Antiques need bigger home - star.com.my

Antiques need bigger home - star.com.my

AN antique-collecting couple is appealing to the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private sector to step up and help preserve the Indian heritage and culture.

Hotel tourism lecturer J. Prakash, 33, and his staff nurse wife M. Punita, 32, hope to secure a venue to house their collection for public viewing.

Their flat in Jalan Samak, Penang, is running out of space for their growing collection of some 1,500 items.

This is our personal collection and we are not going to sell the antiques. What we would like is a space to exhibit them so that the public, especially the younger generation, can learn about Indian heritage, culture and tradition.

Hopefully, either the state, Federal Government, NGOs or antique enthusiasts can provide us a space in Little India to permanently display our collection in line with the inner citys UNESCO World Heritage listing, Prakash told a press conference at his home.

He said they were not interested in displaying their collection at commercial venues as the main purpose was to make Indian antiques accessible to everyone.

Weve spent a lot on money and travelled all over the country as well as to Singapore and India to source for some of these items but our aim is not to make a profit.

We want to educate the young and show them the value of Indian culture. If we had a proper space, we can turn it into a museum dedicated to Indian antiques complete with informative signages and historical documentation, he added.

Perhaps we can even have a large scale exhibition involving collectors from all over the country, he said.

They often allow students into their home to view the collection but because of space constraint, they had to limit entry to 10 visitors at a time.

In Penang, we have the Peranakan Museum featuring Nyonya items and the Blue Mansion showcasing Chinese culture but there is none for the Indian community yet, added Prakash.

The antique-loving pair started their collection with Nyonya tiffin carriers but soon discovered a passion for Indian collectibles.

Among the rare items they own are family heirlooms, enamel items engraved with Tamil words, an old map and an Indian tiffin carrier dating back to 1870, which they bought from Ipoh.

Its unique because the tiffin carrier can keep food warm using charcoal, Punita said.

She said some of the antiques in their collection prove that Indians who came to Malaysia werent all poor migrants and coolies.

Items like a typewriter with Tamil lettering and exquisite enamel pieces showed that even wealthy Indians opted to leave their homeland for Malaya.

There are less than 15 Indian antique collectors in the country and I believe that we have the most extensive collection ranging from old photographs to boilers in Penang, she said. They are members of the Malaysian Indian Historical Association. For details, call Prakash at 012-4041424.

Source: thestar.com.my

California looking to legalize sports bets - Las Vegas Review Journal

California looking to legalize sports bets - Las Vegas Review Journal

If California lawmakers pass a controversial gambling measure now under consideration in Sacramento, the Golden State will join New Jersey in a bicoastal effort to overturn a 20-year-old partial federal ban on sports wagering.

The measure would legalize sports betting at licensed gaming establishments such as tribal casinos and racetracks, including those at Del Mar and Santa Anita.

"The bill is still alive," said Paul Donahue, a consultant for California state Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, who authored the measure.

"Wright authored the bill because he believes California residents should be able to wager on sports," Donahue said. "Another reason was to help the horse racing industry, card rooms, tribal casinos and generate revenue for the state."

NO FEAR OF COMPETITION

Federal law prohibits sports betting in 46 states. California residents who want to place a bet on sports now must do it illegally or travel to Nevada where it's legal to operate a race and sport book.

Nevada casino visitors wagered about $2.87 billion on sporting events in 2011. Gross gaming revenue for Nevada's sports books last year was $140.7 million, which is equal to 4.9 percent of the total wagered.

Most analysts say that market will be safe, even if California allows sports betting.

David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he doubts customers would skip a Las Vegas experience during the Super Bowl or March Madness - heavy sports book events - just because they could lay down a bet in Los Angeles.

If anything, Schwartz said, Cantor Gaming, Station Casinos LLC, William Hill U.S. and other companies with a big Las Vegas presence would stand to benefit from California legalization because they could extend operations there.

Nevada is now one of four states exempted from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The others are Oregon, Montana and Delaware, where operating sports lotteries are legal.

Also excluded from the act are jai alai, horse racing and dog racing. Also, Congress provided a one-year window of opportunity, until Jan. 1, 1993, for states that had casino gaming for the previous decade to pass legislation allowing sports wagering.

