Glasgow Gallivanting: September 2024 (1)

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Where has the view gone?

Early in the month we had a trip over to Edinburgh. We did not get a good day for it – see above! Fortunately we intended to spend most of our time indoors at the National Gallery, which you can just about make out on the right hand side, and the Portrait Gallery.

The main exhibition we visited was An Irish impressionist: Lavery on location which was absolutely superb. Although I was familiar with some of his work I didn’t know that he had been a war artist in the First World War. Having just read Pip Williams’ A bookbinder in Jericho, in which one character goes out to the Field Hospital at Étaples and another volunteers with wounded soldiers at home, I was particularly interested in these paintings. The exhibition is on till 27th October, so still time for Scottish readers to catch it.

The cemetery, Etaples, 1919
Wounded, London hospital, 1915

Two Glasgow exhibitions now, about very different buildings. The Wylie and Lochhead Ltd exhibition is on at the Mitchell Library until 31st October and celebrates the former Kent Road Cabinet Works just across the road. Designed by James Sellars and opening in 1879, the Works housed a range of craftsmen creating quality furniture for the aforementioned Wylie & Lochhead company. The building became derelict in the 1960s but was refurbished as apartments in the 1980s: one of the current occupiers is the daughter of my friend Lynne Rickards who very ably organised the exhibition. It was great to be able to step outside and immediately look at the building I had been reading about.

Exhibition flyer
Former Kent Road Cabinet Works

As you can see above, it is undergoing major repairs again, partially supported by a grant from Glasgow City Heritage Trust – which brings me neatly to the next exhibition, Brutal Glasgow, organised by the Trust itself. We attended a preview for Friends.

A series of illustrations of some of Glasgow’s best known brutalist buildings (some no longer in existence) by Natalie Tweedie is accompanied via QR code by text and audio material curated by Rachel Loughran. We explored bits of most of it, but will return to some of the information on the Trust’s website when we have more time and can follow it on a bigger screen. It’s an interesting way of presenting an exhibition, but hard to follow on a phone screen, and possibly more difficult if the room had been crowded. As for the buildings, I like most of them but they are not to everyone’s taste.

General view
General view
Anniesland Tower

A big event in Glasgow this month was the opening of a new bridge for walkers and wheelers which connects Partick and Govan on opposite sides of the Clyde. We walked to the Partick end by the Riverside Museum, crossed the bridge to Govan, and got the Subway home from there. The overview below is taken from a window in the museum and the view upriver is from the bridge itself. It offers a new perspective on the museum building and the Tall Ship Glenlee moored beside it.

Overview from Riverside Museum
View up the Clyde from Govan-Partick Bridge

On the Govan side, new public art decorated the walkway along the river.

Clyde Built
Clyde Built
Nothing without effort
Partick 0.8 miles

This had been my first visit to the bridge, but a few days earlier John had crossed it with some of his cycling friends and they were lucky enough to see it opening up for boats to pass.

Bridge opening for boats
Bridge opening for boats

A few things spotted on my walks around the city: first, more and more utilities boxes around the West End are being painted. This is my favourite so far, at Partick Cross, showing elements of Glasgow’s Coat of Arms along with celebration of the annual Mela which takes place in nearby Kelvingrove Park.

Glasgow Mela
Stylised Glasgow Coat of Arms

Up at the canal, Bella the Beithir is having some body contouring done in preparation for the next set of ceramic scales to be attached. Can’t wait!

Bella’s body contouring
Bella’s body contouring

Another site that keeps developing is the new part of Glasgow University’s campus. It was formerly occupied by a hospital, the Western Infirmary, and I was pleased to notice a tribute to its nurses on one of the fences around the building works. If you look carefully at the last image, you will see that the background to the mural has been matched to the ward tiles.

General view
Practising bandaging
Time off. Spot the black cat!
Musical interlude
On the ward

Just round the corner is another temporary installation which has a very serious purpose. This is Meet the MPN 10, MPNs being a group of rare blood cancers originating in the bone marrow. The sculptures represent the 10 most common symptoms associated with these types of cancer and seem to me to be a brilliant way to raise awareness. The information boards encourage you to share with your networks, so I’m doing exactly that!

All 10 sculptures
1. Abdominal pain
2. Inactivity
3. Weight loss
4. Fever
5. Concentration issues
6. Fatigue
7. Bone pain
8. Feeling full
9. Itching
10. Night sweats

Some random other stuff including some newly spotted street art and, inspired by my recent post on cast iron railings, a design that was not already in my collection.

