BY JANE HARVEY An Interview with Cheryl Anita Miller at Bengaluru’s Most Unusual Museum A Place That Refuses to Sit Still BANGALURU — There are museums one walks through politely, hands clasped behind the back, pausing briefly before each work. And then there are places like the Miller Museum of Anamorphic Art, where standing still is quite useless. Tucked away on Carlston Road in Cooke … Continue reading The Woman Who Brought Illusion Back to Life
Last month the Editor enjoyed a coffee with Lisa Pingale, founder of Monalisa Kalagram in Koregaon Park, Pune, India. The Monalisa Kalagram is an art centre/gallery that aims to promote art and create a community of artists, painters, poets, writers, creative thinkers. Here is the interview, below: Editor: Lisa, thank you for speaking with Country Squire Magazine. Monalisa Kalagram is described as an ‘oasis’ in Koregaon Park. … Continue reading Strawberries to Canvases
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Many years ago I arrived early one morning in St Mark’s Square, Venice, before the crowds had started to gather. The air was fresh and cool and the sky a clear blue. And there, in front of the cathedral facade, an Italian flag fluttered high on one of the flagpoles. It was a glorious sight. The green, white and red vertical stripes … Continue reading Red, White & Blue
BY THE EDITOR Andrew Hood, not to be confused with Robin Hood, is a contemporary British sculptor known for his distinctive work that often merges fine art with elements of nature and the human experience. His sculptures explore themes such as movement, form, and the interplay between different materials. Hood has gained a reputation for his innovative techniques and varied use of materials, including metal, … Continue reading The Hood in the Wood
CITY GRUMP The world famous work of art by John Constable, The Hay Wain, is to be rehung in a new exhibition at our National Gallery. Dr Mary McMahon, a curator there, explains what’s going on . She declares: “We want to talk about everything that has not been included in this painting. The British landscape was a contested space. We have the Corn Laws, … Continue reading Great Art: Contested and Reconstituted
BY ROGER WATSON Now that I am retired and have endless leisure time I can do crazy things like visit art galleries in the morning. Here in Kingston upon Hull we are certainly not spoilt for choice. We have a single gallery in town. Therefore, one visit goes a long way. The Ferens Art Gallery is in the old town of Hull, and we have … Continue reading Desperately Seeking Gays in Hull
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE An art gallery in Shoreditch, about nine in the evening. In front of me is, according to the gallerist’s demented assessment, an art piece: a blue squiggle on a blank canvas. And behind me are ten people gathered to hear my verdict on it. The fact is, I have passed myself off as an art critic in order to crash one of … Continue reading Gallery Party
BY NICK PEARCE Rodger McPhail is a world-famous British painter, best known for his detailed wildlife paintings of sporting fowl, fish, and dogs. After studying at both Liverpool and Coventry Art Colleges, he achieved the rare distinction of having a painting published on the front cover of The Shooting Times at the age of just 19. With numerous exhibitions at The Rountree Tryon Gallery and … Continue reading An Artist by Nature
BY ANDREW MOODY In today’s “woke” culture of outrage and identity politics, there is no longer a place for satirical rapcore band The Bloodhound Gang. After forming in the early nineties, the failure of their final album Hard-Off saw the Gang finally disband in 2015. Songs like Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny, I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks, You’re Pretty … Continue reading Bloodhound Gang
BY SAM WHITE The inherent leftiness of the arts and music scene is relentlessly stifling, the creative industries having become intractably connected with so-called progressive politics. Those in the industry articulate, of course, a belief in artistic freedom, but it’s a false one, as the strict confines of the like-minded collective invisibly demarcate actual artistic practice. There’s a rejection of capitalism, while working in ways … Continue reading Farts & Music
CSM INTERVIEWS Gill Erskine-Hill has been painting for 35 years in a variety of locations, being fortunate enough to live and work in Devon, Scotland, Norfolk and the Dordogne area of South West France. Following a move back to Devon, she is re-experiencing the beauty and diversity of this part of Britain and drawing inspiration from the people and landscape there. Most of Gill’s early work … Continue reading The Artist Gill Erskine-Hill
Country Squire Magazine’s Dom Wightman interviews Andrew Fitzsimmons, the talented stained glass artist. Born in 1978 at the start of the ‘punk era’ in London, Andrew spent his early childhood on Mersea Island, near Colchester. Andrew has one daughter, Lilly, who’s also an artist and he lives in Southend. Dom: How long have you been an artist? Andy: I come from an artistic family of, painters, … Continue reading The Stained Glass Artist
BY ANASTASIA CHOO Ask anyone what the word “tapestry” means and the chances are that they’ll talk about old and grandiose designs that are metres long and wide, which the aristocracy often used to keep out the draft. Nowadays the need for tapestries to keep out draughts in a large hall has disappeared but the weaving of tapestries did not die in medieval times and … Continue reading Interview with a Master Weaver
BY CHRIS EGAN The successful BBC TV series The Great Pottery Throwdown has added to the current wave of popularity gripping the world of ceramics in the UK; underlining how clay is oozing back into contemporary art. As Hettie Judah wrote in the Independent last year, “the championing of clay as a sculptural medium by a younger generation of artists has brought with it a re-examination … Continue reading The Great British Pottery Revival
INTERVIEWEE: ALLAN WARREN Allan Warren is a British portrait photographer based in Covent Garden, primarily known for his images of high society including stars of the screen, celebrities and royalty. Allan also happens to be a great character, raconteur and bon vivant. Allan has photographed Mae West, Salvador Dali, Prince Charles, Roger Moore, Joan Collins and many others. Here, in a transcript of their interview, his friend … Continue reading Star Shooter & Character: Allan Warren
BY ALEXIA JAMES Most people get fat at some point in their lives. Many women get fat during and after pregnancy (yup, me too) and it takes one hell of a lot of hours on the cross trainer to shed those pounds, lose those jowls, tighten that butt and somehow squeeze back into your pre-pregnancy clothes. Some people are happy living with fat. Others hate … Continue reading The Art of Being Fat
For one entire month in the summer of 2014, felt artist Lucy Sparrow took over a rundown corner shop in Bethnal Green, East London, and filled it with more than 4000 hand-stitched felt replicas of everyday items that you’d ordinarily find in a local shop. Even the ice lollies in the freezer were felt lollies. The show was a huge success and visitors from all … Continue reading Lucy Sparrow: Shoplifting