New Jersey failed to take advantage of that window to legalize sports betting.

Donahue said Wright's bill is "enjoying bipartisan support" in the California Legislature, where it awaits a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. On May 29, the bill passed the state Senate on a 32-2 vote.

Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated if he will sign the bill if it passes both houses. A recent Field Poll showed a majority of registered voters - 58 percent to 35 percent - support legalization of sports betting.

Senate Bill 1390, which Wright introduced in February, would allow any licensed gambling establishment to offer sports wagering. Wright is chairman of the Committee on Government Organization, which oversees horse racing. Wright's district is home to Hollywood Park, a major horse track.

The measure is also expected to help the state's struggling horse-racing industry, which has unsuccessfully tired to get slot machines to boost revenue. The committee analysis of the bill doesn't mention tax figures, saying only that the "passage of this bill will capture significant economic activity that has been transferred out of state."

Total handle at racetracks last year declined by more than $537 million, according to the California Horse Racing Board's annual report. The total dipped to $2.9 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, a 15.6 percent drop from the $3.44 billion in fiscal year 2009-2010.

A spokesman for the California Horse Racing Board declined to comment. Other influential interest groups, including a number of American Indian tribes, are still scrutinizing the measure.

David Quintana, political director for the California Tribal Business Alliance in Sacramento, said tribes have serious concerns about the measure. He said it violates the state's Constitution, which says any expansion of Class III gaming must be approved by voters.

"The other issue is protecting our industry," Quintana said. "If we go by the Wright bill as written ... would tribes be in a better place? I don't think we would."

Quintana said he's worried about tribal casinos losing customers to card rooms and off-track betting shops.

He said the measure seems to violate the tribes' casino revenue-sharing agreements, or compacts, with the state, which allow gaming on tribal lands in exchange for payments to the state. Quintana said the measure calls for tribes to negotiate new revenue-sharing agreements.

"That is a very dangerous proposition for tribes," Quintana said. "I expect we will offer some more restrictions to the bill."

FEDERAL REACTION UNCLEAR

Legalizing sports wagering in California would accelerate any showdown with the federal government over the issue. In New Jersey, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement has created regulations for sports betting, giving Republican Gov. Chris Christie the necessary framework for his campaign to overturn the federal ban.

The new regulations would restrict sports pool licensing to Atlantic City casinos and state-owned racetracks, or their joint venture. It would cost $50,000 for a license application, and a resubmission fee of the same amount over five years. Half of the fees will go toward prevention, education, and treatment programs for compulsive gamblers.

Christie has said he hopes to see sports betting by year's end.

How federal officials will react remains anyone's guess.

"I don't think the Obama administration or U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will do anything," said Schwartz. "I don't see them sending in the FBI."

Opponents of legalized sports betting include the National Football League, National Basketball Association and other professional sports leagues. They argue that widespread legalized betting would threaten the integrity of their sports by adding incentives to cheat and fix games.

Not that incentives aren't easy enough to find for those who seek them. According to the American Gaming Association, illegal sports gambling is a more than $300 billion industry nationwide.

And in the current sluggish economy, some American professional and college sports teams seeking to boost revenues have signed marketing deals with casinos. The San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, located in Highland about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, is a sponsor of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball.

It's unclear whether state-approved regulations would help Christie or Brown in California if opponents of sports wagering were to file an injunction to block sports wagers.

Schwartz said legalizing sports wagering in New Jersey is an effort to revitalize a gaming market that has been steadily losing revenue and customers to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and elsewhere since 2006. Gaming analysts estimate that sports betting would bring in annually about $1.3 billion in gross revenues and about $120 million in tax revenues.

New Jersey gaming revenues have declined from $5.3 billion in 2006 to an expected $3.1 billion this year, he said.

"They've been hurt by the competition," Schwartz said. "They need to differentiate themselves and give people a reason to drive to Atlantic City. To go there past all these other places with gambling."

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.

Source: www.lvrj.com

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork

Passage 101 before makeoverAs part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, a well-known passageway has been transformed from a dark and dingy alley to a bright and inviting pedestrian link between the High Street and the Lurke Street car park area. The transformation has taken place as part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, and Mayor Dave Hodgson will unveil the new look passageway at the northern end of High Street, nicknamed ‘Passage 101' at 3pm, on Friday 27th July.

