We thought that these two U.S based projects were delightful examples of how, using remote technology, you can explore both art and place from your armchair.
They are not intended for the casual, under resourced visitor certainly, in terms of expected project outcome. However, they are wonderful case studies of how their subjects can be explored in depth from the laptop.
As well as successfully cultivating a world wide audience. See what you think…they might offer a new template for action in these difficult times?
Yes, this citywide celebration of architecture is happening. (And, yes, things are a bit different this year.)
What will I be able to sign up for and see?
Self-Guided Tours: itineraries for outdoor exploration of an area by foot, by bike, or by boat.
On-Site Video Tours: video walkthroughs of a project with architects, historians, and other experts.
Open Studios: virtual presentations by architects and artists of a single project.
Podcasts: audio recordings about a single site.
Exhibitions: self-guided explorations of digital exhibitions.
Virtual Programs: panels, interactive tours, live Q&As, performances, and more
EDITIONS / ARTISTS’ BOOKS FAIR – New York
OCTOBER 14 – 28, 2020
See more here…
We are thrilled to announce E/AB Fair 2020, fully online, October 14 – 28 on this website.
A world class array of visual art book publishers in a virtual conference hall venue.
“The fair will gather an international community of over 60 publishers and dealers, featuring emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. Each exhibitor will have their own viewing room and, as always, they will be accessible for artwork discussion and special insights.”
For a New York based initiative you can expect to find a vast array of visual art exhibitors from the East Coast of the USA. But there also, in the catalogue, a healthy assortment of non-East Coast based creative centres.
Taken between 1939 and 1940, this is a really impressive historical, location referenced photo-archive of NYC – marking the point of emergence for a new world in the coming decades, but shaded with modernism even then.
Explore a city, one dot at a time…
The Works Progress Administration collaborated with the New York City Tax Department to collect photographs of every building in the five boroughs of New York City. In 2018, the NYC Municipal Archives completed the digitisation and tagging of these photos. This website places them on a map.
We are proud supporters of The St. Elizabeth Hospice.
Support St. Elizabeth Hospice with your creativity…
You can support the Hospice and get creative with your writing talent by entering the The Henry Buckmaster Short Story Competition. Tell your story and support those who work to help others! ( We are remembering Henry too…).
The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18
To enter please make a donation to St. Elizabeth Hospice of £10 or more per entry. You may enter more than once.
We ask that your short story is a maximum of 3,000 words long
We ask that your short story is based around the themes of family, community or compassion
The competition is now open and will close at midnight on Sunday 14 June.
The winner will be announced on National Writing Day, the 26 June.
How To Enter
Once you have made your donation of £10 (if you are able to give more it would be very much appreciated) on the Here Together JustGiving Page we will be in contact with you regarding sending in your short story. The deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday 14 June.
In the U.S. the Smithsonian Institution has created an Open Access resource of staggering diversity.
Update July 2020: If you are interested in furniture, specifically in growing your own furniture – check out this fabulous article on the BBC web pages – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32977012
Swiss/German side chair, late 17thC – early 18thC – Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
“Smithsonian Open Access,where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to nearly 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo”.
As always with Open Access resources, despite millions of electronic artifacts in the Public Domain on the Smithsonian web pages, some do have license/usage restrictions. Always check before use!
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966
For the inquisitive, there is a wealth of subject matter and themes to explore on the Smithsonian pages. Whether your interest is art, ceramics, photography, science or zoology…there will be a reservoir of interesting items to peruse.
A search of the archive for ‘film’ produces a delightful range of posters, lobby cards and images of garments worn in Hollywood movies.
This is a creative archive in the public domain, bar none. It is easy, even in a short time, to find resources that can inspire your next creative project.
Another fabulous series of literary treats available again this year. An imaginative, stirring and diverse programme of author and book occasions. 28th February to 31st March.
See more here…
We are looking forward to rounding out the Festival with the Golden Age of Crime Weekend, for example…Saturday 28th & 29th March, hosted by the Radisson Park Inn Palace Hotel in Southend on Sea.
Or, if crime fiction is your thing, you can even begin the calendar of events in the company of Val McDermid at the launch event: How the Dead Speak. On February 28th in the evening at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford.
Young Essex has not been forgotten either – with a full range activities for the young reader. We particularly like the Manifesto for Essexlaunch, where young people can give voice to their thinking about Climate Change.
Also for Young Essex is a great idea, the pop-up storytelling armchair. Springing into events across a range of different locations in Chelmsford, Basildon and Harlow.
‘A super comfy treat for book lovers young and old to enjoy their favourite stories out loud! Free and open to all – come along and hear a story…’
Writing in The Guardian in late 2014 the author Rupert Wallis was minded to tell us that ‘…more and more not-so- young adults are reading YA fiction’ – which he declared was no bad thing. He went on…
‘The power of YA fiction to generate an emotional resonance around death should not be underestimated in UK society, where young adults spend a lot of time immersed in the artificial realities of cyberspace and gaming’.
Source: The Guardian, 18th August 2014.
Buy this book here, with free delivery…
Lynda Haddock, in her first novel, has wonderfully underscored the sentiment with her first novel Ellen Lives On. The book features the journey, the exploration of a new life and the acquisition of a new set of values, by the teenager Ellen.
For Ellen the journey is mapped from the suicide of her mother, an emergent rally to the cause of education and her exodus to the Metropolis in search new friends, political engagement and the forming of a new identity for herself.
‘One way of tackling the difficult questions raised by death is to feel connected to one another in addressing them, to feel human together…’ writes Wallis in his article. Indeed, the sensitively written, clear narrative from Lynda Haddock stirs up the emotions and will clearly illuminate a shared experience for teenagers suffering loss.
