have become known and adored for, that paved the way to being noticed by and sold alongside Marc Jacobs’ wears and tears, as well as being stocked at places such as London’s ICA, LA’s Ooga Booga and San Francisco’s Little Otsu.

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Working on the basis that not all correspondence is text, stationery therefore does not have to be exclusively on paper. With a nod to their burgeoning passion for mix tapes, which featured heavily through their transatlantic courtship, they created artwork for a series of blank CDs. The pair have collaborated with a number of talented outfits such as the musicians Vetiver and Elks, and for a book of poems published by Fithian Press, in addition to eye wateringly lovely calendars.

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They cite their inspirations to include the charmingly unaware wit of Japanese stationary with its mysteriously nonsensical English translations, Peanuts comic strips, the lyrics to strumming shoe gaze bands such as Ride and poet Dylan Thomas. Having conducted the first three years of their blossoming relationship as long distance partners, they perhaps know better than anyone the value and worth of the handwritten word, the virtues of patience while awaiting the postman and the magnified importance of every tiny detail when letters are sustaining your longing heart.

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Now that I’ve been well and truly bitten by the Atherton Lin bug, I have an overbearing urge to dig out my address book and scribe catch up letters to friends in far-flung corners of the globe, and those just around the corner. And for the scented pastel coloured envelopes about to reach the letterboxes of my acquaintances in the next couple of weeks, you have Jeremy and Jamie to thank, for restoring my faith in the romantic, timeless pastime of writing letters.

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Yours ever so faithfully,

Alice Watson
Last Thursday, order I negotiated my bicycle through the customary crush of Trafalgar Square to the RSA, find for a talk by R Beau Lotto in association with the Barbican Radical Nature series. Beau heads up Lotto Lab, whose aim is to explain and explore how and why we see what we do (do check out their website) – mainly through looking at how we see colour, which is one of the simplest things we do.

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All images by R Beau Lotto, courtesy of Lotto Labs

Here’s a quick science bit, which he gets in at the beginning of the talk to a packed full lecture theatre – light and colour are not the same. Light can be represented on a linear scale. It has just wavelength and intensity. Colour has three bits to it. So it’s much more complicated to describe : hue (red-green-blue-or-yellowness), brightness, and saturation (greyness).

The whole talk is full of questions I asked as a six-year-old, and I’m left with a kind of wide-eyed amazement at how clearly everything is explained and presented – I’ll pick out one of the most satisfying.. Why is the sky blue? This is one to try at home. Get the biggest glass bowl or see-through container you can find, and fill it with water. Shine a desk lamp through it – the lamp’s now the sun and the water space. If we had no atmosphere, the sky would be black with a bright sun – as it is from the moon. Now add a little milk at a time to the water, stirring as you go. As it spreads through the water, the milk will scatter the light like the atmosphere does, and at the right level, will scatter blue. Add a bit more, and you’ll make a sunset – the longer-wave red light scatters when it goes through more atmosphere, as sunlight does when it’s low in the sky. Add more again, and it’ll go grey : you made a cloud, where all the light scatters equally.

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The colour of space changes. We never quite see the surface of anything in the world – we see the result of the light shining, the character of the surface, and the space in between. So colours really are brighter in St Ives than Old Street. So the patterns of light that fall onto the eye are strictly meaningless.

We learn to see. We find relationships between things we look at – the context of anything we look at is essential to how we see it. This is what the ‘illusions’ spread through this article show so bogglingly. And context is what links the present to the past – we associate patterns with what we did last time, and learn from it. Beau asked at one point for a volunteer from the audience. I was desperately far back, in the middle of a row – smooth escape from that one. But the demonstration itself was quietly mind-blowing. A target was projected on the screen, and Rob the lucky volunteer was asked to hit it (this as a control – the exciting bit comes next). Next, he put on a pair of glasses which shifted the world 30 degrees to his right. Throwing again, he missed by miles. After a few goes, though, Rob’s whole body movement changed and he hit the target every time. Then he took the glasses off again, and immediately missed the other way – his mind had learnt for that moment to see the world utterly differently.

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We don’t see the world as it is – in fact it doesn’t make much sense to talk about the world ‘as it really is’ – only what’s useful. Colour, for example, is great for not being eaten by orange tigers in a green jungle. We constantly figure out what is ‘normal’ – and what should stick out from this normal. So… there are no absolutes – only perceptions of a world relative to a changing normal. No one is outside of this relativity. We are all defined by our ecology. We all learn to live in the world that’s presented to us – and that in a very relative way.

Beau has four ‘C’s that he leaves as teasing thoughts – Compassion, Creativity, Choice and Community. And this is where, if you’ve been reading along wondering quite why I thought this was a good idea for an ‘Earth’ article, I started thinking about the way we tell stories about the environment, the way we tell stories about what happens in the world around us. Getting your head around different mindsets could be wonderfully informed by these ideas – things like understanding how to persuade business profit-heads that sustainability is the only way to long-term profit, or grassroots activists that FTSE 500 companies have been organising and managing disparate groups of employees for years – there’s surely something to learn there.

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Knowing that everything we do – down to something so simple as seeing colour – is essentially informed by what we did before, and the kinds of context we’ve ever been exposed to – this can only add possibility to whatever buzzes round our brains : more compassionate, as we see where others might have come from; more creative, questioning these reflexes; more conscious in our choices, if we think a little past the instinctive; and more communal, in a broad sense, as we’re each a unique part of a whole, all sharing in individual perceptions and histories.

That was what I took from it, anyway. Do get in touch, or leave a comment, if you saw any other cool patterns here – I’d be intrigued to hear.

Come July 16th, ampoule Amelia’s Magazine will be packing the bikini’s, sunglasses and factor 15 to rock up to one of the biggest highlights of our social calendar. Continuing our Festival season round up, we are going to focus our attention on the Daddy of the European festivals; Benicassim. Building rapidly in status, this cheeky Spanish live wire began its incarnation in 1995, but even then it was reaching for the stars, with heavy hitters such as The Chemical Brothers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Stone Roses headlining. Now firmly established as a major player on the summer festival season, Benicassim is the ultimate go-to when you want your music fest to go easy on the mud, and heavy on the sand, sea and sun.

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Desde Escenario Verde by Oscar L. Tejeda

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Getting back to the music, the organisers have come up trumps for this years festival. Just in case you were unaware of the lineup, allow me to share the treats that will be in store if you’ve got tickets. Top of the bill will be Oasis, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and The Killers. It is not just about the headliners though, Beni makes sure that there is something for everyone, and while most acts indie rock , the many stages showcase plenty of other genres, such as electronica, experimental and dance. Each night will see a plethora of fantastic and diverse acts and my personal favourites that will make me nudge through the crowds to the front are Telepathe, Glasvegas, Paul Weller, Tom Tom Club, Friendly Fires, The Psychedelic Furs, Lykke Li and my BFF Peaches. With guaranteed sunshine and a beachside backdrop, it promises to be a memorable event. While the 4 day passes have all sold out, there are still one day passes available for Thursday 16th July. You might consider it impractical to get down there for just one day (not that we are going to stand in your way), but if you happen to be passing through the Costa De Azahar around that time, then why not get yourself a wristband, grab a Sol and pitch up?

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You know, the more we think about it, the more we realise that Benicassim is tailor made for Amelia’s Magazine. As our loyal readers know, we are strong supporters of all things sustainable and environmentally friendly and Benicassim is leaps and bounds ahead of many of the other festivals in terms of environmental awareness. Having been awarded the Limpio Y Verde (Clean + Green) Award by The European Festival Association, Beni is serious about taking initiatives which minimise the impact that a festival causes. For example, to offset the Co2 emissions that are generated while the festival is underway, they are creating an authentic Fiber forest, which has come as a result of planting over 2,000 trees during the 2008, 2009 and 2010 festivals. For those attending the festival, the organisers have laid on a number of shared transport facilities to get to and from the site, including frequent shuttle services into town and bicycle hire. Once inside the site, ticket holders will find that there is a strong and active recycling policy, with different bins for glass, plastic and paper and reusable glasses in the bars and restaurants which are made from biodegradable material. Several charities and NGO’s will be on hand – look out for the stands where Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Action Against Hunger and Citizens Association Against AIDS amongst others will be distributing information.