The passageway's new appearance is a result of Bedford Borough Council commissioning Bedford College HND Fine Art, and 3D Design students, to produce ideas for heritage inspired artwork, to be displayed on its walls. The work forms part of the Bedford High Street's Townscape Heritage Initiative project, designed to regenerate the High Street and its surrounding areas.

Passage 101 after makeover‘Passage 101' has been re-vamped through repairs to the paving, lighting, brickwork, drainage, the installation of CCTV and a deep clean.

Bedford College art students presented their decorative ideas to a panel which included Mayor Dave Hodgson, members of the THI's Partnership Board and Councillor Bagchi, of Castle Ward. After much deliberation, the winning designs by Michelle Crowther were selected.

Passage 101's design taps into Bedford's local newspaper printing history, featuring news print character blocks arranged on panels within the newly-white walls. 

The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "The passageway is a well-used link for the town centre, in particular for users of Lurke Street Car Park. I am delighted that it's been transformed into a much more pleasant walkway thanks to the renovation work and, in particular, the artistic talent involved.

The first requirement for us was to give the passageway a thoroughly decent clean and comprehensive repair job.  That's really changed the feel of it, while the artwork makes it a much more appealing, attractive route to use. The brighter, lighter feel and the CCTV installation will also help tackle the anti-social behaviour which in the past has spoilt the pathway for everyone.

Michelle with artworkIt was a real pleasure to sit on the panel to help choose the winning design, and I must congratulate the students who took part for the great array of creativity and talent which was on show. Regenerating the High Street is a key element of our efforts to support a vibrant, thriving town centre, and the transformation of this passageway is another positive step in this direction."

Michelle Crowther, student with winning designs, said: "Passageways, like newspapers, are just fleeting diversions from our lives, and once used, they are often discarded. My design will make the public more aware of the space they are using, while creating a permanent reminder of Bedford's newspaper printing history."

Richard Lloyd HNC / HND Fine ART Course Lecturer, said: "Without doubt the definitive appeal with live briefs for students is the potential that they present with an actual process, one that creates responsibility and a chance to impact on a real audience. This brief has been challenging for all concerned and given students something very tangible to measure themselves against. The strength of the degree level HND course at Bedford College is the vocational nature of the project briefs and the emphasis we place on first-class student experience".

(images supplied by BBC)

 

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Source: www.aboutmyarea.co.uk

Chris Brown unveils 'Don't Judge Me' artwork - Digital Spy

Chris Brown unveils 'Don't Judge Me' artwork - Digital Spy

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk

Wine and Canvas events are art class with a twist - Pioneer Press

Booze and art have long gone together like absinthe and Van Gogh.

But can anyone be taught to turn a blank canvas into a finished painting in three hours while holding a paintbrush in one hand and a glass of wine in the other?

That's the promise of Wine and Canvas, a business that recently started up in the Twin Cities that hosts painting/drinking classes at local restaurants. The company's website shows events around the Twin Cities for August almost every night.

For a $35 fee (plus your bar tab), the company provides the supplies and instruction while up to 50 amateur artists take home a work of art created by their own hands. It's a little like that art class from camp, only with Merlot.

A recent event in a party room

at Salut Bar Americain on St. Paul's Grand Avenue attracted about two dozen women and one man. That's typical, according to Wine and Canvas owner Erik Swenson of Andover.

About 85 percent of his customers are women, the others typically being husbands or boyfriends dragged along for the experience.

Swenson said the idea of sipping wine and creating art has a romantic appeal for women, but men apparently shy away from trying something they think they won't be good at.

"You need to call it 'beer and canvas,' " said Kathy Pope, who came to the class from Minnetonka.

Marcie Dewalt of Shoreview compared the painting class to a pottery-painting event she also attended. "That was a lot of girls. No men there, either," she said.

"Getting

a guy to go to the theater is hard. Anything other than the movies is hard," Dewalt said.

Which might make Bill Laramy the best husband in town. The 53-year-old Eagan resident came to the class with his wife, Kathy, but it was his idea.

Since 1988, the couple have been taking turns planning a monthly date night, and this was what Bill came up with for July.