The new novel was enjoyed by the Books go Walkabout team in our office. Sue Martin, writing for our new season book list opined…
”A desperately moving novel about a young girl whose life changes forever when she returns home to find that her mother has committed suicide.
Ellen, a scholarship girl at a local grammar school in the 1970’s, finds that life is uncomfortable and fraught as soon as you are no longer the ‘norm’ pupil, let alone the trauma of discovering that she is alone in the world. Alone, that is, apart from her Grandfather, who is elderly and lives a long way from Ellen.
Taken in by her aunt and uncle, Ellen finds the welcome is short lived and that she is a burden to the family, simply used as the girl in the house to do all the chores. Her uncle tells her the sooner she finishes school and starts a job the sooner she can pay for her living.
After a series of heart-wrenching problems with friends, teachers and those who were meant to be supporting her, Ellen goes on the run. She finds friendship with people in a squat, her grandfather is taken into hospital and she abandons any hope of a career with prospects.
Eventually Social Services find Ellen and her life starts to rebuild, but never back to where it was and with very little hope of the future that had been planned.
A moving and poignant story for Young Adults and a thought provoking debut novel for Lynda Haddock.”
It is also, in its way, a primer for adults, the ‘not so young’ in Wallis’s narrative, to recognise the strains and pains of a teenager going through this crisis, such is the insight afforded the reader of any age by Lynda Haddock’s writing.
Lynda Haddock’s work joins a solid tradition of novels that seek to offer reflection and a way forward in the face of death and loss. From The Fault in Our Stars by John Green to Jacqueline Wilson’s Vicky Angel – the Haddock narrative deals with death, yes, but also in the exploration of self, equality and values – all of which are significant markers for young adults as they march forward into the 21st Century.
For Wallis ‘…the true significance of death in YA is that authors are reflecting back what they see everyday; namely, that death is ominously prevalent these days, whether in fiction or a national news broadcast or the obituary columns‘.
This is certainly true of the author Lynda Haddock, whose professional life before her novel encompassed education and the specialist support of children experiencing difficulty in their lives. The storytelling resonates with it.
The experience tellingly shows in the novel Ellen Lives On, and we hope it might become a staple of your library of resources – tendering a way into loss and bereavement that will be recognised by any teenager, whatever their culture, age or background.
Editor’s Note:
We would commend Lynda Haddock’s publisher to note that the YA Book Prize for 2019 is now open for nominations.
”St Elizabeth Hospice aims to improve life for people living with progressive and terminal illnesses by:
Providing multi-disciplinary holistic specialist and dedicated palliative care services to patients, their families and carers
Working alongside other statutory and voluntary agencies to provide specialist and dedicated palliative care, in a timely manner, where the patient wishes to be
Acting as a resource to the local community regarding general and specialist palliative care to increase confidence and competence in improving life for people living with a progressive illness
Providing care that respects the choices made by patients and their families so that patients are treated in their preferred place and die in their place of choice where possible
Working towards equitable provision of all services, leading to increased use of services by people with non-malignant progressive disease, and those from seldom-heard communities”
Here at ConsEast Towers we are already planning the new season voluntary and fund-raising support.
Discover thirty years of help here…
This year we are supporting St. Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich. If you are within reach of the hospice, and have time and skills to help the team deliver this great, supportive work, then the web link below is for you.
”We started thanks to the foresight and commitment of the local community and medical experts who laid the groundwork to open the hospice.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the then East Suffolk District Health Authority and other groups began discussions about establishing a hospice in east Suffolk. The Health Authority was unfortunately unable to fund the project so an appeal committee was formed.
In 1983, a public fundraising appeal was launched with the aim of raising £1 million”. Source: St Elizabeth web pages.
The rest, as they say is history. But you still have a chance to take part in this important service, and work with great people at St. Elizabeth Hospice as a volunteer.
The JDRF Gift Packages enable you to select a gift to your value, so that your purchase has even more impact on the work of JDRF, our favourite charity.
How does it work?…
‘Select and order your gift. JDRF will send you a …pack containing a premium gift card that is blank for your own message and a brief description of your gift. We also include a letter from us explaining how this gift can help people with type 1, all wrapped up in a blue gift envelope. You can then personalise and send your gift to a friend or loved one’.
Even before the snow has fallen, we wish you a very Happy Christmas – from all of us at conversationsEAST and SmithMartin LLP. We are proud to be continued supporters of JDRF.
About JDRF:
Supporting JDRF at Christmas…
JDRF is the type 1 diabetes charity. We won’t stop until we create a world without type 1 diabetes.
We are committed to eradicating type 1 diabetes and its effects for everyone in the UK with type 1, and at risk of developing it.
To work towards a day when there is no more type 1 we:
• fund world-class research approved and administered by our international research programme to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes
• make sure research moves forward and treatments are delivered as fast as possible.
• give support and a voice to people with type 1 and their families
“Discover the extraordinary story behind one of humankind’s greatest achievements: through more than 100 objects spanning 5,000 years and seven continents
Follow the remarkable evolution of writing from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved in stone and early printed text such as William Caxton’s edition of The Canterbury Tales, to the art of note-taking by some of history’s greatest minds, and on-wards to the digital communication tools we use today.” Source: The British Library web pages
This new exhibition provides wonderful insights into the both the future of writing and the past development of the craft.
From quill pen to digital tablet, how we create and communicate has been beautifully illustrated for us, ‘…in an interactive exhibition gives you the chance to reflect on works of genius that wouldn’t exist without the writing traditions of civilisations past’.
You can discover the latest updates to
