Classic Literature

Did you know that last July I started a classic literature project?

It's called Killer Lit.

I have always had a desire to read as many of the books that are considered to be Literary classics as possible.  Some of these are ancient classics, and some are modern classics, many are classics of English Literature, others are classics from other languages and cultures.


I already have a decent number of these books under my belt, having read them already, so rather than revisiting them all again in written form, I plan to approach this book list in a different way.  I will read many of these books, particularly the ones I have not read before, but in revisiting the ones I have already read, I plan instead to listen to them, as read by some fantastic narrators.


I have been a bookworm from early childhood, and always have a pile of books by bed, I will always love the feel of a book, the smell of the ink and the paper, that will never change.  But, in recent years I have also become a fan of audiobooks.  A well read audiobook can really bring a story to life, and add another dimension to the stories remembered from the written words I have previously enjoyed.  Also, when all the accents are done perfectly, it really adds a lot of drama and authenticity to the story hearing it that way.  And audiobooks mean I can be listening to fantastic stories, instead of tacky radio stations, while I work at my desk, in the studio, travelling, or pottering around the house.  I look forward to chores and driving now, as I can immerse myself in epic stories of love, heroism and adventure while I go about my daily grind.  

This list will be evolving and expanding.  As a start point, I asked the people in my life and my followers in the twitterverse too, to give me suggestions of their personal much loved classics for my list.  If you have a suggestion that is not on the list, let me know!

Would you like to join me?  I would love some company on the journey through the greatest books ever written.  If you love a good read, perhaps at bedtime, in the bath or on holiday, then why not get involved? Pick something from the list and see how you get on.  You never know, it may change your life.


Bye for now, Jo x

Life's unexpected turns

2011 - The year that took an unexpected turn!

(Why I took a 5 month sabbatical from my blog.)

In June I went to an auction and came home the owner of a new house with studio potential on Dartmoor.

I packed up my life throughout July and boxed up my studio, darkroom and artworks, putting all our stuff in storage. We moved into a static caravan (trailer for my American friends) in the garden of the new place to be close to the build site and maximise our time on the project. Our plan was to spend a few months doing the place up with while roughing it in the caravan. We had no internet access, no land line telephone, and no electricity, but the weather was great and the work was endless on the property so we just got stuck in and forgot about the real world beyond our garden gates. Those 'few months' dragged on and on, the weather got colder and the list of works that needing doing on the house got longer and longer.

We finally moved into the house on Christmas day, last week, what a relief. However we have not even made a start on the work on the rooms that will be my darkroom, admin office and my studio space. For now we are just glad to be in a warm place with four walls, insulation and cosy log fires :D

I hope that this explains why I did not blog for so many months, life just took over!

The Cure Of Souls

The radiant soda of the seashore fashions

Fun, foam and freedom.

The sea laves 

The Shaven sand.

And the light sways forward

On self-destroying waves.

The rigor of the weekday is cast aside with shoes,

With business suits and traffic's motion;

The lolling man lies with the passionate sun,

Or is drunken in the ocean.

A socialist health take should of the adult,

He is stripped of his class in the bathing-suit,

He returns to the children digging at summer,

A melon-like fruit.

O glittering and rocking and bursting and blue

-Eternities of sea and sky shadow no pleasure:

Time unheard moves and the heart of man is eaten

Consummately at leisure.

The novelist tangential on the boardwalk overhead

Seeks his cure of souls in his own anxious gaze.

"Here," he says, "With whom?" he asks, "This?" he questions,

"What tedium, what blaze?

What satisfaction, fruit? 

What transit, heaven?

Criminal? Justified? 

Arrived at what June?"

That nervous conscience amid the concessions

Is haunting, haunted moon.

The Cure of Souls by Henry James

You've seen the photo - now you can buy it on a T shirt!

One of my photos is making an appearance on high streets all over the world as part of Zara's Spring / Summer 2011 fashion range.

This is the T-Short it appears on, I have had emails from people in the UK, USA, Norway, France, India  and Hong Kong so far telling me they have seen it in their local branch.... is it in yours?