"This is one of my most favorite dates," Kathy said. "It's totally out of our comfort zones."

After the drink orders were taken, the would-be artists examined their tools: five paintbrushes and a paper plate with blobs of acrylic paint.

Their assignment was to reproduce an iconic image first created by artist Robert Indiana, seen in sculptures and on postage stamps, in which the capital letters "LOVE" are stacked on each other with the "O" tilted to one side.

Sounds simple, but many were intimidated by the 16-by-20-inch blank canvas.

"I've never painted a wall. I've never painted anything," Dewalt said.

"I thought they would've penciled in the lines for us," said Shelly LaBarre of Centerville.

Swenson, a largely self-taught artist, was first hired to teach Wine and Canvas classes in Indianapolis about two years ago before he set up a branch of the company

in Minnesota this spring.

He said he doesn't have a lot of formal art education but he used to be a fourth-grade school teacher, so he knows how to break down a task into simple steps, such as: Find a point in the canvas about half a brush length from the side, and put a dot there. Then draw a straight line to connect a couple of the dots. Then draw a curve.

"We've taken art off a pedestal," Swenson said.

As the work began, the room soon filled with the sounds of mostly feminine self-critique and encouragement.

"Oh. Oh. That's so sad," said one painter.

There were pauses to take pictures of the art in progress and to sing. Two people at the class were celebrating birthdays.

And by the end of the night, everyone seemed to have managed to paint the letters LOVE on their canvas. Many said the finished products would end up on their walls at home.

"Totally fun," said Kathy Laramy. "It was so different. You didn't have to be perfect. I was very surprised at how it came out."

Ann Potter, a 34-year-old St. Paul resident, said the event was a way to unwind after work that was more creative than the usual happy hour.

Plus, she noted that Swenson, 29, and his assistant, Kyle Krueger of St. Paul, were cute.

"I didn't know we were going to be taught by dudes," she said. "I mean, they look like nice young men."

Richard Chin can be reached at 651-228-5560.

ONLINE

For more information and a calendar of upcoming events, go to wineandcanvas.com.

Source: www.twincities.com

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork

Passage 101 before makeoverAs part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, a well-known passageway has been transformed from a dark and dingy alley to a bright and inviting pedestrian link between the High Street and the Lurke Street car park area. The transformation has taken place as part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, and Mayor Dave Hodgson will unveil the new look passageway at the northern end of High Street, nicknamed ‘Passage 101' at 3pm, on Friday 27th July.

The passageway's new appearance is a result of Bedford Borough Council commissioning Bedford College HND Fine Art, and 3D Design students, to produce ideas for heritage inspired artwork, to be displayed on its walls. The work forms part of the Bedford High Street's Townscape Heritage Initiative project, designed to regenerate the High Street and its surrounding areas.

Passage 101 after makeover‘Passage 101' has been re-vamped through repairs to the paving, lighting, brickwork, drainage, the installation of CCTV and a deep clean.

Bedford College art students presented their decorative ideas to a panel which included Mayor Dave Hodgson, members of the THI's Partnership Board and Councillor Bagchi, of Castle Ward. After much deliberation, the winning designs by Michelle Crowther were selected.

Passage 101's design taps into Bedford's local newspaper printing history, featuring news print character blocks arranged on panels within the newly-white walls. 

The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "The passageway is a well-used link for the town centre, in particular for users of Lurke Street Car Park. I am delighted that it's been transformed into a much more pleasant walkway thanks to the renovation work and, in particular, the artistic talent involved.

The first requirement for us was to give the passageway a thoroughly decent clean and comprehensive repair job.  That's really changed the feel of it, while the artwork makes it a much more appealing, attractive route to use. The brighter, lighter feel and the CCTV installation will also help tackle the anti-social behaviour which in the past has spoilt the pathway for everyone.

Michelle with artworkIt was a real pleasure to sit on the panel to help choose the winning design, and I must congratulate the students who took part for the great array of creativity and talent which was on show. Regenerating the High Street is a key element of our efforts to support a vibrant, thriving town centre, and the transformation of this passageway is another positive step in this direction."

Michelle Crowther, student with winning designs, said: "Passageways, like newspapers, are just fleeting diversions from our lives, and once used, they are often discarded. My design will make the public more aware of the space they are using, while creating a permanent reminder of Bedford's newspaper printing history."

