Bank Holiday special for all those still in work - Karen talks about her adventures launching her film Living with the Tudors at the SXSW Festival in Texas and her subsequent week of flu possibly contracted from a Texan re-enactor pictured here.

Local artist Meg Falconer (a Grizedale board member) drops by to talk about her fights against light pollution and mountainbikers in the countryside.

Plus all the usual features, and reports from the week with a selection of farm music from artist Maria Benjamin of London town...

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 21/03/08 at 10:00 : 0 Comments

Topics: 'Texas' 'SXSW Film Festival' 'Guest Room'

Building work in Narnia

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 19/03/08 at 16:03 : 0 Comments

Topics: 'Narnia' 'building site'

Bufo Bufo (the Toad) Spring ball

Now is the time of year for all good toads to go to the ball - this somehow reminds me of some art thing, maybe a good title for the extended Agrifash project, now planned to roll out across Europe

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 19/03/08 at 12:12 : 0 Comments

Topics: 'toads' 'amphibians'

We hear an incredible 'celebrities in the Lake District' tale; some farm-themed soul music including Don Covay & Bobby Rush and Adam's eBay auction of the week.

We discuss what James Herd, James Howson and Thomas Kirkbride - the three most energetic men in the Lake District - are on site at Lawson Park building...

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 14/03/08 at 11:09 : 0 Comments

Topics: 'soul music' 'drystone walling'

A typical Lake District-visiting couple

Great local story I heard this week. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were hanging around at the boating centre on Coniston Water and after tea at the truly average Blue Bird cafe (this is sooo hard to believe) Tom hopped up to the hut they rent boats from to ask if they could privately hire the Gondola (a big grand boat) for dinner on the lake.

David (he who told me the story) phoned the National Trust (who own the Gondola) and they just flat went 'no'. David was a bit like, 'are you kidding, do you know who I've got here, like mr and mrs money no problem!' but no, no private hire certainly no food on the gondola. Just as David was turning to tell Tom and Nicole to bugger off, a waitress from the cafe rushed in shouting 'you wont believe this but Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were just in the cafe' so David slightly embarrassed says 'What this Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman here?' - the waitress ignores him and runs off.

A couple of points :
Like no one thought to tell me this story years ago ?!
Tom and Nicole just casually toured the Lake District, going to shit places for tea
National Trust can't see a marketing opportunity when it's shoved hard in their face and rubbed in

BTW Apparently Nicole is much more beautiful in real life...

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 13/03/08 at 20:13 : 0 Comments

Topics: 'celebrity'

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 11/03/08 at 15:51 : 0 Comments

Alistair tells us about a recent meeting with art uberlords the Tate to discuss the upcoming Grizedale project in China, plus a talk he'd done north of the border.

Adam fills us in on developments to do a project at the 10th anniversary Creamfields festival this summer. Well, I guess we have mud in common. Rave on!

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 07/03/08 at 10:51 : 0 Comments

As guests of curatorial / critic duo Maja and Reuben Fowkes Translocal, Karen Guthrie & Adam Sutherland visit Budapest in Hungary.
Adam's talk as part of their symposium 'Sustainability and Contemporary Art: Exit or Activism?' on Grizedale Arts' work forms today's webcast.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 29/02/08 at 10:29 : 0 Comments

Here's a weird famous Scottish Footballers garden

The weather forecast for the weekend was 6 below and 60 cms of snow, by rights we should have cancelled, but knowing the forecasters propensity for overstating in case they are critisised for understating, we pushed on regardless.

The crew of artists on the China project came and ‘enjoyed’ tree planting in a light snowfall and moderate temperatures - above freezing. They stayed at Parkamoor but did complain of cold. I guess contemporary clothing is just not geared up for cold, damp conditions. I usually suffer from being too hot, tweed and wool is just too much in the heated environment. There is no way people will ever be able to go back from the level of heating that is now the norm. I noticed this recently while staying with friends, their house was full of eco stuff, they had carbon offsetting coming out of all ends. Each year they were planting 6 tiny trees which the label proclaimed would offset an average family’s carbon output. That might have been true but it would be 10 years before they jointly offset more than an average families wind breaking. And all this stuff is as nothing if you have your entire house heated to 24 degrees as they did.
My recent experience with central heating (I have moved to a central heated house while Lawson Pk is under the builders) has helped me realise a lot about contemporary society. I realise that central heating is the cause of sloth, anger and dysfunctional behaviour. It is impossible to get the temperature right, the non directional nature of it causes the background temperature to inexorably rise, this terrible heat means that if you do anything more than just sit in your vest and pants you become bad tempered. The rise in the divorce rate is - I now realise closely linked to the development of central heating.

All that aside, the team managed 80 metres of excellent hedging (200 small trees) which should in time cover them all for a flight half way round the world.

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 27/02/08 at 14:13 : 0 Comments

Deputy Director Master Hudson talks about Creative Egremont quite a lot - the Greasy Pole, the Community Orchard etc. Adam outlines his plans for world domination by running as a Coniston Parish Councillor soon.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 22/02/08 at 10:22 : 0 Comments