Here is the original photo....

Halcyon Days by Jo Bradford

Cliché Verre in The Digital Age

The Cliché Verre in The Digital Age exhibition Opens today in San Francisco.

Urban Illuminations by Jo Bradford, 2009.  Unique Print from Cliché Verre

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5 of my Cliché Verre prints are in the group show at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery on Sutter Street in San Francisco.

Other artists in the show are Abelardo Morell, Peter Feldstein, Courtney Johnson, Maggie Foskett, Suzanne Izzo, Fredrik Marsh, Fred Parker, Frank Rossi, David Symons, and Käthe Wenzel.

Cut and paste this link to see the Press Release PDF 

The show runs April 7–May 3, 2011

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 7, 5:30 – 7:30pm

Jenkins Johnson Gallery

464 Sutter Street, 

San Francisco,

California

USA

www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com

Opening Hours:
Tuesday –Friday  10 –6
Saturday  10–5

Earth by Jo Bradford, 2009.  Unique Print from Cliché Verre 

'Faces' Touring Show Opens at Guy's Hospital, London today

The 'Faces' Touring Exhibition Opens this week at the latest venue, Guy's Hospital, London

The poster image above is taken from my contribution to the show, a piece called Expressionless

 (see previous post on the subject from February)

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From the 8th April to the 13th May 2011 the exhibition will be in Atrium 2 of Guys Hospital, London Bridge.

There is a private view event tonight, Thursday 7th April, from 5:30pm to 8pm

Tickets are £5 on the door or £3 in advance from www.wegottickets.com

The exhibition looks at the face as the plane by which we interact with the world, and aims to raise money and awareness for the issues facing the facially disfigured in our society.

In association with Saving Faces, Guy's and St Thomas' Charity, King's Oral and Maxillofacial Society, Guy's and St Thomas' Arts Programme, The MDU.

Photo Alchemy Opens Today

The 'Photo Alchemy' show opens today at 

23 Sandy Gallery in Portland, USA

Galaxy 9, by Jo Bradford, 2011

This exhibition showcases the revival in alternative process photography. In recent years contemporary photographers have been taking a fresh look at early printing processes‚ from cyanotypes to daguerreotypes, these deep, dreamy images bring a unique style and surface to a photograph that can not be achieved digitally.

As the juror for this show, Laura Moya tells us, “I am delighted with the recent groundswell of photographers rediscovering historic and alternative processes. There is still an inherent need for some artists to use photography to explore the unexplained in life. The processes in this exhibit lend themselves to the exploration of memory, loss, and the unspoken. It hints at traces—of people, of objects, of ideas. Perhaps unknowingly, poetry becomes part of the image.

These new images explore the notion that the time spent ‘crafting’ a photograph versus ‘taking’ a photograph gives the photographer space for thought. If one is working with heavy lenses, glass plates, or a multitude of chemicals, time slows down. If one is considering how air temperature might affect one’s film, time really slows down. It is the complexity of these processes that bring gifts to the table.”

My photogram of meteorites, Galaxy 9 (above) was selected for the show by Laura Moya, the  Executive Director of Photolucida.  The work will be on show, alongside some very beautiful alternative photographic images, from artists around the world.

Click here to see the catalogue

Countdown to launch.....

Space Shuttle Discovery Launched today and with it the first phase of the Fluxface Art Project has gone into space.

The next (and final) Space Shuttle to go up will have my art on board...... 

The final Space Shuttle Mission - Endeavour is currently slated to launch on the 19th April - but the date is still subject to some adjustments nearer the time...... not long now though!

Read more about it here....   My art is going to space

Congratulations to all the artists whose artwork is now in orbit!

Jo

Facing Changes an exhibition in conjunction with Saving Faces Charity

This is my commissioned artwork for the Faces exhibition organised by the 

King’s Oral and Maxillofacial Society and Saving Faces.  The brief for the commission was to explore the links between the features of the human face and the way personality can be read into them, and how our facial features shape our identity.