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Bear in mind for future visits to the festival (or if you haven’t yet booked flights to get there), that there are various options for how to get to Benicassim that don’t involve flying. While most people will be boarding planes, the options of rail, or even ferry as transport can turn the holiday into a completely different experience. Spain has a fantastic and well regulated rail system, with all major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia operating trains to the town of Benicassim. Full details on how to arrange your rail itinerary are here . If you were interested in beginning the journey by ferry, (information on routes can be found here there are regular services from Plymouth to Santander, or Portsmouth to Bilbao (both cities have rail links that will get you to Benicassim). Otherwise, there are plenty of ferries from Dover to France, if interrailing it through part of Europe was also a consideration. Obviously, these options are considerably longer than flying, but there is something much more civilized about this way of travelling, and you get to see much more of the country which is hosting the festival, and that can only be a good thing.

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Fibers En Zonas De Acampada by Pau Bellido

For more information on Benicassim, go to Festival Internacional De Benicassim
Bless-ed: Superimposing The Thought Of Happiness

Cosa
7 Ledbury Mews North
London W11 2AF

10th July – 31st July

11am – 6pm Tuesday – Friday
12pm – 4pm Saturday

Free

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“Artworks created from smashed vinyl records and recycled packaging. Hot on the heels of their highly successful New York show, no rx Robi Walters & Leanne Wright, side effects aka ‘Bless-ed’, dosage hit London with their unique series of collages and constructed works featuring smashed vinyl and recycled packaging. “

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Robots

The Old Sweet Shop
11 Brookwood Road
London SW18 5BL

10th July 2009 – 25th July

Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 5.30pm
or by appointment

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Image: Doggy Robot (Detail) by Ellie Alexandri

“Do you remember when robots were a futuristic fantasy? The Old Sweet Shop gallery’s latest exhibition takes a warm hearted look at these retro-tinged creations through the eyes of up-and coming artists and illustrators, peeking into the inner world of clunking creatures built to make human lives easier. ‘Robots’ will appeal to all ages, and features a diverse range of talent in many different media.”

Robots exhibition featuring work by: Alec Strang, Emily Evans, Freya Harrison, Moon Keum, Vinish Shah, JMG, Catherine Rudie, Hanne Berkaak, Cristian Ortiz, Elli Alexandri and Serge Jupin.

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Antony Gormley: One & Other

Fourth Plinth
Trafalgar Square
London

6th July – 14th October

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Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, ordinarily reserved for statues of the bold and brave, is staging one of the most exciting art ventures of the year. Under the direction of Anthony Gormley a steady stream of voluntary contributors will, every hour on the hour for the next 100 days, be occupying the space to create, make, do or perform as they wish. One such selected applicant is Tina Louise, whose slot will be Sunday 12th July, at 11am. She plans to stage “involves a bit of a sing-along where I am inviting various choirs, a Muslim call to prayer man, some whirling Dervishes (fingers crossed)” and invites you all to get down there this week and help celebrate human diversity in all it’s glory.

Find out more about Tina here.

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The Museum of Souvenirs – The Surrealist Photography of Marcel Mariën

Diemar/Noble Photography
66/67 Wells Street
London W1T 3PY

Until 25th July

Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 6pm

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An exciting UK premiere of Belgian Surrealist Marcel Marien’s photographs taken between 1983 and 1990. Marien was a master of many trades, and not all of them art based; as well as being a poet, essayist and filmmaker, he branched out as a publisher, bookseller, journalist and even a sailor.

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The Importance of Beauty – The Art of Ina Rosing

GV Art
49 Chiltern Street
Marylebone
London W1U 6LY

Until 25th July

Tuesday to Friday 11am to 7pm
Saturday 11 am to 4 pm
or by appointment

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Inspired by her interest in inner silence and beauty, Ina Rosing’s work sails through immovable mountains and vibrant red flowers with dignified grace and spirituality. She explores the personal yet universal connections with landscape and culture, asking where and how can we capture the true importance of beauty using graffiti-like political and environmental messages.

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James Unsworth: I Love You Like a Murderer Loves Their Victims

Sartorial Contemporary Art
26 Argyle Square
London WC1H 8AP

8th July – 30th July

Tuesday – Friday 12:30pm – 6pm
or by appointment

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James Unsworth is not a new name for us here at Amelia’s Magazine, having featured him a short while ago in Issue 8 of our publication, but this new collection of work from the controversial outspoken illustrator and filmmaker takes his hyper-unreal visions of all things dark and disturbing to a new level. The movies and photographs use low-budget charm and dangerously close to the bone references to murder, sex and dismemberment to win us over, free our minds and freak us out, not particularly in that order.

Monday 6th July
Why? The Garage, buy London

“Why should I go and see Why?” you ask.
Well, cialis 40mg because Why? are probably one of the most innovative exciting bands around at the moment their albums Alopecia and Elephant Eyelash are very high up on my “Most-Listened-To List”. Fronted by the excellently named Yoni Wolf, Why? fuse hip hop and indie rock to create something totally unique. Wolf’s lyrics are strangely intimate and often funny; bar mitzvahs and Puerto Rican porno occassionally pop up- and why not?

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Tuesday 7th July
!!!, The Luminaire, London

Here are two facts about !!!
1. You have probably had the best time dancing to them.
2. According to Wikipedia: !!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, etc.
So go along to the Luminaire and make strange noises (“thrice”) and dance your socks off.

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Wednesday 8th July
White Denim, Heaven, London

White Denim are the best thing to come out of Texas since ribs and good accents, they have been compared to Os Mutantes and Can which is no mean feat. Expect a healthy dose of psychadelia with a smudge of grubby rock n’roll

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Thursday 9th July
The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kill It Kid, The ICA, London.

What are Fat Cat doing on Thursday?
Oh, you know, just being as awesome as ever at the ICA.
Fat Cat seem to have excellent taste in music, and the three bands playing tonight carry on the high standards of Fat Cat label veterans like Animal Collective. Expect melancholy and sweetness from The Twilight Sad and post-punk from the others. Lashings of fun all round.

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The Weekend
Loop Festival, Brighton.

Let’s go to the sea! Brighton’s Loop Festival; a celebration of music and digital art has the most mouth-watering line-up ever. Fever Ray, Karin from The Knife‘s solo project, play alongside múm, the hot-to-trot Telepathe (pictured) and Tuung to name but a few. If I were going I’d invite them all to make sandcastles with me afterwards…hopefully they would.

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Monday 6 July

Whose landscape is it anyway?

Nicholas Stern and Ramachandra Guha consider the tensions between environmental concerns and industrial and economic development in South Asia today.

£5 including day pass to Royal Botanic Gardens, mind Kew.
6.30pm, cost British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1.

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Illustration by Joanna Cheung

Tuesday 7th July

Garbage Warrior Film Screening

The epic story of radical Earthship eco architect Michael Reynolds, and his fight to build off-the-grid self-sufficient communities.

7pm (86min), Passing clouds, Dalston (review + directions)

An Alternative Energy Evening?·

Lecture and Panel Discussion?· Professor Vernon Gibson, with Jonathan Leake, ??Chief Chemist of BP, in discussion with key experts in the field of sustainable and renewable energy.
Please join us to hear the latest on this hot topic.

Free to attend. Admission is by guest list only.
??Email events@weizmann.org.uk to reserve your place.
+44 (0)20 7424 6863?  www.weizmann.org.uk

7pm
Royal Geographical Society
1 Kensington Gore
London SW7 2AR

Wednesday 8th July

Renewable Energy, All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group meeting with WWF

Dr Keith Allott leads the discussion.

