When I’m not blowing about on windy clifftops this Winter, I’m often to be found in a museum. It was pure chance that took me into my local art gallery in Hartlepool this week. So unprepared was I that I didn’t even have my camera with me! It’s no longer a catastrophe when I have my phone handy, but I do have to apologise for the quality of the photos.
Inspire is an exhibition comprised of wire mesh sculptures and photographs of local athletes, or aspiring ones. It was the efforts of the disabled nephew of a friend of mine, competing in a local triathlon with his Dad, that brought the venture to my attention. As often happens, I was delighted with what I found.
Suspended beneath the timbered ceiling
Diving gracefully floorwards
And into the light
Michelle Castles is the lady responsible for the life-sized mesh sculptures. She graduated from the University of Sunderland and it’s always good to see local talent so beautifully showcased.
Hartlepool Art Gallery lives in what was formerly Christ Church, and is a lovely venue in itself. You may remember Follow the Herring, an extraordinary exhibition of knitting I showed you last year? It’s always worth looking in on a museum. You never know what you might find.
I’m linking to Paula’s Thursday Special again today. Her theme is multi-coloured and I’m thinking that I’ve just got enough colour here to get away with it.
restlessjo 
fascinating!
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It was beautiful, Cindy! I can’t show you the way the light played over the sculptures. 🙂
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It’s a joy to find exhibitions like this that showcase beautiful work isn’t it. Some people are so clever. Thanks for sharing, Jo.
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Fabulous, and maybe more so for being completely unexpected. I stepped in the door and ‘wow’ 🙂
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What a collection Jo, of both sculptures and photos. The sculptures capture action amazingly, and you are obviously mistress of your iPhone!
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I would have liked my camera for these, Meg, but I don’t know if the shots would have been any better. I have a bit of a shaky hand and it’s not easy to hold the phone steady. There was a moving light playing over the sculptures to make them ‘move’, so I did the best I could. Love the mesh figures! 🙂
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Hello Jo, the photos are good. And the sculptures are cool, it is always good to find displays by talented people. And I really like the idea of the museum being in a former church. 😉
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Funnily enough, it’s my local church from when I was a kid and occasionally went to Sunday School there. My but it’s changed! 🙂 But I love how it’s been resurrected after standing empty for years.
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What a fantastic exhibition. Wish I could see it in person.
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Yes- it really needs you to be there to witness the movement of light on the figures, Irene 🙂
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Wow the exhibit is amazing – great photographs, even with the phone, clearly enjoyed this museum visit.
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Just amazing what you can find, isn’t it, Mary? I loved it 🙂
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I’d be there all day. This was a neat find.
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oh wow! Jo these are just amazing! thanks for sharing 🙂
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I loved them too, LolaWi, and had no idea what to expect when I stepped through the doors. 🙂
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They really are something very different aren’t they. Just way outside my experience. Thank you for allowing me a sense of them. 🙂
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They were completely outside of mine too, Peter, and totally unexpected, but I loved them 🙂
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Absolutely stunning these…never seen anything quite like it. You have some amazing exhibits your way Jo and your photos capture them so wonderfully 🙂
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It was completely unexpected, Sherri (hence the lack of camera). The Art Gallery stands there majestically and most times I whizz straight past, but I remembered there was a new exhibition… et voila! It was a lovely surprise 🙂
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Absolutely – colour and light and a captured movement – so much like you 🙂 Thank you, Jo. Don’t worry about the quality of photos – I like them!
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Even with my camera I would have struggled with some of them, Paula, because the lights were moving. It was too good an opportunity to waste though 🙂
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Wonderful. Hartlepool Museum is on my bucket list.
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There’s a tiny cafeteria in there too, Viv, so we can have a cuppa afterwards 🙂
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I love museums myself (art and otherwise) and it’s always astonishing to me the variety of creativity you will find… humans can be amazing.
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Absolutely! I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, but I can admire 🙂 Thanks for your visit!
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I agree with Lynn above …. “wow” ! … Xxx
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I just popped in on the off chance, with no idea what to expect, and was thrilled 🙂 🙂
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What great artistic talent this lady has … she must have studied the human form over endless hours and hours . I love it when old buildings have new life breathed into them for such exhibitions and galleries . Oh … but you didn’t show us a view from the top Jo 😉
Just shows you how good phone camera are !
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I’m not good at ‘keeping still’, Poppy, so the phone is very hit and miss for me but it was worth a try. I have actually shown you the view from the roof of Christ Church as I remember and you can’t get much higher than that 🙂
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Very creative, Jo. Thank goodness for phone images. They illustrate your story just fine.
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So much better in real life, Lynne- aren’t most things? But I loved the exhibition and it fit with my ongoing museums stuff 🙂
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They look like holograms! I’m in awe of this. Thanks for sharing!
Rob
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Yes, they do, Rob! They had a moving light playing over them to create ‘movement’ and it was just so clever! 🙂
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Marvellous — I lve coming across unexpected delights like this!
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I forget to go in there, Sue, but it’s right smack in the middle of town so there’s no excuse. I was really thrilled with this 🙂
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Oh, this is pure magic, Jo. Sometimes another human’s invention and creativity just takes one’s breath away. And this is one of those moments. Thank you for showing us these wonderful ethereal beings. Inspiring they truly are.
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It loses in the translation, Tish, because there was a light sequence which seemed to make it ‘move’. So clever and very beautiful. I wish you could see it! 🙂
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Wow Jo! These are amazing!
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I never cease to be amazed at what you can find in museums, Lynn. This was pure magic 🙂
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