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Rusholme Reflections: An Almanac of Drawings & Paintings 2021
Although, on the face of it, Rusholme’s crimson blocks are about Rusholme, There are similar terraced streets filled with red-cuboids and grey slates all over the UK where we find human life squeezed out onto the streets trying to blossom, like daffodils from such colourful rectangular geometry. I am trying to paint that spectacle in my recent series of works. Saying something about experiencing life in the bigger scheme of things. Just as cave-art displays human intentions, to ‘pass on’ storylines, so is modern art is the same !
My affinity with these south Manchester claret chunks started in 1984. I'd moved from the Fylde Coast to begin a social work course at the University of Manchester, a stones’ throw from many a Rusholme-doorstep.
Two years flew-by, that included a university exchange programme in the USA. I worked in California for the summer of '86. I returned to the crimson chimneys in the Autumn and promptly disposed of social-work books and organised a studio in the back room. I felt compelled to be an artist.
I'd qualified in social work but did not want to be a social worker. My school-day dream to-be-an-artist stimulated now by studying humanities. Yet social work offered a living, so I followed that track. I now had two careers.
After many years of travel my daughter and later my son would be born in Manchester. I couldn't imagine them born anywhere else. This South Manchester community has made a chilled place to live. A multi ethnic, multi cultural community thrives. There are nearby synagogues, Hindu temples, Mosques and churches aplenty to show that is true.
My painting, " To Springtime Prayer in a Snow Flurry (from Victory St Rusholme)", (Fig.37), depicts two such differing faith traditions with the Shahjalal Mosque and Holy Trinity Church Platt Lane, an example of peaceful coexistence. The lived experience is acceptance and respect.
My affinity with these south Manchester claret chunks started in 1984. I'd moved from the Fylde Coast to begin a social work course at the University of Manchester, a stones’ throw from many a Rusholme-doorstep.
Two years flew-by, that included a university exchange programme in the USA. I worked in California for the summer of '86. I returned to the crimson chimneys in the Autumn and promptly disposed of social-work books and organised a studio in the back room. I felt compelled to be an artist.
I'd qualified in social work but did not want to be a social worker. My school-day dream to-be-an-artist stimulated now by studying humanities. Yet social work offered a living, so I followed that track. I now had two careers.
After many years of travel my daughter and later my son would be born in Manchester. I couldn't imagine them born anywhere else. This South Manchester community has made a chilled place to live. A multi ethnic, multi cultural community thrives. There are nearby synagogues, Hindu temples, Mosques and churches aplenty to show that is true.
My painting, " To Springtime Prayer in a Snow Flurry (from Victory St Rusholme)", (Fig.37), depicts two such differing faith traditions with the Shahjalal Mosque and Holy Trinity Church Platt Lane, an example of peaceful coexistence. The lived experience is acceptance and respect.
155 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2021
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