4-6pm, House of Commons, Westminster SW1

Thursday 9th July

Conflicting Environmental Goods and the Future of the Countryside

Caroline Lucas MEP talking on possible futures.

Contact – judithr@cpre.org.uk
5-7pm, The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, EC1

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Illustration by Faye Katirai

A Climate Mission for Europe: Leadership & Opportunity

Lord Browne, Roger Carr, Lord Giddens, John Gummer MP and Roland Rudd

8–9.30am
Royal Academy of Engineering,
3 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y

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Illustration by Michaela

Wise Women Speaker Event: John D Liu

John D Liu speaks on integrated poverty eradication and large-scale ecosystem rehabilitation. Since the mid-1990′s he has concentrated on ecological film making and has written, produced and directed films on many aspects of the ecology. In 2003, Liu wrote, produced and directed “Jane Goodall – China Diary” for National Geographic. Hailed as a visionary for the future, Lui is director of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and will discuss his groundbreaking work.

RSVP: polly@wisewomen.me.uk

7pm, ?£10 on the door
The Hub,Islington,
Candid Arts Trust,
5 Torrens Street, London,
EC1V 1NQ

Friday 10th July

The End of the Line

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Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act. The End of the Line is the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Rupert Murray.

7pm, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2.
Contact – events@frontlineclub.com

Saturday 11th July

The Artic And Us

Lemn Sissay discusses the making of the poem “What If”, inspired by his recent trip to the Arctic to highlight climate change.

£7, 3.30pm, South Bank Centre

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Illustration by Lea Jaffey
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This year I spent a record six days at Glastonbury. On Tuesday we set off from London with a mission to “tat” along the way. Tatting is a favourite occupation of the fictional Wombles and is a process central to Climate Camp – it basically means relieving skips and front gardens of useful discarded objects – such as sofas, pilule chairs, tables and carpeting – for reuse in another situation. En route to Glastonbury we managed to fill the van up with various items including a full set of dining chairs that looked swanky but collapsed as soon as we sat on them and a rather manky looking mouldy mattress. It was pointed out that this would seem the lap of luxury after a couple of days in a field with no soft surfaces to rest upon, so we duly lugged it into the van. In fact we needn’t have worried – the mattress was left out to air as soon as we arrived and stolen almost immediately. Desirable already!

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Our journey had an added frisson of excitement given the rumour that everyone was being locked out of the site at 10pm every night. Fortunately (and thanks to GPS on my poncey new iphone) we made it to Pilton Farm on time, whereupon we were greeted by the cheery sight of our big red and yellow marquee. It seems that making merry in the fields of Somerset has turned into a week long affair for many, so vast quantities of people were already cruising the fields, beers in hand.

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For us there was still much work to be done, so in the morning we dressed our area with significant amounts of bunting and colourful flags that we had screenprinted beforehand, all bearing Mia Marie Overgaard‘s beautiful artwork.

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Climate Camp was given a generous corner of an otherwise predominantly camping field – with a big fire pit in the middle and a yurt (housing Ecolab‘s Future Scenarios exhibition) demarcating one corner. Around the yurt I strung the story of Climate Rush so far – printed upon weather resistant banners that billowed dramatically in the gusty winds.

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By the field boundary a “tripod stage” had been constructed – an inspired bit of naming that made reference to the grand pyramid stage down where the rabble doth hang about.

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As we beavered away to beautify the site some classic festival munters pitched up and decided to erect their box fresh tents directly under our Welcome to Climate Camp banner – thereby easily misleading the public in to believing that they were indeed Climate Camp. Within minutes they were yelling “Ogee-ogee-oy” at each other through a megaphone. I kid you not. They were the perfect festival munter cliche right on our doorstep. Needless to say these same creatures left an absolute disaster zone in their wake when they left the festival – but more on that later…

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Many more Climate Camp kindred spirits arrived as we sorted out our space, and by Thursday many curious festival-goers were stopping by to listen to a bit of music or take a wander around our exhibition. Danny Chivers delivered his usual wonderful poetry to a rapt audience and Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors (set up in honour of Joe Strummer and named after a Clash song) took a turn on the stage.

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Billy Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors provides guitars with which to rehabilitate prisoners through music, and the two lads playing for us had since left prison and are trying to build a career in music. After a shy start they were soon regaling the receptive crowd with tales of prison life and left amidst promises that they would return, possibly with the real Billy Bragg in tow – a rumour that quickly gained momentum but was sadly never fulfilled.

Then out of nowhere came possibly our most exciting idea yet; instead of just teaching how to take direct action in workshop form, we would actually do some mock actions right there in Glastonbury. It all seemed too good an opportunity to miss – this year Greenpeace had created a full-on third runway experience, including a miniature Sipson with it’s own international airport which was clearly ripe for the blockading.

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We all donned one of the Climate Camp t-shirts that I’d printed up (I’ve been on a bit of a screenprinting frenzy) and marched noisily down to the Greenpeace field with our tripod and an orangutan in tow. As you do.

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Twenty people blockaded the entrance to the bemusement of passersby, as faux security guards tried to pull them off and the orangutan climbed triumphantly to the top of the tripod. It was a pretty good re-enactment of a real direct action, until actors hired by Greenpeace waded in and stole our thunder with some attention grabbing shouting.

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On Thursday night there was the most spectacular storm, with torrential rain pouring down off our Climate Change is Pants bunting (made from, erm, pants, of course) and into the tent as we sheltered from the monsoon. It stopped just in time for our Mass Night Game, for which I played the part of a security guard (they’re never far away on a direct action)

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As each team arrived at our base in the stone circle they had to climb the tripod as fast as they could before the guards could pull them off. In one surreal moment as the dusk fell some real Glastonbury stewards materialised in pink dayglo waistcoats to my yellow dayglo one, and really confused both themselves and those playing the game.

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As evening fell a group of us went off to discover the new Shangri-La area, where a gaggle of totally drunk pre-pubescent girls fell into us yelling “Michael Jackson’s dead!” Soon the whole festival was ringing with the news – as well as his back catalogue – though we all remained uncertain about the veracity of the rumours and decided to spread a counter rumour that Timmy Mallett was dead. Looking back it was odd that noone seemed particularly sad to hear the news, but then I think most of us have already mourned the cute little black boy who vanished under drastic surgery long ago. It was almost as if Michael Jackson had been one big fat joke for so long that his death was as fantastical and unreal as his life had become, and therefore hard to take seriously.

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The rest of the festival was spent in a whirlwind of outreach and fundraising. I wasn’t so comfortable with the bucket rattling, but luckily others were brilliant at it and we managed to raise loads of much needed cash to help put Climate Camp on this year.

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I spent most of my time chatting to people, both in our field and out around the Green Fields area. And of course taking lots of photos – because that’s where I feel most comfortable of all, recording everything that we do for future posterity.

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We facilitated another few mini direct actions – one day in defiance of the cheap flights on offer in the mock travel agents in Shangri-La, and on another using arm tubes to blockade the mini village of Sipson.

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Friends wandered by to see me but I didn’t really go further than the Green Fields for much of the festival. I have a love hate relationship with Glastonbury and tend to be happiest away from the seething crowds down near the main stages. There were a lot more police on site this year and there were at least two arrests in our field, presumably for drug dealing – thus we found ourselves offering solidarity to the friends that were left behind “we get arrested quite a lot you see…” We got the paddling pool out when it was especially roasting, and I jumped in with all my clothes on before rushing onto the path to offer wet hugs to passersby.

