Art

A LESSON FOR OUR TIMES

We're told that a second pigeon has fallen to the Elm Row sculpture slayer.

We're making light of it, but we're not happy. Further news will follow if and when we have verified the story.

#Edinburgh

#hyperlocal

#news

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The annual Doors Open Days offer public access to buildings which are not usually accessible. In several senses,  they reveal much about the city.

One of the things that appeals to visitors here is that so many museums and galleries are open to the public. In contrast, they are disheartened that so many seemingly ‘public’ places are strictly private: the gardens of the New Town being a classic example. Visitors (and some residents) peer longingly over fences and walls at the forbidden fruits within.

The doos are home on Elm Row.

Shona Kinloch’s eight brass figures were removed from the site in 2006 as preparations began on the tramline extension from Newhaven to Broughton.

In the years since, the popular trip hazards (properly titled A Leith Walk since their creation in 1996) have been fully refurbished or, in three cases, recast.

Their reinstatement, along with that of the London Road clock adjacent, marks progress in beginning to restore some normality to the area.

Hands-on approach to fine art. Paolozzi would have been delighted.

#Edinburgh

#hyperllocal

#news

CHARLIE ELLIS WANDERS BESIDE THE WATER OF LEITH

The relationship between art and nature is evident on the Water of Leith. This is expressed most obviously through Anthony Gormley’s figures but also in the ‘accidental’ art forged by the surge of late December, which saw torrents of water cascade through the river's gorges and under its bridges.

On reflection, all is not as it may seem.

WHAT COULD WE DO WITH PICARDY PLACE?

Now that public consultation on the future of the Picardy Place island seems to be indefinitely stalled, Leith ward's Cllr Gordon Munro floats an exciting idea that could transform the area for years to come.

On the basis that knowledge is wonderful but imagination is even better, Spurtle wants to kick-start a conversation. Let us know what you think of Munro's idea, or describe an alternative.

If you find yourself on the path between Five Ways Junction and Lower Granton Road anytime soon, whap oot your smartphone and hae a wee swatch at this sign by the entrance to East Trinity Road Tunnel.

The QR code links to a spoken poem: ‘No Birds Land’, by Tamsin Grainger.

It’s about birds: their song, their chirps and chirrups, their presence or disturbing absence in this echoing drip-lined passage.

It is distinctly odd. Stuttering. Repetititve. Alliterative. Bird-ish. Occasionally squawky.

Since 1981, the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) John Kinross Scholarship has afforded 10 students of art and/or architecture the chance to live and create in Florence for 3 months.

A few years later, an Academician’s bright spark saw works created during these Italian sojourns added (mandatorily) to a collection held by the RSA. Said hoard has swelled over the years until achieving national significance – who said you can’t have too much of a good thing?