Facing Changes is a collaboration between King’s Oral and Maxillofacial Society and Saving Faces. It aims to bring attention and support to the work carried out by Saving Faces.

This is achieved through multimedia pieces executed by professionals in art, medicine, and science. The work offers a fresh insight into the plane by which we interact with the world and a key to our aesthetic identity: the human face.

The exhibition is a year-long touring exhibition starting at the Red Gate Gallery , before moving on to the Gordon Pathology Museum at Guy’s Hospital and after that it tours various sites in and around the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Private View at the Red Gate Gallery: Friday 18th of February 2011 - 6.00 pm to 11.00 pm, will be an evening of art appreciation with live music African Asian fusion canapés at the gallery 

Tickets: £7.50  www.wegottickets.com

Exhibition runs from: Friday 18th of February - Thursday 24th of February 2011

Gallery Opening Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri: 11.00 am to 6.30 pm - Sat: 12.30pm - 5.00 pm

Last day of Exhibition: Thursday 24th of February: 10.00am to 5.00pm

From the Saving Faces website....

"The face is the only part of our body we cannot hide. It conveys our emotions and innermost feelings. We often judge each other on the basis of facial appearance, making assumptions on a whole range of issues.

People suffer the consequences of facial diseases, injuries and disfigurement every day. In the United Kingdom alone 4,700 people develop oral cancer every year and 1,700 people die from this kind of cancer. Around 125,000 young people sustain serious facial injuries and 15,000 people receive treatment for facial disfigurement. Despite the severity of these issues, this remains a much neglected research area leaving thousands of  those unfortunate enough to be affected with little hope for the future. Not enough is known about facial disease, injury and deformity, their psychological and emotional impact and, critically, which treatments are most effective.The Facial Surgery Research Foundation - Saving Faces, is the only charity in the United Kingdom solely dedicated to the worldwide reduction of facial injuries and diseases. We are taking the lead in education and research to improve the physical and psychological treatment of all victims of oral cancer and other facial diseases."

Fluxfest at Museum Of Contemporary Art, Chicago

FLUXFEST at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinios

February 15-20: This exploration of Fluxus activity includes contemporary re-interpretations of classic Fluxus scores and actions; new Fluxus performances by Fluxus artists. Performers include the Chicago Fluxus Ensemble and invited Fluxus artists.

A piece of my art (and a portrait of me with it) is in this interesting little event at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art this week.   The space picture below is the art in question, it is a digital copy of the artwork that is going to space on board NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour in April this year.

 

{fluxface in space by Jo Bradford 2010}

Fluxface in Space Poster below....

Book covers

Two of my pictures have been licensed for book covers recently, and both by Berlin publishing houses co-incidentaly.  

These are the pictures in question.....

I will be asking my friends in Germany to keep their eyes out for these books in a bookstore near them in the very near future.

Jo 

Hopes and aspirations

I have been working with this beautiful young lady recently.  Harriet commissioned me to create a new portfolio of images for her, she is hoping to break into the world of plus size modelling and will be taking her new portfolio to Paris and New York soon.  

I think she has a wonderful career ahead of her - she is both lovely to work with and drop dead gorgeous too!  

Good luck Harriet!!

xoxo

Night, when words fade & things come alive.

"Night, the beloved. 

Night, when words fade & things come alive.

When the destructive analysis of day is done, 

and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. 

When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree. "

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~

Last of the snowy photos......

I couldn't let the week finish without showing you the last of my snow photos.....

You can see the whole set on my website

{ Winter 10 by Jo Bradford }

{ Winter 9 by Jo Bradford }

  { Winter 5 by Jo Bradford }

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Well that's all from me for this week - may the weekend bring you joy,warmth and happiness :)

Silent, soft and slow

{ Winter 1 by Jo Bradford }

{ Winter 2 by Jo Bradford }

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Out of the bosom of the Air, 

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, 

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

 Over the harvest-fields forsaken, 

Silent, and soft, and slow 

Descends the snow.        

{Henry Wadsworth Longfellow}    

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{ Winter 3 by Jo Bradford }

{ Winter 4 by Jo Bradford }