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On my rare trips down to “Babylon” I got in a mild panic – huge crowds of fucked people crashing into me is not my idea of fun. Bruce Springsteen was a major disappointment and I only saw brief bits of Blur from the very back of the field before wandering off to find a friend at the Prodigy, where I got thoroughly freaked out by the gazillions of men and women screaming “smack my bitch up” at the top of their voices, I mean – I like the tune, but there are some totally suspect lyrics going on there. Over by the John Peel stage I was amused to see a huge (high as a skyscraper) board of protest banners bearing one of the Climate Rush picnic blankets from our Heathrow protest.

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It was very surreal to see it high above me, when last it was sitting in a crumpled mess in my hallway. On more than a few occasions we found ourselves at the uber decadent Arcadia area of an evening.

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It was the ultimate irony that the closest stage to Climate Camp featured hugely wasteful gas flares that shot into the night and made a mockery of our frugal ways; any energy savings made by our solar powered camp so obviously swallowed in the dystopian heat of the dramatic flames. Needless to say we were drawn to Arcadia like fossil fuel moths, dancing under the sizzling spectacle with all the other revellers, all part of the same species careering towards self-destruction.

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But back to the beautiful green space of Climate Camp, where our little tripod stage proved to be a real winner. My trusty music editor Roisin had contacted some music prs a mere day or so before I left for Glastonbury and secured performances from the wondrous First Aid Kit and the equally brilliant 6 Day Riot. First Aid Kit arrived fresh from a gig on the Park Stage with their parents in tow, and wowed everyone with a simple acoustic set that highlighted their delicate use of harmonies.

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Unfortunately I missed 6 Day Riot due to outreach with our “aggie animals” whereby a homeless alcoholic orangutan, polar bear and tiger went out to engage with the general public.

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The idea was to subvert the traditional cutesy perception of said animals, a plan which worked really well during the day, but in the evening faltered as the distinction between performance art and actual fucked festival munter blurred to the point of impossibility. Especially when one of our animals spewed into the bushes in a prize bit of method acting (she’d just downed a pint of homebrewed cider)

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On Sunday afternoon we held a random raffle, which was made possible by blagging prizes from various stalls and performers during the course of the festival. A large amount of people were happy to part with cash to purchase a raffle ticket, and a small crowd was persuaded to attend the actual event, compered with aplomb by our resident poet Danny. Prizes included the beer can that Jack Penate had allegedly drunk from (won by a child, woops)

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It was all beautifully ramshackle but seemed to entertain. The girl who has inadvertently become part of this year’s logo (by virtue of an image of her at the Kingsnorth camp that is strewn across the interweb) stopped by and did some dazzling acrobatics on our tripod stage.

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By the evening I still hadn’t managed to figure a way to get out of the festival so I ended up staying on until Monday evening for “tat down” – taking down the tents and sorting stuff to be transported back home. The mattress that we had lovingly cleaned made a sudden return, and small children started to circle our site like hyenas on the look out for valuable abandoned belongings, and undrunk alcohol (festie children eh?! Cheeky buggers!)

Glastonbury-June-2009-1610.jpg

Stories reached us of people leaving their tent for one moment and returning to find it removed within moments by opportunistic “tatters”. I went on a roam of our general area to search for useful stuff, but returned feeling sick to the pit of my stomach and unable to take anything for myself.

Glastonbury-June-2009-1658.jpg

Is it really that much hassle to take your pop-up tent home? What kind of person abandons so many reusable things? Do you really have that much disposable income in the age of the credit crunch? The festival munters camped under our welcome banner departed leaving a wasteland behind. Piles of rubbish streaming across the ground, a stereo, blow up mattresses, perfectly good tents (not pop-up!) – debris of an unaware society.

Glastonbury-June-2009-2180.jpg

I returned home exhausted, but already formulating plans to put forward Green Kite Midnight as the Climate Camp house band next year – a celidh would really have set things off a treat. Until then there’s always the Big Green Gathering, where we’re house band for the Last Chance Saloon. Come see us there!
At Glastonbury when not navigating through guy ropes clutching half drunk bottles of cider with dirty shorts, order haystack hair and generally looking like I’ve emerged from the mountains, medicine I like to ‘do’ things. Last year, store I paid eight pounds to have an astrology reading, where I crouched goggle-eyed in a small tipi opposite a warm, smiling, apple-cheeked evil money-sucker who ethereally told me the biggest pack of lies you’ve ever heard.

Eight pounds! Not going back there, NO WAY JOSÉ! Given the size of Glastonbury, there are, of course, a multitude of ways to enjoy yourself in the most concrete and non-superstitious of manners – in fact, in the spirit of ‘Reclaiming Craft’ making something with my hands seemed the perfect antidote. On the Thursday Amelia’s Magazine floated on over to the Green Craft Fields where we found ourselves in a tent filled with lots of small drawing children. On the other side were some adults milling around a life model like no other. Life-drawing: a sensual sketching of the nude human physique? Less so if it’s an unshaven superhero clad in a spandex bodysuit and purple pants – and that’s Mr Spandex to you and I. So I got involved, producing a multi-angled ‘sketch-book’ of questionable quality that sadly got ruined when my tent turned out not to be waterproof, but while it’s destruction is in fact probably a blessing for the art world, I appreciate that such a catastrophe may have accidentally granted my artistic skills with an unearned aura of mystique.

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Chatting to the mistress of ceremonies Leanne afterwards, she told me a bit about R-ART, their creative collective based in East London. They are fusing ideas of art and fashion in an interactive and educational capacity, providing holiday workshops, after-school clubs and Saturday schools; all with a push towards sustainable making, free-thinking and responsibility that’s locking horns with that image of the pie-eyed child with a peanut-butter sandwich in one hand and a Nintendo controller in the other on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

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Set up by Leanne and her friend Ita and developed with eco-entertainment company BASH Creations, they naturally play the big sister role to the kids, with a sole mandate to lighten the ecological footprint of the British entertainment industry and to teach them the heart behind the making of things with your own two hands. Given my own scribbling skills, I too belong at the children’s table, a bit like Jack out of that Robin Williams film (except not really, I do get ID’d a lot, so I don’t look that old. But I digress.)

One of their projects involved working with Nova Dando, constructing a couture gown out of old copies of the Financial Times, which again, in its trashionista spirit hammered home the process of recycling making and getting everyone involved – children doing couture! Great stuff.

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To get in touch and to find out their workshops and other upcoming projects, visit their website at www.r-art.co.uk, or e-mail Ita and Leanne at us2@r-art.co.uk. Look out for a report on how it all went down at Glastonbury for them too – if you too managed to swing by their tent let us here at Amelia’s Magazine know about it!

Categories ,Art, ,Children, ,Couture, ,Craft, ,East London, ,Fashion, ,Glastonbury, ,Life Drawing

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Amelia’s Magazine | Wood Festival 2015 Review: A Family Friendly Musical Paradise

Wood Festival 2015-review year of the bee
This year, as ever, the weather was absolutely gorgeous for Wood Festival: plenty of sunshine and dry underfoot despite the downpours a few days previously. I managed to persuade my friend (and fellow mum) Helen of East End Prints to accompany us as I knew that Snarf would love to feral around with his lil’ mate (we went to the Buddhafield Green Earth Awakening Camp together last year, read my review here) and we arrived in time for a late lunch on Saturday, staying through to Sunday evening.

Wood Festival 2015-review kids run wild
Wood Festival 2015-review out door singing
Wood Festival 2015-review tyre swing
Wood Festival 2015-review snarf
Wood Festival 2015-review bubbles
Wood Festival 2015-review harmony workshop
Wood Festival 2015-review samba band
I know I’ve said this in previous years but Wood Festival is perfect for kids: there is a sense of freedom and safety in the field at Braziers Park that is rare to find, and we basically had a child-led festival, following where our little ones wanted to run. We ate cheesy chips, enjoyed unexpected tunes around the daytime campfire, roamed the woodland playground, ate ice cream, chased bubbles, joined a harmony singing workshop, followed the samba band (dressed as bumble bees), ate more ice cream and of course listened to some music when we could:


The Wallingford based Band of Hope shared some beautiful folk harmonies and soaring violin melodies. They have put together a podcast recorded at Wood Festival, which you can listen to here.

