Given The Brush Off

A new sculpture appeared in the city centre yesterday in the shape of this woman and child cleaning their garden.

The sculpture is entitled "The Sweepers" and has been created by a company called Shipshape Arts. It is in recognition of Nottingham becoming the cleanest city in Britain.

It has attracted a lot of attention from passers by since it was placed there, with people having their photos taken whilst standing next to the two figures.  In fact a woman asked me to take her and her family's picture whilst I was shooting this.

Fishing For Compliments

This giant angel fish sculpture has been made out of rubbish from an arts event that took place in Highfields over the past two weeks.

It was called Wheee14 and was designed to keep the children amused during their latest holiday from school. The Exxopilis has also been part of the event, and has been very popular.

Waiting For Death

Whilst visiting Cobden Chambers, I came across another one of the sculptures that have been made by apprentices.

I'm not sure if I like this one or not.  It looks a bit morbid to me, and the hole in his chest reminds me of the scene in Alien, when the monster bursts out of John Hurt.

I once saw a fantastic spoof of that scene on TV, where instead of it being a baby alien, it was Sooty!

Hangin' On The Telephone

Walking through the Lace Market, I came across this giant sculpture of a telephone handset.

It's part of a street art exhibition that has been created by students at the Confetti Institute of Creative Technicians, and has been done to promote apprenticeships.

There are apparently around a dozen sculptures dotted across the city. So it will be interesting to see what else the students have created.

Flyover

Well we made it to Lincoln for the day to celebrate my birthday & our wedding anniversary.

It was quite a nice, relaxing day all round, as the sun came out now and again. But it stayed dry, and that was the main thing.

We parked up and had a stroll along the cobbled streets, looking in the different shops. Gail wanted to visit this particular shop that sold vintage clothes and bric a brac. There was quite a good selection of stuff on offer. I just wonder where it all comes from though, as there seems to be so much of it about these days, even though it might be between 40 and 70 years old. Also at what age does something stop being vintage?

We also stopped off here and there to do a spot of photography.  I like this abstract figures sculpture that fly over the River Witham as it cuts its way along the Waterside area. According to the information on the map that we picked up from the tourist office, the sculpture is called Empowerment. It was created in 2002 by artist Stephen Broadbent.

Cor Bilimey

Popped over to Arnold Park this evening , and while I was there I came across this sculpture that has been made from a single piece of tree trunk.

The artist certainly has a sense of humour in carving out this apple that has been eaten away by a maggot.

Piggy In The Middle

I went up to Patchings Arts Centre at Calverton to collect my two prints that I had on show as part of a photographic exhibition of local Flickr members.

Its the first time that I have been there. It's a collection of different buildings where artists of all kinds can show and sell their work.

In a wild bit of a garden/field some sculptured metal animals were lurking, including this rather splendid pig. One that Lord Emsworth* himself would be proud of.

*A character created by PG Wodehouse

It's a Woolly Lion, Not A Woolly Mammoth

An A Level textile student at a local college called Nikki Charlesworth 'yarn bombed' the famous Left Lion in the Old Market Square, as part of their coursework.

The crochet style of knitting is a form of street graffiti, something that she came across after seeing a female Polish artist called Olek, who once covered the famous Wall Street Charging Bull sculpture in New York, in pink and purple wool.

I'm sure you'd all like to wish Nikki well in her studies. I'm sure she'll do well with producing such an unusual piece of work. And I'm sure that Leo is happy about his new clothes, as it was quite cold and wet when I took the photo.

A Brief Encounter

Another flying visit to London today, so very little time to take any photos before my train home. It was more of a case of wandering round St Pancras Station for a little while, before lining up on Platform One.

So here's a photo of Paul Day's 'The Meeting Place' sculpture, which was created in 2008.

A Question of Life?

This is a new living sculpture that has appeared on the streets of Nottingham. It is located on Canning Circus, which has recently gone through a bit of a facelift, with some new paving and road layout. I'm not sure what the artist is trying to tell us, and I wouldn't like to be the person who has to trim the topiary, as there is always the danger of cutting too much off and ruining the message.

Carmen Get Her

This sculpture is called Carmen, and stands outside the Theatre Royal. She's been there a few years now and was designed by Hilary Cartmel and is made of stainless steel and concrete.
Personally I think it is quite an ugly statue, and quite likely to scare people on a dark night. But that's modern art for you.