Richard Lloyd HNC / HND Fine ART Course Lecturer, said: "Without doubt the definitive appeal with live briefs for students is the potential that they present with an actual process, one that creates responsibility and a chance to impact on a real audience. This brief has been challenging for all concerned and given students something very tangible to measure themselves against. The strength of the degree level HND course at Bedford College is the vocational nature of the project briefs and the emphasis we place on first-class student experience".

(images supplied by BBC)

 

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Source: www.aboutmyarea.co.uk

Black cloth dolls, some dating to before Civil War, growing in popularity with collectors - ca.omg.yahoo.com

Black cloth dolls, some dating to before Civil War, growing in popularity with collectors - ca.omg.yahoo.com

NEW ORLEANS - Among porcelain antique dolls, whimsical Kewpies, Barbie dolls and even paper dolls, cloth dolls in the image of African-Americans drew special attention among more than 1,200 collectors in New Orleans for the annual convention of the United Federation of Doll Clubs.

The oldest of the black dolls on display was sewn about 1850, said curator Joyce Stamps of Framingham, Mass., who put together the exhibit at the federation's request.

Because cloth is fragile, most surviving black cloth dolls date from about 1870 — during Reconstruction — and on. But records indicate hundreds were sold at bazaars before the Civil War to raise money for the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, textile historian Roben Campbell said.

Interest in black cloth dolls from the Victorian era and early 20th century has grown in the past decade, she said.

That's because of a 2007 exhibit of dolls made from 1870 to 1930, from the personal collection of antiques dealer Pat Hatch of Harvard, Mass., Stamps said. Campbell curated that exhibit, and Stamps said she and other members of the Black /Gold Doll Club of New England helped with it.

"That was kind of the jumping-off point," she said.

Stamps' exhibit at the convention ranged from antiques to contemporary dolls owned by Hatch, herself, and a half-dozen other collectors.

Some were topsy-turvy dolls dating from the turn of the last century. They have no legs but two heads, one white and one black; a two-sided skirt flips to show one or the other.

The story is that they were made by black women working for white families, and which head was shown would depend on the race of any adults in the room, said Stamps, who is African-American.

"The children, be they black or white, playing with them ... it was like they really weren't supposed to be playing with each other," she said.

She created one of seven special exhibits at the convention this past week.

Others included dolls depicting Britain's Queen Elizabeth II from childhood to her diamond jubilee, as well as her great-grandmother Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee; the artwork of Susan Beatrice Pearse, who often painted little girls playing with dolls; Louisiana history in dolls; and friendship dolls sent from Japan to the United States in 1927.

Campbell said that when she began work on the exhibit in 2005, she had to dig deep for information about black cloth dolls.

The first sold for The Liberator in the early 1840s were made by an African-American woman who taught sewing to young black children in Salem, Mass., where black and white women worked together in a women's anti-slavery society, Campbell said.

As children, the author Louisa May Alcott and her sisters owned such a doll, most likely bought by their fervently abolitionist father, Bronson Alcott, said Campbell, who works at the Fruitlands Museum on the site of Bronson Alcott's short-lived Transcendentalist commune.

Hatch had never even seen such a doll until 1973 and thought it was one of a kind, Campbell said. She said Hatch had collected about 150 by 2005, and sales of the earlier dolls are now more common.

Black cloth dolls from the 1870s to 1890s can bring from hundreds to thousands of dollars, with the deciding factor being whether several people want the same doll, said Stuart Holbrook, president of Theriault's Antique Doll Auctions of Annapolis, Md. The auction house took in $2.5 million at a pair of auctions in New Orleans — $1.2 million for all 900 items from a toy museum in Davos, Switzerland, last Sunday, and $1.3 million for about 300 antique dolls auctioned Monday.

"One which seems wonderful may bring $300, and one which seems equally as wonderful brings $3,000 for no rhyme or reason," he said.

For comparison, a brown-skinned bisque doll made in France about 1890 and elaborately costumed as an opera character sold for about $42,000 in New Orleans, he said.

The doll from about 1850 in Stamps' display is fashioned as a boy. Clothes sewn as part of the body include a pair of knee-length pants. Back then, only a few brave women wore pants, and those bloomers were baggy, ankle-length and widely ridiculed.

