"A Life in Art"

Northern Life’s regular artist Alec recently joined family and friends at the launch of his new exhibition at Skipton Castle on the 13th September, the theme was ‘A Life in Art’ and focussed on Alec’s creative journey where the themes of landscape and the increasing sense of our impact on them have been a fundamental influence. His recent paintings and prints are particulary vivid and original. The event was a huge success and was complimented by ‘The Jazz Committee’ featuring Alec’s son Chris (Also Northern Life’s designer) on saxophone, the event was made possible due to the kindness of Sebastian Fattorini who views Alec as ‘The King of Art’. Speaking about the exhibition Alec said “The response has been phenomenal, I have had a wonderful evening, I would like to thank all those involved for making the evening so special, including family, friends new and old, Pendle Leisure Trust and all the staff at Airedale Hospital for their support and kindness during a recent stay.”

Every work of art is to some degree a self-portrait. To see a body of work is to learn about the man or woman who made it – the things that make them tick, that fascinate and excite them.
But why do artists make art? What is it that drives them?
It takes persistence, hard work, struggle, to get the idea and the image together and then put them out there in a way that satisfies you, that says what you want it to say and to say it in a way that will mean something to other people – because it has to mean something to other people too.
So why is it not always obvious why an artist does what he does or what his work means? The artist needs you to join in the conversation. He needs you to bring yourself, your thoughts, feelings and experience to his work, to use your imagination alongside his.
He says, ‘Look at this, I found this amazing or beautiful and it made me think and feel, then I needed to make something that would record and express what I thought had felt and experienced. Then I need you to look hard at what I made, think about it, see what it says to you – and join me in the end result which becomes art only when it makes some kind of connection with you. An artist needs to make art.
The need to make art is born in us all, but only artists respond to the call to do something about it – partly because it is a solitary occupation and it has to be an obsession. You can’t be a half-hearted artist – when you are doing it all of you is engaged. All art is a self-portrait and artists are not always the easiest people to live with and they need the support of husbands and wives, family and friends. Alec has been blessed with the best possible support, especially from Jean. He might have stayed in the steelworks if Jean hadn’t said, “Yes you can Alec”, though knowing Jean she probably said, “Yes, you must Alec”. So he did, and we are all the richer for that decision.
It is easy to see why he might paint or draw a landscape, though you might ask why that place and that view of it, why in that weather or season, why that medium, size…it is never simply straightforward depiction, lots of choices are made for every apparently straight forward image.
But a lot of Alec’s works take their images and symbols from prehistory, archaeology, skulls, and strange marks found on carved stones, what are we to make of that? It might at first seem unconnected to the landscapes. But it is not, not if you stop calling it landscape and call it land. Remember Landscape was a term that was only used for the first time in the 17th century when it was applied to a painting of a view in which the subject was the view – and not as the background to a story.
We all connect with the land that gives us life. When we walk in the hills, dales and fields, if we have imagination, we wonder about the people who lived on it and walked it before us. We also wonder about what lies buried under the grass, the layers of evidence of other lives below the surface. Then we fall to wondering what they were like – did they think and feel very differently from us?
Every work of art is to some degree a self-portrait. Artists show us hidden things, both out there in the world - and within ourselves. Which is why we should celebrate all the artists in our midst, be they musicians, writers, sculptors or painters, so I may take this opportunity to ‘Thank you from us all, Alec’.

Article from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

Phil Spencer

You’re supporting SPAB in a nutshell Phil, what is the campaign about?
It’s a campaign to encourage people to think of home maintenance, rather than leaving things too late, or it’s too expensive and disruptive. We’re encouraging people to think of their properties and maintenance especially at this time of year.

With winter approaching have you got any top maintenance tips?
The easiest two are the most common problems, which are blocked gutters and cracked down pipes. I go in to so many houses that have got blocked gutters if left unattended water spills out and goes into the wall, and you don’t know it’s happening until it’s too late, a sure sign that this is happening is when paint work or wall paper gets damaged.

Mmm, that sounds familiar Phil, I have a similar problem but water is coming from under the windowsills...
It could be from poor windowsills, I’ve seen a lot of windows where the paint looks fine but if you go to touch it your hand goes straight through, the wood had rotted underneath... that’s a more expensive problem.

Oh dear! I’d better get it seen to, so do you do the maintenance in your house?
Yes. I certainly clean the gutters and I’m very conscious of making sure the airbricks are fit for purpose so there is good air circulation, sometimes air pipes get blocked by grass or dirt, if you keep them clear you keep the air circulating under the floor boards and that always helps.

Where does your love of houses come from? Is it from a cosmetic point of view, the sales side or are you a builder by trade?
Well, I trained as a surveyor. I got involved to help people buying property. The accepted method of buying property is completely biased against the person who’s spending the money, all help is traditionally only available to the people selling the house. I think that’s very inequitable, very unfair, but, unfortunately it’s an accepted method.

You’ve been working on a new programme called ‘Down Under’ you’re flying solo with that one, is there’s no Kirstie?
No, I made that when she was filming Kirstie’s Homemade Home earlier this year; she has just started making the second series of that.

. So ‘Down Under’ what is it about?
My job is helping four British families buy properties in Australia, my wife Fiona is Australian so we go over there quite regularly, it’s a country I know and love, so I was helping them move over there and find houses, I am also interested in comparing jobs and life styles, what you have over here in the UK versus what you get over there.

Would you consider moving out there?
Well maybe one day, it’s not in the game plan right now.

