Work and thoughts by K.L. Brown
The Beaney, or to give it its full name these days: ‘The Beaney – House of Art and Knowledge’, is what I knew as Canterbury Library as a child. I have vague recollections of there also being a museum-y bit too, but mostly I remember it as a library.
Continue reading “Six Things I loved at The Beaney, Canterbury”
The San Francisco Art Institute, SFAI, opened in 1871 and is one of the oldest schools dedicated to Contemporary Art in the United States. In March 2020, I was sad to read that the school was closing due to financial pressures exacerbated by COVID-19. Since then many supporters have emerged, citing its unique contribution to the arts and mustering the funds and motivation, for it to continue. So students will be able to complete degrees, public art courses and exhibitions can live another day. But why do I, a British artist and write care about this? How did I even come to know of SFAI?…
Continue reading “Open – Shut – Open, the SFAI”
Staring out from the wall of the Otago Settlers Museum, in the far south of New Zealand are hundreds of faces. From floor to ceiling, eyes resolute and unflinching, all around you. Stern and uncompromising, faces from over a 150 years ago and far away.
Continue reading “The Face Room”Earlier this year I spent some time in New Zealand and visited Wellington, Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown. I had been to New Zealand once before, but had never particularly read up on the NZ art scene or history. While I was there, I visited a number of galleries and it was interesting to see which artists’ names kept cropping up. Whose work is repeatedly collected and shown in public galleries? And which artists’ works stood out to me, as a non-native, with little knowledge of the NZ art world.
Here’s my list of NZ artists I came to know and a little more about them.
Continue reading “Six NZ Artists to Know”Singapore is more known for its financial industry than its art scene. A jungle of hi-rises, 5-star hotels with rooftop swimming pools and vast quantities of air conditioned shopping centres. The population seems to be composed of armies of neatly dressed office-workers – both expat and locals. Young people here study under one of the most intensely pressured education systems and a supporting cast of foreign domestic workers is shipped in, to keep everything running smoothly.
Continue reading “Singapore: Art amongst the high-rises”The Rijkmuseum is the vast home of fine art in Amsterdam. And a fine-looking home it is too – it re-opened in 2013 after an entire decade of restoration! From its 1million+ collection of objects, it tends to have c.8,000 on display at any one time. Here is my personal take on 5 wonders of the Rijksmuseum … enjoy!
Continue reading “My 5 Wonders of the Rijksmuseum”I recently visited the 2019 Venice Biennale. This is the second time I’ve been and it struck me that to people in the art world, it’s bloody obvious what it is, but to everyone else, not necessarily so. So I thought I would write a few lines of context. Continue reading “Venice Biennale 2019 – Some Context”
I love northern Spain – it’s rugged and wild, with big skies and it makes my heart soar. Continue reading “Art-tripping along the Atlantic”
Each year Valencia celebrates a huge festival in March called Las Fallas. It dates back centuries and UNESCO recently listed it as part of cultural heritage of the world. Continue reading “Art, Fire & Tradition in the Streets”
The light lifts my soul. The wind tells me I’m alive (and it is always windy). I can look at the sky and somehow relate my life today, to Turner’s life and painting 200-odd years ago.
And I can see the faded glory of a Victorian seaside escape. Continue reading “Always go to Margate”