Toadstool graffiti
Underpass near Riverside Museum
Hillhead Street railing
Aly and Phil at Oran Mor

The last image in the gallery above shows two of our favourite performers, Aly Bain (fiddle) and Phil Cunningham (accordion), whom we saw in concert at Oran Mor. They have been playing together for nearly 40 years, and it shows in the banter. My favourite joke of the night was this one:

Ali recently turned 78 and Phil claims to have sent him a stripper-gram dressed as Superwoman. She asked him if he was ready for super sex, and he replied – soup please! Is it lentil?

(And if it doesn’t make you laugh, maybe it doesn’t translate well to the page! It must be the way they tell ’em.)

This has only covered about half the month – Part 2 will follow shortly.  In the meantime, have a good October!

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53 Comments »

  1. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #408 – Thistles and Kiwis

  2. There’s always so much going on in Glasgow! The brutalist exhibition looks interesting. It’s not always to my taste, but some of the architecture’s fascinating. I love the painted utility boxes, it’s such a great idea to brighten up what would otherwise be a spectacularly dull piece of street furniture.

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  6. There’s a painting by John Lavery in the Walker Gallery in Liverpool. A full length portrait of his wife, Hazel. She also appeared on pre-Euro Irish currency.
    We’ve not been to too many gallerys of late. We need to put that right,
    Like the look of that bridge and the Brutalist exhibition.

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  8. A busy and interesting month, Brutal Glasgow looks really interesting. As you say, not to everyone’s taste but it’s a style I like.

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  10. You’ve clearly had another good month, with some interesting exhibitions. A new bridge is something to celebrate, and that one looks rather elegant. And I always enjoy seeing your street art!

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  11. Hi Anabel – fun joke … and oh we can laugh can’t we … What an amazing trip and museum/art visits – it’s great they’re giving us lots of information via the hoardings around developments. The Bone Marrow Cancer depictions are just wonderful … and now clever. Thanks for the insights – various … cheers Hilary

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  13. Hi Anabel – thanks so much for featuring my Wylie & Lochhead exhibition in your blog! It has been extended at the Mitchell Library until the end of October, and I think the GCHT will take some of the boards at that point so I hope its life will be extended. The brutalist exhibition looks great as well – I must try and see it. I flew home from Canada on Sunday morning and I’m sure we flew low over that new Govan-Partick bridge which was open. (It’s puzzling how we got turned around to land from the east, but I’m sure I saw that bridge!) I must try and see it in person too. Lots to catch up on!

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  14. I’ll remember the soupersex joke, in case it comes in handy 😉 . The exhibitions look interesting, the bridges even more so. And your walks! This Glasgow visit must happen. But life gets in the way ….

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  16. The Meet the MPN 10 is absolutely brilliant, a fun way to put something serious across. I am so grateful that Les and I were able to travel before his Primary Myelofibrosis was diagnosed and before it became more aggressive. Best of all, is that older buildings are being put to use as apartments. So much character than new. What a fab month and enjoying so much art and walks.

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  20. Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham! Names I had forgotten but immediately conjure up memories. Ah yes…those days when Edinburgh Castle is hidden by the haar. I just loved this post – read it twice to bring everything to life for me twice.

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  21. That’s a cool new footbridge. It’s all about perspective – you call it luck to see it open for ships to pass through, I might be annoyed at the delay for crossing the bridge, haha. I didn’t know you had a Bella in Glasgow as well!

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  23. I used to visit my gran in Kent Road as a youngster. I was fascinated by the worn down tenement stone stairs she had, almost gone and thin in the middle, and it was only decades later I twigged it was several generations of men’s tackety boots working in the factories and shipyards that caused it. I’d completely forgot I used to wear them as well as an apprentice as only ten years later in the late 1970s metal clegs seemed to disappear from boot soles altogether. I Like the MPM 10. Always something new to see. Bob. BSS.

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    • I thought the MPM 10 were good too – raising awareness is always a good thing. Both my grannies lived in tenements (Greenock) with similarly worn down stairs. And heaven help you if you forgot your turn at cleaning them! That is another concept which has disappeared.

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  24. Hi Anabel, What a fun and interesting month you’ve had. I just sent you an email via your Contact form. I look forward to reading part 2 and hearing from you. Happy October!

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