Tuesday 20 April 2010

Gresham's 01 - 20.04.2010

Continued from The story so far 20 - 20.03.2010

Tuesday 20 April 2010 - My first of 5 planned days painting in-situ at Gresham's School. Comfortable atmosphere within the art department and a particularly notable school dining area and food. Curry, mmm! I intend to paint 'Gresham's Spies' and first up in Donald Maclean. Not sure I'm happy with this one, but it's always good to make a start.


Here's a link the letter text below published in The Independent related to the spy subject:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-nhs-job-applications-438877.html
Gresham's: the school for spies

Sir: It is hardly surprising that MI5 wished to investigate W H Auden in connection with the flight of Guy Burgess in May 1951. The story of Burgess's last-minute telephone calls to Stephen Spender, in search of an urgent conversation with Auden, was exposed by the British press as long ago as June 1951. Burgess appears to have intended to use the idea of a trip to visit Auden on Ischia as just one of his elaborate cover stories to mask his disappearance over the weekend of 26-27 May.

Cahal Milmo's article ("Revealed: How Auden may have helped Burgess to flee Britain", 2 March) neglects to mention the schoolboy connections of the main protagonists in the story. Auden and (briefly) Spender were both pupils at Gresham's School in Norfolk, as was Burgess's partner-in-flight, Donald Maclean. Indeed, MI5 would have been well advised to trawl through Gresham's School's pupil registers of the 1920s and 1930s. Cedric Belfrage was an agent of Stalin's NKVD operating in the US, from where he became the first Briton to be deported for "un-American activities", in 1955. Maclean's school friend James Klugmann was a leading Communist proselytiser and talent-spotter for the NKVD at Cambridge in the 1930s. Another Greshamian, Bernard Floud, committed suicide in 1967, following MI5 interrogations in connection with his suspected involvement in an Oxford spy ring.

SIMON KINDERHISTORY DEPARTMENT,
GRESHAM'S SCHOOL, HOLT, NORFOLK.

Thursday 23 April 2010 - I'm on Cedric Belfrage. I already like this portrait and not yet finished. Roast port lunch today... mmm!


I also created a background for a planned montage of Gresham landmarks. One of the student's artworks looks on.


Monday 26 April 2010 - Continued with Cedric Belfrage and started painting a montage of Gresham's. The montage was looking like a mess at the end of the day, but I'll fix it. I was directed to the theatre in the woods; wonderful venue:


This evening, picked up Ben and attended the Waveney Springs Art Collective annual general meeting in Mellis. We discussed items such as the colour and type of letter font for this year's brochure. It is easier making decisions about NPP; my own personal creative dictatorship requiring little consensus of opinion beyond my own.

Wednesday 28 April 2010 - I took Marilynstein to the far side of the cricket green to show students how the illusion looked.





Friday 30 April 2010 - I've been working on a montage of Gresham's landmarks.


Here's some shots of the art department and student's art works, downstairs....


Upstairs...



Monday 03 May 2010 - I attended Gresham's for their open day. I finished off the Gresham's Montage.

Looking at Cedric Belfrage and Donald Maclean from the spiral staircase....

Returned home to hear Arsenal lose 2-1 at Blackburn. Went to see David this evening and pulled back another game in our backgammon marathon. Now only 30-31 down.

Wednesday 05 May 2010 - Worked with Nick. Gardening. A lovely day and lovely to be outside doing earthly work. We stopped off at the windmill outside Ixworth. Apparently they are not permitted to mill flour at this renovated windmill because of Health & Safety regulations stipulating there is too much dust in a place of food production. This is ridiculous. Heard a couple of jokes at the mill....
There were Morris dancers at Coney Weston Swan and some one asked how you become a Morris dancer. A Morris dancer replied there was a form to fill in and the first question was about circumcision. The person asking answered yes, he was circumcised. The Morris man said the application failed at the first step because: you have to be a complete prick to be a Morris dancer.
Secondly, a sweet elderly woman visited the mill and asked about the 4-5 mice in a small wooden framed cage. It was a trap, but the woman assumed they were pets and apparently reaction with a gentle 'ahh...' The miller replied, he was going to take the mice out the back and teach them to swim. The woman asked if it would take long? No, responded, the miller, not long. The woman, obviously unaware of the facts of the matter again reacted with a sentimental 'ahh...'


Go to Greshams 02 - 06.05.2010
Go to NPP at Gresham's School
Go to The story so far