where art collides philosoperontap

April 28, 2014

Lincoln A2Z A10 – Jerusalem

Filed under: A 2 Z — Trefor Davies @ 9:51 pm

I’ve been to Jerusalem. Twice. Jerusalem Israel. Never been to Jerusalem, Lincs, as far as I know. When is was in Jerusalem, Israel the streets were filled with soldiers, guns slung casually over their shoulders. I imagine guns can occasionally be seen in Jerusalem, Lincolnshire. Shotguns. Pheasant killers. Peasant thrillers. Killer diller. I feel as if a song would be appropriate here but I’ve never learnt the words to Jerusalem mainly because I’m Welsh. Good song though and I do like a good song. We Welsh like to sing. When my dad were a lad they would all troop off to choir practice at the chapel on a Tuesday night. It’s why everyone in Wales used to know the words to hymns, and the harmonies. Not anymore. The whole chapel thing is fading out and people no longer have the occasion to learn the words. Shame really. They could still do the hymn singing without the religious bits. It’s what back rooms of pubs with pianos are for. I once went on a works outing to the peak district. We went on some sort of circular walk and ended up in a village with three pubs. The first was decidedly dodgy, filled with locals who would eye us with that “he’s not from round here” sort of look. The second was a bit touristy so five of us wandered on and found hte third pub. We hit the jackpot. This was a real locals pub with an old girl banging awya on hte piano whilst the regulars played their instruments – maracas, triangles etc. The songs were all of an era – roll out the barrell, daisy daisy giv e me your answer do and so on. We stayed there for the rest of the night. It came to midnight and the party was still in full swing but one of our party suddenly remembered we had to get on the coach to go home. An hour ago! We swayed down the road and met the coach coming to look for us. Slept the whole way home. Great day out. I wonder if there is a pub in Jerusalem. I may never find out…

PS – just taken a look on the map and of course I’ve been through Jerusalem. It’s just a couple of farm buildings and whilst there is no pub (shame) the Stones in Skellingthorpe is only a shortish walk. Ciao amigos.

April 18, 2014

Eleanor Cross for Lincoln – the carving starts

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 7:10 pm
The carving of the new Eleanor Cross for Lincoln starts.
Amazing that something of beauty can emerge from within a solid piece of rock – the mantra of the in awe armchair philosopher down the ages when describing a sculpture.
This series of photos shows the start of the carving process. The videos are a short interview with Alan Ward describing the task in hand and one of him doing some carving. On this occasion I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

March 8, 2014

Eleanor Cross statue project – choosing the stone with artist Alan Ward

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 6:31 pm
quarry_landscape

Choosing the stone for the new Eleanor Cross for Lincoln project at the CDS quarry in Metheringham Heath.

Last week we covered the launch event for the new Eleanor Cross project for Lincoln. It’s been quite a wait to get the right piece of rock to start carving the statue. The quarry is only digging out new rock on a few days a month and often the pieces that come out are not of a suitable size or shape.

Moreover whilst the giant digging equipment that is occasionally brought can handle them the larger “lumps” are difficult to move using the quarry’s onsite kit and have to be carefully drilled to facilitate cutting into manageable sizes.

This first candidate on the right had already been moved into the main quarry working area. It might do the job as one of the halves. Alan and quarry manager Sean are seen discussing dimensions. For practical reasons the Eleanor Cross statue will be carved in two halves and cemented together. Otherwise the stone would be too heavy to cart to site for carving.

(more…)

March 1, 2014

New Eleanor Cross for Lincoln – a project of national significance

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Trefor Davies @ 6:28 pm
New Eleanor Cross for Lincoln – a project of national significance with exclusive coverage at the weekends on trefor.net.
Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward I of England died in 1290 in Harby in Nottinghamshire. Her body was taken to the Gilbertine Priory at St Catherines in Lincoln where it was embalmed and the viscera remove to nearby Lincoln Cathedral.
After four days and nights in Lincoln the body was removed, accompanied by the King and his retinue to London, a journey that took twelve days. Following the burial in London King Edward commissioned a cross to be erected at each overnight stopping point.
Most of the crosses were destroyed by the Roundheads during the English Civil War.  A fragment of the original Lincoln cross remains inside Lincoln Castle. A new cross has been commissioned to be erected outside St Catherine’s Church, the starting point in Lincoln of the journey.
In December a meeting was held at St Catherine’s church at South Common to launch the project. The two videos below were recorded at the launch event. The first is with artist Alan Ward and the second is with the parish priest Father Ian who offers some particularly interesting insights into the history of the Eleanor Cross.