Campbell said black cloth dolls differ from typical rag dolls in several ways. Most were made of new cloth, and the earliest ones tended to be firmly stuffed rather than floppy. Those made from about 1870-1890 tended to be more elegantly dressed and durable than the early 20th-century dolls, which were often more "squeezy" and huggable, she said.

Informative quilts, banners and five dolls shown in New Orleans came from the National Black Doll Museum, privately run by Debra Britt and her two sisters in Mansfield, Mass. The museum — one of two devoted to black dolls — owns about 5,000 and has 2,000 on display, Britt said.

Barbara Whiteman, who opened the Philadelphia Doll Museum in 1988, has said that before 1950, most dolls manufactured for black children had exaggerated, stereotypical features, or were white-featured dolls tinted brown. Mass-produced dolls with more realistic images of African-American children weren't made until the 1950s.

Britt said the oldest dolls in her museum have no features at all and aren't easily recognized as dolls. They are "wrap dolls" handed down in her family and made by enslaved children, possibly in the early 18th century. They were made of gourds and vines, and wrapped with cloth and twigs.

"The children would fill those dolls with stones to carry the fear that they had," she said. "And they would hide this doll from the master."

___

Online:

http://ufdc.org/

www.philadollmuseum.com/

http://www.facebook.com/NationalBlackDollMuseum

Hatch exhibit catalogue: http://www.blackclothdolls.com/web.pdf

Auction catalogues:

http://issuu.com/theriaults/docs/uponarrivinghome

http://issuu.com/theriaults/docs/spielzeugmuseum

Source: ca.omg.yahoo.com

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork

Passage 101 before makeoverAs part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, a well-known passageway has been transformed from a dark and dingy alley to a bright and inviting pedestrian link between the High Street and the Lurke Street car park area. The transformation has taken place as part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, and Mayor Dave Hodgson will unveil the new look passageway at the northern end of High Street, nicknamed ‘Passage 101' at 3pm, on Friday 27th July.

The passageway's new appearance is a result of Bedford Borough Council commissioning Bedford College HND Fine Art, and 3D Design students, to produce ideas for heritage inspired artwork, to be displayed on its walls. The work forms part of the Bedford High Street's Townscape Heritage Initiative project, designed to regenerate the High Street and its surrounding areas.

Passage 101 after makeover‘Passage 101' has been re-vamped through repairs to the paving, lighting, brickwork, drainage, the installation of CCTV and a deep clean.

Bedford College art students presented their decorative ideas to a panel which included Mayor Dave Hodgson, members of the THI's Partnership Board and Councillor Bagchi, of Castle Ward. After much deliberation, the winning designs by Michelle Crowther were selected.

Passage 101's design taps into Bedford's local newspaper printing history, featuring news print character blocks arranged on panels within the newly-white walls. 

The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "The passageway is a well-used link for the town centre, in particular for users of Lurke Street Car Park. I am delighted that it's been transformed into a much more pleasant walkway thanks to the renovation work and, in particular, the artistic talent involved.

The first requirement for us was to give the passageway a thoroughly decent clean and comprehensive repair job.  That's really changed the feel of it, while the artwork makes it a much more appealing, attractive route to use. The brighter, lighter feel and the CCTV installation will also help tackle the anti-social behaviour which in the past has spoilt the pathway for everyone.

Michelle with artworkIt was a real pleasure to sit on the panel to help choose the winning design, and I must congratulate the students who took part for the great array of creativity and talent which was on show. Regenerating the High Street is a key element of our efforts to support a vibrant, thriving town centre, and the transformation of this passageway is another positive step in this direction."

Michelle Crowther, student with winning designs, said: "Passageways, like newspapers, are just fleeting diversions from our lives, and once used, they are often discarded. My design will make the public more aware of the space they are using, while creating a permanent reminder of Bedford's newspaper printing history."

Richard Lloyd HNC / HND Fine ART Course Lecturer, said: "Without doubt the definitive appeal with live briefs for students is the potential that they present with an actual process, one that creates responsibility and a chance to impact on a real audience. This brief has been challenging for all concerned and given students something very tangible to measure themselves against. The strength of the degree level HND course at Bedford College is the vocational nature of the project briefs and the emphasis we place on first-class student experience".