Wood Festival 2015-review main stage
Wood Festival 2015-review kids in woods
Wood Festival 2015-review bee girls
Wood Festival 2015 review kids workshop
Wood Festival 2015-review dining tent
Wood Festival 2015-review campfire
Wood Festival 2015-review the gang
Late on Saturday night I listened to Tunng from the comfort of our tent, having adjourned for the night at a ridiculously early hour with my child. This was the first time the band have played together in some time and they sounded great, even in my half asleep state.


Co-Pilgrim put together a typically dreamy set from the wonderful album A Fairer Sea, which lulled my over excited three year old to sleep. Expect a new album from them soon.


The ‘big bastard baritone’ vocals of Liverpool based John Joseph Brill (his words not mine) were an exciting discovery – a uniquely raspy voice married to soulful reverb that is a heavenly cross between Interpol, U2 (in the best sense) and I LIKE TRAINS. Go check him out.


I heard Spiro on the radio a few weeks ago and was most taken with their tight music making (the result of many years playing together), a deft combination of classical music, dance and folk. It was great to hear them live.

Wood Festival 2015-review band with baby
Finally, Francis Pugh & The Whisky Singers are bluegrass singers from Oxford and were a great reminder of what Wood Festival does so well: creating a family friendly atmosphere where everyone can enjoy great music in a relaxed setting. Where else would you so comfortably find a baby on stage, holding a red balloon?

We are already looking forward to next year.

All photography by Amelia Gregory, our portrait by Mim Saxl.

Categories ,2015, ,A Fairer Sea, ,Band of Hope, ,Brazier’s Park, ,Buddhafield Green Earth Awakening Camp, ,Child Friendly, ,children, ,Co-pilgrim, ,East End Prints, ,Family, ,Francis Pugh & The Whisky Singers, ,I Like Trains, ,Interpol, ,John Joseph Brill, ,Mim Saxl, ,Oxford, ,review, ,Snarf, ,Spiro, ,tunng, ,U2, ,Wood Festival, ,Year of the Bee

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Amelia’s Magazine | Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park: an ideal place to stay for a Lake District Holiday

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Swift Chamonix
Last week we headed North for a short break in the Lake District, staying in a luxury holiday home at the Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park on the edge of the South Lakes, where Cumbria borders Lancashire in the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Since our recent weekend at Pontins Camber Sands I have come to the conclusion that staying in a holiday home or chalet is an ideal way to experience a vacation; providing all the comforts of home, including the peace and quiet that can be so scarce in a hotel. Holgates Silverdale was voted Holiday Park of the Year in the Cumbria Tourism Awards 2014, and it’s not hard to see why.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park view
The view from our holiday home.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Swift Chamonix interior
The luxurious lounge.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park diner
The spacious kitchen diner.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park
The master bedroom: Snarf is going through a phase of shouting ‘No Photos‘ whenever he sees me with camera in hand, before running off. Makes documentation quite hard!

Our Swift Chamonix Holiday Home was tucked away at the top of the hill, with stunning views out across woodland and on to Morecambe Bay, which is an otherworldly landscape of shifting sands quite unlike anything else I have come across. Inside we had a cosy living room, full size kitchen and dining table, plus two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Outside was a spacious deck which we would like to have used more, but sadly the weather was against us for most of our stay.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park camping pod
Holgates Silverdale is immaculately maintained, with tier upon tier of identically painted mint green holiday homes, most of which have been personalised by their owners with different windows, roofs or doors. A few of these homes are available to rent and there is also the option to pull up with your own camper van, caravan or tent. I was particularly taken by the scenic camping pods which have prime positions overlooking the bay. The park boasts two lovely playgrounds and a large swimming pool with hot tub, sauna and steam room attached. We spent two evenings swimming with Snarf, a reminder that we really must enter the wet stuff more often. Next door the Holgates Silverdale restaurant fed us some unexpectedly delicious food late one evening (I recommend the melt-in-the-mouth lasagne) – all made with local produce.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park Arnside Tower
Arnside Tower: Holgates Silverdale is just behind the trees to the right.

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park arnside beach
The view over Morecambe Bay from the shoreline at Arnside.

Jenny Brown's Point
Jenny Brown’s Point, with the iconic chimney in the background.

We spent most of our visit journeying into the Lake District (which takes a bit over half an hour, driving along exceptionally scenic roads) so did not get much time to explore the surrounding area as much as we would have liked to. We passed the crumbling Arnside Tower in differing light each day, and admired the picturesque villages of Arnside and Silverdale from the car. On our last morning (thanks to a tip off on instagram) we drove down a secluded road through lush woodland to take in the blustery views at Jenny Brown’s Point, which features the iconic remains of an ancient copper smelting chimney set against battered rocks and glittering sands. I could easily have spent several hours wandering the shoreline but sadly it was time to head home. I hope we will return to this beautiful part of the world some day soon. In the meantime why not check out my ideas for 5 Great Family Adventures in the Lake District?

Lake district Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park shoreline
I am big: I am very pregnant. Photo by Tim Adey.

We stayed at Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park courtesy of Cumbria Tourism and Holgates. The Swift Chamonix is available to purchase rather than rent.

Categories ,Arnside, ,Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, ,Arnside Tower, ,Camping pod, ,children, ,Cumbria, ,Cumbria Tourism, ,Cumbria Tourism Awards 2014, ,Family, ,Family Holiday, ,Holgates, ,Holgates Silverdale Holiday Park, ,Holiday Park of the Year, ,Jenny Brown’s Point, ,Lake District, ,Lancashire, ,Morecambe Bay, ,Pontins Camber Sands, ,review, ,Silverdale, ,Snarf, ,Snarfle, ,South Lakes, ,Swift Chamonix Holiday Home, ,travel, ,Travels with Snarf

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Amelia’s Magazine | A Trip to Pontins Camber Sands Holiday Park with Toddlers

Pontins Camber Sands Review with Toddlers 4
A few weeks ago myself and some other Shoreditch mums took our 6 toddlers down to Pontins in Camber Sands. It was a cheap holiday in down season, meaning that we pretty much had the resort, wind and rain to ourselves. I’ve been to Pontins many times for ATP weekenders back in the day, but this was my first time doing it as a mum.

Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers Amelia Snarfle
Pontins Camber Sands Review with Toddlers 2
We had a run of chalets along an entire ground floor row, so the kids loved racing between everyone’s identical ‘houses’. The idea being that we would dine together and then calm the little ones down in their own space, but this also meant we mums spent the evenings on WhatsApp. Rock n Roll!

Pontins Camber Sands Review with Toddlers Rye
Rye playground Inclusive Play
Our first day was a rainy affair, so we drove into Rye and headed straight into a cafe for hot drinks. Then we took the kids on a soggy tour of the town walls, culminating in a visit to a very boggy playground on the field below: cue much slippage in mud in the mizzle. On a plus note the swings were great! And there were some fun interactive smiley faces with embedded sounds to play with.

Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers beach 2
Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers beach
Camber Sands photo by Lily Lam
Photo courtesy of Lily Lam.

On Sunday we braved the wind to visit Camber Sands, but had to retreat inside before too long because the toddlers weren’t having any of it, despite the lucky find of a kite in the dunes. We were turfed out of one cafe for being too rowdy (honestly, toddlers, how dare they?) but ate chips in the friendlier place next door.

Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers soft play
Pontins Camber Sands Review with Toddlers
Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers 6
Pontins Camber Sands Review with Toddlers 3
Sadly the Pontins bouncy castle was not on offer, so we spent the afternoon in the soft play centre, trying to avoid the arcade machines and racing around the giant hall on the upstairs level, where I once saw the likes of Yoko Ono, Peaches and Bat for Lashes. Whenever I ask Snarf what his favourite bit of the day was he invariably says ‘running around’ and they had a ball in the huge open space.

Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers 5
Pontins camber sands playground
Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers 7
We had big plans to take advantage of the swimming pool but as always it seemed like too much drama, however the little ones loved having the choice of so many playgrounds on their doorstep, forcing us to race around the chalets after them. And they loved feeding the gulls (chuck a chip, watch them appear like magic from nowhere!)

Pontins Camber Sands with Toddlers chalet
So, Pontins, basic, a bit downmarket, but fun nonetheless. We are already planning our next destination en masse…

Categories ,Arcades, ,ATP weekender, ,Bat for Lashes, ,Bouncy Castle, ,Camber Sands, ,children, ,Family, ,Holiday, ,Holiday Park, ,Mumlife, ,Off Season, ,Peaches, ,playground, ,Pontins, ,review, ,rye, ,shoreditch, ,Sussex, ,Toddlers, ,Weekend, ,WhatsApp, ,What’s App, ,Yoko Ono

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Amelia’s Magazine | The Prince’s Drawing Clubs exhibition

princes drawing clubs portraits

Of all the art in Shoreditch, here’s some you should definitely see. It’s an exhibition of raw talent, and the work is done using the very basic method of drawing.

princes drawing clubs portrait

I say ‘raw talent’, but this exhibition shows what happens when talent is nurtured and directed. The four hundred drawings here were produced by children and teenagers in The Prince’s Drawing Clubs, a network of free after-school classes in London and Glasgow for 10-18 year olds who show a passion or aptitude for drawing. So this is the first work you’ll see by some of Britain’s best young artists.

Much of the work here is impressive full stop. You find yourself thinking “that’s really good”, rather than “that’s really good for an eleven year old”.

princes drawing clubs cat

I think the background to this cat may be a heavily-used litter tray. Genius.

The exhibition is in The Prince’s Drawing School, a four-storey Victorian warehouse near the upmarket intersection of Charlotte Road and Rivington Street. It’s all brick and cream walls, light and airy.

To maximise the hanging space on the ground floor, they’ve split things up with a maze of gallery walls. There’s lots to look at here, in any order you fancy.

princes drawing clubs show

princes drawing clubs show

princes drawing clubs show

You can tell some of the briefs that have been set. Self portraits (often cleverly framed in pairs by the curators). A horse. A meal. People dancing. Subjects as simple as drawing itself.

princes drawing clubs meal

Each piece is labelled with the artist’s name, age, and which drawing club they belong to.

There’s a long box of sketchbooks (sadly behind glass – I wanted to flick through).

princes drawing clubs sketchbooks

The drawing school is one of Prince Charles‘ not-for-profit organisations. He gets a lot of flack, but Prince Charles is doing something right here. My generation had Tony Hart as our drawing inspiration, and artistic ambition meant sending your best pics off to his Gallery in hope of TV fame. I’m not sure what the kids watch nowadays for art kicks (Art Attack with the ace Neil Buchanon ended in 2007), so it’s great that The Prince’s Drawing Club is continuing Tony Hart’s wholesome, studious approach to this art.

princes drawing clubs portraits

The exhibition makes you excited for the next generation. I particularly like the Drawing Club’s explanation that “drawing skills open doors to careers in the arts, design, architecture, and science”. Yes, science. Drawing makes you think about physics, biology, chemistry and maths, and can lead you down unexpected roads. All the drawings in this show are for sale, and the money goes directly to the artist, allowing these children and teenagers to see a real possibility of making a career from art.

princes drawing clubs dancers

The Drawing School also offers really affordable drawing classes for adults. Someone in my own class there mentioned how hard it is as an adult to draw freely, as children do. So if you’re inspired to take a class, or if you already draw, approach it with something of the free spirit you see here.

And if you know a child with passion and aptitude for drawing, get them involved.

The exhibition is free and runs until Wednesday 5th June 2013.
Find The Prince’s Drawing Clubs exhibition on Facebook.

Categories ,art, ,Art Attack, ,children, ,drawing, ,glasgow, ,london, ,Prince’s Drawing Clubs, ,Prince’s Drawing School, ,shoreditch, ,teenagers, ,Tony Hart

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Amelia’s Magazine | Magnetic Wallpaper Designs: an interview with interiors surface designer Sian Zeng

Sian Zeng Yellow Green Dino Boy in jungle

I first encountered Sian Zeng‘s sew your own bespectacled bears a couple of years ago at a craft fair, and am the proud owner of one such bear which I made with my own fair hands. But soft toys are not the only product this multi-disciplinary interiors designer makes; her offering includes high tech magnetic wallpapers adorned with whimsical movable designs such as the plethora of cacti, dinosaurs and ‘flycopters’ which feature in her new S/S 2014 collection, guaranteed to appeal to adults as much as children. Here she shares her journey and some sage advice about the value of looking at the numbers when you run a small business.

Sian Zeng office bear

You’ve had a very multi-cultural upbringing, how did your family come to live in Hungary and what brought you to London?
In ‘90s China, it was a popular choice to move to the West to look for better economic opportunities. After the fall of communism, Hungary’s visa requirements to Chinese citizens were very relaxed and so my parents decided to move Budapest. I first came to England to study in secondary school so that I would have better chances of going to a British university; my parents felt a British degree would open more doors for me in the future.

Sian Zeng Pink Green Detail magnetic wallpaper

What are the best things that have fed into your design work from your time in China and Hungary?
In my first year of Hungarian primary school, I loved looking at the beautifully drawn pictures in Hungarian folk tale books. I obsessively copied and altered the images so that they would become stories to tell to my classmates: my interest in visual storytelling has continued in the products I design. One summer, during the holidays, I went back to China to study painting and drawing. It was one of the most intensive periods of training I’ve ever had, but I came out with a deeper understanding of how Chinese art schools dealt with colour and composition. I still use many of the techniques in my work today.

Sian Zeng Yellow Green Dino boy magnetic wallpaper play

Where did the idea of creating magnetic wallpapers come from?
During my final year, I was interested in how fairy tales were told and how they had changed through time. It occurred to me that creating a magnetic wallpaper for my degree show would let visitors act out their own stories using a cast of magnetic characters, creating an interactive display that was constantly changing.

Sian Zeng Grey dino magnet close up

What was the process of producing them, from your initial ideas as a student, to commercial production under your own brand?
The first sample I created for my degree show was made using magnetic paint on thick paper. I realised later it was too expensive to produce and not very practical, so I began to look at alternative methods. While I was still in my research stage, Hilary Duff’s interior designer contacted me and asked me to send a sample over to her. I told her I only had the prototype and that the end product may look different: at that stage, I was still cutting out the magnets by hand. It was really low-tech! Based on my prototype, Hilary Duff placed a large order and the lead time was very tight as it had to be completed before her son was born. I was on the phone to my manufacturers every day, asking questions and pleading for a faster turnaround. Thankfully, in a very short period of time I had my first batch of wallpapers manufactured and sent out. It was so rewarding!

Flying pig black cushion

What kind of narrative tales most often influence your choice of imagery?
I enjoy depicting stories that are removed from reality, giving you the freedom to play with the imagery and create alternate endings and moods.

Sian Zeng magnetic wallpaper

How did you secure a place with Cockpit Arts and how has being with them helped you grow your business?
I filled in an online application and was invited to an interview with my portfolio. Being part of Cockpit has been so helpful; it’s such a collaborative space and I have other designers as my neighbours. It’s so easy to knock on someone’s door and ask for help or advice.

Pink flying pig cushion

What is an average day in the life of Sian Zeng like?
I wake up around 7.30am and the first thing I do is look at my emails and social network posts on my phone so I can start to plan my day. If there is anything urgent I put it down on my morning to-do list; I find myself most productive in the mornings so I try to work on important big projects first and answer e-mails and work on smaller tasks after 3pm. I live very close to work so I can walk to my studio. I’m usually in by 9am and finish work around 7pm. On a good day I go to the gym after work and then head home. My husband comes home around 9pm and we have a very late dinner while watching a movie together. We go to bed around 11pm.