Tune in every weekend for updates on this project. Coverage was initially planned for philosopherontap.com but this is interesting enough to merit the wider readership that trefor.net offers.

February 23, 2014

Two carpets on a painted wood floor

Filed under: the art gallery — Trefor Davies @ 6:24 pm

Taken on a dull Sunday afternoon in February. The room had a north facing bay window  that let in the right amount of diffused light for the effective presentation of this composition.

The artist, Trefor Davies, makes good use of every day objects in his work. Here we have three very different textures. The splash of colour sandwiched in the middle of what some might argue are two bland exteriors surprisingly pushes the eye towards the fluffy shagpile that dominates the whole picture to the right and centre of the frame.

February 12, 2014

14

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 9:49 pm

Good number, 14. It’s an even number though why that should mean anything is anyone’s guess. Nobody’s business. It also means you are well and truly entrenched in your teens. 13 was the first of the teen birthdays. 14 is better. Another five numbers yet to come though. 15 – 19.

14 is one of the better birthdays. When I was 14 I was half way between being 13 and 15. Things haven’t changed even though we didn’t have the internet in those days.

One of the things about being 14 is that your age starts to race away from your shoe size. I don’t know anyone with a size 14 shoe. Good job. It’s also a good job that you eventually stop growing. Imagine if you carried on growing until you were 28! Uh!? Cost a fortune in clothes, food and versions of Football Manager/GTA etc etc.

52 divided by 14 is exactly 3.7142857132 according the calc on my dog and bone. Just sayin’. 140 is a long way off but you never know…

Happy birthday. You know who you are 🙂

February 10, 2014

trumpet lesson going on

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 5:46 pm

There’s a trumpet lesson going on in the front room. Syncopation unless I’m very much mistaken.

There’s a pork chop being cooked in the kitchen. Nandos Peri Peri marinade.

The curtains are shut though it is still light out. Enthusiastic Mrs Davies.

A cup of tea rests on the arm of the settee. Going cold.

Work is over for the day. A night off.

Murmurs from the corridor and the sounds of a car departing. Football training.

A red light shines from the corner of the TV. Standby.

Assorted books fill three bookcases. Unsorted.

The cupboard doors are slightly ajar. Probably need closing.

Cars race by on the road outside and the sound of trumpets continues. The clock on the top of the bookcase ticks. It is showing approximately the right time. It may now be dark…

December 24, 2013

The meaning of Christmas

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 4:50 pm

Strange that the culmination of the year should be Christmas time. It is deepest mid-winter. The weather is at its most miserable nonentity. It rarely snows to make it the picture postcard scene of Christmas cards. Neither does it have the same significance as it used to – and I’m talking the midwinter festival here not the relatively modern religious aspect.

Time was, I guess, that folk got fed up with the austerity that winter brought and needed an excuse to break the monotony. Nowadays as long as you have the cash there is never a lean time of year where we await the onset of new growth with, presumably, eager anticipation. We still celebrate though.

In recent times the celebration has been themed around the birth of Jesus Christ. I am not in the least bit religious but I do still like the tradition of the whole Christmas Story. It makes me feel good. Takes me back to my childhood where we left brandy, mince pies and a carrot out for our midnight visitors and us kids were in bed at an inordinately early time to try and fast forward the night to morning.

Now as a parent with kids living away from home and knowing that they will be home for Christmas I feel almost the same excitement as I did all those years ago waiting for Santa to come. The kids themselves, I am pretty certain, like to come home. We have our community traditions: friends’ parties, carol singing in the Morning Star and early doors in the pub on Christmas Eve. For those that like to go there is the carol service at St Peter in Eastgate church.

The religious aspect now has no meaning for the majority of us. We still like to celebrate the birth of Jesus because we have always done so. It feels right but not because of any deeply held faith. For most, Christmas now means having a good time, nice presents, good food and drink. It has a feelgood factor.

As I write the fire is crackling away in the grate, there are Christmas carols on the radio and it has grown dark outside. The house is otherwise quiet and all is ready for the feasting ahead.