(images supplied by BBC)

 

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Storytelling chair built for Wycombe school - Bucks Free Press

Storytelling chair built for Wycombe school - Bucks Free Press

Storytelling chair built for Wycombe school

10:10am Saturday 28th July 2012 in News By Beth Graham

A STUDENT has created a storytelling chair, designed to inspire pupils at a High Wycombe primary school.

Jordan Cottee, in his third-year of studying BA (Hons) Furniture at Bucking, spent six months planning and building the four-foot high chair for the students at Booker Hill Primary & Nursery School.

He then unveiled the chair during an assembly at the school.

Booker Hill pupils met with Jordan to give him their ideas and also visited the furniture workshops at the university, to see the chair in progress.

Jordan said: "The chair has a twisted wooden back, to signify the twists and turns that a story takes, and the pupils also contributed story descriptions that have been laminated on to the chair to help inspire them to think of stories."

Jordan even included a leather seat decorated with the school’s yellow and green colours, meaning it sits well in the school’s recpetion area. Jordan added: "This has been a very enjoyable project to take part in and I hope the children get a lot out of seeing the construction of the chair through to completion and then seeing it situated in their school."

Geraldine O’Brien, headteacher at the school, said: "We are really pleased with the chair and all the time, effort and patience Jordan has put in to making it and involving the pupils in the design process."

"It has turned out exactly as we hoped and should prove an inspiration for schoolchildren for years to come."

Pupils Ronan Cullen-Johnson and Nayaab Akram, both aged nine, were the first to get an imaginative seat. Nayaab said: "This is so amazing and all the children at school like it but I would really like to take it home so I could sit on it myself whenever I wanted."

Other furniture made as part of the project included a bench for the Welsh Assembly Government and a chair for legendary Soho Jazz Club, Ronnie Scott’s.

Source: www.bucksfreepress.co.uk

California's dubious distinction - Lowell Sun

The Associated Press

IRVINE, Calif. -- California is still dominating the foreclosure scene.

California cities made up seven of the top 10 metro areas with the highest rates of new foreclosures in the first six months of this year, according to data to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure properties. That's unchanged from the same time last year.

Foreclosure activity also spiked by more than 25 percent in and around Philadelphia, Chicago and New York. The new inventory could start hitting the market in the next several months, potentially weighing further on home values.

Stockton, Calif., located south of Sacramento, had a higher foreclosure rate than any other metro area in the U.S. in the first half of 2012. About 2.7 percent of homes -- or one of every 38 -- received a foreclosure filing between January and June. That rate was more than triple the national rate of 0.8 percent.

Stockton itself filed for Chapter 9 protection last month, making it the largest American city ever to declare bankruptcy. Officials were unable to reach a deal with the city's creditors to restructure hundreds of millions of dollars of debt.

Other Central Valley cities with high rates of new foreclosure filings were: Modesto, Merced, Bakersfield and Visalia-Porterville. Elsewhere in California, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and Vallejo-Fairfield made the list. The Atlanta, Phoenix and Las Vegas metro areas rounded out the top 10.

It's a familiar template. Eight of the cities -- all except Atlanta and Visalia-Porterville -- were among the top 10 on RealtyTrac's list last year.

The number of U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process for the first time increased in May and June, as banks aim to make up for time lost last year when mortgage lenders grappled with allegations that they had processed foreclosures without verifying documents. The nation's biggest lenders reached a $25 billion settlement in February with state officials. That's cleared the way for banks to address their backlog of unpaid mortgages. California saw an 18 percent spike last month in foreclosure starts, or homes placed on the foreclosure path for the first time.

But Thursday's data also showed glimmers of encouraging news. Nine of the 10 cities with the highest rates saw rates drop year-over-year. Stockton's rate fell from 3.2 percent in the first half of 2011.

There are some 3 million U.S. homes behind on their mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Source: www.lowellsun.com

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork - AboutMyArea

High Street Passageway Transformed By Artwork

Passage 101 before makeoverAs part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, a well-known passageway has been transformed from a dark and dingy alley to a bright and inviting pedestrian link between the High Street and the Lurke Street car park area. The transformation has taken place as part of the heritage regeneration scheme to revitalise Bedford High Street, and Mayor Dave Hodgson will unveil the new look passageway at the northern end of High Street, nicknamed ‘Passage 101' at 3pm, on Friday 27th July.