Blue duvet set sian zeng

Do you have any little ones in your life to help test your projects and if so who are they?
I often think of myself as the little one! I also have friends with children so I sometimes give some of my products to them for a test drive. Open studio days are also a good place to see how children react to my products.

What is your best selling product and why do you think it is so popular?
My magnetic wallpapers are my best-selling product. I think it’s because they offer something totally different and customers love the interactive, playful element of them – they’re not just for kids!

Brown pink bed linen - Sian Zeng

What was the best bit about studying at Central Saint Martins, and do you have any tips for anyone who would like to follow in your footsteps?
The best part of studying at Central Saint Martins was learning how to research and create collections based on creative concepts. My advice may sound boring to a creative person, but I think it’s essential to record expenses and sales figures well so that you are able to understand your own market and product range better. When you take care of the admin elements of a creative business, it makes it so much easier to see what improvements need to be made and focus on what makes the most profits. Saying that, I don’t always take my own advice and sometimes I just have to create things that are most exciting to me at the time!

Sian Zeng Yellow Green Dino Magnet close up

Do you have any new cutting edge ideas for interiors up your sleeve for 2014? if so can we have a sneak peak?
I’m developing a conceptual fabric range for 2014 and I can’t wait to share the results later in the year. It’s in that exciting stage right now where I’m experimenting with colours and patterns: keep your eyes peeled!

Categories ,Bear, ,Budapest, ,Cacti, ,Central Saint Martins, ,children, ,China, ,Chinese, ,Cockpit Arts, ,dinosaurs, ,fairytales, ,Flycopters, ,Hilary Duff, ,Hungary, ,interview, ,Magnetic Wallpaper, ,Play, ,S/S 2014, ,Sian Zeng, ,surface design

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Amelia’s Magazine | Defining Beauty at the British Museum: From a Child’s View

Defining Beauty British Museum-statue
Earlier this week I dragged Snarfle down to the press preview of Defining Beauty, the new blockbuster exhibition from the British Museum. When we arrived the curator was giving a chat, a part I had hoped to avoid… but well, toddlers, it’s hard to get them moving, and the bus ride took forever. So we circumvented the first room, which showcased some stunning examples of Greek sculpture, including a bronze in near perfect condition that was apparently only recently dug out of the sea.

Defining Beauty British Museum-Gold Goddess Athena
Golden goddess Athena at the new British Museum exhibition.

I wasn’t sure how my penis obsessed little boy would react to loads of nude marble sculptures, so was prepared to give a whispered commentary on the state of the various body parts – intact or not – as we moved around the exhibition. Snarf was the youngest attendee by at least 30 years but perhaps surprisingly he was rather enraptured by many of the sculptures, including the gorgeous gold Athena and a wriggling bronze baby, beautifully captured holding it’s arms out to be picked up.

The exhibition includes depictions of the body on vases and reliefs, but it is the sculptures which really provoke awe. The rooms showcase Greek art through the ages, revealing how these skilled artisans became adept at making movement out of rock, an amazing feat if you think about it.

Defining Beauty British Museum-Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great. A flattering depiction I feel.

Towards the end we encountered the Laughing Boy, which Snarfle also loved. However when we got home and looked through the press kit he wanted to chop the Laughing Boy image up. ‘I liked it at the museum, but I don’t like the picture, it’s scary,’ he told me, scissors in hand. I have to agree, it did have a rather sinister edge.

A must see exhibition for anyone who loves classical art – there are a host of events associated with the show, including some fun sessions over Easter for kids. Find out more here. The exhibition continues until 5th July 2015.

Categories ,Athena, ,British Museum, ,children, ,Classical Art, ,Defining Beauty, ,exhibition, ,Family, ,Greek, ,Greek Art, ,Laughing Boy, ,review, ,sculpture, ,Snarfle

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Pati Yang plus free download of Wires and Sparks

pati yang by daria hlazatova
Pati Yang by Daria Hlazatova.

You’ve had an extremely interesting life – starting with six years on tour as a youngster with your dad’s punk band – how did that influence your outlook?
It gave me this sense of freedom that somehow clashed with reality. Poland was under an extreme regime at that point and I very early on noticed that our home and people that I was surrounded by were different; free, kind of …awakened… The punk movement in Poland was basically pop music in the 80′s and my dad’s band and the people around us were directly responsible for helping to bring Communism down, so it was risky, even though it was happening on a huge scale via the only major national censored record label. The movement was too big for the government to eradicate because the only free gatherings were allowed at gigs and churches. It was all about smuggling anti-system messages past the censors without getting the band members arrested, and that’s what people loved. There was so much passion! We had a real purpose, giving people hope for freedom, so hundreds of thousands of people went to those gigs and there was a kind of mass hysteria. I had this sense of the absurd, because I was navigating between two opposite worlds whilst I was going to school. I was always an outsider; I didn’t realise I was a kid. I’d hang out backstage when I was 3 and fall asleep under a stack of coats. So the main point is that I can’t stand barriers and limitations. The idea of the impossible just doesn’t occur to me. I love traditions but I am against systems, whatever they are, because they represent a lack of individual responsibility and choice, and sooner or later someone tries to abuse them.
 
pati yang
You have been on the music scene for some time, first as a solo artist supporting Depeche Mode, then as part of Children and then Flykkiller – how did you get to where you are now?
I just kept going; it gets so hard sometimes. I can be very emotional and I worry too much, which is helpful for songwriting but it’s also like shooting fireballs inside my mind. You have to listen to your gut feeling: don’t get attached to ideas, people or places and don’t make plans. It’s a chain reaction that looks like a string of coincidences but you actually know it’s not and when you see that, it becomes fun. I just meet people, I try to learn, things happen, and I am thankful every day.

pati yang by daria hlazatova
Pati Yang by Daria Hlazatova.
 
What’s the underground music scene like in Poland? Any other top tips for acts we should listen to?
I can’t say I follow it that much as I have dragged myself around the world for the past 13 years. But I came across a really cool electronic project called KAMP! recently, and I am a huge fan of Henryk Gorecki which is not very underground as he’s an iconic classical composer. I like all the vintage stuff, bands like Breakout who were total pioneers in the 60′s, then there is Komeda and some other awesome film composers.

pati yang
I’ve had Wires and Sparks from Wires and Sparks EP x 1 on my brain for weeks – why do you think this tune is so catchy?
Aw, thanks! You know the crazy thing about those EPs was that right from the start we just couldn’t pinpoint which tracks should lead them, as everyone we played the songs to would have different favourites. 


How did you come to shoot the video on a Warsaw rooftop? What is that very impressive building behind you?! it looks very gothic!
I spent most of last year in Brooklyn where bands would regularly set up guerilla gigs on rooftops and play until police took them down. One day I thought I’d be great to do that in Warsaw, so I rang a couple of friends who were film makers and we almost gate crashed this 30 storey office building on Halloween when it was empty, (turned out the security guy was a fan which helped I guess!) The building behind us is really iconic, so well spotted! It was a ‘gift of friendship’ from our Russian comrades in 1955 – there is a similar one on the Red Square in Moscow. Apparently there are rooms with no doors in it and it’s really magnificent: it has this gigantic old white marble public swimming pool in the basement, a purple velvet concert hall and a whole labyrinth of underground corridors used in the past for the Party leaders on the military parades. For the generation of our parents, it was a symbol of the Russian regime; for my generation, it’s an icon of change and chaos. I remember ending up on some amazing random rave parties there…
 
pati yang photo by anna bloda
Who is in your band? Can you introduce us to Kasia? Who does what and is anyone else involved?
I went through so many line ups and I really love to work with big bands but somehow it feels really good to have this self contained little combo right now. Kasia is an amazing talent, I met her years ago when she was in a band in Warsaw and we started working together last year. She plays keyboards, bass and she sings backing vocals. I operate my big pedal board with a little mixing desk, effects, a sampler and a guitar and percussion stuff. I have to give a big credit to Mikko, who is our sound engineer but also sort of a third invisible member of the band.