Have a great Christmas and good luck for the new year:)

December 21, 2013

Lincoln Eleanor Cross – launch of project

Filed under: Eleanor Cross — Tags: , , — Trefor Davies @ 9:46 am

On Tuesday a meeting was held at St Catherine’s church at South Common to launch the Eleanor Cross project for Lincoln. The original Eleanor Cross was destroyed during the English  Civil War although a fragment of the base still exists in Lincoln Castle.

Philosopherontap is going to cover the whole project but in the interest of getting some info out there quickly here are a couple of video interviews taken at the church on Tuesday.

The first is with artist Alan Ward and the second is with the parish priest Father Ian.

December 1, 2013

silent clock

Filed under: poems — Trefor Davies @ 3:17 pm

Low winter sun marks approach to solstice. House is warm. Kitchen radio talks sport, fire crackles. Clock makes its silent way.

November 27, 2013

Man escorts mother onto train

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 7:23 am

Forty something man escorts his aged mother onto the train and tells her not to get off at Newark Northgate as the train goes straight through to Kings Cross. She mutters disapproval and says “Oh God” whilst shaking her head.

A couple of minutes later she is heard to ask someone on the train whether this train goes straight through to kings Cross. Now she is asking a member of staff. The son escorting her on the train was clearly right to tell her – normally you have to change at Newark.

Made me smile.

November 23, 2013

Boston

Filed under: thoughts — Trefor Davies @ 9:51 am

Off to Boston this morning to deliver some musicians to a midday rehearsal. Doing the “taking there” bit avoids the duty of bringing them back at around 10pm tonight. It’s not a bad drive back from Boston at that time of night but there are other things one could be doing.

For example I could be wallpapering the landing. I won’t be wallpapering the landing because it has only just been done by Anne and I wouldn’t be very popular if I did it again. If nothing else it would make the landing smaller. Anyway she would do a better job than me – better left to the experts I say.

The wallpapering bit was a random alternative job plucked out of thin air and deposited carelessly on the page in a take it if you will fashion. It isn’t the type of notion spent hours in careful crafting. Nor was it the output of an outrageously fertile imagination, a lively choice plucked dancing from the spotlit crowd neath life’s rotating mirror. It was in part the only choice. A selection of one proffered by a dullness of mind dampened by a late night Friday/Saturday morning.

Silence…

November 17, 2013

The Sunday Chill

Filed under: chinks — Trefor Davies @ 11:27 am

I’ve just sat down with a cup of tea after making a beef stew for tonight’s meal. I make a good beef stew. It sits in the oven on a low heat for most of the day and the result is a rich sauce and tender meat. The kids wolf it down. Quite pleasing. This one has a bottle of Timothy Taylors Landlord in it. Should be good.

The Davies house is at peace. One son is cooking sausages for his breakfast in the kitchen. Another has I think been doing some schoolwork. Good lad. Takes after his mother.

It’s quite nice to sometimes not do anything on a Sunday. Total relaxation. You have to get the balance of online and offline relaxation to do it right. Can’t spend all day stuck in a laptop. That would be just like an ordinary working day.

Last week was busy. Next week is going to be busy. Today is a day for chillin. Before we head out I’m going to clean out the fireplace and set it ready for this afternoon. Nothing quite like a cozy log fire on a Sunday afternoon. Yesterday I bought some crumpets. Say no more…

October 26, 2013

Journey to the far North

Filed under: chinks — Tags: , — Trefor Davies @ 7:41 am

It seems counter intuitive, heading south when I really want to be going north. I’m racing a storm. Heading towards it to escape the expected trail of devastation, before the airport closes and the hatches are battened down.

A crisp packet blows across the car park. Will it soon be a tree? A frisson of excitement tickles my spine.

October 25, 2013

In plain sight

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — Jim @ 1:13 pm

It once made you powerful,
Now it only makes you feel that way.

Deficient in daylight,
In bunkers sealed airtight,
Strength drained as you cower;
A precious guard around your own weak heel.

Observers, silent, underground,
Huddle around glowing transcripts;
As, with one foot severed,
A new enemy prowls.

Knowledge unshared,
Is power impaired;
Friends become foes,
And adversaries real gorge on your frenzy.

In a parallel world,
Adapted to your thought blockade,
People just get on with it;
And walk in plain sight, unafraid.

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