Margaret Sharrow: margaret sharrow

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Saturday, 22 January 2011

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This blog is being gradually converted to hosting news about Margaret Sharrow, and her reviews of exhibitions. Her current portfolio is at www.wix.com/sharrowart/margaretsharrow

Image © Margaret Sharrow 2011

All images and text this site copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008-2012, unless otherwise noted

Greenland blog 14: arts centre med kaffemik

Folk dancing, Nuuk arts centre, Greenland. Image copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008.

I always like to check out galleries and arts centres when I travel, not just because I’m an artist (although that is the main draw), but also because they often have good places to eat with an interesting atmosphere. I must admit to being spoiled, living as I do with the Aberystwyth Arts Centre on my doorstep, with three galleries, an excellent and ﬁlling salad bar in the main café, and even better treats in the Piazza Café downstairs, such as the salmon and cream cheese wraps and tasty pizza. And no visit to the Tate is complete without either shooting up the elevator to the fabulous views of the Thames over a mocha at Tate Modern, or, ideally, savouring devilled kidneys on toast with a glass of wine at the Rex Whistler Restaurant at Tate Britain (to say nothing of the possibilities of a drink on the sunny terrace overlooking Porthmeor Beach at Tate St Ives!) So naturally, when I stumbled on the ultramodern arts centre in Nuuk, with its distinctive exterior, undulating waves of smooth wood simulating the face of a glacier, I had to investigate.

And boy was I rewarded: the interior atrium, with its soaring ceiling and glass walls, was as funky as its exterior. There seemed to be a full programme of cinema, mixing popular releases with a few more arthouse offerings. However I never made it upstairs in search of galleries because I was detained by the cafe. I chose something from the tempting array of cakes, a moist carrot cake I think, but the star of the show was deﬁnitely the hot chocolate. Served in a tall glass, heaped with whipped cream, the chocolate was rich, the cream was the excellent Danish silky dairy, and there was more than a note of nutmeg. I honestly have never had such excellent hot chocolate in my life, thick as a sweet soup without being in the least cloying.

The next day I was back, late in the afternoon, wondering what cake to choose to accompany other glass of heaven. In the kind of dumb luck that is often a tourist’s serendipity, I didn’t have to choose: it turned out to be a demonstration of Greenlandic folk dancing, accompanied by that wonderful Greenlandic tradition of the kaffemik, the coffee-chat, usually taking place in people’s homes and thus difficult for the foreigner to encounter without tourist office mediation. But here was something obviously laid on for families and friends who had come to see the dozen or so dancers, ranging in age from about thirteen to retirement. And what a spread! Tables groaning with the full range of the cafe’s best cakes, accompanied by endless ﬂasks of strong dark coffee. Here was a blessed chance to compare the fruit tarts, the rich chocolate cake frosted with dark chocolate, and the light heaven that was the raspberry pavlova (probably my personal favourite).

I just had time to settle myself into a corner with a good view of the action when the dancing started. The music was not dissimilar to what you would hear at a Scottish reel, a lot of jigs and toe-tappers in 3/4 or 6/8 time. They jumped, they jigged, they do-si-doed, they did a variant on strip the willow, they stamped, the held hands and galloped in a circle. And me? My hands ﬂew over my shutter and zoom, quickly rejecting freeze frames that captured people in the uninteresting junctions between movements in favour of an evocative blur. I’m still thinking of how to weave them together in a video. I know, it’s been over two years, I should just get on with it. But ﬁrst, I’ll need to track down suitable music. Luckily I know just the person to write to... but that will have to wait for another posting.

29 August 2008 16:37 recalled 18 January 2011

Want more? Then please VOTE FOR ME TO BE THE OFFICIAL BLOGGER & ARTIST ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE! http://www.blogyourwaytothenorthpole.com/entries/166

then lope over to my Greenland blog http://margaretsharrowgreenland.blogspot.com/

and stay tuned for another episode tomorrow!

Sunday, 9 January 2011

Please vote for me to become the official blogger / artist for an expedition to the North Pole!

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biography .

portfolio .

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Image: Greenland iceberg, © Margaret Sharrow 2008

All images and text this site copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008-2011, unless otherwise noted

Greenland blog 03: aerial perspectives

River estuary, west coast of Greenland. Image copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008

I am always fascinated with what landscapes look like from above, which reveals so much more than what we can see from our day-to-day perspective on the ground. The rivers that I saw were not places seen from a bobbing boat, or from the shore while scanning for abundant trout, or glimpsed indifferently from a bridge while sailing on to somewhere else by coach. (There is very little travel by coach in Greenland, as none of the settlements are connected to each other by road.) No, the rivers I saw on that first descent were unencumbered by boats or bridges or fishing-folk, but grand free silver bands, winding and braiding and unbraiding themselves as they slipped through a brown rainbow of silt towards the sea. It was the first of many occasions when I wished I had some knowledge, any knowledge, of geology, but somehow knowing whether or not this was an example of a terminal moraine would probably have detracted from the experience of pure joy at the colours, the shapes, the fluidity of it all.

26 August 2008 09:39 recalled 7 January 2011

Want more? Then please VOTE FOR ME TO BE THE OFFICIAL BLOGGER & ARTIST ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE!

then lope over to my Greenland blog http://margaretsharrowgreenland.blogspot.com/

and stay tuned for another episode tomorrow!

Greenland blog archive

Sunday, 2 January 2011

Please vote for me to become the official blogger / artist for an expedition to the North Pole!

statement .

biography .

portfolio .

exhibitions .

news .

work for sale .

reviews .

links .

contact .

