The band progresses for Stourhead

We are working on our band for the sculpture trail at Stourhead the National Trust garden in Wiltshire. The trail "Stourhead will never forget" commemorates the effect of World War 1 on the community. The band  will stand on a raft in an arm of the big lake. At the moment the site  is being drained to enable the clearing of silt.The band will commemorate the concerts given at Stourhead to entertain convalescent troops. We also have in mind the bands formed by soldiers from all sides near the front. Below is an image of a German band near Noyon in France. Noyon, only 60 miles north of Paris, was occupied by the Germans for most of that war. The performances of all armies often had men in drag and scratch instruments as in this image. We are also working on another and final installation which will commemorate Harry Hoare, heir to the estate, killed in Palestine in November 1917. The trail will remain in place until November 2017. We have chosen a nursery theme to commemorate him.

Our Last installations for Stourhead

Here is a pic of the Scraptors Scratch Band in progress ,which we intend to install very soon at Stourhead . It is our penultimate installation ...more news soon .

Band on the move

 Our band on the move. We loaded it on to a trailer to move the players from Anthony's house to Paul and Rachel's. The band will be on a floating  raft at Stourhead the National Trust property n Wiltshire to add to our installations already in place. This is a sculpture trail  "Stourhead will never forget" that commemorates the effect of World War 1 on the community. The band commemorates the concerts given there to entertain wounded troops and also the bands that were formed by troops from all sides behind the lines. They often fashioned instruments from what came to hand.....Work  in progress. We were given some organ pipes from a  church that was replacing an old one and we will use them for one of the instruments. The bottom picture shows Paul's drawing of the concept.See page above for more about the trail already in situ.

Harry Hoare in Memoriam workshop at Stourhead

We  had a workshop, dodging heavy showers,  at Stourhead to design our last installation for the sculpture trail that commemorates the effect of World War 1 on the community. This will be in memory of Harry Hoare the 29 year old heir to the estate who was killed in action in Palestine in 1917. We will be making  a group of carousels to evoke his childhood at Stourhead. The carousels will have hints of the devastating war  that was  to take his life. For our models we used bicycle wheels. For the actual installation we will use gyratoy  washing lines.

Nursery and Armageddon

Next week July 28 we will be hosting an all day drop in workshop at Stourhead the National Trust property in Wiltshire. The workshop will create toys which will serve as models for the fifth and last installation in our sculpture trail "Stourhead will never forget." which commemorates the effect of World War 1 on the community. This installation will commemorate Henry Hoare, the 29 year old heir to Stourhead, who was killed in 1917 in Palestine. He was trying to rescue horses under fire. His parents received the news of his death on Christmas Eve. The nursery will commemorate his happy childhood but there will be echoes of the war that engulfed Europe and the local community. We also have in mind the trench art in which soldiers on all sides made artifacts including toys from odds and ends. A brochure detailing the trail will be available at the visitors' centre at Stourhead.  You can see more a bout the trail on the page above.

A cat may sit on a dragon in the Liverpool Biennale 2016

Anthony went up to Liverpool to see the Biennale. The cat was in a shop - not part of the Biennale.  Below a sculpture by Ramin Haerizadeh in the Cains Brewery one of the venues for art round the city - perhaps the most successful one. The city has certainly perked up since Anthony was there for  a while in the 70's.

                      Below one of the sculptures by Sahej Rahal in the Cains Brewery.

                                                  Below a graffiti on  a street wall.

Floating band work in progress

Work in progress for our band which will stand on a floating raft at Stourhead the National Trust property in Wiltshire as part of a   sculpture trail to commemorate the effect of World War 1 on the community. The band will commemorate the concerts held at Stourhead to entertain wounded troops and also the scratch bands formed  by troops on all sides near the front often making instruments from whatever came to hand.