The passageway's new appearance is a result of Bedford Borough Council commissioning Bedford College HND Fine Art, and 3D Design students, to produce ideas for heritage inspired artwork, to be displayed on its walls. The work forms part of the Bedford High Street's Townscape Heritage Initiative project, designed to regenerate the High Street and its surrounding areas.

Passage 101 after makeover‘Passage 101' has been re-vamped through repairs to the paving, lighting, brickwork, drainage, the installation of CCTV and a deep clean.

Bedford College art students presented their decorative ideas to a panel which included Mayor Dave Hodgson, members of the THI's Partnership Board and Councillor Bagchi, of Castle Ward. After much deliberation, the winning designs by Michelle Crowther were selected.

Passage 101's design taps into Bedford's local newspaper printing history, featuring news print character blocks arranged on panels within the newly-white walls. 

The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "The passageway is a well-used link for the town centre, in particular for users of Lurke Street Car Park. I am delighted that it's been transformed into a much more pleasant walkway thanks to the renovation work and, in particular, the artistic talent involved.

The first requirement for us was to give the passageway a thoroughly decent clean and comprehensive repair job.  That's really changed the feel of it, while the artwork makes it a much more appealing, attractive route to use. The brighter, lighter feel and the CCTV installation will also help tackle the anti-social behaviour which in the past has spoilt the pathway for everyone.

Michelle with artworkIt was a real pleasure to sit on the panel to help choose the winning design, and I must congratulate the students who took part for the great array of creativity and talent which was on show. Regenerating the High Street is a key element of our efforts to support a vibrant, thriving town centre, and the transformation of this passageway is another positive step in this direction."

Michelle Crowther, student with winning designs, said: "Passageways, like newspapers, are just fleeting diversions from our lives, and once used, they are often discarded. My design will make the public more aware of the space they are using, while creating a permanent reminder of Bedford's newspaper printing history."

Richard Lloyd HNC / HND Fine ART Course Lecturer, said: "Without doubt the definitive appeal with live briefs for students is the potential that they present with an actual process, one that creates responsibility and a chance to impact on a real audience. This brief has been challenging for all concerned and given students something very tangible to measure themselves against. The strength of the degree level HND course at Bedford College is the vocational nature of the project briefs and the emphasis we place on first-class student experience".

(images supplied by BBC)

 

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Source: www.aboutmyarea.co.uk

CUP: Smith's Car Will Pay Tribute To Aurora Tragedy - FOX News

CUP: Smith's Car Will Pay Tribute To Aurora Tragedy - FOX News

Denver-based Furniture Row Racing is stepping up in a big way this weekend at the Brickyard 400 to honor the victims of last weekend’s horrific mass murder in Aurora, Colo.

The team will pay tribute to the victims of the Aurora tragedy, with Regan Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet carrying the name of the town and the names of each of the 12 people who died in the shooting on its quarter panels.

In addition, the hood of the car will showcase a ribbon, and inside the ribbon will be a memorial cross and the red and gold logo that appears on the Colorado state flag

The rear bumper will include the following inscription: “For Those Lost, Those Injured And Countless Acts of Bravery 7/20/12.”

The movie theater where the shooting took place is about seven miles from the Furniture Row Racing shop in Denver.

The tragedy struck close to the Furniture Row family. Kimber Avra, an employee of the Furniture Row Cos., was at the Aurora movie theater with her friend Micayla Medek. Avra suffered scrapes and bruises, but sadly, Micayla was one of the 12 who was killed in the shooting.

"Our hearts go out to the victims and to their families," said Furniture Row Racing general manager Joe Garone. "It really hits close to home for us here in Colorado. The movie theater where the shooting took place is only a few miles from where our team is based in Denver. We mourn the loss of life from this senseless tragedy, and feel we also need to stand up and acknowledge the heroism of those people who put their lives on the line to save others. Our thoughts this weekend will be with all the people who suffered from this horrific act of violence."

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

Source: www.foxnews.com