Image: Greenland iceberg, © Margaret Sharrow 2008

All images this site copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008-2010, unless otherwise noted

'Making Sense of the Turner Prize': Margaret Sharrow's latest 'Exploring Art' talk

Image: Outside the Turner Prize exhibition, Tate Britain, London. Photo copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010.

It's all over now, bar the shouting, and maybe you didn't even get to see it. The Turner Prize exhibition, Britain's most prestigious art award, is always controversial, but then it was designed that way. The work shown is praised and pilloried, met with puzzlement, indifference or incomprehension. So what's it all about?

Artist Margaret Sharrow will attempt to unravel a little of the workings of this annual event in 'Making Sense of the Turner Prize', the latest in her series of Exploring Art talks. The presentation will be illustrated with examples of work by all the previous Turner Prize winners, as well as the 2010 contenders.

The talk will take place on Wednesday 12 January 2011 at Lampeter's Women's Workshop, at St James Hall, Cwmann. The day begins at 10am with relaxation and discussion, a shared lunch, followed by Margaret's talk. The charge of £2.50 includes lunch. All women aged 16 and over are welcome.

Can't attend? Read Margaret Sharrow's reviews:

Turner Prize review

Dexter Dalwood talk review

View 'Footfall', a video response to Turner Prize 2010 winner Susan Philipsz's 'Lowlands Away'

2 January 2011

Friday, 17 December 2010

Margaret Sharrow

Please vote for me to become the official blogger / artist for an expedition to the North Pole!

statement .

biography .

portfolio .

exhibitions .

news .

work for sale .

reviews .

links .

contact .

Image: Lampeter lantern festival, © Margaret Sharrow 2010

All images this site copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2008-2010, unless otherwise noted

Hot off the press: blog entries from Margaret Sharrow in Greenland!

Greenland ice sheet and glacier, image copyright Margaret Sharrow 2008

I have entered an online contest to create a work of art I'm calling ULTIMATE STILLNESS at the North Pole and I need votes from the public to be one of the finalists. As a way of saying thank you, and to show how much I really, really want to go to the North Pole and to be the official blogger / artist on the wonderful expedition (via Helsinki, Murmansk and the remote islands of Franz Josef Land), I thought I’d do a little delayed blogging about my most recent Arctic expedition, to Greenland in 2008. (After all, the main purpose of that trip was photography and art - I did not become a blogger until after I was back at art school so most of my stories have been waiting patiently in storage since then.) Last night I sat down and got the ball rolling by looking at a few photographs, and, without any particular plan, had penned (or, rather, keyboarded) two thousand words in two hours. The plan is to deliver one installment of my Greenland adventures per day between now and the final day to vote for me in the contest - let’s call it the 14th of February, to avoid any issues of time differences for those having to calculate their local time versus Eastern Standard Time lest they accidentally vote too late on the last day.

So, vote for me, then sit back and enjoy the traveller’s tales (or better yet, forward them to your friends and ask them to vote for me as well!) I am not, like Scheherezade, asking for my life - though going to the North Pole would certainly be a turning point in my life - just for your vote. And in exchange, I’ll give you my stories. That seems fair enough, doesn’t it?

Please vote for me to be the official artist / blogger on an expedition to the North Pole!

http://www.blogyourwaytothenorthpole.com/entries/166

Here's the archive of stories

Goldsmiths MA degree show 2010: a quick dip

Image: Goldsmiths' swimming baths, work/exhibition spaces for MFA students. Photo copyright Margaret Sharrow, 2010.

The famous swimming baths at Goldsmiths were the setting for the annual degree show in June 2010 (as well as the stylish undergraduate tower). As always there's a lot to see, and I never made it to the smaller swimming bath (former swimming bath, I should say - there's no water except in Joey Holder's fishtank installation). What follows is a selection of some of the work I enjoyed, found challenging or inspiring.

Noam Enbar, installation

Noam Enbar, animation

Ji-Yen Lee, video installation

Ji-Yen Lee, photographic collage

Hee Seung Sung, painting

Hee Seung Sung, painting (detail)

Olivia Lori, photograph on textile

Jinhee Park, installation

Pedro Lasch, painting

Elena Damiani, photographic collage

Elena Damiani, photographic book

Birgit Renate Deubner, photograph

Thomas Johnson, installation

Joey Holder, installation

Joey Holder, painting

Teng Chu Chun, installation

Rowena Harris, sculpture

Amir Chasson, painting

Iva Kontic, video installation

Kiwoun Shin, video

Maria José Argenzio, slide projection

Please vote for me to be the official artist/blogger on an expedition to the North Pole!

Margaret Sharrow's Lampeter Lantern Festival photos

A child's Christmas in Wales took the form of a lantern festival, to celebrate Lampeter's status as a Transition Town. The children had made lanterns representing windmills, water wheels, the sun, the earth, a giant sunflower, etc. It was part of Lampeter's Christmas festival on 10 December 2010, with many businesses opening late offering mince pies, and one of the banks even serving up drams of whiskey (standing room only there!)

No snow then but it's looking mighty festive now, with six inches falling overnight / this morning. Valiant hand loading of deliveries to one of the supermarkets, a wifi-enabled cafe bravely open...

Best holiday wishes to all my blog readers, and thank you for looking at my pages so often this past year. I hope to bring you loads more news and reviews in the new year (and hopefully before then, too!) So wishing you all joyful experiences this holiday season... merry Christmas, Nadolig llawen, joyeux Noel, feliz Navidad, and best wishes too in Danish, Korean, Russian, Chinese, Faroese, Dutch, German, Italian, Armenian, Swedish, Hebrew and all the other languages you speak...