This weekend we went down to the seaside in Kent: my partner’s dad lives in Ramsgate and when we go down to Thanet we always go for a pootle around Margate and Broadstairs.
In Margate American artist Alex Katz is showing Give Me Tomorrow at the Turner Contemporary, which has just the right amount of space to put on the perfectly sized exhibition for a sociable stroll with the family. He’s not a painter I’ve heard of but I really enjoyed his work: particularly rolling abstract waves and epic seascapes inspired by his home in Maine. That and his work from the 70s and 80s, often featuring his friends and family but put together to imitate glamourous magazine shoots and stills from films. Also on show was a massive interactive beaded installation – Tempo para Respirar (Breathing Time) – by Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno.
Margate has become a haven for artists and there are some great places to discover in the old town: piles of old boxes, a random collection of knitted dolls in a tree… there are plenty of junk shops and second hand book stores to peruse.
Victoria Browne
Nikki Davidson-Bowman
And then we came across some really fabulous work as part of Pushing Print Festival at the Margate Gallery (on now until 27th October) Here are just two of the artists on show: beautiful screenprinted monoliths by Victoria Browne and Nikki Davidson-Bowman‘s sculptural laser print wall hanging.
Broadstairs is great for little eateries: we like visiting the old fashioned Morelli’s Gelato seaside ice-creamery if only for the amazing intact 50s decor, but this time we opted for Oscar’s Festival Cafe… a beautifully appointed shack that is manned by someone called Graham (not Oscar).
The impeccable decor did not disappoint: we had the best ever scrambled egg and bacon, on top of a Kentish delicacy known as a Huffkin: part muffin, part bagel. Visit it if you are ever down that way.
Then we took Snarfle down for a windy jaunt along the beach. I wore my new pink Chatham Marine Alcyone deck shoes, which were a recent gift: they are the first pair of deck shoes I’ve owned and I must say I rather like them! Particularly worn with a pair of natty socks (always).
A bit about Chatham Marine:
Chatham Marine are a British family run business who are specialists in boating wear, and their shoes and boots are available in over 500 independent stores and chandleries across the UK, as well as John Lewis, Jones the Bootmaker, and Debenhams stores. They sell in over 200 stockists across Europe.
Chatham Marine‘s mocacassin constructed boat shoes involve hand stitching the leather uppers through the grippy rubber sole with rot proof waxed cable thread so that the leather will wrap around the shape of the foot. The shoes are unlined for the utmost comfort, and they can be worn sockless without worrying about breathability. In a boating situation water is able to permeate between the spaces created by the waxed cable: in effect the shoes are designed to let the water in and out.
Handy that: even if I didn’t go any further than the old concrete tidal pool on Broadstairs beach.
All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Categories ,Alcyone, ,Alex Katz, ,Boating, ,british, ,Broadstairs, ,Chatham Marine, ,Debenhams, ,Deck Shoes, ,Give Me Tomorrow, ,Huffkin, ,John Lewis, ,Jones the Bootmaker, ,kent, ,maine, ,Margate, ,Margate Gallery, ,Maria Nepomuceno, ,Mocacassin, ,Morelli’s Gelato, ,Nikki Davidson-Bowman, ,Oscar’s Festival Cafe, ,pink, ,Pushing Print Festival, ,Ramsgate, ,Snarfle, ,Tempo para Respirar (Breathing Time), ,Thanet, ,Turner Contemporary, ,Victoria Browne
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