Fishink In Manchester

I missed telling you all about this at the time and now it’s a little dated, but still interesting. I was in Manchester around the time of  the Chinese New Year. The Portico Library had a wonderful exhibition by Syrian artist Ousama Lazkani of imagery and laser cut outs to celebrate the four guardians of the sky. Pity there weren’t any monkeys : )

Beautiful bold lines and patterning, always grabs my attention.

It’s such a great space to exhibit too.

The best piece was this dynamic wooden laser-cut of the snake, dragon, tiger and bird. I loved how you could see through one to the other, so nicely done.

Now I’ve been bursting to tell you my news about Helen Borten for the last 2 years ! Boy do I know how to keep a secret lol

Any regular readers will know that I’ve been captivated and raving about Helen’s work on Fishink blog since 2012. The publisher Flying Eye Books got in touch with me as they were interested in Helen’s work, after seeing it on my blog. Two years later, a selection of Helen’s books are finally being republished for today’s generation to enjoy. I got a lovely ‘Thank You’ email from Helen for making the whole thing possible, but I was just overjoyed that my blogging had helped more people to see the beauty and illustrative genius of her books. Well done Helen.

Whilst in the Manchester Art Gallery I wandered around the exhibitions and events. This little robot chap caught my eye as he was whirring around the room. Little did we know, that he was being controlled by some unruly kids one floor above us, who could see what he was doing and direct him too. It was interesting to see people’s reactions, one girl in her twenties went running in the opposite direction (looking a little anxious) when it slowly followed her down the corridor. Which did make me laugh.

There were some rather creepy, animated, skeletal-figures who were deep in conversation with one another. I’m surprised the little kids watching didn’t have nightmares after seeing these.

In another room were James Capper’s rather ferocious looking machines. These spider / snap-dragon looking mechanical sculptures would have a great time patrolling your garden or home interior… if you trusted them to be left alone ! I’d have to take the plugs off just in case they sprang to life and went wild : )

I even made it onto the TV with Lizzie my blogging friend. So much to see and do in Manchester. When is the last time you wandered around your home town and discovered something new ?  I’m also making the most of this sunny spell too.

Hope you enjoyed the mini heatwave whilst it lasted everyone.