Pati Yang Illustraton by Asa Wikman © asa wikman
Pati Yang Illustraton by Asa Wikman.

What can people expect from a live Pati Yang performance?
The gigs are quite raw and stuff happens unexpectedly, but I get a real buzz out of them. I heard they’re quite emotional… 
 
pati yang photo by anna bloda
You are currently working on a full length album – what’s the day to day reality of this? Can you talk us through the process.
I recently moved back to London from New York so I have only just set up a studio where I spend most of my time, it’s still really fresh and exciting. I am in the middle of the writing process which happens in random places and times really. But then every day I just put those ideas down… at the moment I play all instruments and record vocals but I am really looking forward to getting other people involved. It’s always really touching to blend genes and see what happens if you let it go.
 
Pati Yang by Gareth A Hopkins
Pati Yang by Gareth A Hopkins.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?
These days just to carry on is a huge achievement. I know so many people who have way more talent than myself who put it on the back burner because it’s so difficult to sustain a life and not feel down about the music business these days. I have a lot of gratitude towards whatever and whoever makes me carry on. Factually, I guess I am really chuffed I had the chance to collaborate on some great soundtracks with some really super special people; they were my real teachers.
 
pati yang
Where do you currently live and what is best about that place? Where would you take a visitor and why?
I am based in North West London near Hampstead Heath. It’s really quiet and you have to walk a long way to a any cafe or a grocery store, it’s very green and there are not many people around. There is an amazing church in Hampstead; I walked into a Sunday mass by accident and the choir was seriously out of this world. It’s nice to discover those little random gems; these are the moments you won’t forget. If I had a visitor I’d take them there, and we could visit the beautiful old cemetery near the church. There is also a mini zoo in the park near my house with some really funny looking animals. So, you probably won’t find me in a hip cafe in East London – I’m not sure if I’d be any good as a tour guide.

Listen to the Wires and Sparks EP x 1 in full below, released in April. Wires and Sparks x 2 is scheduled to be released at the end of July. Get your FREE download of Jagz Kooner‘s remix of Wires and Sparks here. I can’t wait to hear the album.

Categories ,80s, ,Asa Wikman, ,Breakout, ,brooklyn, ,children, ,Communism, ,Daria Hlazatova, ,Depeche Mode, ,ep, ,Flykkiller, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Hampstead Heath, ,Henryk Gorecki, ,interview, ,Jagz Kooner, ,KAMP!, ,Kasia, ,Komeda, ,Mikko, ,Pati Yang, ,Polish, ,punk, ,Warsaw, ,Wires and Sparks, ,Wires and Sparks EP x 1, ,Wires and Sparks x 2

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Amelia’s Magazine | Wood Festival 2011 Review: Zeus, Treetop Flyers Eliza Carthy and printing with lino!

Wood Festival Samba Band and Tents by Sam Parr
Wood Festival Samba Band and Tents by Sam Parr.

Sunday at Wood Festival began with a stint of harmony singing led by Katy, capsule the talented teacher of the Bennett family. It’s rare that I get to sing these days what with so much else going on in my life, price so I relished the opportunity to exercise my lungs with lots of (mainly) like-minded women.

Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
All photography by Amelia Gregory.

A noisy samba parade was the culmination of the morning’s activities, travelling the length of the site to entertain campers. At many points Wood Festival felt more like a family camp than a festival, which was no bad thing as it ensured that there was a real sense of friendliness which can often be missing at other festivals, and it felt like a safe place to leave children roaming wild in packs.

Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Polly and Billets Doux Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory

Polly and the Billets Doux kicked off proceedings on the Wood Stage with their double bass heavy blend of jazz, gospel, country and folk. I particularly loved their painted double bass, which was passed around the band.


To Be A Fighter by Polly and the Billets Doux.

Two Fingers of Firewater Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Two Fingers of Firewater Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Two Fingers of Firewater took the tented Tree Stage during the lazy post lunch hour for keyboard soaked country folk.

Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
During the afternoon my merry group of adults decided to join the kids in some lino printing: at Wood all ages muck in together which is something that happens rarely in our modern society. It was really wonderful to have the space and time to indulge in a bit of creativity.

Katy Rose Cavalry Parade Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Katy Rose Cavalry Parade Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Katy Rose Cavalry Parade Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Katy Rose Cavalry Parade Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Katy Rose and the Cavalry Parade is the newest venture for Katy B, who has renamed herself in the wake of the latest grime artist to crossover into the mainstream.

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She had warned her morning singing group that we might be asked to join her on the stage for the final number but I was off visiting the compost loo and missed the callout. Woops! Katy Rose is a super singer and songwriter who you can hear on this old youtube recording since I currently refuse to link to myspace (they won’t let you hear anything unless you log in)

Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Kettle Making by Lorna Scobie
Kettle Making by Lorna Scobie. Lots of green workshops for the kids (and adults) to attend.

Sun Powered Kettle by Lorna Scobie
Sun Powered Kettle by Lorna Scobie.

Zeus Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Zeus Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory

Canadian rockers Zeus took to the Wood Stage during the mid afternoon lull, which meant that a large part of their audience consisted of excitable children wielding hand made fake fur snakes at the foot of the stage. I’m not really sure what they thought of it all (the band, or the kids).

Wood Festival by Rebecca Strickson
Wood Festival by Rebecca Strickson.

Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory

Zeus are on the very good Arts and Crafts label. Love this video:

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Treetop Flyers by Fi Blog
Treetop Flyers by Fi Blog.

Treetop Flyers Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Treetop Flyers Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Treetop Flyers Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Treetop Flyers Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory

Treetop Flyers were a great evening time discovery: more tight boy harmonies in a bluesy country stylee. They won the 2011 Glastonbury Emerging Talent so expect to see a lot more of these boys. Super.

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Eliza Carthy Band Wood Festival 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou
Eliza Carthy Band Wood Festival 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou.

Last up we caught folkstrel Eliza Carthy, who was predictably quite fantastic live – switching between fiddle, guitar and voice with perfect ease and chattering away about her dad’s 70th birthday celebrations. Eliza’s new album Neptune came out in May and it’s a rollicking narrative ride through her life.

Eliza Carthy Band Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory
Eliza Carthy Band Wood Festival 2011 - photography by Amelia Gregory

I was very sad to miss Robin and Joe Bennet’s band Dreaming Spires, who closed the festival as we sped back to London. By all accounts it was a perfect way to round off what was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable festivals I’ve been to in some time. After all, there aren’t many festivals where the people who run it get up on stage to remind everyone to put on suncream. Wood Festival was invented for and is undoubtedly best suited to families, but I for one hope to return, with or without children.

Eliza Carthy Band Wood Festival 2011

Don’t forget to read my reviews of Friday and Saturday at Wood Festival too. Read also this review by Matt Hanley of Green Wedge.

Categories ,art, ,Arts and Crafts, ,children, ,country, ,Dreaming Spires, ,eliza carthy, ,Fi Blog, ,folk, ,gospel, ,Green Wedge, ,jazz, ,Joe Bennett, ,Katy Rose, ,Katy Rose and the Cavalry Parade, ,Lino Cutting, ,Lorna Scobie, ,Matt Hanley, ,Michalis Christodoulou, ,Neptune, ,Polly and the Billets Doux, ,Rebecca Strickson, ,review, ,Robin Bennett, ,Sam Parr, ,Singing, ,Solar Cooking, ,Sun Powered Kettle, ,Sunday, ,Treetop Flyers, ,Two Fingers of Firewater, ,Wood Festival, ,Zeus

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