You and Kirstie are a formidable team, how did you two meet?
We met at the screen test, we knew of each other, because we were probably the only two people who were offering the type of advice and help for purchases at the time we had been called in by the production company who was thinking about making the programme, but they didn’t know anything about it and it is obviously something that everybody does, but no one does it very often so no one gets very much experience at it. There’s lots of hopes, dreams and aspirations. There’s lots of twist and turns in it and lots of emotion involved and hopefully a happy twist at the end. They rang me and said you have experience in this could you come and give us some consultancy for about half an hour on what we’re going to do... so I did that and thought little about it until I got a phone call saying that was really useful we haven’t got a presenter who knows anything about purchase will you come in and do a screen test.

Your on screen relationship with Kirstie is a very honest one...
Well, yes we are very friendly. I mean I think if we weren’t it wouldn’t work, we are very different but we get on extremely well and our feeling with house hunting is that it should be fun. I mean it’s the biggest shopping trip of your life, it should be fun, it’s emotional, it’s stressful and it is not always straight forward we just try and make sure they’re having a good time.

How do you manage not to throttle some of the characters you get sometimes?
It can be difficult and Kirsty sometimes does, especially when she’s pregnant, she’s not really got very much patience when she’s pregnant!

You’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country, where up North would you like to live?
Harrogate is a favourite, I think it’s stunning. Last year though we filmed quite a bit around Clitheroe and I hadn’t seen much of Lancashire, and I have to say I was very taken with it.

Harrogate is lovely isn’t it?
Oh yes. Well I’m a country boy, big wide open spaces and nature and that’s what you’ve got up there.

What advice would you give to people thinking of selling, should they stay or should they go?
It’s actually better to trade up the market when the market has fallen, financially that makes more sense, we’ve got to accept that interest rates are not going to be where they are now for years and years and there’s only way it go and that’s up.

You celebrate your 40th birthday in December, how will you be celebrating?
I’ll be having a party. I never like my birthday, I much prefer other people’s birthdays, and this is the first one I’ve ever really celebrated. Don’t you know that 40 is the new 30?

Imagine if you could invite three people, dead or alive, to your 40th party who would they be?
My paternal grandfather who I never met, Ian Botham and there has to be a beautiful woman, I know, Halle Berry.

What’s your favourite northern dish?
Ooh, it would have to be roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, is there a finer meal?

Now I’ve got to ask this Phil, what’s it like being a heart throb?
I don’t know ask Kirsty!

What are your future plans? What are you working on at the moment?
Well we’re doing ‘Location, Location, Location’ and ‘Relocation, Relocation!’ And I am also writing a book, due to be published in April next year about adding value to your home.

Interview from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

Our Jim

It’s a bit of a myth I suppose, and one which doesn’t really matter all that much unless you are of the Olympic persuasion where gold is everything; or you’re into darts where fifty is good news.
May I suggest a valid alternative? How about having been married for fifty years? Let me tell you that’s real gold!
To achieve that target not only have you to be fortunate in health, but also in your choice of partner; then add to the mix a huge helping of compromise, patience, understanding and goodwill... and that’s just the wife’s contribution!!!
I speak with modest authority ‘cos Phyllis has managed this liaison of ours for half a century come July this year. I had to be there, but trust me it wouldn’t have lasted without her.
So how do we celebrate this iconic milestone? Well to celebrate any event of significance we need people. (Imagine a cup final in an empty Wembley, or a test match without a full pavilion and Fred Truman). Not just people but special people who would enrich the occasion by just turning up.
Well we’re having a bit of a do at home, we’ve got two ounces of boiled ham, (Old Mother Riley North Pier Blackpool 1953!) but we’d love to share the day with a special friend who’s quite local and is nearly celebrating not fifty, but a hundred years of “just being there.”
I speak of The Thwaites Empire Theatre in Blackburn. Yes, believe it or not that’s how long this structure has been around. It’s gone through thick and thin times and just like a true Blackburner, as Elton John would say, “I’m Still Standing.”
Let me tell you about this celebration. It’s a year early, just to get you into a party mood for the main event next year so I know you’ll understand.
As you may know I spent a large amount of my career,(apart from giving away speedboats!) cruising the world on the great QE2 ocean liner. Most of that time I was working with probably one of the best society jazz bands on the high seas. Their name? “Colin Bryant’s Hot Rhythm Orchestra.” Now I don’t want you to start thinking “Oh, I don’t like Jazz.” If you like beautifully played melodies, and big band sounds, (Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington etc. and classic tunes like “Stranger on the Shore” and “Midnight in Moscow”) you will be completely at home here.
The downside of the whole shebang is the compere. We were hoping to get Brucie but his management told us he’s attending a course in “How to take full advantage of your allowances and benefits,” so could not make the date. This left the organizers with little choice but to ask me. I said I would do the date at a reasonable fee and they agreed to let me get away with paying only £7.50.
Seriously though if you would like a great evening listening to old jokes and old tunes told and played, I can promise you a “Night to Remember!” (I think that was the title of the film telling the Titanic Story starring Kenneth More wasn’t it!)
I can honestly say that my happiest time in the business has been in the company of Colin Bryant and his band. They bring joy and laughter to any auditorium and take you down memory lane with musical skills the like of which, I promise, you have never seen or heard before.
So do come and share this early celebration of a hundred years of life at the Thwaites Empire Theatre.
I look forward to seeing you there, maybe have a drink or two;
I can let you into a little secret:- For as little as a gin & tonic the band can be bribed easily if you have a favourite tune you’d like to hear; I’m cheaper... a half of Thwaites Smooth and I’ll keep out of the way!!!!